Perry puts aside paver for mission in Iraq

By WILL STEWART / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

When the local National Guard unit is activated tomorrow for eventual service in Iraq, Sgt. Jason Perry will leave behind his one-year-old business, Perry’s Paving. (Will Stewart photo)

Ask any businessperson and he or she will tell you: The first couple years of any business operation are often critical to its long-term success. To start a business, only to leave it after a year, isn’t the smartest move.

But Sgt. Jason Perry doesn’t have a choice. As a member of McMinnville’s National Guard unit, I Troop, the co-owner of Perry’s Paving must leave his budding business in the care of his family and fellow owners as he and the rest of the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment are mobilized for active duty in Iraq.

“Given the choice, I’d rather stay here, but we’ve been called to do a job we’ve all sworn to do and we have to go do it,” Perry said. “We all have to leave something important to us, be it our job or our families, but a job ain’t nothing compared to a family.”

And that’s where Perry considers himself fortunate. Being single with no kids, he regards himself lucky when compared to his fellow soldiers, many of whom are leaving wives and children.

A 1991 graduate of Warren County Senior High School, Perry, who had no previous military experience, joined I troop two years ago, shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

“9/11 happened and I figured I’d rather be one of the ones to go than other people my age who have families. Even if I was given the option to get out, I wouldn’t, knowing some of these guys are leaving their grandkids,” he said.

Trained as an M1A1 tank gunner, Perry said he has no idea what he might be doing in Iraq as I Troop isn’t taking its tanks, only its Bradley Fighting Vehicles. “I’ll do whatever they tell us to do,” he said.

Perry said while he does feel a natural fear about going to the volatile region, he isn’t terrified.

“First of all it’s not in my hands (if I die),” he said. “Secondly, I try to put it in perspective. Right now there are 130,000 troops in Iraq. In the month of heaviest casualties, in April, less than one-hundreth of 1 percent of the soldiers over there were killed. “

That said, “I’m going to be aware of my surroundings, watch everyone’s back and try my best to be safe.”

Though he’ll have more immediate concerns, such as doing his job and staying alive, he said it will be hard not to worry about the business he started last June.

“It’s going to be tough for my dad, my brother and my sister because I run all of the equipment. I know they’re going to step up and try their best though,” he said. “But I can’t worry about Perry’s Paving. I can’t let that get in the way of getting our job done. When we go on active duty we have to put everything else behind us.”