By Jeff Lipton
When he was shipped out of Camp Pendleton in San Diego on Feb. 2, he left a message on his mother's answering machine saying that he was headed to Iraq. I didn't speak to him when he got shipped out, she said. I was out for the day, and I really wanted to speak to him before he left.
Lucas said she cannot watch the TV coverage of the war because she is too nervous, thinking about her son fighting in a dangerous land.
On Friday, March 28, Lucas, who works as an office technician for Verizon in Far Rockaway, came home for lunch to her Lord Avenue home and found another message on her answering machine. This time it was a reporter for WCBS Radio 880, who had interviewed her son in Iraq and wanted to tell her that he was doing just fine. She immediately called the station, and the reporters played back the interview they did with him.
The interview was so Shaun, she said. He said there was a lot of sand there in Iraq and it was pretty interesting over there.
She said the fighting in Iraq hadn't seemed to change his sense of humor. My children and I have the same sense of humor. It's very dry, she said. He said he was getting three square meals a day and that they were taking good care of him over there. It was a typical interview with him.
For Brenda, the knowledge that Shaun was doing well was a great relief. She gets only dribs and drabs of what is happening in Iraq from friends, family and co-workers.
It was just so nice to hear his voice, she said. It really relieved my mind É I just want to send him my prayers. I'm not a religious person, but I'm a deeply spiritual person.
I don't watch TV Ñ it's not something that I need to do. I can't watch TV. It really gets me upset. She said her two other sons, Ian, 25, and Brett, 21, have been more closely following the events of the war.
The last she heard, her son was driving his commanding officer around on reconnaissance routes into the desert of Kuwait, looking for routes into Iraq.
About a month ago, she received a letter from Shaun, in which he wrote, I just want the war to start so that it can end, so that we can come home. The desert sucks.
Her son has been in the Marines for about two years, and joined when he was trying to find himself, said Brenda, who was separated from her husband in 1984, when Shaun was 8. My son basically grew up without a father, she said. There was no real communication between father and son, either.
I knew he wanted to go [into the Marines]. I support what he wanted to do, she said of Shaun. She added that the Marines may become a career for her son, who, she said, likes what he's doing. He has been talking about it as possibly being a career. I don't know if he is going to go that route.
He told me, ÔI would be willing to give up my life for my country, my family and my friends,' Brenda said. He felt he was doing the right thing. And I feel whatever Shaun wants to do is the right thing. He's a smart person. He's not stupid. He genuinely cares about people. He always wants to try to make people happy. I would like to see him work on himself for a change.
She said the last month has been extremely rough for her, worrying about Shaun and not knowing what is going on. It's difficult for every parent of a child over there, she said. But they are doing what they chose to do. They made a choice and they are well-trained. I got to meet my son's drill instructor, which was pretty cool.
She said she is disgusted by the anti-war protests because they don't help the morale of the troops, who are fighting to protect the freedoms that all Americans enjoy. I was around during the Vietnam War. I was opposed to it but I didn't protest it, she said. People over there are dying, and they are somebody's children. The protesters need to take a look at what is going on.
She said she believes Saddam Hussein must be removed from power in Iraq, but not necessarily killed.
Lucas said she can't wait to see her son again. Right now all I could do is send him my prayers, she said. I can't tell them to send home my son. Right now his fate is in the hands of a higher power than me.
