Wednesday, May 28, 2003 | 9:51 a.m.
Behind closed doors and face to face with Army National Guard troops and families, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., reassured those at home that their loved ones were protecting freedom.
About 15 families met privately with Reid at the Clark County Armory on Tuesday, expressing their fears for members of the military police, engineering and maintenance crews from Las Vegas stationed in Iraq in the aftermath of the war.
The 72nd Military Police Company is one of the biggest companies in Iraq, with about 100 people deployed.
"We have never been so dependent on the Guard and rescue forces," Reid said. "Those at home have an important function: be ready to do whatever needs to be done."
Spc. Erin Evans knows what it is like to be over there and separated from family members.
After Sept. 11, 2001, she went to Kuwait and then was deployed to Iraq. She shattered her right leg in an accident and now stays in the United States for rehabilitation. At the armory in Las Vegas, she teaches guardsmen and women how to shoot M9 pistols and M16-A2 rifles at simulated targets projected on a movie screen.
"We just got a call from a commander who has been there almost a month," Evans said. "Mail is so slow, (and) we have to wait for phone calls."
After Reid spoke, he lifted an M16 outfitted with a laser beam and tried his hand at shooting at targets.
"The senator owns guns," his spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said as Reid shot a simulated armed enemy on the screen.
Corp. Desiree Harris came with her baby Naomi, 4 months old, to hear the senator.
"(Reid) is right about what we do," she said.
Major Joanne Farris, director of family programs, visited the local armory from Carson City. She said children having their own ID make it easier for a family to get services such as medical care.
"It makes it a lot easier for mom to get on base," she said.
The armory on Range Road provides a one-stop referral service to military families as well as those with the National Guard.
"We're a big referral center," Farris said.
In the past two months, more than 700 families have gone through the services center, Sgt. Matthew Hutchinges said. There were 212 phone calls made last week alone.
Hutchinges handles the day-to-day operations at the armory, ensuring that families receive information and other help.
"We get a lot of Marines and Air Force here," Hutchinges said. "The reason is the difference in the wait here and at Nellis. It's 15 minutes here instead of two hours."
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