St. John's University student Susan Kirkeby was on her way to her hometown of Shelton, Connecticut, to spend Valentine's Day with her boyfriend when her cell phone rang.
It was her Army Reserve supervisor. She was being called to active duty.
"When you first find out, your heart throbs and tears well up," she said. "But then you stop and think about it. There are millions of other soldiers out there, and if they can do it, I can do it. I've had good training and I just need to swallow my fears and let pride overtake them."
Following some last-minute training at Fort Stewart in Georgia, Kirkeby and her fellow soldiers from the 54 Bravo, 320 Chemical Operations Unit will be sent to the Middle East to provide field support for troops from another company and to decontaminate soldiers exposed to chemical or biological attacks.
In his State of the Union address, President Bush said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had not accounted for up to 25,000 liters of anthrax; 38,000 liters of botulism toxin; 500 tons of sarin, mustard gas and VX nerve agent; and around of 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical weapons. Many military experts believe that if he is attacked, Hussein will not hesitate to use chemical and biological weapons on U.S. soldiers.
Soldiers in Kirkeby's chemical operations unit have been trained how to quickly don protective gear if they see yellow smoke or hear three siren blasts. They have nine seconds to have their gas masks in place and sealed, otherwise they're susceptible to contamination.
"In basic training they showed us a film on Iraqi soldiers who were infected with the chemicals, and it was just scary-looking," said 22-year-old New Yorker Freddy Pavon, who joined the Army after seeing the terrorism attacks firsthand while working downtown. "Boils and bubbles all over your body, pus coming out of places you didn't even suspect. A pin drop of VX nerve agent could go on your skin, and in 15 minutes you'll be dead."
With their gas masks secured, soldiers are able to remain in an infected area for up to 24 hours. Pavon said his team's main responsibility is to use smoke generators to cover and conceal contaminated zones and to help exposed soldiers return to battle.
"If the people we're supporting get slimed with any kind of chemical or biological attack, we have to meet them at a certain location, decontaminate them, take off their equipment, give them new equipment so they can go back in the field, and then we have to decontaminate the site we were in and then go home," he said.
For the 320 team, "home" will be portable tents in the desert, from which mail to loved ones back in the States will take at least two weeks to reach its destination.
In a war, no operation on enemy soil is safe, and since soldiers of the 320 unit have specifically been trained to operate in contaminated zones, their job is considered especially high-risk. Sometimes it's a lot for young soldiers to deal with.
"Right before I got the phone call," Kirkeby said, "I would just sit there in my lecture hall like most college students, and I'd think, 'My biggest worry today is the exam I have in a week.' And in a few weeks my biggest fear might be, 'Oh my gosh, I might have to protect my fellow soldiers or myself [from enemy attack].' It's two totally different worlds."
For 20-year-old soldier Eric Mayid, another student at St. John's, the reality of what he might face sank in last September when he was filling out some mandatory paperwork.
"I had to write out my will, which was the most depressing thing I've ever done in my life," he said. "I left everything to my father, and he's going to delegate everything I have, should something happen to me. I understand the danger, and I'm a little nervous, but I understand my job and I'm pretty damn good at it. As long as my confidence and motivation are there, I know I'm coming home."
—Jon Wiederhorn, with additional reporting by Adam Hootnick
