California Reservists Fly East--Excited and Worried

It was just a little memento, something to get Steve Toberman through the lonely times while he’s away from his family.

“I’ve got a letter from my 8-year-old daughter in my flight bag,” said Toberman, 35, of Simi Valley. The message reads: “I love you, Daddy. Hurry up back.” He said, “It’s my good-luck charm.”

With a few lucky tokens tucked away, duffel bags neatly packed and Army boots shined to a slick black, 14 members of the 146th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron at the Channel Islands Air National Guard boarded a C-130 Hercules cargo plane early Friday morning.

Shortly before noon, the group stopped first in Cheyenne, Wyo., to pick up 13 more nurses and medical technicians. Next stop: Minneapolis, to pick up 18 guardsmen.

By the time the plane left there for Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, there was barely any elbow room. Bags filled with chemical warfare gear and sleeping bags were stacked in piles in the back of the plane and in the aisles.

The Channel Islands reservists have been through many missions together. They’ve been to Korea for training, they’ve spent weekends in Hawaii, they’ve gone on assignments in the West. But nothing compares to this, they said.

And they’re worried.

“I look around this plane and I see the faces, and I wonder how many of these people will still be around when it’s all over,” Tech. Sgt. Dave Winger, 25, of Granada Hills said.

He paused, his eyes a little misty. “Sometimes I dream about it, the war. That’s when I worry about it the most.”

The reservists did not know whether they were actually going to Saudi Arabia, although some suspected that was the next step. All they had been told is that they were going to Germany. They spent much of Friday night waiting for a flight out.

Some say they’re more than concerned; they’re scared.

“I guess it hit me when I packed the chemical warfare gear,” said one woman, who asked not to be identified.

The Channel Islands crew of seven men and seven women has been specially trained to evacuate the wounded from battlefields by air, to stabilize them and transport them to a hospital. It is especially dangerous, they say, because they may be forced to fly through war zones.

But despite the fears and the dangers, the guardsmen say they are ready to go.

“After training for the past seven years, I’m happy to put my knowledge to work,” Toberman said.

The 14-member crew--all nurses or medical technicians--volunteered for duty when President Bush decided to activate more than 49,000 reservists. The Channel Islands group is not the first from the 146th Squadron to join “Operation Desert Shield,” the military name for the U.S. mobilization brought on by Iraq’s invasion of neighboring Kuwait. Two weeks ago, five other guardsmen were sent.

The squadron has 165 members, most of them part-time reservists who normally serve one weekend a month and two weeks during the summer.

A week ago, the Air Force asked the Channel Islands base for 40 volunteers. But on Wednesday, the Pentagon said only 14 were needed immediately.

The 14 guardsmen have various professions ranging from prison medic to college Spanish instructor.

Before leaving Friday, Chuck Collier, 46, of San Bernardino cuddled his son at the Channel Islands base. He said he’s packed a pocket full of pictures of the child.

“He’ll probably have a few more teeth by the time I get back,” he said.

He paused, then added: “We all have families we’re leaving behind.”

For most of the 11-hour trip across the country, the atmosphere was jovial. Some members of the group read books on politics and warfare, others slept.

Occasionally, laughter would cut through the loud droning of airplane engines. And sometimes sorrow.

Elsa Rosales, 30, of Irvine touched the small diamond charm on the gold necklace around her neck.

“My boyfriend gave this to me before I left,” she said. “He said, ‘Don’t forget about me.’ ”

Bernie Donato, 38, of Long Beach thumbed through a stack of photographs.

“I miss my friends already,” she said.

Then her mood lifted.

“I’m the kind of person who is always looking for something new to do,” she said. “I just think this is the chance of a lifetime.”