Family time in the battalion

Fort Stewart GA- Two standard Army issue green duffle bags. That’s all the Indiana National Guardsmen are permitted to pack for their at least nine-month deployment to Iraq. But they’re not too worried about it.

Private First Class Jason Kuhn, 21, of Connersville leaned against his carry-on pack while his duffle bags along with the rest of his units’ bags were being methodically stacked into the back of a large moving truck. All their gear will be stowed in the bottom of chartered planes headed for Kuwait, where the 76th Indiana National Guard will train before heading into Iraq.

Pfc. Kuhn said that soldiers helped each other out and stowed their buddies’ gear in their own bags if they had any extra room.

“I came down here pretty scared,” Pfc. Kuhn said of the two-month training at Fort Stewart. “(Now) I’m in the mind set I’m going to come home safe.”

• Favorite thing you packed- “My laptop to keep in touch with my fiancée and family. That and my cigarettes.”

• What will be doing on the plane ride- “Catching some sleep. I look forward to seeing what I can see from Germany.” (Where their plane is laying over.)

Pfc. Kuhn hasn’t been at Fort Stewart all this time without friendly faces. His uncle, Staff Sergeant Larry Kuhn, 32, also from Connersville, is in the 1/152 battalion.

Staff Sgt. Larry Kuhn has been a big influence, says his nephew.

When pressed on it, Staff Sgt. Kuhn admitted that he’s proud of Jason. “I took him to the recruiter, talked to him about the things we do and how it can help in the future.”

• Favorite thing Staff Sgt. Kuhn packed- “A picture of my wife I carry with me.” He pulled out a rumpled photo of himself and his wife from the breast pocket of his camouflage jacket.

• What most looking forward to on the plane ride- Staff Sgt. Kuhn shrugged, “I’m relaxed when I fly.” But he said it was tight getting all his stuff in.

Staff Sgt. Kuhn said he knows things will be extremely different when their battalion touches down in Kuwait. He was there in ’96 with the First Calvary Division to help reinforce the no-fly zone.

“First time I got off, it was like they took the engine and blew in inside the plane,” he said of the heat.