Families 'Walk to Iraq' for physical, mental health

FORT DRUM — Soldiers aren't the only ones who have a tough job during a deployment.

"You've got your calendar full, and there's only just one of you to drive here and drive there," said Paola A. Fisher, wife of Capt. William P. Fisher, a battery commander with a field artillery unit from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division.

The unit deployed last week to Iraq, leaving Ms. Fisher with three young children to care for, and just one-half the adult supervision to rely upon.

"You're doing a job that was being done by two people," she said. "That's overwhelming."

Pushing a stroller holding daughter Kadielynne, almost 2, and keeping an eye out for her two boys running ahead, Ms. Fisher was one of about two dozen adult family members who turned out Sunday afternoon at the track behind the Magrath Sports Complex on post for a program called "Walk to Iraq."

Organized by the 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Family Readiness Group, the day's 2-mile walk was the formal kickoff to a yearlong effort by the group to log 5,896 miles walked, the distance from Fort Drum to Iraq.

Members started logging miles individually Oct. 1. But the kickoff event was the first time the group had gathered since the soldiers' deployment.

"It's been kind of drilled into us that exercise is one of the best things to do, especially in the winter," to keep spirits up during a family member's deployment, Jessica M. Smith said.

She came up with the idea for the program and helped to organize it with Sarah R. Groefsema. Both women are mothers of young children and have deployed husbands. They said that advice came as part of the Army's predeployment preparation for soldiers' families.

The walk participants, mostly young and several expectant mothers toting small children, said the toughest times were at night, when they had to get used to heading to bed alone.

Questions from children also could tug at the heartstrings, they said.

With his father gone for less than a week, Ms. Smith's son, Jaden, already had asked when his daddy would be home.

Julie L. Hutson, wife of battalion commander Lt. Col. Heyward G. Hutson III, said her young son was overly optimistic about the "Walk to Iraq" event.

He "brought a card and thought he would give it to his daddy today when he got to Iraq," she said.

It's not only events such as this one, which help fill time, but also the connections they foster that help military families cope, participants said. As she adjusted to her husband's first deployment, Ms. Smith had one "bad emotional day," she said. She called Ms. Groefsema.

"What did I tell you?" asked Ms. Groefsema, who is confronting her husband's third deployment with the no-nonsense, battle-tested wisdom of a veteran.

She pulled out a piece of well-worn advice for her friend: "You have to remember your good days on your bad days."