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Valley's veterans flock back to National Guard Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Sgt. First Class Roberto Solis walks past a line of military vehicles stationed at the Oregon Army National Guard in Medford, where he is a recruiter for the 186th Infantry Battalion. Solis says recruits are stepping forward at a rate four to five times higher than normal since the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. Many of them are veterans of the Persian Gulf War who want to "get the job done this time," Solis says. Volunteers sign up at four times the usual rate By PAUL FATTIG Sgt. First Class Roberto Solis could have just emerged from a military recruiting poster. His Oregon Army National Guard uniform looks like it marched straight out of the dry cleaners. His military bearing would put a West Point cadet to shame. Five rows of ribbons cover his heart, attesting to his 24 years in service, beginning when he was drafted into the Army in 1969. We're talking squared away. You could measure his flat top with a carpenter's square. But the recruiter for the 186th Infantry Battalion doesn't need any posters at his office in the Medford armory. Local National Guard recruiters say volunteers, prompted by patriotism, are stepping forward at a rate four to five times higher than normal since the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "There has been a real rush of prior-service people coming here," said Solis, 52. "I'm seeing a lot of guys who were in Desert Storm that feel they didn't go as far as they should have back then. What you hear them saying now is, 'Let's go get the job done this time.' " A 54-year-old woman who served in Army intelligence for four years wants to sign up as a citizen soldier. So does a nurse, age 55. "Usually, we're talking to recruits about what the Guard can do for them," said Master Sgt. Kevin Cutting, a Medford area recruiter for 14 years. "Now they are coming in and talking about what they can do for the Guard." Like Solis, he is seeing more veterans than first-time recruits. "I've had people older than 60 check us out to see if they can join," he said. They can't, although a veteran up to 58 years old can join with a waiver, providing he or she meets all the physical requirements. Those without prior service must be 17 to 35 to join the Guard. Matt Holmes, 29, Medford, is a prior-service recruit. He was a paratrooper in the U.S. Army's elite 82nd Airborne Division. But he is also a former member of the local Guard, serving from 1994 to 1998. "I'm joining up again because I believe our community is going to need us," Holmes said. "Maybe not on a global or national front, but possibly here at home providing security. Everybody has to do their part." Holmes, who is married with one child and another on the way, acknowledges it could be hard on his family if he is deployed away from home. He works for Lithia Motors Inc. "My wife supports me," he said. "She comes from a military family, so she understands." That military family bond is the vital glue that makes the battalion a cohesive unit, says Lt. Col. Daniel Cameron, 40, the battalion's commanding officer. To a man - and woman - the unit is ready for whatever mission it is given, he said. "All of us, like most Americans, want to see something done after this terrorist attack," he said. "We can't just let this be the status quo." Responding to state missions is the Guard's first duty, he said. "My guys were on the Quartz Fire," he said, referring to the 6,000-acre fire last month in the Applegate Valley. "When the floods came four years ago, they were there to help. They have been on search and rescue missions from time to time. That's all part of our state mission." But they also have been there when Uncle Sam summoned. The unit deployed 140 citizen soldiers in its Bravo Co. to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, early in 2000. They spent four months guarding Patriot missile batteries. Their mission was to help enforce United Nations sanctions levied against Iraq after the Gulf War in 1991. That mission was the only overseas operational deployment for the Oregon Guard since World War II, Cameron said. But members have trained in Japan, Panama, Germany and throughout the states in recent years, he added. Oregon Guard units also played support roles in the Korean, Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars. Immediately after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, the unit was initially given a security mission involving the Medford airport. However, that mission was canceled shortly afterward, Cameron said. Although there is plenty of scuttlebutt, no one yet knows what now awaits the unit, he said. But the citizen soldiers know the Pentagon has announced that it will call up some 50,000 members of the National Guard and Reserve to bolster the nation's defense. Three Oregon Air National Guard units, including about 100 people and four F-15 Eagle fighter jets from the 173rd Fighter Wing in Klamath Falls, were mobilized Wednesday. The other two units are from Portland and Warrenton. Fighter jets from the 173rd were among those patrolling the skies over Oregon following last week's terrorist attack. "It's possible there could be some ground troops from the Oregon Guard involved (overseas), but I don't think it's likely," Cameron said. "Whatever we end up doing, it's not going to be like Desert Storm, where you commit divisions and corps to a theater. "It's going to be smaller than that, something involving primarily special operations," he added. Cameron knows of what he speaks. He joined the U.S. Army in 1981, serving in Korea, where he was a company commander before being sent to the Pentagon for a year. A graduate of the University of Oregon law school, he assumed command of the Guard battalion in spring 1999. "I doubt that we'll be committed to an operational theater," he said. "We may be asked to provide security here in the United States. But no one has yet asked us to do that." Meanwhile, the battalion is waiting orders. "The younger people, they want to go do something right now," Cameron said. "The older people, who have spouses, jobs, kids, they aren't as excited about it. But they are all willing. We all are." Younger people generally haven't planted the family and community roots that their older compatriots have developed, he explained, noting that older in this case means late 20s. "Age is a relative thing here," he said. "I look around this unit and I see all these kids who were not born when I started doing this." He and his wife, Joy, have a son, Wally, who turns 2 in January. "We would all be proud to serve our country in any capacity," he said. "But you have to come to the conclusion that people get mangled and destroyed in war. Twenty-year-olds don't think they can be hurt." Staff Sgt. Kevin Anderson, 25, a full-time Guardsman who is married with three children, served in Saudi Arabia during the 2000 deployment. "My personal opinion right now is that, if we were to be called up, it would be to serve as homeland security for federal buildings and airports," he said. Like many others, he wouldn't look forward to leaving his family. "Nobody likes leaving wife and family," he said. "But I've done it before and I'll probably do it again." Supply Sgt. Patricia Herman, 36, who has two children, joined the Guard in 1996. She had served in the U.S. Army for nearly 13 years and was in Belgium during Desert Storm. Now the Grants Pass area resident keeps watch over M-16s and other arms and materials at the Medford armory. "I figure whatever comes, comes," she said. "I'm prepared." Her mother would watch her children if she were mobilized, she said. Sgt. Norm Dewey, 37, who served in the Middle East with the Marine Corps during Desert Storm, wouldn't mind going back. "Hopefully, they'll let us finish the job this time," he said. "We need to continue it until it's done." Staff Sgt. Paul Rhodes, 29, who joined the Guard 12 years ago, was among those dispatched to Saudi Arabia in 2000. Married without children, he works in private security when not doing work for the Guard. "At this point, it's pretty much a waiting game," Rhodes said. "But we'll be ready to go when the president says go." Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] About the Oregon National Guard The 186th Infantry Battalion of the Oregon Army National Guard has 624 soldiers spread throughout much of Southern Oregon. That includes line companies in Medford, Klamath Falls and Roseburg and a weapons company in Grants Pass. Medford also houses a battalion support attachment at its armory. Its headquarters company is based in Ashland. A few are full-time Guardsmen and women, but most are citizen soldiers who work in a civilian job full time and are in the Guard part time. In addition to a weekend a month, they train for two weeks at different locations. During the past five years, Oregon Army and Air National Guard units have served in about 28 foreign nations. The Oregon Army National Guard has 43 members now serving in Bosnia. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.