Editorial:THE WAR AT HOME
By BRADLEY A. MARTIN
Hickman CountyTimes
Centerville, Tenn., June 4, 2007
As June arrives and you prepare for another ballgame with your kids, here’s a thought worth remembering:
Soldiers are still preparing to go to the war zone known as Iraq.
Soldiers from HickmanCounty. Here’s the latest list:
Troy Bowman, Mark Clavette, Charles Dickens, Kyle Dieter, Randall Halbrooks, Floyd Hudson and Travis Powell.
All are members of the Tennessee Army National Guard. Most of them have been previously deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. All of them are preparing to head that way, beginning this month.
All of them volunteered for this specific duty, which will keep them away for a year or more.
“We call it command directed -- they have not been command directed,” says John M. Wilson, the family assistance specialist with the 771st of Centerville who works with Guardsmen and their relatives in eight counties.
“This is a volunteer military; these people are volunteering of their own free will and accord. Politics is not an issue. They’re soldiers. That’s the American way.
“I’m amazed, and proud at that,” said Wilson, who supplied the latest list.
Still don’t understand? Wilson says you should read “Flags of Our Fathers,” a recent bestseller about Iwo Jima.
“That’ll grab you -- the sacrifices these people made. They just went over there and did what they had to do.”
Go ahead, argue politics -- that Bush is whacked and Congress has no guts and things aren’t getting better. Or maybe they are and the media just isn’t telling us, and terrorism will soon be eradicated from the Earth so help me God.
Don’t do it on the soldiers’ nickel, though.
“Duty, honor, country is the predominant theme,” said Wilson. “They’d rather do that than try to find a job here. It’s difficult to find a job here.”
Hmmm. That’s a tough row, realizing that the need for finances could cause a man to head for a war zone. Not my idea of a land of opportunity.
Wilson said money is not an uncommon reason; a solider who re-enlists for six years while on a tour of duty will get a $15,000 bonus. That’s important money to a Guardsman with a spouse and kids at home.
We here know that jobs are tough to come by right now. You should be aware that YKK — a 33-year cornerstone of this county’s economy — will let all of their 68 employees go home, starting in July, and most of them still need to work. Where do they go in a county where 60 percent leave for elsewhere every morning?
In HickmanCounty, there is some hope for occupational progress, but it’s extremely slow. In the case of Housing Innovations -- the Kentucky company interested in the old Tencon building -- you should keep hoping, because every word I hear is that things are looking good, but that it’s just a slow process.
Remember their plan: 50 jobs to start, then 50 more, up to 380. Hard to believe, given the job difficulties here going back to Levi’s and Tencon. Great to hope for, since it might overcome the YKK hit . . . though we are still struggling to overcome Levi’s, back a decade ago now.
At the last meeting of the Legislative Body, commissioners gave unanimous approval to the 2007 update of the countywide economic development plan, as proposed by Vision 21. Key elements:
Transportation, broadband and other infrastructure improvements; promotion and improvement of the local retain base; improvement of tourism and attractions; more support for agritourism, and improved accessibility to health care.
“There’s a lot of good things in it,” said commissioner Nathaniel Bates. “But what I noticed in it, there ain’t much emphasis on getting jobs in this county.”
“That is economic development," said Daryl Phillips, the economic development director. “Getting jobs, increasing the quality of the jobs and attracting capital investment . . . these particular planning issues and the strategic plan are about getting there.”
In other words, you have to go around the block to get next door. Sort of like the soldiers, who may very well see the real world more clearly than the rest of us. Is it really a global market?
Wilson says enlistment in the Guard is growing, even though a war that depends heavily on it continues unabated. It’s worth knowing that 11 members of the HCHS Class of 2007 made a commitment to the National Guard before they received their diplomas. Sgt. Maj. Ronald Dahms says that’s a record.
“It’s amazing how many people are getting in the Guard, given the possibilities,” says Wilson.