Army Reserve, families attend Mass before departing

By CASSIE DLG FEJERAN
Special to the Saipan Tribune

The Kristo Rai Church in Garapan was jampacked Sunday morning as families, friends, and members of the CNMI Army Reserve gathered together to pray for the soldiers before they depart for training today.

Gov. Juan N. Babauta was on hand to extend his prayers in hopes that the soldiers will return home safely. “First of all we salute the soldiers for their service to the country and we really will never know how they feel or how they and their families feel until we’re in their shoes. We just hope for their safety and their return home, which is really the most important. We have seen the casualties in the war in Iraq and our soldiers continue to get killed over there. Many have questions whether we have gone in to fight this war and whether it was justifiable or not. But we are in there and we need to complete the mission as called for by the president,” said Babauta.

With just a day before departure, the soldiers gathered together after the Mass with their families at their sides.

“We’re gonna go in and do our best and come back safe to our families. They [families] are gonna be sad, but we’ll stay in touch by prayers. We really need their prayers. I hope to be coming back soon to see them again,” said Dwight Pangelinan.

“It’s always hard to leave family and friends but you know it’s our job, and all we can do is go out there and try to do our best and make everybody here proud of us. Of course everybody’s taking it kind of hard ’cause, you know, like I said all the hardships and dangers that we face, but all we can do is just pray for the best and hope that we come back sooner than later,” said Winfred Camacho.

Harley Eriich said that his family is not too worried about the situation, with him leaving for war. “They’re [family] pretty proud, they’re not too worried. They know we’ll come back. We’ll all come back,” said Eriich.

Pedro Pangelinan has several relatives leaving for training. He said he is glad to see local residents doing their duty as part of the American family. “This is the first time our young men from the CNMI have been called to answer the call of duty. What we wish for our people is that hopefully they’ll be safe and come home to their families because we love them and they are our people. We want them to come home safe and sound,” he added.

With a long schedule of training, there is no expected date for their return. “I don’t know when they are coming back. All I know is that they may be looking at anywhere between 18-24 months, about two years. This is gonna be very difficult for the soldiers, families, and especially the children. We can only pray for them,” said governor Babauta.

Capt. Franklin R. Babauta, who is the Company Commander of Company E, 100th Battalion 442nd Infantry, said the unit will go to Hawaii for their annual training. They will also undergo the Soldiers Readiness Process while in Hawaii. The members will return back to say goodbye to their loved ones and families before they go again in August for additional training before they get deployed into the theatre of operation in either Iraq or Afghanistan.