By KEITH GRANT
Staff Sergeant Valerie Ward-Witaker and her husband, Shaun, are a long way from home right now. The two Air Force personnel are deployed in Qatar in the Persian Gulf, preparing to play their part in an imminent war. Keshaun, who is attending West School, and the couple's 7-month-old baby, Jaylen, are being cared for by Ward-Witaker's parents in the West Chester Street home where she grew up.
He's doing OK, Cynthia Ward says of her grandson. He talks to [Valerie] every week, and we can communicate with her over e-mail. He's pretty good on the computer.
Asked how he feels about his mom being away in the Air Force, Keshaun says matter of factly, She's always been in the Air Force.
Valerie Ward-Witaker, 26, joined the Air Force right out of Long Beach High School eight years ago and has been stationed all over the world, from Saudi Arabia to Alaska. She met her husband, Shaun Witaker, 27, while they were stationed together at Seymour Johnson Air Base in North Carolina.
She wanted to go, Cynthia Ward said of her daughter's decision to join the service. I don't think when she joined she thought she'd go to war. But she was OK with it. She told me it was her job and she has to go.
Today, Ward-Witaker and her husband are in the same place but don't see each other much more than once a week, the Wards said, because of their different jobs and shifts on the desert base.
Her daughter's spirits are good, Cynthia said. But that doesn't stop her from worrying about her daughter and son-in-law, as war seems inevitable.
I don't let her know I worry ... but I'm worried. I keep praying they'll be OK. She added, I don't think good comes from war. This is something they have to do, but still, I wish it didn't have to happen.
Everton Ward, meanwhile, says his daughter's job is one that probably has to be done. Proudly wearing an Air Force jacket over his Metropolitan Transportation Authority uniform, he said, I don't feel upset. I feel it's something that has to be done. We don't see the intelligence reports. The president has to do what has to be done.
Since his daughter enlisted, Ward said, he feels proud that she is doing something positive. In addition to excelling as a member of the Long Beach High School band, Ward-Witaker was an active community volunteer when she was growing up in Long Beach, involved in activities such as shoveling snow for senior citizens.
Now the Wards expect to see their daughter, who rose to staff sergeant in just six years, make a career of service in the Air Force.
