http://www.sacobserver.com/news/0113...ickle_jr.shtml
Posted: 01.13.05 @ 1 p.m.
Local Father Fights For Peace
Major Frederick L. Mickle, Jr., spends some time with his sons David and Justin before he returns to duty.
By Genoa Barrow | OBSERVER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Despite his parents’ best efforts to keep them from him, eight-year-old David Mickle saw televised images of death and destruction in Iraq and became distraught. Unlike his four-year-old brother, Justin, David is old enough to understand where his father, Major Frederick L. Mickle, Jr. is headed and why.
Mickle is one of thousands of Marines reservists who have been called back to duty as part of the U.S. military’s troop rotation plan for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Those being deployed will relieve others who are retiring or have been in the Middle East for an extended period of time. Mickle will be deployed from January 9 through January 30, 2006, traveling first to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and then on to Iraq, where he’ll serve as an Operations Officer with the 5th Civil Affairs Group.
"David is not at all happy with me going, but he knows that I’m a Marine," Mickle said.
Mickle, who served with a combat unit during Desert Storm in 1991m is third generation military. His fraternal grandfather served in the U.S. Army during World War II. His father did two tours in Vietnam as a member of the Air Force.
The Massachusetts native joined the United States Marine Corps upon graduation from South Carolina State University in 1986. After serving on active duty for 10 years, Mickle signed up with the Marine Corps Reserves for six more years.
Over the years he has held a number of important military and civilian posts including Operations Education Training Officer from 1990 to 1992, Veterans Affairs Counselor for California State University at Northridge from 1996 to 1997, and Regional Outreach Coordinator for UC Davis’ Early Academic Outreach Program from 1998 to 2000. His current title is West Region Director for Postesecondary Business Services for ACT, Inc., an independent, not-for-profit organization that provides assessment, research, information, and program management services in the areas of education and workforce development.
While "amply trained" for whatever may come, he wasn’t expecting this current call to duty, as he’s been away from the Reserves for four and a half years.
In late 2004, President George W. Bush used his Presidential Selected Reserve Call-Up authority and certain officers in the various factions of the military, while no longer active, began to get letters in the mail.
"I was involuntarily called, but I am willing, of course, to assume the responsibility that comes with being an officer with the Marine Corps," Mickle said. "I’m not going begrudgingly."
Mickle will help coordinate the deployment of troops to different areas within Iraq.
""My personal mission is to help bring our boys back in the same condition as they left, and to do so in the same condition that I left," he shared.
Here in America, opinions vary on U.S. action in Iraq. Some question Bush’s tactics in his "War on Terrorism" and believe soldiers are losing their lives for nothing. Others believe, as Mickle said he does, that U.S. troops are on a peace keeping mission.
"Supporting the troops isn’t necessarily supporting the ideology (of what got them there)," Mickle stated. "The young people who are there, are somebody’s babies. My job is to help in any way I can to bring somebody’s baby home.
"We’re not trying to kill people, we’re trying to bring peace to a country that’s been war ravaged over the past three years."
Handling things on their homefront will be Mickle’s wife of 13 years, Marcia.
"I know she’ll do a phenomenal job while I’m gone. My children will be well taken care of," Mickle said. "I’m truly blessed to have a strong wife who is supportive of what I’ve been called to do."
The couple also has another new baby - a business they opened this past August, The Athlete’s Foot in Elk Grove.
"I’m a master of time management and multitasking," Marcia said.
In the month that they’ve had to prepare for the departure, friends and family members have stepped up and volunteered to pitch in - whether it’s picking the boys up from school or taking the boys to extracurricular activities.
Mickle’s fraternity brothers have also vowed to help his family in any way they can. Members of the Sacramento Alumni Chapter of the Kappa Alpha Psi, Fraternity, Inc., where Mickle serves as vice polemarch, gave him a special send off this week.
The seriousness of the situation is not lost on her, but Marcia said she knows that her husband wouldn’t have it any other way.
"He’s all 'Go Marine Corps' and whatnot, so he’ll go, do his thing, and hopefully come back home safely," Marcia said.
I pray he returns to his family safely and unharmed. *sigh*
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