Make Way

Photos by Brian Lindberg

This isn’t Curtis Persinger’s first go-round. It’s not is first hurrah, nor his first “hooah,” as soldiers say. It’s his third trip, to Iraq, that is. But this time everything is different.

Capt. Persinger is now a co-angler member of the National Guard Fishing Team, a father to a 10-month-old son, Bryson, who’s growing way too fast for a father about to head into combat, and the commander in charge of 120 lives.

“It’s different this time,” Persinger says. “My son is starting to walk. So I’m going to miss a lot of that.”

Of course, Persinger says that with the toughness all the soldiers in his company possess. He shields what I know is a lump the size of the 20-ton armored vehicle he’ll ride while on duty.

The National Guard is his job and a major part of his life. He’s not a “one weekend a month, two weeks a year” soldier. He works full time as the commanding officer of the 170 soldiers (50 are staying home) in the 940th Military Police Company out of Walton, Ky., although he calls New Albany, Ind., home. He’s married to Kathy, sister of a veteran of the Iraq War, whom he met just a month before he deployed the first time in Dec. 2003. Back then he was still an enlisted man holding the rank of sergeant. No kids. Fewer responsibilities. Just a soldier going to war. His second trip he served as an officer (first lieutenant) and platoon leader in 2008, having received a commission after finishing his college degree.

This time, Persinger is a captain. His responsibility has grown, and the number of soldiers under his command has increased. There’s some pressure there, sure, but also pride.

“I cannot express how proud I am of the troops I’m taking over,” he wrote to me in an e-mail. “I have seen them grow, learn and adjust to the adversity we have faced in the recent months. This same adversity we will see again on the battlefield. I can honestly say I would put any one of them in a foxhole with me to watch my six (Editor’s note: His “six” is his rear end, in military lingo). Being a commander is arguably one of the best and most stressful positions in the military. They give me 100 percent effort, and I cannot ask any more of them. They truly represent their families, the unit and the Kentucky Army National Guard to the best of their ability.”

Creative Director Brian Lindberg and I met Persinger earlier this month at an Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) event known as a Bosslift, where the ESGR loads up employers of reservists and guardsmen and flies them on a C-130 Hercules to a military training camp to witness their employees in training for their “other” jobs.

We left from Louisville, Ky., where the 123rd Airlift Wing loaded us up and dropped us at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center in Indiana, where Persinger and about 2,600 other Army and Air Force National Guard members in the 149th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade (MEB) from Kentucky, Utah and Virginia are midway through what will likely be a two-month mobilization training program before shipping out to Iraq in support of Operation New Dawn. Kentucky is sending about 1,300 soldiers, making this the largest mobilization of Kentucky National Guard troops since World War II.

What we witnessed I would call honing. These soldiers are already sharpened implements of battle. This final training is simply designed to buff their skills to a razor edge. In Iraq they’ll be charged with an assortment of tasks, from force protection and base defense (Persinger’s responsibilities) to convoy operations and personal security missions. The details are somewhat guarded, but the jist is that the job of the 149th MEB is to keep people safe and make sure they come home once the mission ends.

While at Camp Atterbury we watched the soldiers drill on these very tasks. We saw live fire demonstrations of a mock attack on a base, entry point security operations and close-quarters rifle drills. If you want to know intimidation, watch a dozen or more American soldiers mow down targets on the range. That’s tax dollars well spent.

We also met high-ranking officers, including Maj. Gen. Edward W. Tonini, the Adjutant General of the Kentucky Army and Air Force National Guard, and Col. Scott Campbell, the commander of the 149th MEB.

As for the soldiers, there were men and women from both the Army and Air Force. There were full-time soldiers, like Persinger, but there were also game wardens, construction workers, factory workers and dozens of other everyday people. There was even a son of a fellow FLW Outdoors employee. There were baby faces, weathered brows, skinny kids and muscled-up athletes. There were shoulders marked with “Airborne” and “Ranger” tabs, which in civilian English translates to “You don’t want to mess with me.”

It was a collection of soldiers from all walks, which is a nice thing when you’re “in country.” As Persinger puts it: “If an AC unit breaks down, we have somebody to fix it. Plumbing goes out, we have somebody to fix it. Lights need adjusted, we have an electrician somewhere in the company. You get the point.”

And the point is that these soldiers, wherever it is that they have come from, are going to do a job because they signed up to serve the country in whatever matters the country sees fit. When called, they answer. And for that, the rest of us are able to enjoy our freedoms, the least of which includes going fishing on Saturdays.

What we saw at Atterbury was a collection of soldiers ready to do a job. I’m sure the sacrifices they’re making aren’t easy, but I think the motto of Persinger’s 940th Military Police Company summarizes how they feel about it.

“Our company motto came from a Latin term `Aut viam inveniam aut facium,'” Persinger says, “which means `I will either find a way or make a way.’ Our company Motto is `MAKE A WAY.’ As they [the soldiers in the company] face adversity I watch them always `make a way.'”

And may they make a way home safely.

About the ESGR

The folks that allowed us to be a part of the Bosslift event where we witnessed National Guard troops preparing to deploy to Iraq are part of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR). It’s a Department of Defense agency whose primary objective is to “develop and promote a culture in which all American employers support and value the military service of their employees.”

ESGR relies primarily on volunteer efforts, much of which comes from retired military personnel, including the retired general and colonel, among others, that joined us on our trip. Volunteers hope to educate employers about laws and regulations regarding employment of National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers, but they also help to gain employment for those soldiers and assist them with issues before and after deployment.

If you’re interested in volunteering to help ESGR, or if you’re looking for a reliable, disciplined, orderly and drug-free employee, log on to esgr.mil. Or call ESGR at 1.800.336.4590.