Tuesday, June 26, 2007
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For 14 months, Cummins lived with an Army Reserve unit in Iraq. He was there teaching other men how to be soldiers, following orders and answering questions with a simple "yes" or "no."
Now he can relax. At least a little.
He can put away the dog tags.
Grow his hair out again.
Wear something other than an Army uniform.
He's back home in his white house with black shutters on a quiet street in Winthrop.
Back where the loudest booms he hears come from his sons wrestling.
Where the food isn't mush and his wife isn't thousands of miles away.
He's relearning how to be a father and a husband.
And it feels great.
"I'm glad to be home," Cummins said last week, just four days after he returned to Maine, still sporting a military-style crew cut and a desert tan.
The Cummins' boys, like their father, didn't say much when their Dad stepped off a plane at the Augusta airport on June 15.
But they weren't reserved "little soldiers," either.
"They all jumped all over me -- and I expected that," Cummins said. "They were yelling 'Dad,' 'Dad,' and just jumping up and down."
Billy's wife, Paula, is relieved he's home -- relieved he's safe. Her kind face has relaxed. She's glad to have her husband back.
WHILE IN IRAQ
It's been more than a year since the family has been together. The last time was when Cummins left for Iraq in April 2006.
Cummins and his wife thought he would depart quietly in the dark, with only a few friends and family to see him off from the Augusta airport.
Cummins, a master sergeant in the Army Reserve for 21 years, was being deployed with a unit based out of Spartanburg, S.C., rather than a Maine-based unit.
Because of that, Paula Cummins was worried her husband would not get the big send-off that her brother -- a member of the 152nd Maintenance Company -- got when he deployed.
On the morning he left, however, Cummins was given the red-carpet treatment: TV news crews, Gov. John Baldacci, representatives from the offices of Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, and Maj. Gen. John Libby, the adjutant general of the Maine National Guard and commissioner of the Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management, turned out.
While in Iraq, Cummins trained Iraqi soldiers how to organize a mission, clear and fortify an area and run transportation missions.
LONG-DISTANCE LOVE
Cummins said the hardest part about being in Iraq was not being able to talk to or see his family.
Luckily, he said, he and his fellows had ways to get around the spotty phone service and e-mail that took hours, sometimes days, to send.
"Unfortunately, we had limited access to phones," Cummins said. "We had one DSN line to call back to the States and you couldn't do that without a calling card or credit card. Luckily, one officer bought a satellite phone and so we all chipped in to his phone bill. He said he didn't care if we used his phone as long as we contacted our families and let them know we were OK. He said not to worry about the bill, just give me so much and it will all iron out in the long run."
As good as the phone calls were, though, they were inadequate substitutes for being home. And when Cummins returned to Maine last week, it was enough to be greeted only by friends and family.
"It felt great," Cummins said. "If Paula could have jumped any higher she would have."
Paula Cummins said the hardest part about her husband's deployment was how she felt his absence.
For the last year, she's been on her own, living a single-parent life she wasn't accustomed to.
After working all day, it was on her shoulders to feed three growing boys, get them to various sports and try to keep them from fighting with one another, and clean their home.
"It was just the everyday things," she said. "The fact that I was responsible for everything. Making sure the lawn was mowed, or snow shoveled and dinner on the table. My brother-in-law was there for most of it, but there's always stuff to be done.
"The kids wouldn't want to listen to me and having three boys going in three different directions with one parent just doesn't cut it. You don't realize how much you help one another until one parent is gone."
GETTING REACQUAINTED
At home in Winthrop, Cummins has been trying to catch up on all the family news and keep up with his boys, who he says "all definitely got taller -- all three of them."
These days, he feels like he might have gotten more sleep in Iraq as the boys -- all with dark-brown hair like their Mom and big, wide, toothy grins -- have been keeping him busy, clamoring for their dad's attention.
They follow around their father from room to room in their Green Street home. If Billy Cummins leaves the room (and they don't notice, which they usually do), they pipe up and ask, "Where's Daddy?"
For husband and wife, there's not much time alone.
"I got the car ride back from the Augusta airport with him," Paula Cummins said.
But it's also nice to see her husband acting like the big kid she knows he is.
Dalton Cummins, 12, is beyond happy about his Dad's return, and teases his father about missing key family events.
"He owes me two presents now," Dalton told his father, who missed the youngster's 12th birthday.
In the few days he's been home, Dalton said his father's been going to his baseball games, buying ice cream and taking the family out to eat.
The boys speak in the straightforward, matter-of-fact way their Dad does. But you can hear in their voices their relief that their family is whole again.
"We went to the market and stuff," said Nathan, 8. "I missed fighting and wrestling with him when he was gone."
They've been wrestling a lot since Billy came home.
Bryce, 7, said he's looking forward to one specific outing with his father. "I want to get a new charger for my Game Boy," he said.
The boys, Paula said, just want to be spoiled a bit.
One family member who didn't make it home for Billy Cummins' return is Paula Cummins' oldest son from a prior relationship, Andrew Bellegarde. He's still over in Afghanistan with the Army.
Paula and Billy Cummins are hoping that, come July, Andrew will be home on leave and the three of them can take an "adults-only" vacation to Florida.
She loves her boys, but she said she craves alone-time with her husband.
Some days, when her husband was gone, she said she would just sit in the bedroom for a few minutes, trying to gather herself. She hasn't had to do that since he returned.
While Billy Cummins is relaxing and returning to a routine he left 14 months ago, he's crossing his fingers he isn't re-deployed for another tour in Iraq.
His Spartanburg unit has a new designation, even though its members are mostly the same.
"There is a possibility I could go back," Cummins said. "If my new unit gets mobilized, I'll probably end up heading out when my oldest son is coming back. Since there's no more mandatory stay time, there's about a three-month window that I am safe, but after that I could be picked up again," he said.
For now, he's enjoying the time he has and looking forward to his first ride of the season on his Harley Davidson motorcycle.
Elizabeth Comeau -- 623-3811, Ext. 433
ecomeau@centralmaine.com
Reader comments
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Hey Willie - welcome home and thanks for your service. I know it's late, but hey it's the best I can do now.report abuse
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