Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

The view from Wendy's World - Another perspective on the military drill

Many residents of Gurdon, Prescott and the surrounding area gathered to

watch the hostage exercise executed by members of the National Guard on April 1 in Prescott. Reactions varied from whats the big deal? to

wow! I understand both.

The first occurs for two reasons. First, its easy to watch the men rush

in on helicopters, surround a building, disappear for a few minutes, reappear with their objective complete, and not realize the effort that actually went into the exercise. Its also difficult to imagine that these same young men have executed this same drill in hostile territory where the bullets were real and their lives were on the line.

On the other hand, if you stop to consider the time, effort and man power that went into this relatively simple drill, the word wow is more

likely at the top of your list.

I had the rare opportunity to look at this event from an entirely different angle than most of the spectators had. I was the hostage being held inside the former health department building. For those of you who missed it, heres the situation as described to the guardsmen who participated.

A small cell of terrorists were planning to blow up the Prescott airport. Two men who provided financial support for the insurgents were at the scene, but something went wrong and the terrorists had to flee. There happened to be an American correspondent nearby and she (me) was taken hostage as the insurgents and their financial backers ran. They holed up in a nearby building (the former health department on the old hospital property in Prescott), holding the reporter hostage and hoping for a

chance to run for the cover of a nearby treeline.

What the public saw were the helicopters flying in, the men surrounding the building and recovering both the money men and the hostage. What they didnt see was the planning, practice and precision inside the building.

According to information from the military, the drill was similar to

actions taken by many of these men who have been stationed in Iraq. Thats right - those men (many of them very young) who were playing

soldier that Saturday have seen real action in the East. Theyve heard the distinctive whine of mortar rounds, felt the shock of losing friends and spent months away from home, family and friends. That puts the entire event in different light for most of us.

Many of the men I talked to were young - much younger than me. I have daughters the same age (or older than) some. For me, that added another perspective.

I asked several of them, Was it scary in Iraq? Even those who didnt face regular fire admitted that it was. And then they said that if they

had to, theyd go back. That - in my mind at least - makes them heros.

I know that our position in the East is a controversial issue and I wont even begin to debate our presence there. In this case, thats not the point. The point is that we have young men and women - right in our

communities - who are willing to go where theyre sent, even when their

lives are in danger. Even when it means they miss the birth of a child,

the marriage of a sibling, the parties and church functions and lazy Saturday afternoons that all their friends are enjoying. Even when they

didnt want to go and had prayed they never would.

There were definitely some light moments during Saturdays drill. As one soldier put it while the insurgents were waiting the attack, All we need are some kids trying to sell DVDs and begging for chocolate.

After my rescuers had jogged me across the field in front of the building, I was too winded to get my head down. It was pointed out to me that I might have survived the hostage situation but would likely have been shot then!

But perhaps the highlight of the day came when I was told that Id have to jog around the building to the waiting ground support. The young man in front kept looking back to see if I was even trying to keep up while the young man behind me was running in place about half the time so that he didnt over take me. Maybe that should be a lesson that Im no longer part of the younger, fitter generation.

And maybe the guardsmen should choose a younger hostage for their next drill.