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Soldier's Itinerary: Iraq, Home, First Child, Back to Iraq
Sgt. Josh Trout, just back from five months in Iraq, got to stay behind at Fort Bragg for extra weeks when his unit left again. The reason was born Jan. 3 and is named Emmah.
Posted — UpdatedFORT BRAGG, N.C. — Sgt. Josh Trout was allowed to spend an extra couple of weeks at home when the 82nd Airborne Division’s Second Brigade headed to Kuwait last week.
He got the extra time to get to know Emmah Lynn Trout, who was born Jan. 3 at 8:58 p.m., a few weeks after her father came home from five months in Iraq.
Emmah weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces. She will be bigger when her father sees her next because he will soon catch up with his unit for his fourth overseas deployment.
The deployment will be harder this time.
"It probably will be more difficult this time, yes. I got another one to think about while I'm over there,” Trout said.
The deployment also will be easier because Trout has barely had time at home.
"I'm already in the fight mode," Trout said. “I never got a chance to unwind, so I just left myself where I was, and I'll be more prepared to go over there and handle everything."
As the Second Brigade stands first in line to go into Iraq, Trout said he would watch President Bush’s address about his Iraq strategy, eager to hear of any change. It won’t affect his attitude, however.
"I do my job because I do my job. It's what I said I wanted to do, and it's what I do. There ain't no changing that," the sergeant said.
Trout’s wife of two years, Tara, did not plan to watch. The speech could not affect her attitude, either.
"Because he's gonna say what he wants. He's gonna do what he wants. There's nothing I can do about it; just wait for him to come home and deploy the next time," Tara Trout said.
Trout has been in Iraq twice and Afghanistan once. He lost four comrades in his unit in Iraq.
He supports the president’s plan to deploy more than 20,000 additional troops to Iraq.
"The way things have been in the past, it's really hard to get some things done because you get spread out so thin," Trout said.
Tara Trout is feeling that the family is being spread thin, too.
"If they have to keep sending them, why do they keep sending him?" she asked.
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