Call-up takes teacher to war

11-member Lawrence unit ordered to report for duty

Her students are nervous but proud.

For the teacher, it’s just part of the job.

For more than four years, Lori Arnold has juggled a full-time job as a Lawrence teacher with part-time service in the U.S. Army Reserves.

Now she must give up the teaching — at least for a while — for a second time.

“I think I feel like most people that didn’t volunteer to go,” Arnold said. “It’s just my job that I need to go do.”

She is a sergeant with the 824th Quartermaster Detachment, based in Lawrence. The 11-member unit is being mobilized to provide liaison and coordination for bulk petroleum shipments in Iraq.

At Pinckney School, a substitute teacher already has taken over Arnold’s fourth-grade classroom to give her time to complete processing, medical checkups, equipment loading and driver training. Arnold’s unit will move to Fort Riley later this month for final mobilization.

Her orders indicate she could be on active duty for 18 months. The Hutchinson native said it would be hard to leave behind students, friends, family and fiance.

“I think they’re nervous, but they see it as more dangerous than I do. I know my job and I know the risks, but I know how to … counteract those risks,” she said.

Army Reservists receive training from Sgt. Kathy Riley, Overland Park, on how to give themselves first-aid injections to protect against chemical and biological attacks. Their 824th Quartermaster Detachment unit was activated last month for duty in Iraq. The 11 soldiers, including Pinckney teacher Lori Arnold, prepared Friday at the U.S. Army Reserve Training Center, 2100 Iowa, for their departure later this month.

Concern and pride

It is Arnold’s second call-up in as many years. She was in uniform from February to May 2003, returning for the final day of classes in May. That time, she was not sent overseas.

Her first separation from home was tolerable, she said, in part because she received a lot of letters and packages. She expects correspondence to be heavy again this time around.

“Last year, I got a lot of packages,” she said. “They called me the ‘Package Queen.'”

Fourth-grader Kelsey Johnson, wearing a patriotic red, white and blue jacket, said she was concerned about her teacher’s safety.

“I’m very scared,” she said. “I hope nothing happens to her.”

Lori Arnold, a fourth-grade teacher at Pinckney School will be leaving her students as she reports for active duty. This marks the second time in two years that she's been called up for military duty.

Student Gabe Haas said he just hoped the Iraqi situation would improve and Arnold could return soon to Pinckney. “I hope she gets back before school’s over,” he said.

But Arnold’s students also said they were proud of her.

“She’s doing something very nice, because she’s serving her country,” said Bryatt Jordan.

Arnold, who also has taught at Wakarusa Valley and Riverside schools, said most of her students were no longer upset about her call-up.

“Some of them, I think, feel kind of excited,” she said. “It seems like an adventure.”

Preparing to leave

Other members of the unit were at the armory Friday preparing for their deployment.

The 11 members of the 824th Quartermaster Detachment are from Kansas, Missouri and Illinois. Sgts. James Pilch and Lori Arnold are from Lawrence. Other members are:Lt. Col. Richard MedvedLt. Col. Patrick LynchMaj. David RaustCapt. Michael DavisMaster Sgt. Renwick JonesSgt. 1st Class James KingSgt. 1st Class Dena StephensonStaff Sgt. Derek LincolnSgt. Kathy Riley

Leading fellow soldiers in a combat training exercise, Sgt. Kathy Riley pulled a set of keys, a blue lighter and a Bonne Bell lip balm from her pocket to illustrate how a nerve agent antidote should be injected into the upper thigh.

“You don’t want anything getting in your way,” Riley said, explaining why she was emptying her pockets.

Riley, a sixth-grade teacher in the Turner school district in Kansas City, Kan., is leaving behind not only students, but a husband and two sons. Among her concerns was leaving her husband with their 2 1/2-year-old, Peyton, who is going through potty training.

“I’ve heard that children revert back to diapers if there is a serious event in their lives,” Riley said.

Sgt. James Pilch, a Kansas University employee, is leaving behind a family, too. But he said he had prepared to leave for war and his wife and son knew the drill.

Pilch and three other soldiers from the unit were in Operation Desert Storm, the 1991 Gulf War.

He said preparing for this war was much easier. Another difficult part of Desert Storm was coming home.

“You come back to your culture and don’t understand it the way you thought you did,” Pilch said. “You need time to decompress.”

Missing milestones

Sgt. 1st Class Dena Stephenson said she was elated to be called to active duty, though it will conflict with her role as parent. Stephenson, a single mother, has two young daughters. Kaitlyn, a 10-year-old, will stay with a grandmother while 4-year-old Kristina will live with her father.

Stephenson’s concern was that she’d have time to get legal snags cleared up so the girls could see each other on weekends.

“They will need each other while I’m gone,” Stephenson said. “And I don’t have a lot of time to set up court dates and meet with my lawyer.”

Her children are having a difficult time understanding how long their mother might be gone, she said. Kaitlyn, who will be starting middle school in the fall, and Kristina, preparing for kindergarten, were discussing plans for their birthday parties.

“I will be missing major milestones in their lives,” Stephenson said.

But when she returns from Iraq, Stephenson said she would be eligible for retirement. Telling her oldest daughter she would be finished with the Army then provided some comfort.

“It’s hard leaving my children,” she said. “I won’t be able to make up for the time I missed.”