LIVERMORE FALLS – While Paula Brochu Coombs’ son serves in Iraq, her faith in God, a strong support system and a busy life keep her going.
Her faith was tested in April.
Her son, Jason Duval, 20, was supposed to be in a convoy that came under attack south of Mosul.
She received conflicting stories about a convoy from the 133rd Combat Engineer Company of the Maine Army National Guard that had been attacked after a bomb detonated under a Humvee.
Duval, who is stationed in Mosul, gave her a quick call later that day to tell her, “These were my people. I’m OK,” and that was it.
He wasn’t at liberty to tell her anything more.
Coombs learned from news reports that Sgt. Christopher Gelineau, 23, of Portland, a member of her son’s unit, was killed and others wounded in the attack.
Though her son said he was all right, Coombs said, she didn’t know what to think because of the conflicting stories and because her son is “one of those kids that doesn’t tell me anything he thinks will worry me.”
When he was a kid, “He would need stitches and ask for a Band-Aid,” she said. “It’s ridiculous.”
Her son called her about a month after the April 20 attack and told her he was pulled off the convoy along with three others prior to the convoy leaving the base.
She had been strong until then, Coombs said, but then she cried.
“I tend to be very strong until I get the details, and then I adjust,” she said.
When Duval first went to Iraq six months ago, there was very little contact, but now there is more contact with e-mail, she said.
“Right now they’re building a school in Diana,” Coombs said. “He’s operating heavy-duty equipment in a green zone. But mortar shells do drop in the zone even though they’re not supposed to.”
Coombs’ youngest son, Kyle, is not happy his older brother is in Iraq.
“He prays for him every night,” she said.
Her other children and her husband deal with Jason being gone in different ways.
“I have a lot of faith in God, so I don’t worry about the outcome,” Coombs said. “So I know whatever it is, we’ll handle it. Of course we don’t want the worst, but we know whatever comes we can get through it, and we know he can get through it.”
They’ll all be happy when Jason arrives home on leave Sept. 20, Coombs said.
“I’m very proud of what he’s doing,” Coombs said. “I sometimes feel concerned that the younger generation hasn’t been taught enough to have a clear understanding of war, and I’d like to see a time when there is no war, but we’re not there yet.”
Anti-war protesters don’t bother her.
The protesting is important, she said, “because that’s going to be the motivation to look at what we’re doing and why we’re doing it and why we’re working toward peace.
“But for now, it’s naive to think we don’t need war.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
