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Haymarket councilman begins training for Iraq
Sure, a lot has changed since Ozzie Vazquez began his military career 25 years ago. But for all the differences in guns and armor, it's improvements in communication that stands out the most to him."I wouldn't see or hear from my family for months at a time because of the lack of communicativity," said the Haymarket Town Council member Monday as he recalled his early days in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Now that he is training in Fort Dix, N.J. for his first tour of Iraq, Vazquez, a warrant officer with the U.S. Army, can connect with those back home in Haymarket daily. He may be able to make the town council's August meeting but is likely to be sent overseas some time in the next month.
Vazquez plans to resign from the town council in the next 30 to 45 days, having postponed the actual resignation process as he waited to find out if he was really being deployed. He arrived at in the Garden State June 16 and passed the Army's medical exam, which cleared him for duty.
Passing the exam was "the point of no return," he said, adding that it allowed the military to let him "go play in the sand."
"I'm pretty excited about it. I think what we're doing is valuable and the guys I'm working with, I'm so impressed by the caliber and education." said Vazquez.
As a communications specialist who focuses on setting up signals for network computers and radios, Vazquez will be responsible for providing military units with the ability to talk. He explained that what separates his job in the Middle East from his job back home is that a communications breakdown can result in death instead of just annoyance.
"We have to provide it all," he said, further explaining that "when you're fighting, you need to call for support, call for [evacuation], call for ammunition ... in most cases, the lack of communication can impact people's lives."
The "main customer" for Vazquez will be the commanding officer of his unit while he "interfaces" or connects "with a lot of different organizations," particularly units in the field.
Vazquez is positive that he will have to complete a full one-year tour, which could end early depending on how quickly the draw-down in Iraq is completed. However, that could simply free up Vazquez to be sent over to Afghanistan instead.
Several members of his unit who are 45 to 55 years old and all are expected to train with recruits often less than half their age.
"Some guys are very strong lifting weights. Others like running, like myself. But what ends up happening is in the military, you have a need for strength as well as endurance," he said.
So Vazquez runs 4 to 10 miles daily four days a week and lifts five days a week in order to keep up. The 47-year-old had been training to run the San Diego Marathon until he received notice he would be deployed later in the summer.
At this point in his life, Vazquez said being sent overseas will be tougher for his wife and fellow council member Sue Shuryn than it will be for him. He's going to a new place with a mission to accomplish while she "has to pick up all the pieces and the ball that I've kind of dropped."
"The spouses that are left behind always have the tougher job," said Vazquez. "It's far harder for the families staying back than for the soldiers going overseas."
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