News Article

Sun Photo by Phil Gentry - Tennessee Army National Guard
Spc. Preston Cox, right, and his wife, Alyssa, are shown
spending time with their 10-day-old daughter, Madison Rae Cox,
on Monday at Alyssa’s parents’ home in Limestone. Spc. Cox,
who came home on leave for his daughter’s birth, is scheduled
to return to Iraq on Wednesday.

By: BILL JONES/Staff Writer
Source: The Greeneville Sun
02-15-2005

LIMESTONE — Monday was a day of firsts for Spc. Preston Cox, a young Tennessee National Guardsman home on a two-week leave from Iraq, and for his wife, Alyssa.

It was their first Valentine’s Day together as a married couple as well as the first Valentine’s Day for their 10-day-old daughter, Madison Rae.

As they took turns holding "Maddy," in the den of Alyssa’s parents’ home on Opie Arnold Road, Preston and Alyssa reflected on how their lives have changed since Valentine’s Day 2004.

The young couple, who call Maddy their "best Valentine’s present ever," recalled that Preston arrived home from Iraq on Feb. 2 only two days before Maddy was born at Laughlin Memorial Hospital.

He is scheduled to return to the uncertainty of the war in Iraq on Wednesday.

Before that, he had not seen Alyssa, or other members of his family, since the 278th Regimental Combat Team (RCT) left Camp Shelby, Miss., for Kuwait last November.

Preston said he didn’t learn until Jan. 25 that he would be granted leave to witness his daughter’s birth, which was projected for Feb. 3.

Luckily, he said, he and other 278th RCT soldiers based at Forward Operating Base Bernstein in northeastern Iraq were told that leaves would be granted on a rotating basis beginning in late January.

After Alyssa sent a request through the American Red Cross that he be granted leave to attend his daughter’s birth, he was lucky enough to be one of the first 278th RCT soldiers from Northeast Tennessee to be granted an emergency leave.

After a two-day journey by vehicle convoy and military aircraft that began on Jan. 28, Preston said, he reached Kuwait.

From there, he said, he was able to fly first to Germany and then to Atlanta, before catching a flight to Tri-Cities Regional Airport.

Preston went with Alyssa on Feb. 4 to Laughlin Memorial Hospital, where Alyssa’s physician induced labor and a healthy Madison Rae was born after about 12 hours of labor.

Couple Met At Work

On Valentine’s Day a year ago, Preston and Alyssa recalled, they were working at the CitiGroup office in Gray.

Preston had recently joined the Tennessee Army National Guard to earn extra money as well as to obtain educational benefits that he hopes will enable help him later to earn a degree from East Tennessee State University.

A North Greene High School graduate who already had completed four years of active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps, Preston recalled that only about a month after he joined the Tennessee Army National Guard’s Greeneville-based Troop G, the entire 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment was alerted for active duty.

Preston said he had gone to work at the CitiGroup office after completing a tour of duty in the Marine Corps that had taken him across the Pacific aboard the aircraft carrier USS Truman.

"My aunt (who also works at CitiGroup) introduced us," Alyssa said.

Preston’s parents are Ronald and Nancy Cox, of Baileyton Road, Greeneville.

Getting Married

Facing the prospect of Preston being called to active duty, Alyssa, who had moved to Limestone from Florida with her parents, MaryAnn and Joe Bush, about two years earlier, became Mrs. Preston Cox in the late spring of 2004.

Then on Father’s Day 2004, June 20, Preston and most of the rest of his unit left for Camp Shelby, Miss., where they spent the rest of the summer in training for duty in Iraq.

Alyssa said she was able to visit Preston a few times while he was in training at Camp Shelby, but was unable, because of her pregnancy, to attend a farewell ceremony for the 278th ACR at Camp Shelby last Nov. 11, Veterans Day.

Preston said that after the 278th went to Camp Shelby, he was assigned as a driver to work with his unit's medics.

Security For Surgeon

That assignment has continued in Iraq, he said, noting that, although he is not trained as a medic, he helps out at the unit’s medical aid station at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Bernstein in northeastern Iraq.

One of his jobs at FOB Bernstein, he said, is to provide security for the unit’s surgeon when that medical officer visits Iraqi villages to provide medical care to their residents.

Noting that the winter weather has been cold and rainy in northeastern Iraq, Preston said he was shocked to see Iraqi children without shoes and many people with no food.

"We provide as much humanitarian aid as we can," he said. "Most of the people seem to want us there."

But he said there are still sporadic attacks by insurgent elements against 278th troops. Most of those attacks, he said, involve roadside bombs, which the military calls improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

"There is some small arms fire, but they usually don’t stand and fight," he said.

No Serious Injuries

Despite the sporadic attacks, Preston said, he knew of no serious injuries to 278th soldiers serving at FOB Bernstein.

Most of the injuries of which he was aware, he said, were to insurgents whom 278th medical personnel treat.

"We had one guy (insurgent) who blew his hand off trying to make a bomb," he said.

Preston said he believes 278th soldiers’ efforts to help the Iraqi citizens are paying dividends in that ordinary Iraqis are often helping the 278th locate insurgent elements.

Preston said he enlisted for one year in the National Guard, and would normally have been able to leave the National Guard this month. But because of the war in Iraq, his tour of duty has been "involuntarily extended," he said.

At present, he said he and his fellow 278th soldiers are hoping their tour of duty in Iraq will end next November, at the latest. "We hope it may be earlier," he said.

The couple’s conversation Monday strayed to the future. Preston said he hopes to go to college when his tour of duty in Iraq is over.

"I plan to attend Walters State Community College and get a two-year registered nursing degree," he said. "Then, I can both work and attend classes at East Tennessee State University."

In the long term, he said, he hopes to earn a bachelor’s degree in radiology from ETSU.

But in the short term, Preston said he realizes the road for him to ETSU goes through Iraq.

Asked on Monday as he cradled his young daughter in his arms how hard it would be return to Iraq on Wednesday, Preston said, "It's going to be the hardest thing ever."

Story Copyright to The Greeneville Sun