Families walk to show support for soldiers

WEST WINDSOR -- Clear blue skies, warm sunshine and golden leaves greeted family members and friends of soldiers participating in a 3.5-mile walk at Mercer County Park yesterday.

The walk was held to honor the men and women of the 250th Personnel Services Detachment and the Headquarters Company of the 50th Personnel Services Battalion of the New Jersey National Guard. The unit left for pre-deployment training in January, arrived in Afghanistan in February, and is not scheduled to return home until late February 2007.

For the families of the 80 members whose names were stapled to stakes stuck into the ground along the beginning of the park path, this means a period of quiet yet anxious waiting, with only one short two- week leave as an opportunity to see their loved ones in an entire year.

Tangie Jenkins' husband Capt. Lonell Jenkins is stationed in Kabul. Since Jenkins had his two weeks of leave in July, his wife will not see him again for more than four months.

"It's tough, but having support helps," she said, referring to the 250th's Family Readiness Group, which set up the walk as well as meetings and events throughout the year.

"It's a time we can all get together," she added.

Jenkins' daughter is 11 months old, and though her father will miss her first birthday, his leave allowed him to spend time with his daughter.

And Capt. Jenkins certainly will have no shortage of photos of his daughter to gaze at while having some off time in the combat zone. "I took a picture of him and our daughter every day he was home," Tangie Jenkins said. "I had to send him over 200 pictures."

Jenkins hopes her daughter will be able to give her father a surprise when he gets home. "It would be nice to have her run and greet him when he gets off the plane," she said.

Volunteer participation by the Red Cross and 97.5 FM kept the atmosphere lively, and sales of rib bons and "Families for Soldiers 3.5 Mile Walk" T-shirts helped raise funds for gifts to send to the soldiers.

Family Readiness Group President Debbie Vander Clute spoke about the group's activities, which most recently involved sending popcorn balls to the troops for Halloween. The group is planning a Christmas party for the families, she said.

At her side was her husband, Command Sgt. Maj. Richard Vander Clute, whose leave home fortunately coincided with the date of the walk.

Being able to see her husband after becoming used to having him away is "odd at first," Vander Clute admitted. "It takes some adjustment."

Brig. Gen. Charles Harvey, who cut the ribbon to begin the walk with Hamilton Mayor Glen D. Gilmore and a soldier's son, Trevor Hoffman, said that nearly 80 percent of the New Jersey National Guard has been deployed since 9/ 11.

Serving everywhere from the Sinai Desert on the Israeli- Egyptian border to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Harvey praised both the 500 troops and members of the public who support them.

That support was on full display yesterday morning in the park, as just before the walk began, an army chaplain led those gathered in a simple prayer: "We pray for safe homecomings and glad family reunions."