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

Before they left: hunting, chores, funeral

By HEATHER CLARK, Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers

The smell of maple syrup and French toast filled the Crowley kitchen and living room one morning in late October. Forks scraped on the plates, and the flatware tinked as Sgt. 1st Class Derek Crowley placed them in the dishwasher.

The children were shoveling food in their mouths at the kitchen counter and the dogs ran between their legs. Later, Crowley packed down the garbage for son Keegan, 9, to take out.

For the past week, it has been as routine as possible at the Crowleys' Wisconsin Rapids household, though Crowley admits he's perhaps been a bit more conscious of helping out than in the past.

"Yesterday when I unloaded the dishwasher I thought, 'Well, this might be the last time that maybe (his wife, Nicole) doesn't have to,'" he said with a shrug.

Crowley is one of nearly 450 members of the National Guard's 1st Battalion, 120th Field Artillery Regiment who spent the past eight days on leave and headed back to Camp Shelby, Miss. on Oct. 29. The group expected to be deployed in early November to Kuwait as part of a yearlong security mission in support of the war in Iraq.

"We're just trying to make everything as normal and routine as possible," Nicole said.

"Yeah, so I've got to clean the basement and rake the yards," Crowley said.

"Oh, poor you," Nicole countered.

"Well, plus I don't want to leave it all for you when I'm gone," he said.

Before the giggles came, Nicole, daughter Lexi, 12, and Keegan collectively sighed, "Aawwww."

"It's the little things that get you excited," Nicole said later as the couple's other daughter, Karis, 4, sang in her room. "Routine seems so much nicer with him home."

The troops from Stevens Point, Wisconsin Rapids, Marshfield, Clintonville, Mosinee and other Wisconsin locations returned home Oct. 22 after nine weeks of training in Camp Shelby, Miss., for their upcoming tour. The eight days flew by, troops and their families said, but they made the best of it in many ways.

Specialist Chris Walport of Rosholt had seen little of his wife, Tammy, but that was planned from the time he touched down, she said.

"I'd rather have him spend the time with the kids, and I get the nights," she said with a laugh. "Really, I always tell the kids to spend as much time with him. It's bad to say, but it could be the last time, so they need to spend as much time with him as they can."

Walport was not home during the days, instead taking time to turkey and bow hunt with two of his three boys, Brandon, 12, and Alaric, 8. Hunter, 5, was home with Mom and got to see Dad in the evenings and mornings.

"It's Brandon's first time hunting and he's very excited," Tammy said. "They haven't gotten anything yet, and he's kind of disappointed with that, but he's happy dad's home and he can go."

Specialist Kevin Gallatin of Spencer did not see much of his family during leave week, either, said his mother, Marjorie. While it is tough, she said, it is totally understandable. A close high school friend of Gallatin's, Adam Dodge, 19, died earlier in the week from injuries he sustained in a car accident, and Gallatin, a pallbearer, spent much of the week with the Dodge family.

Gallatin, 20, took it in stride, learning from the experience and looking at positives as much as he could.

"It's better that it happened now because I can go to the funeral, otherwise I never would've been able to go," he said. "You really don't know how short life is until someone close to you dies. It makes me want to be as safe as I can be and get back faster. ... It makes me look at life a lot different. One wrong move and it's over."

While Gallatin pondered that, the Crowleys behaved the way they would any other day, with Karis crooning over the dog or complaining she's sick; Keegan acting goofy and poking fun at his dad while Derek mockingly put a pillow over the boy's face; Lexi talking on the phone to a friend about when they'll head out to the store to get Halloween costumes.

Nicole, seated for a moment on the couch, just took it all in, gazing at her family adoringly while at the same time laughing and jesting.

"It's just trying to enjoy our time together," she said. "The year stretch is going to be tough, so we try not to think about it."