Answering the call: Multimedia coverage of the 32nd "Red Arrow" Brigade

Deployments test families' strength, faith

By BETH BURGER, Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers

It's been more than two months since loved ones first said goodbye to members of the Wisconsin-based 1st Battalion, 120th Field Artillery Regiment as they left for training at Camp Shelby, Miss.

Now, it will be a year before their mission in Kuwait is complete.

Family members can recall shedding tears as soldiers boarded planes at Wisconsin's military air base in mid-August.

"That day at Volk Field was tough. It was difficult for my wife and myself," said Frank Jurgella, 50, of Stevens Point, whose son, Spc. Nathan Jurgella, 22, was among the local soldiers who left on a plane that day. "You promise you won't (cry). And me being a big guy, I don't like to do that."

Pfc. Daren Ratzloff of Marshfield receives a kiss on the cheek from his mother, Gretchen, on Oct. 22 as he arrived in Marshfield to begin his weeklong leave. Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 120th Field Artillery Regiment ended the leave Oct. 28 and were expected to deploy to Kuwait by mid-November. Brady Lane/Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers

But as time goes on, families like the Jurgellas have adjusted.

Jurgella also has a daughter who is a member of the 32nd Infantry Brigade in Wausau.

"I don't know that you ever get accustomed to it," he said, about watching his children go off in uniform. "But you deal with it."

Jurgella and his wife, Monica, normally hear from their son a few times a week when he gets time to call between training exercises.

But that doesn't stop them from worrying.

"I'm kind of proud, but then I get a sense of nervousness because of the conditions," Jurgella said. "But we use our faith. We are a Catholic family. We go to church. We pray that he will be safe. I think faith is what brings you through anything."

Wisconsin Rapids resident Marge Lockman held on to her granddaughter, Christiana, as she talked about the effects on her family. Lockman's son, Spc. Randall Lockman Jr., 20, of Wisconsin Rapids left behind a girlfriend and a 9-month-old baby.

Lockman often watches her granddaughter when she is not working.

"He asked if her eyes are still blue," Lockman said. "She's getting two teeth in and just started crawling. He's missed it."

Her son later came home for block leave. In the meantime, she continued to send him pictures of Christiana.

"It's just trying to cope day by day," she said. "It's a lot of worry because you never know what's going to happen. We never expected Randy to get called up in the Guard."

Beth Schreiner, 20, of Marshfield misses her husband, Pfc. Brandon Schreiner. She misses having an adult to talk to at night. And she misses him taking out the garbage, she said with a laugh.

"That was his job, and I really, really hate it," Schreiner said.

She stays busy with projects and is in the process of preparing for a second child on the way.

"I'm staying focused, getting ready for the baby," Schreiner said one recent evening, after her 2-year-old son, Brian, fell asleep.

Each night before Brian goes to bed, Schreiner shows him a picture of his father in uniform that was taken two months before he left.

"We have him kiss Daddy good night, so it keeps him connected and he knows that Daddy is still there. He is on a trip."

Schreiner said the first two months passed quickly. She was setting up the crib and looking through baby clothes to figure out what she still needs.

Her husband had planned to come home during block leave in late October.

"I can't wait to see how much he has changed," she said, before the leave. "I've been doing really well with it. You have to have a very strong support network. One person on their own could never do this. ... It's his job and he decided to do that, and I knew that when I married him and I support him."