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ENLARGEWhile serving in Iraq, Jamie Cox of Sutherlin came across a Glide Rural Fire Department T-shirt, from a box of donated T-shirts from a program called ‘Hero to Hero.’
GLIDE — Out of all the T-shirts that sat in boxes in the quarters at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, Sgt. Jamie Cox’s roommate wondered why the Sutherlin native snatched up a dark blue one lying on top of the pile.
The importance of the Glide Rural Fire Department insignia was lost on the other California guardsman, but to Cox, it was a sight for sore eyes.
“I was pretty shocked when I opened up the box,” said Cox, a 25-year-old member of the California National Guard.
The shirt, signed by Glide Fire Chief Dan Tilson in black scrawling letters, was stamped with the Hero to Hero logo on the front.
Some 6,000 T-shirts from emergency response agencies from around the country, including about 150 from Douglas County, were shipped to Iraq near the end of February. The grass-roots Hero to Hero effort began with a military mother in Lakewood, Wash., and has grown into a national effort.
Out of all of those shirts sent randomly to connection points in Iraq, Cox found one from the home of Glide Lumber, where he used to work and his father, Roger, remains employed.
While on leave this month, Cox, who leaves for Iraq again Saturday, visited the Glide department to express his gratitude last week.
“It meant a lot to our firefighters,” said Debbie Dean, the department’s business manager, of the visit and the program.
Cox’s yearlong tour in Iraq, where he runs a compound at the prison as a shift leader, began in December. He’d served in the Marines since graduating from Sutherlin High School in 1999 until 2003.
He returned home afterward, but when Douglas County guardsmen started coming back after their tours in Iraq last year, Cox decided it was his turn to go. He connected with a unit in Sacramento because none of the Oregon units were deploying at the time.
“Being in the military, you can only see so much on TV until you want to go,” Cox said.
He didn’t expect to end up at Abu Ghraib, but there’s “never a dull moment” there. Working with the many detained innocent Iraqis — caught up in the sweeping arrests that occur when a bomb explodes on a street — has given Cox rare insight into the war.
“Being in the prison … you see both sides of it,” he said, displaying an intricately woven tassel an Iraqi gave him made from the threads of a prison jumpsuit.
In what little downtime Cox has, amidst the mortar attacks on the prison and work with the detainees, he wears his T-shirt now to remind him of a more peaceful place.
“It was like a little piece of home,” he said.
• You can reach reporter Chelsea Duncan at 957-4246 or by e-mail at cduncan@newsreview.info.
The importance of the Glide Rural Fire Department insignia was lost on the other California guardsman, but to Cox, it was a sight for sore eyes.
“I was pretty shocked when I opened up the box,” said Cox, a 25-year-old member of the California National Guard.
The shirt, signed by Glide Fire Chief Dan Tilson in black scrawling letters, was stamped with the Hero to Hero logo on the front.
Some 6,000 T-shirts from emergency response agencies from around the country, including about 150 from Douglas County, were shipped to Iraq near the end of February. The grass-roots Hero to Hero effort began with a military mother in Lakewood, Wash., and has grown into a national effort.
Out of all of those shirts sent randomly to connection points in Iraq, Cox found one from the home of Glide Lumber, where he used to work and his father, Roger, remains employed.
While on leave this month, Cox, who leaves for Iraq again Saturday, visited the Glide department to express his gratitude last week.
“It meant a lot to our firefighters,” said Debbie Dean, the department’s business manager, of the visit and the program.
Cox’s yearlong tour in Iraq, where he runs a compound at the prison as a shift leader, began in December. He’d served in the Marines since graduating from Sutherlin High School in 1999 until 2003.
He returned home afterward, but when Douglas County guardsmen started coming back after their tours in Iraq last year, Cox decided it was his turn to go. He connected with a unit in Sacramento because none of the Oregon units were deploying at the time.
“Being in the military, you can only see so much on TV until you want to go,” Cox said.
He didn’t expect to end up at Abu Ghraib, but there’s “never a dull moment” there. Working with the many detained innocent Iraqis — caught up in the sweeping arrests that occur when a bomb explodes on a street — has given Cox rare insight into the war.
“Being in the prison … you see both sides of it,” he said, displaying an intricately woven tassel an Iraqi gave him made from the threads of a prison jumpsuit.
In what little downtime Cox has, amidst the mortar attacks on the prison and work with the detainees, he wears his T-shirt now to remind him of a more peaceful place.
“It was like a little piece of home,” he said.
• You can reach reporter Chelsea Duncan at 957-4246 or by e-mail at cduncan@newsreview.info.
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