Military kin make sacrifices, too

WEST JORDAN — Lt. Col. Edward Gundersen's wife and daughters want Utahns to remember the sacrifices being made by him and the other soldiers still in Iraq on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

"There are so many people who try to say this war is not related to Sept. 11," Diana Gundersen said during an interview in the family's cozy living room with daughters Mallory, 17, and Katie, 13, beside her. "People, I think, forget too easily."

Surrounded by patriotic touches like red, white and blue stuffed toys and a picture of her husband in military fatigues, Diana Gundersen admits she becomes frustrated when she hears criticism of the latest front in the war against terrorism.

She believes there's no question that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is connected to the terrorist attacks against the United States two years ago and dismisses the debate as political wrangling for next year's presidential election.

"None of it feels very supportive," she said. "People say we don't belong in the war, we don't support our president but we support our troops. Our president is our commander in chief. You can't support the troops if you're running down their leader."

Mallory, a senior at West Jordan High school, fights tears as she tries to explain why her father needs to be in Baghdad commanding the Utah National Guard 142nd Military Intelligence Battalion instead of at the volleyball game she's just played.

"We have to help those people because they need it. If that's how we have to help, if I have to sacrifice having my dad gone for a while, then I'm willing to make that sacrifice," Mallory said. "There are times when it's hard . . . but he's over there doing what he needs to do."

Katie, an eighth-grader at Joel P. Jensen Middle School, is quieter. Her father wasn't there for the March birthday that made her a teenager and, according to his latest orders, could be gone until next spring.

When does she most miss having him around?

"All the time," Katie says in a voice barely above a whisper.

Edward Gundersen, who joined the National Guard 24 years ago, was deployed on Jan. 27. After spending just over two months at Fort Carson, Colo., the battalion was sent to Iraq in early April.

Although it's possible for National Guard troops to be deployed for as long as two years, the Pentagon is now saying units will spend a year in Iraq before coming home. The longest Edward Gundersen previously had been deployed was just three months, years ago.