RURAL MISSOURI 10 by Katherine Heine S taff Sgt. Danny Brown loves football. He loves the game almost as much as his country, but not quite. Still, when he was deployed months before the start of his only son’s senior year football season, he was crushed. He braced himself to miss the blocks and tackles of the son he coached for six years in the Mighty Mite football league. He accepted he would not hear the plays called out by the same man who announced Danny’s own games and those of his older brother years before. Uncle Sam called, and he went, along with the rest of the 1138th Military Police Company stationed in the southern-Missouri town of West Plains, population 10,866. Customs duty in Kuwait was tedious, and the 130-degree heat was crippling, but Danny was able to hear all but two of his son’s games over a Web site created by local businesses. “After the Kickapoo game they called me out of the locker room and I talked to my dad. Of course he could- n’t talk back, but I knew he was listen- ing,” Danny’s son, Devin, says. “All the businesses and everyone worked so hard to make that happen, I will never forget it.” Don’t let the size of this town fool you — it has chutzpah. The tight-knit community, where residents’ patriotism is as sincere as their hospitality, has collec- tively battled the hardships of heavy deployments and provided endless support for the families and soldiers of the most frequently deployed Missouri National Guard unit in the state. “After 9-11 happened they got called up Oct. 1 and there was an article about a shortage of flags nationwide,” Diana, Danny’s wife, says. “I made a comment that the rea- son there was a shortage was because they are all in West Plains. Every home had a flag, kids had flags. Businesses were buying flags and giv- ing them out in the streets.” While most Guard units are deployed about once every five years, the 1138th has been gone almost two out of the past three years, Sgt. 1st Class Dan Rivet says. The company spent one year guarding Fort Leonard Wood and nine months on duty in Kuwait, Qatar and parts of Iraq. Military police companies like the 1138th are often deployed with greater frequency because of their ver- sitale training. Danny never expected to be in the Guard. The father of two tried to join the Army two years after high school in 1980, but was turned away because of his flat feet. Looking back, Danny says he is glad his feet tripped him up. He has been a member of the Guard for 24 years and has been deployed with the 1138th four times. His first deployment, during Desert Storm in 1990, was bitter- sweet. His excitement to serve was overshadowed by the death of his older brother, Special Forces Capt. Allan Brown, in a helicopter crash during training at Fort Bragg, N.C., seven months earlier. Danny, who has lived in West Plains most of his life, is still amazed by the outpouring of community support, which seems to grow with every deployment, he says. When the company was away on duty, many West Plains businesses provided gestures of support to aid soldiers’ spouses, who were fighting their own battles with teenagers, finances and home repairs. Plumbers charged only for parts, neighbors babysat for free and some restaurants provided free meals. In addition to providing free din- ners for soldiers’ families and ship- ping care packages and cookies abroad, Ryan’s Family Steakhouse joined forces with Hilburn photogra- phy to offer portrait packages to the- families at a reduced cost. Many of the pictures taken of the 1138th line a back wall of the restaurant. “I have watched these kids go through proms and graduate from high school without one of their par- ents,” Rick Austin, manager of Ryan’s, says. “I just cannot put it into words how I feel about these families. It is like helping out your family more than anything else. ” To the school children of West Plains, members of the 1138th are major celebrities. When the mail came every three to six weeks overseas, soldiers would divvy up letters from local school chil- dren, sometimes answer- ing 12 letters each. A construction-paper flag with red cutout hands hangs in the armory above a glass case filled with souvenirs of war, including Iraqi dog tags and a copy of the Koran. Everyone is glad to be home, but soldiers of the 1138th are honest about the strain re-adjusting to civilian life puts on relationships and the resentments that often surface after missing a child’s birthday, wedding anniversaries and class reunions. “It’s been tough. We as individuals have changed. Our wives and kids have changed,” Danny says. “I have been back since December and there is still a lot of re-adjusting going on.” This past deployment has been especially hard on Danny, who lost his job months after he returned from the Middle East because his employer, Aerospace, Inc., closed its West Plains branch office. By law the re-employment rights of soldiers are protected, but nothing can be done for the self-employed or Guard members, like Brown, who loose their jobs because of company closings. Life in the Guard is tough on fami- lies too. Wives are often torn between supporting their husband’s passion to serve the country and desiring a stable life without the threat of deployments. Danny and Diana have been mar- ried for 22 years. They finish each other’s sentences and poke fun at each other’s quirks. Diana promised herself she would never make Danny choose between the two loves in his life, but her strength was tested when Danny was called up after his brother died. “At first I was like, well who asked me?” Diana says. “I would never do that to him though. I just put it in God’s hands and pray for him to come home, and if he doesn’t I know I will see him again someday.” She does have one rule though. Danny takes his stripes off at the door. “I have my moments,” he admits, laughing. “I am not allowed to give orders at home.” The Brown’s work hard on their marriage, but have seen some dissolve under the pressure of war, especially due to a lack of communication. Knowing the pressure military serv- ice puts on families and wanting to eliminate the financial burden of calling home, the VFW Post 1828 and Ladies Auxiliary donated an unlimited supply of pre-paid phone cards. “It didn’t cost a dime for any of our soldiers to call home for the entire year we were gone. When the cards ran out, they just sent more,” Rivet says. “I have got over 20 years in my career, and never have I seen a community like this one do what they do for their military.” On the home front, the Family Readiness Group, a support group for soldiers’ families, met every other week to get their minds off war and let the knots in their stomachs loosen. “More than anything we just need- ed someone to talk to who knew what we were going through,” Diana says. “But sometimes we would just go out to dinner or the park and not talk about it at all.” They did, however, talk about and plan the soldiers return in December. It was a hero’s welcome. “They sent two Medevac helicop- ters to meet us out on the highway. Then we were met by state patrol and county sheriff’s department,” Rivet says. “There were fire trucks escorting us all over town and through the square. People were lining the streets waving flags. It was unreal.” In the town of West Plains, the effects of war have reached far beyond the families of deployed soldiers. The community decided long ago that the burden was theirs to shoulder. Homeland proud, Hometown strong How one Missouri town supports its troops and pro- vides comfort to families battling on the home front Diana Brown tied a yellow ribbon to the mailbox in support of her husband, Danny, a member of the 1138th Military Police Co., when he was deployed to Kuwait in 2003. Thelbert Franks accepts a statue on behalf of the VFW Post 1828 and Ladies Auxiliary’s support of the 1138th. Awards were given to soldiers’ families and supportive businesses at a Freedom Salute Ceremony.