Eau Claire soldier ready for war in Iraq
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By Dan Simmons La Crosse Tribune
Tuesday, August 9, 2005 11:32 AM CDT
CAMP SHELBY, MISS. -- He won't bring an iPod. Or a laptop. Or a PlayStation.
All of which makes Pfc. Donald Taylor, of Eau Claire, kind of a lone wolf among his fellow soldiers in the 32nd Engineer Company of Onalaska, Wis.
''I'm pretty old school, I guess,'' Taylor, 42, said Monday as he stuffed 50 pounds of gear into a green duffel bag.
Like his fellow soldiers, Taylor will fly to Iraq next week, toting two Army-issued duffel bags and a personal bag. The Army supplies them a detailed list of required items to pack in the duffels - ''4 Underwear (Optional), 2 Pair White Socks, 4 Combat Boot Socks'' - but they're on their own to fill the personal bag.
As Taylor said, most of the younger soldiers' packs come stuffed with electronics gadgets and gizmos, both for entertainment and to kill time.
''They'll take up three hours of your day, minimum,'' said Spc. Jason Putzier, 24, of Winona, Minn.
The one electronic item not packed: cell phones.
''I hear there's crazy roaming charges in Kuwait,'' cracked Pfc. Dan Streicher, 19, of Onalaska.
As the younger ones glued their eyes to DVD screens or bobbed their heads to tunes streaming from their iPods, Taylor showed a visitor his wedding ring. Its gold polish has gone dull. It's nicked and scratched, like an old baseball. It's shaped more like an egg than an orange.
''It's been beat up pretty hard here at Camp Shelby,'' he said. ''I was going to leave it behind before I went to Iraq, but I just couldn't do it.''
Instead, he'll have it reshaped and polished up when he returns home on leave Thursday for a final visit with his wife, Renae Taylor, and his three kids, Olivia, Erica and Elias.
He'll also pack up the final additions to his bag: about 200 Beanie Babies collected by his children.
''They don't really understand what's going on,'' he said, ''but they know I'm going to be in Iraq, and they want me to have something to give kids I encounter over there.''
Taylor's ring and Beanie Babies provide perhaps the lightest but often most essential part of a soldier's equipment: reminders of home. And it's not just the older guys who recognize their importance.
''I wear this in my breast pocket at all times,'' said Pfc. Tom Wilson, 19, of La Crosse. He was holding a silver Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources coin, encased in hard plastic. ''My dad's a conservation warden, and he gave it to me the day I left for Camp Shelby. I gave him an Engineer's coin. They're really special reminders we both have of each other.''
Sgt. Jason Rentmeester, 23, of La Crosse, pulled a small silver cross from his pocket. He said his priest, the Rev. Larry Berger of Holy Trinity Catholic Church, gave it to him just before he left for Camp Shelby.
''It's nothing fancy,'' he said, ''but it reminds me of my faith and of the people in my parish who support me.''
Pvt. Andy Towner, 20, of Onalaska, will pack a diary that was part of a going-away package from college friends.
''I really want to document what I did over there so I can remember it later and share it with the people who gave it to me,'' he said.
Spc. John Brueske, 31, of La Crosse, will bring letters from home and old Sports Illustrated magazines, he said. But he'll also pack another item to remind him of home - ''decent toilet paper.'' He'll ship over 12 giant rolls of Charmin, and stuff his personal bag with as many rolls as possible for immediate use.
''That one-ply, military sandpaper stuff tends to chafe,'' he said.
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