Published: November 11, 2007 03:07 am            

Service members meeting challenge

FAIRMONT — Today’s veteran serves in every capacity in the nation’s armed services and is rising to meet the challenge.

While some soldiers are engaged in service in the United States, others are stationed overseas.

Staff Sgt. Tim Brown, a Clarksburg native, Staff Sgt. Adam Romesburg, a Fairmont resident and Sgt. 1st Class Kevin Kramer are all members of the United States Army or the U.S. Army Reserves and have all served in different capacities overseas.

Brown served two six-month tours in Iraq. Romesburg served in Jordan for six months. Kramer served in Afghanistan for a year and in Kosovo for seven months.

Each had greatly different missions and joined the Army for different reasons.

Brown said he always wanted to serve and joined the Army several years after high school. He has been in the Army for 10 years now.

Romesburg, a solider in the reserves, is following a family tradition of military service and has been a soldier for seven years. Several members of his family, including his twin brother, have all served in the military.

Kramer joined up for skill training and has stayed for 13 years. He is qualified as a mechanic for Blackhawk helicopters. The job is one for a perfectionist, as $16 million and the lives of dozens of people are on the line when a Blackhawk goes into the air, he said.

Each of the men speak of their service overseas with a definite sense of pride. When they speak about what they and their brothers-in-arms accomplished, they smile and speak with a softly-spoken sense of achievement.

Kramer said he was apprehensive to go to Afghanistan, even after serving a tour in Kosovo, but that feeling vanished when he arrived to see the good works done by the American servicemen. He spoke with quiet dignity about the schools the servicemen built and the boxes of clothes given to the Afghan children.

“I’m disappointed the media doesn’t show those images on television,” Kramer said.

Brown agreed. In Iraq, a member of the 233rd Transport Company from Fort Knox, he drove delivery trucks to different areas, mostly food and water

“I’m proud to be part of a liberation,” Brown said. “It’s something most people never experience.”

Romesburg is a member of the 300th Chemical Company in Morgantown. His unit was attached to the Fifth Group Special Forces and was stationed in Jordan to clean up military personnel and civilians in the event chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction were used.

All three men said they were very proud of the job they did overseas and it made them appreciate home more than they ever did.

Brown and Kramer were married when they deployed. Their wives stayed close to their families while they were gone.

“I wanted her to be secure and happy while I was in Afghanistan,” Kramer said. “She handles it well when I’m gone.”

Brown said it was hard to leave his wife, but it was especially hard to go on his second tour and leave his daughter Hayley. When he went the first time, she was too young to realize he was gone, but the second time was much harder.

Romesburg serves in the same company with his fiancee. Since no dating is allowed while they are deployed, she was sent to another part of Jordan. The couple was to be married this weekend, but she is on orders now, so the wedding was moved to next year.

All three wrote and received letters and cards from home and took advantage of some of the newer methods of communication for soldiers, like e-mail and video conferencing. Kramer said the video conferencing, which is coordinated by family support groups, was especially helpful because you can see your family in real time. There’s about a 10-second sound delay because of the distance, but it’s really beneficial, he said.

When they were deployed, the soldiers did different things to help banish homesickness and make their surroundings feel like home. Brown grew some grass with supplies sent from home, while Kramer’s company had a mandatory barbecue twice a month.

“We’d use whatever we could requisition from the mess,” he said. “The big problem was getting charcoal.”

All three also took advantage of morale and welfare tents, which provided movies, books and video games for troops.

Coming home made the homesickness worthwhile. Each of the three had memorable re-entries to the country. Kramer and Brown each flew over the Statue of Liberty when they returned.

“It really gave the Statue of Liberty new meaning,” Brown said.

“We take a lot for granted,” Kramer said. “You appreciate more when you return.”

Brown’s company also had a brief layover in Ireland. When they entered the airport, the troops got a standing ovation, he said.

“It was really nice to get recognition from people from another country,” he said.

Romesburg had a West Virginian’s dream homecoming. After flying into Fort Dix, N.J., his company traveled by bus to Morgantown. At the state line, the bus was met by a State Police escort and John Denver’s “Country Roads” was played on the bus’ speakers. When the bus got off Interstate 79 in Morgantown, the roads were lined with family members, the community and friends from the exit ramp all the way to the company’s center.

Servicemen and women are serving in literally every capacity. In civilian life, Tracey Corbin is the Emergency Medical Services program coordinator at Fairmont State University. In the Army Reserves, she’s Staff Sgt. Corbin.

Corbin spent the last year at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, as the Non-Commission Officer In Charge of Cadre Development, Department of Combat Medic Training. Basically, Corbin trained combat medics who were preparing to leave for Iraq and other places overseas.

While she’s proud of her service, Corbin is quick to say she’s not a hero and doesn’t consider what she does anything special.

“If you want to talk to a hero, talk to someone who went to Iraq and came back safely, or talk to the family of someone who didn’t make it back,” Corbin said. “They’re the real heroes.”

One of nine children, Corbin joined the reserves for college money and eventually re-enlisted indefinitely.

Last fall, she got the call she would be deployed to Iraq as a medic. When the Army reviewed her file and found she trains EMTs, it was decided she could serve better by training others to do what she does. So, she spent a year in Texas. Eventually, her husband, 18-year-old stepson and 11-year-old daughter joined her there.

She began by training medics and had such a high pass rate, her superiors directed her to begin training other teachers and creating curriculum.

“It was a great experience, knowing I was a part of putting good medicine on the battlefield,” Corbin said. “I was there for the right reason, preparing medics to help that person who wouldn’t have made it back to the States.”

While she was in Texas, Corbin also participated in the Wounded Warrior program. She and other participants visited the military hospital on base to sit and talk with soldiers who had lost limbs or suffered scarring.

“We let them know we’re not going to desert them, they’re still part of the team,” Corbin said.

Her most recent deployment challenged her in every way, mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually, Corbin said. And that’s why she’s so proud to serve helping those in her company fulfill its motto: “good medicine in bad places.”

E-mail Katie Wilson at kwilson@timeswv.com.

        

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