 PEF families endure separation during war time Members serve overseas in ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’ By DEBORAH A. MILES Since the U.S. declared war on Iraq, dozens of PEF members serving in various military branches awake in tents overseas to the distinctive heart-pulsating sound of helicopters flying above and the deep-pitched rumbling of tanks crossing the desert. Military duty for these members symbolizes not only bravery, but a conviction to remedy what they refer to as the gap in the New York skyline. They endure intense desert heat, dangerous missions and separation from their loved ones. PEF member Barbara Maynard, an associate computer programmer/analyst with Higher Education Services Corporation, anxiously awaits e-mail from her husband — Captain Robert Maynard, who is also a PEF member, assigned to the 439th Aeromedical Staging Squadron, with the U.S. Air Force Reserves 37th Airlift Squadron at Camp Wolf. His full time job is as a parole officer in PEF Region 8. “I’m extremely lucky and grateful that I can actually have contact with Bob,” Maynard says. “He tells me he’s in a safe area and well protected. His messages are brief, and he thanks me for taking care of things at home.” Capt. Maynard’s job is evacuating and transporting injured soldiers from the front lines to Mobile Aeromedical Staging Facilities units and U.S. military hospitals such as those in Ramstein, Germany.  Grueling
days and nightsIn a recent, brief e-mail to PEF, Capt. Maynard writes, “I am sorry this is so short, but I am very busy. I am at Camp Wolf, but unable to tell you exactly where that is. I work 14 to 18 hours a day coordinating air evacuation of patients. “We sleep, eat and work in tents, No time for recreation. We get what we need to keep going and working. The days are filled with Scud alerts, unscheduled arrival of patients and scheduling evacuation of patients from this location out on fixed-wing aircraft.” His wife mails him items such as shampoo, deodorant, local newspapers, towels, cigars for friends. “He stood in line for more than two hours at a PX (Post Exchange) location, which was a truck,” she said. “I just love and miss him,” she added. “I pray for all the soldiers and can’t wait till this is over.” ON A MISSION — PEF member and U.S. Air Force Captain, Robert Maynard, returns from a conference for military medical personnel on a C-141 last year. He is currently stationed overseas at Camp Wolf with the 439th Aeromedical Staging Squadron where he evacuates injured soldiers from the front lines. — Photo by U.S. Air Force Capt. Moore Training transfers to duty Lisa Green, whose husband, PEF member Jeff Green, works as a facility parole officer in Cayuga, shares that sentiment. 1st Lieutenant Green is stationed at Fort Drum with the U.S. National Guard and was assigned to the U.S. Army’s 105th Military Police (MP) Company. “Jeff has been training at Fort Drum for a couple of months,” Green says. “He’s expected to go overseas any day now.” Green says her husband is usually assigned to the cavalry unit. “Some of the training he’s had as a parole officer and being qualified as a weapons instructor probably attached him to the MP unit. “He’s trained, he thinks he is well-prepared and he’s anxious to go,” she says. In an e-mail to PEF, Green writes, “The details of the mission in the Middle East are classified. I was assigned as a scout platoon leader in Geneva, NY. I have now been reassigned to an MP company as a platoon leader. I was approved by the Department of the Army as being MP-qualified, due to my law-enforcement background.” |
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