WENATCHEE — Their guardsman husbands will endure the most intense of times together in Iraq, but most of the wives were barely acquainted until Sunday.
A host of veterans groups and Bobbie Shaw, wife of National Guardsman Mark Shaw, a corporal, organized a farewell picnic at Lincoln Park for the 41 members of Wenatchee’s 161st Infantry National Guard unit.
The unit departed Monday, first to Fort McCoy in Wisconsin and then on to Kuwait and, by early November, Iraq, for a year’s deployment. They’ll provide security for convoys.
“It’s pretty scary. We’ll be keeping him in our prayers. I know he’ll be safe, but it’s hard to think about,” newlywed Elise Diede, 21, of Wenatchee said at the picnic Sunday.
A broad circle of U.S. flags encompassed the picnic area. The lightest of breezes provided little relief from the 100-degree heat.
Families lined up for hamburgers and hot dogs. Red, white and blue balloons bobbed from rows of tables. A short ceremony added an obvious solemnity to the event, but only for a moment.
Elise and Joshua Diede, 22, were married on July 7. Iraq will be his first deployment, but it didn’t come as a surprise to the young specialist.
“It wasn’t a question of if. It was a question of when,” he said.
While he’s away Elise will study at a Seattle-area dental school to become a hygienist. “It’ll be good to stay busy,” she said.
Event organizer Shaw has been through this before. This will be her husband’s second deployment to Iraq.
It’s been harder this time around.
“Just knowing that my husband has come home safe once, having to send him back there is real hard,” she said. “We’ll just take it day by day.”
The couple have a 9-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son.
“We’re a lot closer as a family now,” she said. “That separation made us aware of what we have as a family. … I didn’t know my heart could ache that bad.”
Her husband says he can’t think of any of that when he’s in the field.
“I’ve trained my mind, and all I try to think about is my job,” he said. “That makes time go by faster.”
“The picnic gives the wives a chance to know each other. Only a few of us did,” Bobbie Shaw added. “And it’s one more reassurance for the soldiers to see that this community is behind them 100 percent.”
Annette Buelow, 45, of Wenatchee, says her husband, Staff Sgt. Mike Buelow, 39, has been getting mentally prepared for his second deployment.
The first was to Afghanistan. This one’s to Iraq.
“The deployment frame of mind sets in about a month ahead of time,” she said. “He just gets really focused.”
Their daughter, Jaime Sabo, added in passing, “He starts treating his grandchildren like soldiers!”
The couple’s four children and three grandchildren will keep Annette Buelow busy.
But the worst part is still to come.
“The sadness will hit me tomorrow. The tears will flow,” she said. “That’s the hardest part, when the bus comes and they all get on. It really hits you hard then.”
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