Bouldin knows he might not come home

By WILL STEWART / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

BOULDIN

While deployment overseas in a time of war is taxing for any soldier, it is also trying for family members back home. Just ask Sgt. Tracy Bouldin.

“I told my son Justin, who’s 6, that I was going to a foreign country to play Army, but he really doesn’t understand the concept. He’s never seen me go away for more than two weeks at a time,” Bouldin said. “And my wife hasn’t stopped crying. It’s going to be rough on them. They’re the ones who are going to suffer the most, the families.”

A fire team leader with I Troop, McMinnville’s unit of the Tennessee National Guard, Bouldin left Thursday with his comrades for Camp Shelby, Miss., where the troop will rendezvous and train with the rest of the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment before deployment to Iraq later this year.

In civilian life, Bouldin is the manager of Rhino Linings in Cookeville. Making the switch to active duty was fairly easy for him as he has served in the regular Army before, but he said his wife, Kimberly, has not known what to expect.

“She’s kind of in the dark about the whole process,” he said. “I’ve tried my best to tell her about it and to help her prepare for it.”

But some things are easier said than done, he noted, and wives and family members will always worry. With the Iraqi insurgency showing no signs of halting attacks on American soldiers and those who assist them, Bouldin said he has considered the possibility he might not come home.

“I’ve stopped praying to come back and started praying for God’s will to be done. I’m at peace. I know my family will be taken care of,” he said.

A 1988 graduate of Warren County Senior High, Bouldin, 34, joined I Troop in 1997, two years after completing an active duty stint as an Army military policeman. He was talked into joining the local unit by his younger brother, Randy, who subsequently left the unit soon after the elder Bouldin enlisted.

“He got me in, then he got out,” Bouldin laughed. “But that’s all right, I love serving my country.

“I can’t wait to go to Iraq. I’m anxious, and a little scared, but I’m ready for it. This is something I’ve been looking for, and expecting, for several years now. They warned us and now it’s here.”