Civilian life put on hold for National Guard members

By Michael Gilbert | The News Tribune • Published July 13, 2008

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TACOMA – Ken Cummins works at Sound Transit, where they're counting down the days until next July when the agency launches its long-awaited light-rail service through Seattle to Sea-Tac Airport.

But Cummins, the mass transit agency's chief security officer, will miss next summer's ribbon-cutting and popping of champagne corks.

By then, he'll be counting down a different set of days, sweating out the final weeks of a deployment in Iraq with the Washington National Guard's 81st Brigade Combat Team. Members of the Guard were leaving this weekend for a month at the Army's Yakima Training Center. More training follows in Wisconsin, and then they'll head directly to the Middle East. They won't be home until August 2009.

Like many of the Iraq-bound soldiers in the 81st, Cummins has had to work doubly hard the past nine months to get things squared away at his civilian job before the call-up to go to war. The brigade first got word in October that it would likely be deployed. "Usually timelines can slip, but with this there is a hard, fast date, and after that, I'm no longer here," the 33-year-old South Hill resident said.

"I've been getting all the pieces for security and law enforcement in place almost a year in advance. That's been a huge challenge."

Cummins' situation isn't unique among the 2,500 or so Washington Guard members getting ready to go. It's the brigade's second trip to Iraq in four years. The state Guard doesn't track the employment or career fields of its soldiers, but officials said they come from all sectors. The public safety field is traditionally a big contributor. Several police and fire agencies in Pierce County have had their people called up to Guard and Army Reserve duty since the months leading up to the Iraq War.

Citizen-soldiers feel the same predeployment stresses as their active-duty counterparts: getting personal matters in order, dealing with anxieties that build up with friends and family. But putting civilian careers on hold is something extra for members of the Guard.