Mother of 3 Is Deployed For Guard Duty in Mideast

Mother of 3 Is Deployed For Guard Duty in Mideast

Elementary school teacher and mother Staff Sergeant Karol Delia, pictured above in her Randolph home with husband Dominic and dog Gus, is being deployed with the Vermont National Guard in a ceremony at Norwich University on Friday at 9 a.m. (Herald photo / Amelia P. Lincoln)

A 22-year veteran of the Vermont National Guard, an elementary school teacher, a wife, and a mom, Karol Delia of Randolph is a woman who knows how to keep her focus on the task at hand.

For all her no-nonsense practicality, however, Staff Sgt. Delia is also a woman willing and able to share the deeper tugs of her heart as she prepares to leave Friday for an 18-month deployment in the Mideast.

Delia, who joined the Guard shortly after graduating from Montpelier High School in 1982, is part of the largest deployment in the history of the Vermont National Guard.

The 40-year-old Randolph woman and another 599 soldiers will ship out this Friday, following a 9 a.m. deployment ceremony at Norwich University in Northfield. After six weeks of stateside training with members of the Mississippi-based 155th Brigade Combat Team, the soldiers will be stationed somewhere in the Mideast, but not in either Iraq or Afghanistan, according to information officer, 1st Lt. Veronica Saffo.

Delia and her husband Dominic graciously made time for an interview yesterday afternoon at their Randolph village home, two days before her deployment and what is bound to be a tough leave-taking from family, including daughters Mackenzie, 9, and Mikaela, 11, and son Nathan Demingware, 17.

The 1300 members of the 86th brigade were put on alert this summer, so the mid-October activation order for 600 of the soldiers did not come as a surprise.

Her first focus, Delia said yesterday, was her fifth-grade classroom at Barre City Elementary School. Delia was involved in the search process for a replacement and is thrilled with the long-term substitute who has taken over her class.

Her students held a good-bye party for her Nov. 8, her last day at work. Some were "a little in shock; a couple were visibly upset," Delia admitted.

With work-world logistics handled, Delia turned more attention to family, both immediate and extended.

In the past weeks, the Delias have attended numerous "Thanksgiving meals" with various family groups, some out of state.

Bittersweet Weeks

"Bittersweet" is the word that Delia uses to sum up the last six weeks, and the wide swings in emotion that they’ve held.

"I’m excited, in a sense, because I will see parts of the world, geographically, that I would never go see on my own," she said.

"And I’m very comfortable, as far as the group of Vermonters I’m going with," she added. "I’ve trained with them. It’s like an extended family—we all know each other."

"The ‘bitter’ side is leaving family and friends," Delia said.

As Friday’s deployment looms, the "bitter" quotient has suddenly soared. Until this week, leaving seemed a "faraway" thing, Delia noted.

"Being a mom, it’s extremely difficult," she continued, her eyes suddenly filling with tears, "especially given the ages of our younger children."

Delia noted she will also miss her step-daughter’s graduation from a Massachusetts high school this spring.

"Up until this point," she added, "I’ve been able to stay strong, to focus on what I needed to do to get ready, but as the count-down begins …" She didn’t want to, or need to, say more.

Staying Behind

Her husband Dominic is also feeling the strain. Dominic, who himself has 20 years in the Guard and another four in the U.S. Army, has since retired from the Guard.

A security officer at Vermont Technical College, Dominic admitted yesterday, "Staying behind is probably the toughest thing I’ll ever do."

The challenges of active service, he said, would be far easier for him "getting this family through the next 18 months."

Karol Delia added that her family is lucky, in that her sister, Sonia Laiho, relocated here from California in May, and will stay at the Delia home, to help out.

Delia said she has been repeatedly touched by gestures from friends and other community members who know about her deployment. The entire family received a special "blessing" at Bethany Church, with cards and cupcakes from the grades 4-6 youth group, and hugs from everyone, including people she had never before met.

Others, such as "my kids’ friends’ parents," are calling with offers of support, Delia said.

"It’s absolutely incredible, this community," she said.

Delia joined the Guard at 18, because her friends did, and because "I always wanted to go into the services."

She has served in the Guard since then, excepting for a few years "when the girls were little."

During her Guard years, Karol Delia served in a variety of units, including a 12-year stint with a military police unit in Berlin. She has also been attached to a field support battalion, a maintenance unit, serving most recently at "headquarters detachment," where she worked in recruitment and retention.

Her coming deployment marks Delia’s first "federal deployment," but she was activated by the state in the early 1990s, during the Montpelier flood.

Delia said her activated unit has not yet been advised of its specific mission. She is one of about 18 soldiers from White River Valley towns being deployed at this time.

35% Deployed

With the deployment this week of 600 soldiers, and another 130 in two weeks, the Vermont Army National Guard will have 980, or 35% of its soldiers deployed. Another 570 soldiers remain "on alert" through Dec. 9, for possible activation

Vermont Guard information officer Lt. Saffo said 24 members of a military police unit, which has been training at Camp Shelby since June, will be shipping out to Iraq soon. Spec. Loretta Stalnaker of Randolph is a member of that unit.

Saffo, who noted that some states have had more than 60% of their soldiers deployed, said that the Guard’s highest officers in Washington D.C. are working to put checks in place that would insure that no more than 50% of a state’s forces would be deployed, in the future.

By Sandy Cooch