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Giving thanks in the desert

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Some West Virginians will find out for the first time what Thanksgiving turkey tastes like in the desert on Thursday.

About 500 members of the West Virginia Army National Guard’s 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment based in Charleston are among the Guard soldiers from four states that make up the 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team that’s now supporting Operation Spartan Shield out of Camp Buehring in northwestern Kuwait.

Sgt. Jacob Paugh, 24, of Morgantown, is one of them.

“I no longer have the rolling hills of Appalachia.  I now have the barren, flat, sandy deserts of the Middle East,” Paugh told MetroNews is an interview earlier this week.

“The weather, the climate, the environment’s been different and also just the time frame has also been a lot different.  I’m having to call in the wee hours of the day just to get ahold of my family.”

Sgt. Jacob Paugh from Morgantown (left) and Staff Sgt. Matthew Wood from Hurricane talked with MetroNews from Camp Buehring, Kuwait earlier this week.

At the time, it was 3 a.m. in West Virginia and 11 a.m. in Kuwait.

Staff Sgt. Matthew Wood, 29, of Hurricane, agreed.

“Rolling hills and green, I definitely miss that with the flat, sandy view we see here every day,” he said.

In all, the 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team includes 4,000 National Guard soldiers headquartered in North Carolina, South Carolina and Ohio along with West Virginia.

What is its third deployment since the 9-11 attacks will continue through much of 2020.

The two previous deployments were to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004 and 2009.

For Operation Spartan Shield, the goal is to “build partner capacity in the Middle East to promote regional self-reliance and increase security,” according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

Those with the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment are added into the 800 total military members the West Virginia National Guard has deployed as we near the end of 2019.

Most of them are serving in the Middle East in countries that include Iraq and Afghanistan along with Kuwait, officials said.

2020 will bring additional deployments.

Neither Paugh nor Wood have been deployed before now.

Sgt. Paugh is a medic serving as the non-commissioned officer in charge for an aid station at Camp Buehring.

In his civilian life, the Shinnston native and graduate of Lincoln High School works as a mid-level investigative analyst at the FBI Center in Clarksburg. He and his wife live in Morgantown.  One of his brothers is in the U.S. Navy.

Staff Sgt. Wood is a vehicle operator charged with supply distribution.

When he’s home in West Virginia, the graduate of George Washington High School and Alderson Broaddus University lives in Hurricane with his wife and works as the band director at Sissonville Middle School.

Previously, he had been a military musician with the West Virginia Army National Guard’s 249th Army Band.

“For this deployment, they needed volunteers,” Wood said. “Multiple people from different units volunteered to fill slots that needed to be filled for this deployment so I went to reclass school and learned the new job so I could come over here with the 1st-150th.”

Other members of his family have served overseas.

“As military members, we’re always trying to grow professionally, so doing something outside our regular job is definitely going to be that opportunity to see how the rest of the Army works and learn a new skill,” Wood said.

The deployment for the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment began with training earlier this year in Fort Bliss, Texas.

For Thanksgiving, a number of activities were planned at Camp Buehring which is used as a staging area for troops heading north into Iraq and the primary location for the Middle Eastern Theater Reserve.

“I plan on celebrating it (Thanksgiving) by devouring as much turkey as I can,” said Paugh.

Wood mentioned a 5K Turkey Trot scheduled on Thanksgiving Day and an afternoon gathering dedicated to Thanksgiving desserts.

Despite that, “It’s definitely not the same, it doesn’t feel like Thanksgiving,” Wood said.

“We all kind of get close and we all have a bond, but it’s definitely not the same because we’re not with our families.”

Paugh admitted he’s been dealing with homesickness.

“I’m very thankful that I don’t have to write letters to be able to talk to my wife or my family. It’s making sure that my internet puck has good internet for the time being and being able to call or message them,” he said.

Both said they were thankful for their families and additional supporters at home, the many soldiers and other military members who had come before them and the Gold Star families who’ve lost loved ones in service.

“Things are doing okay here and it’ll be over before your know it and I’ll be home,” Sgt. Paugh said when asked about any message he had for his loved ones in West Virginia.

For others, he offered this advice: “Take a little bit of extra time at the table (on Thanksgiving) and just be thankful that those around the table are there.”





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