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Articles: Military Service: Women

Ordered to Iraq 10 Months before Retirement
Iowa Teacher-Grandmother, 52, in Navy Reserve Deploys for Security Work

Associated Press

May 1, 2006

A grandmother in eastern Iowa is getting one last call
to duty.

Janet Grass, 52, had planned to retire from the military in about 10
months after spending 19 years in the U.S. Navy Reserve. Instead, she
has been ordered to leave her job as a special-education teacher in
Cascade to do security work in the Middle East.

"They're changing my career just as I'm retiring," she said. "I guess
they wanted to try one more thing for me."

Grass boarded an airplane Thursday at the Dubuque Regional Airport
amid emotional goodbyes from her family, which includes four children
and six grandchildren.

Grass will train in California and Texas before deploying to Iraq for
12 to 18 months.

"Being over there is being in a different world," said her son Tim,
who has also served in the military. "It's about being mentally strong
to face things that will confront her. She's good. She'll do fine."

Grass, a petty officer first class, recalled how her son had also
served in Iraq in 2003.

"I'm taking over for Tim," she said, smiling as she prepared to board
the airplane. "I get to play in the big sandbox and teach them to play
nice. That's the teacher in me."

Grass said the toughest part of shipping out was saying goodbye to 300
youngsters at Cascade Elementary School, where a send-off assembly was
conducted in her honor. "It was a rough one," she said.

As Grass prepared to board the airplane, a grandson grabbed her leg in
embrace. She smiled at the boy. "I'll be back," she said.

Her sisters Julie Small and Jolene Petesch stood nearby, sobbing and
holding each other in support. Tim Grass, holding a small American
flag, watched his mother pass through the terminal gate as other
family members questioned the timing of the deployment.

"I think it's wrong," Jolene Petesch said, noting that her sister was
about to retire from the military. "The military screwed up there, and
I'm angry about it.

"It's another Vietnam. We don't belong there, but I still support our
troops."
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

© 2006 MSNBC.com

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