Maine Army National Guard Specialist Kevin Tedesco will soon be heading to Iraq for a year tour of duty as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
But that’s all he knows for sure.
Tedesco said he’s in the dark about the details of his assignment. He said he leaves for specialized training the day after Easter, and once that training is done, he’ll be leaving for Iraq. But he doesn’t know where he’ll be training , or what exactly he’ll be doing once he gets to Iraq.
All he knows is when he gets to Iraq he’ll have to be alert and attentive at all times.
Tedesco is leaving as part of the Security Force, or SECFOR, of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He’s one of the few remaining Maine National Guard soldiers who haven’t done a tour yet in either Iraq or Afghanistan. Only 20 years old, he wasn’t done with his initial training when his unit, the 133rd Engineering Battalion, was sent to Iraq over a year ago. Now he’s going as one of a handful of 133rd soldiers who work at the Portland Armory. He said they’d be joining a field artillery unit from Maine and another unit from Nevada.
According to Lt. Shanon Cotta, public affairs officer for the National Guard in Maine, Tedesco is one of the last soldiers in Maine to serve in Iraq or Afghanistan. Of the approximately 2,000 guard members in Maine, 80 percent have already served. Only about 300 are left to go.
Tedesco is going as part of a security force instead of an engineering unit. It’s not what he specializes in, but it’s something he and his mother hope his training will get him through, especially with another couple months of specialized training before he leaves.
“In the beginning, it took us a little bit to get used to him doing something he doesn’t normally do,” said Kathy Tedesco. “As his mom, I’m certainly concerned with that, but I hope his training will take care of him. I’m banking on it.”
Tedesco said he’s trying not to get too worried about it all, and neither are his family and friends. Although he said one of his friends’ mothers cried when she saw his helmet one day.
Tedesco said he thinks he’ll get training in urban combat, weapons, medical, convoy security-whatever he’ll need. He said he’s nervous, but he’s more ready to go than scared. He’s not gung-ho about going to war; he just said not a lot bothers him.
“I think I’ll be able to handle it,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll just do what we have to. Definitely I’m going to do what I can do, whatever I can do, to stay alive.”
His mother said he’s a laid-back guy who doesn’t get too stressed by things in general. She said she thinks he’s the type of person who can handle tough situations. “I don’t think everybody can do it, but there isn’t a lot that ruffles his feathers,” she said.
Tedesco moved to Portland from Seattle, Wa., when he was ten. He went to Deering High School and lived in Portland until moving to Westbrook three years ago with his mother. He ran track at Deering, and entered the National Guard when he was 17 with special permission from his mother. He went through boot camp over the summer between his junior and senior year.
He’s been studying architecture and engineering at Southern Maine Community College and wants to get a four-year degree at the University of Southern Maine. He said he’s planning on finishing out his six years of active duty and then two years of inactive duty in the Guard and after that, move on to something else.
Tedesco said he didn’t join the National Guard for any desire to go to war. He said he doesn’t know exactly why he joined other than to find some excitement he didn’t think he could find anywhere else. His family doesn’t have a military history other than his grandfather being a paratrooper, but Tedesco didn’t know that when he joined. He’s spent his time in the guard learning how to handle heavy engineering equipment such as loaders and dump trucks.
He said he accepts that he has to go to Iraq now, though. “I didn’t really think it would come down to this, but signing up you have to know,” he said.
“We respect and honor what he does for us,” said his mother. “I’m certainly proud of him. I can’t say it enough.”
Tedesco said when he found out he didn’t believe it at first, but he came to grips with it fairly quickly. He said telling his mother was “a reality check.” But he tried not to worry. “If I got worried, it would get her worried,” he said.
Kathy Tedesco said he swallowed it more quickly than she and his father. “You don’t even want to know all the things that went through my head,” she said.
Tedesco’s father lives in the area as well as his older sister. His mother said she and his father are still friends, although they’ve been divorced for five years, and they still act as a family unit. She said they’ve been having a lot of family dinners lately. She said the family is very open with each other.
“We’ve had the not-so-great discussions of some of the bad things that could happen,” she said. “(But mostly) we’re going to hope for the best and put the rest out of our minds.”
Tedesco said he’s bought a laptop and will try to communicate with his mother as often as he can. His mother said they don’t necessarily trust that he’ll be near a phone at all times, so the laptop will be their main source of communication. She also she’ll try not to rely on things she hears on the news and from others but try to rely only on her son to know how he’s doing. It’s the first time they’ll be separated for so long.
Kathy Tedesco said they’ve talked a lot about what will happen when he gets back. “Things will be different when he gets back,” she said. For one thing, his sister will be having her first baby while he’s gone.
“He’ll probably be different, too,” she said. “We’ve talked about keeping the communication open about adjustments, not to be afraid when he comes home.” She said whatever problems he has, they’ll deal with them. “We’ll do what we have to do for him,” she said.
His mother said he’s probably more accepting of this challenge than other people. She said he’s a very giving person who seems to do it naturally. She thought he was probably upset he couldn’t have gone with his own unit when they went over a year ago.
“I have great respect for him,” she said. “He’s very self-sacrificing for others. He’s very casual about it.”
Tedesco himself thinks he’ll be able to handle things and come back OK. He said one of his friends who went with the 133rd came back and doesn’t talk about things much. He also said he knows one guy who came back and didn’t leave his house for three months.
Tedesco doesn’t think that’ll happen to him though. Although he admits he may have some trouble adjusting, especially to not having to look over his shoulder all the time. But he said he and his family would deal with that when he gets back.
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