Local family anxiously waits as son is overseas

Jace Radke

Friday, March 21, 2003 | 10:04 a.m.

U.S. Navy Fireman James Olschlager Jr. watched from the deck of the USS Tarawa on Wednesday night as the first Tomahawk missiles to strike Baghdad streaked over the flat deck of his amphibious ship sitting about three miles off the Iraqi coast.

Olschlager Jr., a 21-year-old Las Vegas resident, then got the opportunity to talk to his father, Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Jim Olschlager, by making a final phone call before a communication blackout settled over allied forces in the Middle East.

"I just hope he's got his head down out there," Olschlager said of his son. "When he called Wednesday night he was pretty excited, but it's scary too. I think he's really going to grow up over the next few days."

Trooper Olschlager, who spent 22 years in the Air Force before retiring and joining the NHP, also has a daughter serving overseas.

Pfc. Laurie Olschlager, 23, is deployed to Pusan, South Korea, with the 72nd Ordinance Battalion, an armor group.

Like many families who have loved ones deployed overseas, Olschlager and his wife have found themselves spending the evenings watching news coverage of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"We're definitely paying attention," Olschlager said.

More than 1,700 soldiers from Nellis Air Force Base and from National Guard and reserve units are currently serving overseas.

For Trooper Olschlager the hardest part is not being able to communicate with his son.

"We don't know when we'll be able to talk to him again," Olschlager said. "We can e-mail him, but right now he is not allowed to e-mail back."

Olschlager Jr. is serving on an 820-foot amphibious ship, which, like a mini-carrier, can launch AV-8B Harriers, a vertical takeoff and landing fighter, and numerous helicopters. The Tarawa shipped out from San Diego on Jan. 6 as Bob Seger's "Roll Me Away" played over speakers at the dock.

The Tarawa's primary mission is to land the 15th Marine Expeditionary Force and sustain the about 2,000 troops during the fighting in Iraq.

Trooper Olschlager is no stranger to deployment, having served in Saudi Arabia and South Korea during his 22-year military career.

"Being in the military helps me understand a little of what they're going through, but the Navy and Army are very different from the Air Force," Olschlager said. "I worry about them, but I guess my wife has me beat in that department, because she has to worry about them and me."