Extended Iraq tours hit local families

Teri Craig knows she’s lucky to have her son back.

Noah Craig is 22, an infantryman in the U.S. Army, and he recently came back from Iraq.

“He joined a unit that was already there, so he only spent four months there, thank God,” said Teri Craig, administrative assistant for the city of Newport Beach recreation department.

Craig, one of several city employees in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa with family members serving in Iraq, is luckier than some. For others, the news this week that tours in Iraq will be extended by three months means more worry and more time a loved one will be gone.

Cecilia Valenti, a fiscal operations specialist for Newport Beach, is hoping her son, Salvador, will be back this fall. He’s on his second deployment to Iraq, and Cecilia isn’t sure if he’ll have to stay an extra three months.

Salvador Valenti, 22, joined the Army because he wanted to serve his country, and he knew he’d be going to Iraq, his mother said.

“We were expecting one time, but not two times,” Cecilia Valenti said.

Having him there, she said, is “kind of stressful, but I know he wants to be out there, so I’m supporting his decision.”

She’s also very proud, she said.

Craig said once she didn’t hear from her son for almost three weeks. “Even though you try to put on a good face, it’s scary,” she said.

His unit is scheduled to return to Iraq in October 2008, but Teri Craig said she expects Noah to be back in the U.S. by then.

While her son was away, co-workers weren’t always sure what to say, she said.

“People don’t really know what to do,” she said. “They always say, ‘How’s your son doing?’ Well, you don’t ever really know.”

Some locals are trying to make things easier for troops overseas and their families here at home. People donated enough money to local Girl Scouts to send nine cases of cookies to the troops, and on Thursday two Girl Scouts delivered the cookies to Costa Mesa City Hall, where other gifts for troops are being collected.

The city so far has sent more than 400 packages to the Army company it adopted in 2006.

Newport Beach residents have been helping families of a Camp Pendleton-based Marine battalion that is facing its third deployment to Iraq this summer. The possible deployment means the annual Mess Night dinner to benefit the unit won’t be held, Newport Beach City Manager Homer Bludau said, but a picnic for will take place April 21.

Local efforts to support U.S. troops and their familiesCosta Mesa is collecting gifts and letters to send to D Company, 2-25th Aviation Regiment, the Army company the city adopted last year. Items can be dropped off at City Hall, 77 Fair Drive, and volunteers will be needed to assemble the packages on June 14 at the Neighborhood Community Center, 184 Park Ave. For information, go to www.ci.costa-mesa.ca.us or call (714) 754-5327.

Newport Beach’s adopted Marine battalion, the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, will be celebrated at a picnic April 21 at Camp Pendleton’s Lake O’Neill Park. The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will include a display of the battalion’s weapons and vehicles. For information, call Staff Sgt. Dyas at (760) 763-1415.