Iraq-bound troops at BIA share holiday memories

BANGOR – Talk to Army National Guard Master Sgt. Kyle Krysiak about Thanksgiving and he’ll tell you about the pecan pie his mom makes – the best, he insists – and the time he spends with his family at their hunting camp and the 29-year streak he’s had of shooting a buck on Thanksgiving.

But this year was different.

“This was the first year I didn’t get a buck since I was 14 years old,” Krysiak said Friday, dressed in camouflage intended not for hunting game but as a protective measure in Iraq.

He also couldn’t spend Thanksgiving with his family. They were in Trenary, Mich.; he was at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin before making a brief stop in Bangor.

His deployment to Iraq as part of the 1225th Corps Support Battalion included the stop at Bangor International Airport on Friday, where about 90 service men and women from five National Guard units were greeted with fanfare.

It was one of several troop flights that passed through the airport Friday. Inside the terminal, Guard members used cell phones to reach loved ones and were offered handshakes and hugs from complete strangers, the troop greeters, many former soldiers themselves.

Some of the visitors used the layover to quietly read up on the news. Others sat quietly and, when asked, reflected warmly on Thanksgivings past and of hopes of returning safely to renew those memories.

Army National Guard Capt. David Waskevich of the 1225th said he spent much of this Thanksgiving in meetings. And after 16 years in the military, it was the first time the day was spent away from family. It’s hard, he said, but he also acknowledged it was a matter of duty.

“It was my turn,” Waskevich simply said.

It didn’t mean he would go without a traditional Thanksgiving meal, though. Waskevich had planned on beer and football with fellow Guardsmen at the Tee Pee restaurant in Tohma, Wis., about six or seven miles from the Guard base.

Instead, once at the restaurant, Waskevich and others were shown a seat and promptly given a traditional Thanksgiving meal.

“In less than a minute, I had a plate of food in front of me,” he said.

In the spirit of the holiday, the restaurant had opened its doors for the community, from the military to residents, the needy and homeless.

Siblings Edward Sears, 19, and Meredith Sears, 22, both specialists with the 3153rd Finance Detachment based in St. Augustine, Fla., were unable to spend Thanksgiving with their family in Ponte Vedra, outside St. Augustine.

But they said that spending the day with people they’re training with helped to fill the void, at least a little bit.

“In a way, they’ve become family too,” the younger Sears said.

They’ve been in contact with their family: Meredith Sears spoke to her mother, a manager at Stein Mart in Jacksonville Beach, on Friday. On such a hectic shopping day, the conversation was brief.

Sears said her mother offered some advice, and cried.

“Be safe and take care of your brother,” her mother told her.