Carolyn Pribyla watched her husband, Ken, go off with the Air Force to places like Vietnam for about 28 years. On Thursday, she watched her son, Eric, leave with the Army for Kosovo.

 
Staff photo by Tracy Wilcox
Cpl. Gary Wright kisses his son, Gary Wright III, goodbye before
boarding a bus to Seymour Johnson Base in Goldsboro. 

‘‘I already gave,’’ Carolyn Pribyla said wistfully as she and her husband lingered on the Division Support Command Parade Field at Fort Bragg while more than 300 paratroopers boarded charter buses.

The Air Force colonel said watching a son go off to a dangerous place is probably no different for military families or civilian families.

‘‘You’re just parents,’’ he said.

The departing soldiers are members of the task force from the 3rd Battalion of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division. About 300 more soldiers will leave on Saturday.

The departing troopers will replace soldiers of the task force from the 2nd Battalion of the division’s 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Those soldiers went to Albania in April to guard helicopters that were sent for possible use against Serbian forces in Kosovo. The 2nd Battalion may return as early as later this month.

Division officials say it’s uncertain if another battalion from the 82nd will be on its way to Kosovo in six months or later.

The Pribylas came from Washington, D.C., to see their son, an infantry second lieutenant, who was leaving for six months of peacekeeping duty in the war-torn province of the former Yugoslavia.

The couple watched teary wives with babies. They observed that it’s tougher when the young children are old enough to understand.

Pfc. Jason Wendorf, a 21-year-old artilleryman, said he thinks the deployment will be a good experience, but being from Riverside, Calif., he’s not looking forward to the cold weather.

Pfc. James Jackson, who is 20 and from Trenton, N.J., said he will miss his wife, daughter, sisters and brothers, but he sees his situation as no worse than other soldiers.

‘‘Other people have families they have got to leave, too,’’ he said. ‘‘We’ll pull each other through.’’

Generals assured the soldiers that their family will be cared for. Couples hugged. Daddies kissed their children goodbye.

Finally, all the soldiers had boarded nine charter buses for the ride to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base at Goldsboro. Pope Air Force Base, from where Fort Bragg soldiers usually depart, is doing work on its main runway through Saturday.

Lt. Col. Michael Ellerbe, the battalion commander, took one last look up and down the column of buses and summoned his senior noncommissioned officer, Command Sgt. Maj. Francisco Flores.

Then Ellerbe gave his wife one last kiss and hopped on the bus.

The buses rolled down Ardennes Street with soldiers from the regiment’s other two battalions standing at the curb.

‘‘Could be you six months from now,’’ one soldier yelled to another.

The soldiers will be gone through the Christmas holidays.

Some wives discussed getting together while their husbands are away. Others made plans to send goody boxes to their husbands.

Connie Kallerson, the wife of Capt. John Kallerson, the battalion chaplain, has been looking for someone to donate a video camera that works on a VHS format. The camera would be used for fathers to make tapes of themselves reading bedtime stories, telling their children what they are doing and sending birthday greetings. The family support group will rent a camera to let family members make tapes to send to the soldiers, she said.

‘‘This tape could make many trips back and forth,’’ she said.

Donations for the camera may be made to Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4542 in Spring Lake. The telephone number is 497-5751.

 
 

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