JANUARY 2005

Answering the call of duty

GreyStone Power linemen Fllint Weathers, Andy Harper leave the co-op lines to go to the front lines

Luke Alexander and his twin sister, Emma Grace, were delivered into their parents’ arms on Dec. 6. One month later, their proud father left his young family to answer a call to duty.

Flint Weathers, a member of the Georgia Army National Guard First-108 AR based in Douglasville, Ga., was called into active duty and left with the rest of his guard unit on Jan. 6. His unit will train in south Georgia at Fort Stewart and in California at Fort Irwin before joining American troops in Iraq in May.

Weathers, 28, enlisted in the Army from 1995 to 1999 and continues to serve his country as a sergeant in the Georgia Army National Guard. He has served in New York, Bosnia and Egypt, and said he has a deep amount of respect for the president as his commander in chief.

“The fact that I know Bush is a Christian makes it easier to follow him,” he said. “He’s got a level head and the fortitude to stand up for what he knows is best for America. There’s not a single soldier that does not back Bush.”

Despite his patriotic desire to answer the call for duty, the decision to leave the normal cycles of day-to-day life in order to join a military campaign is not an easy one for Weathers.

“I’m torn between wanting to stay home with my family and doing my duty,” he said. “It’s harder to leave four kids than it was to leave one. But it’s an honor to serve my country.” When Weathers was activated and sent to Bosnia for a peacekeeping mission in 2001, he missed the first months of life with his son, Jackson. Weathers and his wife, Jennifer, had a daughter, Kennedy, in the summer of 2003. And in December Jennifer gave birth to twins.

“When I went to Bosnia I missed my son’s first birthday, his first words and his first steps,” said Weathers. “Now we have four young children at home. I really don’t want to miss all of Luke and Emma’s firsts. But I have a duty to my country. This is me, this is what I do.”

Flint said he’s explained why he’s going to Jackson, who is now 4.

“Jackson knows I’m going to train now and then go to the dessert to put the bad guys in jail. I told him if I didn’t fight them there, we might have to fight them here,” Weathers said. “He told me the other night he prayed to God to protect me from the bad guys. That about broke my heart.”

Weathers is in the middle of an intense 90-day training period, followed by a one year tour of duty in Iraq that starts in May.

“We’ll be kicking doors down, pulling security patrols – just about the worst thing you can do over there,” he explained. “But I feel more prepared physically, mentally and spiritually than I ever have before. It’s really okay – my wife and I are strong Christians, and we’re where we need to be spiritually. That makes it easier to go.”

Weathers joined the Army in 1995 on a whim, he said, hiding the fact from his parents for two months. He was stationed in New York for four years, then decided to extend his tour of duty by joining the Georgia Army National Guard. In addition to his nine-month Bosnia tour, he spent six months in Egypt manning observation posts and guarding the border between Egypt manning observation posts and guarding the border between Egypt and Israel. He was stationed in Bosnia when the Twin Towers were hit on Sept. 11, 2001.

Weathers, an Apprentice Lineman at GreyStone Power in Douglasville, came to work at GreyStone in early 2000. When he was called to serve in Bosnia in 2001, the electric cooperative held his job for him until he returned nine months later. GreyStone will do the same for his tour in Iraq.

“It helps knowing there are a lot of people who’ve served in the military at GreyStone – there are a lot of people who can relate and know what you’re going through,” said Weathers. “Everybody – especially the other linemen – pledged to take care of my family while I’m gone and keep me in their prayers. I know they’ll do everything they can for my family.”

Weathers is not the only GreyStone lineman that has been called to active duty. Apprentice Lineman Andy Harper, a Corporal of the Marine Corps Reserve VMFA-142, was also deployed Jan. 6 to train at Dobbins Air Force Base. He left Jan. 24 for training in Yuma, Ariz., followed by an eventual tour of duty that will most likely include Iraq. He was scheduled to leave the country in early March.

“For security reasons, they haven’t been told where they are going, and were told they may not know until they get on the plane,” said Harper’s mother, Judy. Harper serves as an aircraft mechanic while on active duty.

“I’m willing to fight so my family doesn’t have to grow up with fear,” said Harper, who has been a member of the Marine Corps Reserve for the last four years. “This is something we need to do.”

“If they have to go they have to go,” said GreyStone Power Line Construction & Maintenance Supervisor Jerry Tucker, a Vietnam Veteran. “When they get back their jobs will be waiting for them. The country comes first. We’ll do what it takes to take care of them.”

GreyStone employee Anne Starnes and her husband, John, also said their tearful goodbyes to their son, Jason, along with his wife and children, at the Douglasville Armory Thursday. Jason volunteered for the National Guard several months ago and spent four months training in Kentucky for duty as a Cavalry Scout.

“They’re always the first in, and the last out,” explained his proud but tearful mother.

GreyStone employee Lizzie Bowen’s son, Erroll Bowen, has been serving in Iraq with the Army for nine months. He is a 23-year veteran of the military and leads supply convoys between Kuwait and Fallujah with the 227th Trans Company.

Eighty-one reservists have been deployed from the National Guard Armory in Douglasville.