For many of us Easter brings egg hunts for the kids, dinner with friends and memories of time with our families. For Alvin Loveless, Easter brings back memories of Iraq.
“I think about some of the guys from my old unit,” said Loveless, McKean County Veterans Affairs director. “They’re serving in the Horn of Africa right now and will spend the time with the unit instead of their families.”
In 2009, Loveless was a member of Company C, 1st Battalion, 112th Infantry Regt., Lewis Run, Pennsylvania. They were part of the newly formed 56th Stryker Brigade Combat team of the Pennsylvania National Guard. They would begin training for deployment just six months after the death of Army Lt. Col. Richard J. Berrettini who died Jan. 11, 2008, serving in Afghanistan.
“He was our high school nurse in Port Allegany and served as a medical officer for the Pennsylvania National Guard,” said Loveless. “He was a man to admire, and many of us joined the military because of him.”
Loveless said that the loss of someone he admired, and the impending deployment caused him to reflect on his spirituality.
“Soldiers know the hazards and you have to deal with it,” said Loveless. “You have to do a will, insurance and other things in case you die. I was never baptized so it was on my mind.”
Loveless would train for Iraq over six months in preparation with his unit. He would attend chapel services and talk with Army chaplains about being baptized. However, training was heavy from Camp Shelby, Miss., to Fort Johnson, La. (formerly Fort Polk), to Fort Dix, N.J. The intense training carried him to Iraq and Joint Security Station, Hor al Bosh, Iraq.
“It was a crazy time, with so much training, so it didn’t happen back in the states but then we got Chaplain Etter,” said Loveless. “He was a soldier’s chaplain and would always roll with us on patrol. Because he didn’t carry a weapon I asked him once, ‘Aren’t you scared to go out here without a weapon?’ He pointed to the cross he wore instead of rank and said, ‘I got this.’”
Loveless asked Etter if he could be baptized, and they had one other soldier who wanted it, too. They needed a pool.
Loveless volunteered to build one out of sandbags and plastic.
After a long patrol that ended at 3 a.m., Loveless built the pool, and later that day the chaplain held Easter service, culminating with the baptism.
“It makes you unusual,” said Loveless. “I was baptized in the birthplace of civilization, right between the Tigris-Euphrates Rivers. Not many people can say that.”
With service concluded they had a special meal, and then the sandstorm came.
“Sandstorms are when the enemy gets active,” said Loveless. “Our surveillance systems are impacted, and they know that. That’s when the attacks come.”
The night would turn out to be eventful with attacks across their area and sent Loveless on a hunt for an enemy who had launched rocket attacks on the base at Taji.
“I remember we went from celebrating Easter to clearing a suspected launch site,” said Loveless. “That requires you to be ready for anything, and we were fortunate, but you have to be prepared for a firefight or boobytraps, you just don’t know.”
All this made for an Easter and baptism not experienced by most.
“Offering soldiers a steady genuine presence who cared, seemed to make a real difference for them,” said now retired Col. Douglas Etter, public affairs, at the Lebanon, Pa., VA Medical Center. “It’s not just the stress from combat, these soldiers were away from home for over a year.”
Both soldiers said they still think of those serving away from home this Easter. Fittingly, both now have careers supporting veterans.
“Serving the military in combat, was one the greatest honors of my life,” said Etter. “I tried to listen to their needs and meet them where they were.”
“I will always remember the Easter with my war family,” said Loveless. “It’s a true family, there’s no doubt about it.”
