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A soldier's family waits

Aug- 4-2006 » Filed Under: Homefront

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Joe Wolfcale

Charlotte Blumenberg stared blankly at the oblong table in the family's San Anselmo home graced with mementos of her 22-year-old son, John, a U.S. Army specialist in Iraq.

There were precisely painted Army figurines, a stack of photographs from the war-torn region, a closeup of the cherub face of John's newborn daughter Lillian, and a handwritten letter professing his love of flyfishing.

She grasped the letter tightly and held it close to her heart.

The family - including father David and sisters Annie and Ricci - were anticipating a joyous reunion last week, awaiting John's arrival home after a yearlong stint in Iraq.

Instead, the 2002 Sir Francis Drake High School graduate was redeployed to the region when the Department of Defense announced the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team would have its tour extended 120 days to boost security in Baghdad.

"I have not slept through the night for months in anticipation of his homecoming, but now it's worse," said his mother, Charlotte, a consultant for a San Rafael pension administration firm. "I wake up in the middle of the night and look for peace in prayer. I then either send e-mails to friends or read a novel until I can't keep my eyes open.

"It's so hard to sleep knowing they are in harm's way, more so than they have been for the past year."

John Blumenberg, a SAW or Squad Automatic Weapons gunner on an armored assault vehicle with the 3,900-troop Stryker Brigade, had been in Mosul since last summer. His head often is perched in a gun turret and he operates a 5.56-millimeter automatic weapon, capable of firing 200 rounds.

According to military officials, the redeployment was necessary after violence escalated in Baghdad.

"This will place our most experienced unit with our most mobile and agile systems in support of our main effort," said Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the military's top commander in Iraq. "With the rest of the elements of the plan, this gives us potentially decisive capability to affect security in Baghdad."

The situation scares the Blumenberg family. Baghdad has become a flash point for Sunni and Shiite militias.

"That's the scariest part, going to Baghdad," Charlotte Blumenberg said. "You really start to question your faith. Sometimes you wonder if it's worth praying. I guess that's all we can do."


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