Dear Readers,

It was not the big news story this weekend. But it should have been.

This weekend, our TV screens and newspapers gushed ink and electrons over an idiot who killed a bunch of folks in a Colorado movie theater. They seemed happy to cover the latest chapter in a sordid tale of a football coach who molested young kids. Here on the Boothbay peninsula the town was abuzz with gossip surrounding an island wedding complete with recording stars and a fireworks display.

There was no mention of Ken and Mason and Nicholas. But there should have been.

After all, is it just routine when Maine soldiers, sailors and marines of both genders, put on their field uniforms and board a bus bound for uncertainty?

Last Saturday, three Boothbay men gathered at the Augusta Civic Center and lined up with 119 other soldiers as the gentle breeze fluttered both the massed American flags and the skirts of their loved one’s sun dresses. 

But, except for a member of Congress, some political surrogates, a sprinkling of Maine Guard brass, plus family and friends, their departure was almost unnoticed. There was no Army band playing Sousa marches. Instead, the music was recorded. There were a few old vets riding motorcycles and a couple of rookie video camera folk. The state’s top newspapers carried a tiny story buried inside.

And that was just plain wrong. You would think sending 122 Maine soldiers to war would rate a bit more notice from our state’s leaders, wouldn’t you?

For the record, Sgt. First Class Ken Solorzano, 46, and privates Nicholas Greenleaf and Mason Leighton, both 19, are from Boothbay. They are assigned to the 488 Military Police Company of the Maine National Guard.

After a couple of months training in Texas, they will be shipped to a world they only know from the news. It is called Afghanistan, where the language and customs are as strange as the landscape, and the politics are worse.

Just a year after watching Seahawk football games, final exams and a graduation parties, Pvt. Greenleaf and Pvt. Leighton will be armed to the teeth as they man roadside checkpoints and guard gates. They will be detaining suspected bad guys and performing the other military chores as their nation’s leaders try to figure just how to wind down one of the longest wars in our history.

While there is no statistical evidence available right now, the 488th looks to be made up of a lot of very young men and women. Ken Solorzano, who has been in the services since he turned 17, said as much and called some of them brand new soldiers.

In reality, he will, like all senior non-commissioned officers, spend much of his time teaching the youngsters how to survive. He and the other senior sergeants will be watching out for them and correcting their mistakes, sometimes in a rather harsh manner. They do that to make a point and drive it home. A mistake in Afghanistan could have serious consequences. In a war zone, there is no time to correct a mistake using a gentle reminder, coupled with a timely time out.

One of the reasons Solorzano volunteered was to keep an eye on the younger soldiers. He calls them “kids.” His wife Jane put it this way: “They need a Poppa Bear, a senior officer, and there is so much for him to teach.”

They are not kids any more. They are now men, American soldiers in a combat zone. Like their fathers and grandfathers and great grandfathers on and on, they will quickly grow up and perform their assigned tasks despite the difficult situation, for that is what young American soldiers do.

But for now, they are all excited and a little bit apprehensive about the prospect of leaving home on a grand adventure. They are pumped up and show it as they answer their company commander with loud cheers. The boss, Capt. Eric Dos Santos, an Augusta policeman, drew the biggest cheers and laughs when he told them, “You are the best Maine has to offer. You are the best trained, best equipped… and the best looking.”

May they stay safe and sound. May they come home soon.
Joe Gelarden