LOCKE - The first thing Denise Weir does at work every morning is cross off another square on her calendar, counting down the days until her daughter, Heather Pierce, arrives home from her deployment in Iraq.
Jill Connor / The Citizen
Heather Pierce gets a hug from her cousin Alexis Anderson, 5, at a party. Heather is home from Iraq. Her husband, Seth, right, who is also in the military, laughs with friends and family at the party in Locke on Sunday afternoon.
Heather Pierce gets a hug from her cousin Alexis Anderson, 5, at a party. Heather is home from Iraq. Her husband, Seth, right, who is also in the military, laughs with friends and family at the party in Locke on Sunday afternoon.
This week her calendar is blank.
Pierce is on her 18-day leave from duty as a sergeant with the U.S. Army's 3rd Sustainment Brigade in Tikrit, where she has been deployed since July.
For the 24-year-old Moravia native, the break has meant a welcome reprieve from the 120-degree desert heat, a chance to wear jeans and T-shirts, to go clubbing with her best friend, Nikki, and to indulge in some of her grandfather's barbecued chicken.
It's been a busy week.
On Monday, she picked her father up in a rented limousine for a birthday dinner at Chili's in Aurelius. On Tuesday, she bought a new Suzuki 750 JXR to ride with her motorcycle club back in Fort Stewart, Ga. On Friday, she hit the tanning bed and got a French tip manicure with her mom at Wal-Mart.
This week has also been an unofficial honeymoon for Pierce and her husband, Seth, who have spent most of their married life deployed. In the almost two years since the couple were wed in front of a justice of the peace, they have spent fewer than two weeks together.
On Friday, they finally introduced their families to each other and shopped for a diamond ring at Kohl's.
For Weir, having her daughter home has relieved her from the constant anxiety of waiting for the phone to ring.
“I live by my cell phone,” Weir said. “I carry my cell phone everywhere, for the phone call saying, 'Mom, I'm alright.'”
Weir watches the news every night, preferring even bad news to no news, but says it's easy to disassociate the events she sees on television from her tough, blue-eyed daughter. It wasn't until one of Heather and Seth's best friends was killed in a roadside explosion in February that the reality of the danger began to sink in.
More than once this week, Weir said she got up in the middle of the night just to watch her daughter sleep.
If Heather doesn't seem to have trouble sleeping, it is perhaps due to her relatively safe duties as a clerk with a motor pool during this, her second deployment. Instead of dwelling on the stress, she said, she prefers to forget about her work and live in the moment.
“When I'm home, I'm home,” she said.
The slam of a dumpster or the sound of a snowplow hitting asphalt, however, makes her jump.
The impact of war on her everyday life has been subtle, indeed, but it's still there. When driving down the road, she said, she feels as though she should be driving in the center to avoid danger near the shoulders.
Living in a war zone has also heightened her appreciation for comforts of American life.
“I think everyone should do a deployment,” she said. “It makes you appreciate everything more - how good we have it. Their children are on the side of the road begging for food.”
According to Weir, the danger of combat deployments has been offset by the sense of purpose the military has given her daughter. Heather recently reenlisted for another five years for a bump in income and the chance to study for a career as a pastry chef.
In the meantime she hopes to enjoy every minute of her vacation, which always feels too short.
“R&R is a tease because you try to cram everything you can into only 18 days,” she said.
Pierce is on her 18-day leave from duty as a sergeant with the U.S. Army's 3rd Sustainment Brigade in Tikrit, where she has been deployed since July.
For the 24-year-old Moravia native, the break has meant a welcome reprieve from the 120-degree desert heat, a chance to wear jeans and T-shirts, to go clubbing with her best friend, Nikki, and to indulge in some of her grandfather's barbecued chicken.
It's been a busy week.
On Monday, she picked her father up in a rented limousine for a birthday dinner at Chili's in Aurelius. On Tuesday, she bought a new Suzuki 750 JXR to ride with her motorcycle club back in Fort Stewart, Ga. On Friday, she hit the tanning bed and got a French tip manicure with her mom at Wal-Mart.
This week has also been an unofficial honeymoon for Pierce and her husband, Seth, who have spent most of their married life deployed. In the almost two years since the couple were wed in front of a justice of the peace, they have spent fewer than two weeks together.
On Friday, they finally introduced their families to each other and shopped for a diamond ring at Kohl's.
For Weir, having her daughter home has relieved her from the constant anxiety of waiting for the phone to ring.
“I live by my cell phone,” Weir said. “I carry my cell phone everywhere, for the phone call saying, 'Mom, I'm alright.'”
Weir watches the news every night, preferring even bad news to no news, but says it's easy to disassociate the events she sees on television from her tough, blue-eyed daughter. It wasn't until one of Heather and Seth's best friends was killed in a roadside explosion in February that the reality of the danger began to sink in.
More than once this week, Weir said she got up in the middle of the night just to watch her daughter sleep.
If Heather doesn't seem to have trouble sleeping, it is perhaps due to her relatively safe duties as a clerk with a motor pool during this, her second deployment. Instead of dwelling on the stress, she said, she prefers to forget about her work and live in the moment.
“When I'm home, I'm home,” she said.
The slam of a dumpster or the sound of a snowplow hitting asphalt, however, makes her jump.
The impact of war on her everyday life has been subtle, indeed, but it's still there. When driving down the road, she said, she feels as though she should be driving in the center to avoid danger near the shoulders.
Living in a war zone has also heightened her appreciation for comforts of American life.
“I think everyone should do a deployment,” she said. “It makes you appreciate everything more - how good we have it. Their children are on the side of the road begging for food.”
According to Weir, the danger of combat deployments has been offset by the sense of purpose the military has given her daughter. Heather recently reenlisted for another five years for a bump in income and the chance to study for a career as a pastry chef.
In the meantime she hopes to enjoy every minute of her vacation, which always feels too short.
“R&R is a tease because you try to cram everything you can into only 18 days,” she said.
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