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Sending help from the home front

Jul- 3-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

Women’s Republican Club’s “Adopt-a-Boca Soldier” program ships boxes of supplies to local Pfc. and his brigade in Iraq

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By Nicol Jenkins, Boca Raton News

A few family photos, boxes of clothes and pieces of a broken motorcycle are all the mother and stepfather have left of their oldest son James until he returns home from Iraq.

"It's been a year ago in June since we've seen him," said Richard Fenick, as he sits at his desk in his Boca Raton office with his wife Vicki clutching a family photograph and talking about happier times spent with his stepson.

"He left a motorcycle in a pile of pieces and we're supposed to hold it for him to rebuild it when he gets back," Richard said.

"He likes motorcycles," adds Vicki, who also has two younger sons named Richard and Matthew.

The mother and stepfather say they miss their son but are proud of what he is doing for his country. [...]

In June of 2004, James was shipped off to Fort Louis, an Army base in Washington and then a few months later to Iraq, where he serves as an E3 private first class in the stryker brigade escorting convoys in an artillery vehicle around Mosul, just north of Baghdad.

The 25-year-old soldier still manages weekly phone calls filled with stories and assurances of his safety bringing some comfort to his mother.

"It's a very draining job," Vicki said. "They're out there every day. They have highs and lows. He tells me they have moments where they throw candy at the kids and joke around with the people. There's a lot of downtime too, when they sit around, it's tedious." [...]

The Contemporary Federated Women�s Republican Club of Boca is looking to adopt more local soldiers and their families. For more information, you can e-mail Mary Mulhall at confedrepclub@yahoo.com or call 561-479-4483.

Nicol Jenkins can be reached at njenkins@bocanews.com or 56-893-6619.


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