Two Roanoke Rapids men are more than 6,000 miles from home at Joint Security Station Doura located outside Baghdad.
It is there they do patrols and train Iraqi military and police.
It is from there Sergeant Troy Beach and Specialist E4 Christopher Stacy, both in the National Guard, send these email dispatches.
Both soldiers have left family behind and are not sure when they will return. Beach, a Roanoke Rapids native and the son of Elaine Wong and Johnny Braswell, is married to Paula Beach and they have two children, Ashlyn Beach and Brandon Batton.
Stacy and his wife Emily have a 14-month-old son named Luke. His mother, Cindy, lives in Gaston, and his father, Phillip Herman, is from Powell, Mo. His stepfather is John Adams from Colerain.
Both men feel fortunate they have not been injured.
“We have been fortunate not to have encountered any hostile fire but every time we leave there is a threat of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and insurgents tossing grenades from overpasses so we are always on alert,” Beach said.
“Every situation is dangerous,” Stacy says, “from the time you leave the gate until the time you return.”
The places they patrol are not exotic, Beach explains. “The country is still trying to get itself straight. There is trash everywhere and destroyed and damaged buildings wherever you look.
“Kids are glad to see us and some of the older people, but a lot of the men in their 20s aren’t too glad we're here. I think they know why we're here and they see that our mission is changing now to support the Iraqi military and police.”
Stacy says most of the people are friendly. “But just like in any country, including the United States, there are mean people. We let them know we are here to protect them and to help lead their country in the right direction.”
The answers are simple when asked what is the hardest thing to adjust to. “Being away from my family. It's hard not to be able to handle things back home that my wife might need my help with,” Beach said.
“Being away from your family and friends is one of the hardest things for a lot of people I think,” offered Stacy.
Routine is the easiest thing to adjust to, both men say.
What do they miss about home? “Everything,” Beach says. “Mostly my family but I miss it all. Sometimes you just get a craving for a food like a Browning’s hot dog or something and you can't do anything about it. I miss all the little things about home that maybe I took for granted before I deployed.”
For Stacy it is the more intimate family moments he misses. “I miss cuddling up to my wife on the couch and watching our little son play in the living room floor.”
The soldiers have no specific date on when they will return but Beach looks forward to that time. “I'm gonna kiss my wife and take her away on a romantic weekend. Then I'll go home and kiss and hug my kids and probably have a big welcome home party with all my family.”
Says Stacy, “The first thing I do when I get home is kiss my wife and son. Then when I get to the house it's off to the shower.”
Beach wants people to realize Roanoke Rapids soldiers are still over there. “I would like to thank all the people who do support us over here but it seems like a lot of people have forgotten we are here.”
He said, “I really haven't seen anything from the area showing that they even know we deployed. I guess since the armory in Roanoke Rapids was taken from the local soldiers last time they deployed and given to a special forces unit that the local citizens have forgotten about us. But we still have soldiers from the Roanoke Valley in the Guard, We just had to go to other cities to serve.”
Stacy also has some advice. “I'd just like to remind folks at home not to take simple things in life for granted such as air condition, water and electricity, but most of all your family and friends.”
