Relatives of Guardsmen stationed in Iraq gather to make videotapes

Dan Kulin and Jace Radke

Friday, Oct. 29, 2004 | 9:33 a.m.

In a videotaped message, Sgt. 1st Class James B. Phillips II probably won't see until he gets to Iraq, 12-year-old Casandra Phillips tells her father she'll miss him, not to forget her and to come home safely.

Tuesday Perkins, who was helping organize the line to the video camera, was just hoping Thursday she wouldn't start crying once it was her turn to tell her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Kelwin Perkins, how much she loves and misses him.

Many relatives of the 160 soldiers in the Nevada Army National Guard's 1864th Transportation Co. came to the armory in Henderson Thursday night to pen letters and record video messages to their husbands, wives, fathers or mothers who are headed to the Middle East next week.

Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson, a childhood friend of Perkins' husband, Sgt. 1st Class Kelwin Perkins, plans to personally deliver the letters to the troops at Fort Lewis, Wash., on Monday. Gibson said they plan to video tape messages from relatives of the troops who didn't attend the Thursday get-together, then put the video on DVDs and send them to the troops later.

While the majority of the soldiers in the unit are from Southern Nevada, about 40 of the truck drivers are from Reno, Winnemucca and Elko, said 1st Lt. April Conway, a spokeswoman for the Nevada National Guard.

The unit is scheduled to fly out of McChord Air Force Base outside of Tacoma, Wash., Monday night. They will most likely find themselves hauling water, ammunition and supplies in Kuwait and Iraq after arriving in Southwest Asia.

"Their tractor-trailers were shipped over to Southwest Asia on barges," Conway said.

The relatives said they were naturally worried about the family members headed to Iraq. And while opinions on whether the United States should have gone to war in Iraq differ, they were unified in their support for the troops.

"I'm nervous but that training they got in Washington made me feel better," said Charles Turner, an Army veteran whose wife, Sgt. DeAuna Turner, is in the unit. "They got the same training infantry soldiers get -- with weapons, and how to keep your weapon clean and how to cover yourself from fire."

The Henderson-based unit flew to Fort Lewis, Wash., on Aug. 19 and has been training for its mission ever since, Conway said.

Turner said that although he and his wife agree the United States should not have gone to war, there's no turning back now.

"We can't just leave. We have to follow through ... or as soon as we leave it will go back to what it was," he said.

But above all, he said, "I'm proud of her for everything she's doing for the country.

Perkins said she, too, is proud of her husband.

"He's there for the Iraqi people so they can enjoy the freedoms we have," she said.

Perkins said she and her husband "support Bush 100 percent," and are leery of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry because they don't know what he would do.

The Thursday event was the regular monthly get-together for family members of those in the unit, a tradition that many said helps them get through the months separated from loved ones.

"It brings out a camaraderie," Perkins said. "Everyone can relate to everyone else because all of us are in the same boat."

Casandra said it helps being able to talk to other children whose parents have gone away.

"But it's kind of weird because we're used to having our dad with us," Casandra said. "It's not fair because I have to let him go and other people don't."