Marine Families Party With Somalia in Mind

At first glance, Thursday night’s Christmas party on the Marine base had all the usual trimmings of the holiday, from a tree with bright decorations and blinking lights to the singing of “Jingle Bells.”

But for the 100 or so parents gathered around the children in the multipurpose room at San Onofre Elementary School there was an air of anticipation beyond the norm.

“We don’t really know when we are going,” said Staff Sgt. Charles Zuhlke, 30, a native of Michigan who lives on the base with his wife, Donna, and three sons and is preparing for deployment to Somalia. “We thought it was going to be last Sunday, but now it’s not. We’re just waiting to find out.”

After 12 years of Marine life and stints in the Middle East, Africa and Desert Storm already behind them, the Zuhlkes are accustomed to taking holidays when they can get them.

“For all I know I could be leaving in a day or two. I don’t know, but it will probably be sometime this month,” said Sgt. Peter Black, 25, a native of Roff, Okla., population “about 12” and a six-year Marine with a wife, Sonya, and two children. “We’ve been gearing up for a long time, for Bosnia and everything else. We figured it’s just whatever comes first.”

Zuhlke, adjusting the paper reindeer antlers on Jordan’s head, said, “We see it as a humanitarian effort and something we’ve got to do. It’s not really a war like in Kuwait, but people over there still have guns.”

But most agree that the atmosphere around the base is definitely not as tense as it was two Christmases ago, just before Desert Storm.

“All the families were glued to CNN back then. Wives were worried about their husbands being killed in action,” said Karina Kingman, who worked for the YMCA during Desert Storm. “There were a lot of tears then. Now the thought is: will my husband be home for Christmas. Then it was: I don’t know if he’s coming back.”

Those kind of questions go with the territory in military life, said Sonya Black, 24, a native of Campo, Calif.

“He signed the contract for the corps and I signed the marriage license,” she said.