Local guard unit deployed

Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2003 | 11:11 a.m.

"He's leaving," she told a reporter Tuesday night before her dad was asked a question -- a statement that summed up in the simplest terms what deployment means to the families of military personnel.

At dawn today Michael Roe, 26, and the other 123 members of the 72nd Military Police Co. boarded a bus at the Henderson Armory, leaving their families for a mission that initially will take them to Fort Lewis, Wash.

Roe says his thoughts range from leaving his wife, Sherry, to unpack the last boxes in the Henderson house that his family moved into this month to missing Kaitlynn's 5th birthday party in September.

"The hardest part is knowing that you won't be there for the birthdays or the anniversaries," Roe said as he relaxed at home Tuesday night. "So when we learned (on Feb. 10) I was being deployed, we packed in a lot of family time.

"We took Kaitlynn to Disneyland and we are going to take her to see 'Jungle Book 2' tonight. We have explained to her that daddy has a job where he has to go to help people. Still, she watched me pack this past week and I know that was difficult for her."

At the armory this morning Roe's family and others shared hugs that dampened the shoulders of camouflage green fatigues with goodbye tears.

"It's sad to leave my family, but I'm also kind of anxious to do what we were meant and trained to do," said 1st Lt. Lisa Martinez, a veteran of 10 years in the Reserves and National Guard and a state social worker. "My goal is to keep us safe and for all of us to return home."

Her husband, Gerry, an electrical engineer, parted with Martinez in the armory parking lot under a black and nearly starless sky and amid chilly temperatures, saying, "I love you. Be safe."

The company last was deployed following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a 13-month police mission to Monterey, Calif. This time the company is expected to end up in Southwest Asia, the military's term for Afghanistan and the region around it, so its members won't be coming home on any weekends and they could be gone for a much longer period.

The 72nd "will spend an undetermined amount of time there (Fort Lewis) before shipping out to an unknown location in Southwest Asia," a statement from the Nevada Office of the Military said. The 72nd served in the Persian Gulf War in 1991, where it operated a prisoner of war encampment.

Roe, who has lived in Southern Nevada most of his life and is a graduate of Basic High School, is a security officer at the Paris Las Vegas. Four years ago he joined the National Guard.

"I felt I was a little too old to join the Army, so I decided to join the Guard to provide more stability and well-being for my family," said Roe, who hopes to become a police officer.

Sherry Roe, 25, an office supervisor for an awards and badge manufacturer, said the hardest part is the unknown.

"It's frustrating not knowing where he eventually will be sent and how long he will be gone," said Sherry, who also has two brothers who have been deployed -- Chris Barrow, who is in her husband's unit, and Marine Reservist Shane Barrow, who shipped out a year ago.

"When Michael signed up, I didn't think (deployment) was going to happen. Now we deal with it one day at a time. That's all we can do."

But Michael was quick to note that being a member of the National Guard in the wake of Sept. 11 no longer is the one-weekend-a-month and two-weeks-per-year proposition. "We are no longer weekend warriors," he said.

His brother-in-law echoed that sentiment.

"There are mixed emotions -- sadness leaving family but happiness knowing we will be taking care of business," Barrow said. "Having a family member with me to watch each other's back helps a lot. And we have a lot of good experience in this company."

Spc. David Faircloth, a Marine and regular Army veteran who has been in the Guard three years and works in security at the Venetian, says the seasoned soldiers will look after the newcomers.

"I feel the training we have received is extensive and it has been stressed that each of us knows our jobs better than the next person," he said prior to saying goodbye to wife, Carrie. She said: "I just pray he comes home."

Roe said he considers himself lucky because his military pay of about $1,400 a month is about what he is earning at the Paris. He said, however, his company has civilian police officers, college professors, bankers and others who will be taking significant pay cuts to serve their country.

To date more than 150,000 National Guard members and reservists, including 614 from Nevada, have been called to active duty.