Wife learns of husband?s work in Iraq through newspaper photo

[thedrifter]

April 22, 2003

Wife learns of husband?s work in Iraq through newspaper photo

Associated Press


GREENSBORO, N.C. ? Maj. Brent Gerald hadn?t even dared to tell his wife where the Army had sent him, but a photograph in the local newspaper gave away his secret.
The News & Record of Greensboro published an Associated Press photo Friday showing Gerald and two other Greensboro-based Army reservists standing guard over suspected Iraqi bank robbers in Baghdad.

?He looks good,? said Brent Gerald?s wife, Shelia.

Brent Gerald, executive officer of the 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion, was called to active duty in January, leaving behind his job as a Greensboro Fire Department captain.

His fellow firefighters spotted his photo in the newspaper and called Shelia Gerald.

In the photograph, a fully-armored Gerald, wearing a pistol on his belt, is shown along with unit commander Lt. Col. Alan King and another 422nd soldier with the robbery suspects in an urban section of Baghdad.

?We picked him right out,? said Greensboro fire Capt. Curtis Brown, a longtime friend. ?It was real exciting to know that one of our own is over there handling things.?

Shelia Gerald said she dashed out to get her own copy of the Friday paper. She was surprised to see her husband in the photo, and in Baghdad. After all, spouses and families of soldiers in the 422nd weren?t allowed to know even when the unit had been sent overseas.

Her few short telephone conversations with her husband were brief and confined to personal matters, Shelia Gerald said.

?He doesn?t tell me anything,? she said.




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Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.


Sempers,

Roger