Home until after the holidays
Knowing that they're facing 18 months of separation after the holidays, the Lutzes are hitting all their favorite restaurants and generally enjoying Pittsburgh together while they can.
In Greensburg, the Stewarts are trying to bundle 18 months of anniversaries, holidays and birthdays into the next few weeks.
In Washington County, the Mazzas are taking a week off to spend with each other and the kids.
The Christmas holiday season already can be one of the most stressful times of the year, but for about 2,100 Pennsylvania families, the stress isn't theoretical.
The U.S. Defense Department announced earlier this month that it's mobilizing about 2,100 Pennsylvania National Guard members in January. Along with about 1,600 soldiers from other states, the Pennsylvania Guard members will make up the 2nd Brigade Combat Team.
After training for about five months at Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg, Miss., and one month at the Army's National Training Center in the Mojave Desert, the brigade will deploy to Iraq for about a year.
For Capt. Reece Lutz, commander of Company A of the 110th Infantry, the Defense Department announcement signaled his defeat in a long-running skirmish with his wife, Alison Archer, about how to renovate their Squirrel Hill home.
"As soon as I was deployed, I knew I had lost that dream -- to renovate my own house," Reece, 34, said with a laugh.
Snuggled beside him on their living room couch, Archer, 30, smiled and said she's already picking contractors.
A military life has a way of settling a lot of issues. In preparation for the deployment, they've had to go over legal issues, such as wills and power of attorney, and also more mundane stuff, such as home repairs.
"We're forced to make a lot of decisions that other people would wait to decide," Lutz said.
"Or never decide," Archer added.
Their biggest worry⢠That the Steelers will make it to the Super Bowl, and they won't be able to watch the game together.
"I would probably give up three Christmases to be here sitting on the couch, watching that with her," said Lutz, a Latin teacher at St. Edmund's Academy, Squirrel Hill.
Lutz said it also hurts to know he'll miss a season of baseball, but at least he should be back when the All-Star Game comes to PNC Park in 2006.
Although they usually go for a quiet Christmas, they have family coming in this year. They're also ignoring their budget to enjoy restaurants and Pittsburgh's cultural offerings.
"We're trying to do fun things, trying to keep it light," Archer said.
In Greensburg, Westmoreland County, 1st Sgt. James Stewart and his wife, Anna Marie Stewart, have the added task of helping everyone else prepare for deployment.
James Stewart, 40, is the operations sergeant for the 110th Infantry's headquarters unit -- a full-time position that is responsible for keeping the unit functioning. Anna Marie Stewart -- don't dare ask her age -- runs the unit's family readiness support group.
The sergeant said the preparations have included classes for wives on how to start and use lawn mowers and snow blowers, add windshield wiper fluid to their cars and other tasks their husbands usually handle.
Anna Marie Stewart said they've also compiled lists of trusted plumbers, mechanics, electricians and others who can be relied on while the unit is deployed.
"We pretty well have everything covered that we need to cover," she said.
Pulling together is particularly hard for the families of the 110th Infantry because it's spread over several counties and doesn't have a central base. Despite those obstacles, Stewart said she's confident the unit has one of the strongest family support groups in the military.
"We are set, ready to go for this deployment," she said.
On a personal level, the Stewarts are trying to compress 18 months of celebrations.
"We're trying to put two or three Christmases into one," she said. "We're having birthdays early. We're going to bump everything up."
Staff Sgt. Dominick Mazza, with Company B of the 876th Engineer Battalion, also works full-time for the Pennsylvania National Guard handling human resources for his unit. Mazza said he and his wife are making sure they visit all of their relatives. Candi Mazza said they're also hearing from friends, such as camping buddies, they normally would hear from this time of year "so they can all say their 'good lucks.' "
The Washington couple has made only one special preparation for the deployment.
"We both took the next week off," Dominick Mazza, 32, said. "We'll spend the whole week together with the kids."
Candi Mazza, 23, spent six years in the Army National Guard and has held a job for 2 1/2 years advising other military spouses on how to handle deployments.
"I've always had a passion for it. I like to make people feel better," she said.
Now, she's experiencing the stress and other emotions of a deployment for herself. Mazza said there haven't been any surprises, but she has a better understanding of what other spouses go through.
"I'm definitely stressed and frazzled," she said.
When it comes to handling the actual deployment, Mazza said she'll have a "mission" every day.
"I plan to have things to do so I don't just come home, drop my purse and sit in a chair and mope," she said.
The other spouses agreed that keeping busy is important. Anna Marie Stewart said the support group has several activities planned, including making and shipping gifts to the soldiers. She said the main emotion to overcome is grief.
"You're numb. Something comes over you. I can't explain it if you're not in it," she said. "The hardest part is worrying day to day. You have to keep busy."
Archer said nobody is happy about the deployment.
"As a military family, you prepare for it," she said.
Lutz said the deployment probably will be harder on the families than on the soldiers. The soldiers will miss their loved ones, but they'll also be in unfamiliar surroundings and doing jobs that require all of their attention.
"I think it's sometimes harder to be home without your loved ones," he said. "It's all familiar, but there's something missing."
