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March 14, 2010

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Sun Mar 14, 2010, 10:45 AM CDT

By Emily Younker

eyounker@joplinglobe.com

Camron Welch, of Joplin, said he is ready for his tour in Afghanistan. But his wife, Stephanie, to whom he has been married since December, didn’t seem as prepared for his deployment Saturday as he was.

“I’m scared and nervous,” she said, holding her husband’s hand. When asked what she would tell him before he left, she turned to him and said, “Know that I’m going to be here when you get back.”

Welch is one of about 160 soldiers from the 414th Military Police Company, an Army Reserve company based in Joplin, who are scheduled to leave this morning for Fort Bliss, Texas. After a six-week training period, they will ship out to Afghanistan, where their mission includes “detention operations” at Bagram Airfield, Capt. Brian Wotring said.

Family and friends poured into Young Gymnasium at Missouri Southern State University on Saturday for a farewell ceremony for the soldiers, who will be in Afghanistan for about 10 months.

Nancy Keller, of Joplin, attended the ceremony on behalf of her grandson, who she said has been Welch’s best friend for years.

“He’s just a fine, upstanding young man,” she said of Welch, beaming as if she were his own grandmother.

Staff Sgt. Harold Carpenter, of Springfield, was sent to Iraq in 2004, but he said that doesn’t make this deployment any easier.

“It’s still stressful,” he said. “I think because it’s a different mission, a different country, there’s a little bit of an unknown.”

Carpenter said the hardest part of his deployment is leaving his wife and five children, ages 15, 13, 8, 19 months and 2 weeks.

“The two older ones understand a little better,” he said. “The two younger ones it’s harder for. They don’t understand why dad’s gone. And the baby, she won’t know me when I get back.”

Carpenter said he and his family were going to make the most of Saturday by spending it together.

Spc. Jason Applegate, of Springfield, said he is both excited and anxious for his first deployment.

“I’m just ready to get on the road and get it taken care of and get back home,” he said as he rocked his 6-week-old son, Caiden, in his arms.

His wife, Megan, said his departure is “bittersweet.”

“I’m proud of him, but I don’t want him to leave,” she said.

The couple said they planned to spend Saturday “with each other as long as we can” and then rely on their computers and webcams as their primary method of communication over the next several months.

Cpl. Leslie Benedict, of Fayetteville, Ark., said she is as prepared as she can be for her deployment. Her younger sisters and brother, crowding around her in the gymnasium Saturday, took turns explaining what she means to them.

Autumn, 9, said she is sad to see her big sister leave. Joseph, 11, said as he leaned in toward Benedict that she always supports him. Added Danielle, 17: “She brags on us.”

Benedict’s mother, Kay McEachern, took her own moment to brag on her daughter.

“I’ve got a really heavy heart right now, and I’m really proud of her,” McEachern said, fighting back tears.

The family planned to go out for lunch Saturday and “enjoy every second,” Benedict said.

Dennis and Mary Sergent, of Swartz Creek, Mich., made the 13-hour drive to Joplin specifically for Saturday’s ceremony to send off their son, Tim, for his first deployment.

“We thought he was going to make it because he only has eight months left on his contract, but they caught him,” Mary Sergent said. “I was really upset at first ... but I think he’ll be OK. He’s well trained.”

Sergent said her son has always wanted to be in the Army, even sleeping in an Army outfit when he was very young.

“(In early elementary school) he drew this picture that he wanted to be a jet pilot in the Army,” she said. “He’s been destined to do it.”

Previous deployments

This is the fourth deployment for the 414th Military Police Company, which previously served in Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq.