DUBLIN - After the telephone call when she learned her son probably would be going to Iraq, Peggy Smith saw the look on her husband's face and knew he'd be going, too.

Staff Sgt. Britt Smith, 46, had been in the same Alabama National Guard unit since 1991. His friends are there. So was a likely promotion. So was the likelihood that Smith would not see combat in Iraq.

But that changed after it appeared that his son, 18-year-old Pvt. Greg Smith, would be sent to war. The elder Smith immediately lobbied for a transfer.

They both leave this week for Fort Stewart.

Wednesday night, on a last-minute trip to Wal-Mart, Smith told his son that he'd need a rug for his tent so that he wouldn't track dust into bed. Padlocks and toiletries also were on their list.

They traded thoughts on whether to wear boots while sleeping and agreed that flak jackets could double as pillows in a crunch.

Once in the theater, Smith said, he'll curtail his advice.

"I'm going to stay out of his business. When it comes to soldiering, his (officer) is his Daddy," Smith said. "I'm going to love him and do everything I can, but I'm out of his chain of command. ... As long as he knows that I'm there."
Having a son in harm's way, he admits, will be a "big distraction."

"I pray a lot. I talk to God a lot that they don't know about," Britt Smith said. "If they'd leave him alone, I'd go in his place."

The women behind

Both Smiths are now part of the 48th Brigade Combat Team, which likely will be deployed to Iraq this spring.

Greg Smith is a member of an infantry unit based in Cordele. He said he'll be a radio telephone operator and shadow a lieutenant.

Britt Smith, who is probably going with the headquarters company from Macon, said he's hoping to work in public affairs. He most recently was news director for TV-35 in Dublin.

"I may wind up being the (officer) in charge of latrines," he said. "I have no idea what I'll be doing."

Britt Smith also served in Kosovo with his eldest child, Cpl. Molly Jones, now 25 and living in Dahlonega. The Smiths also have a 15-year old daughter, Paige.

"Britt had the audacity to ask could I make it while he was gone," Peggy chuckled. "He left me with three. He left with me with two. Now he's leaving me with one!"

Greg Smith said he'll miss his mom's sense of humor.

"She laughs at my jokes," he said.

Greg Smith, who not that long ago was playing soccer for Dublin High School, said he joined the Guard after a friend told him at church that he had signed up.

"I said, 'For real? All right. I'll do that too, then.' "

He would have started classes Wednesday as a freshman at North Georgia College.

"Greg was the one that really surprised us," his mother said. "He didn't want any part of (the military)."

Peggy Smith said her husband worried that their son enlisted under pressure from his father. Greg Smith said he signed up for a college scholarship and because God wanted him to.

"That's one of the things that's getting me through all of this," his mother said. "For whatever reason, this is where God is leading him."

Britt Smith was in daily contact with his daughter while they were in Kosovo, where he would make a harrowing 20-minute trip to visit her camp. Greg Smith said he hopes he and his father can have lunch together in Iraq sometimes, like they did this summer at Larry's Subs on Veterans Boulevard.

Paige Smith, who has a camouflage-clad teddy bear named Sarge and likes war movies like "Black Hawk Down," said she'd serve her country in Iraq.

"It's what my family's always done."

With Daddy gone, Peggy Smith will be responsible for teaching Paige how to drive. The new car that died right after her husband pulled into the driveway on his last night home? Mom will have to fix that.

The leaf-blower also went kaput Sunday.

During previous deployments, Peggy Smith, who works in the information technology department at Mohawk Industries, has dealt with home plumbing problems - and redoing the kitchen counter tops "while I'm at it."

After an e-mail from her daughter in Kosovo, Peggy Smith helped oversee the shipping of about 70 boxes of school supplies there. Britt Smith put in an early request for macadamia nut cookies.

Peggy Smith, whose father was in the Air Force, said she "went to pieces" with the news that her son would be going to war.

"It knocked me for a loop," she said.

Peggy Smith, 50, said spouses having to care for small kids have it tougher. She's gotten by in the past by learning a new skill. She ran in Dublin's Leprechaun Road Race. A new piano awaits in the living room.

Peggy Smith said she's grateful for a prayer shawl knitted by a local church, and will draw support from Guard families.

Taking it one day at a time also helps.

"I take it in bits," she said. "I wanted to get through Thanksgiving. I wanted to get through Christmas. Now I just want to get through this week. Because if you look at it all at once, it's like trying to digest an elephant."

Peggy Smith said she's driven 500 miles for a glimpse of her husband and would make the trip to Fort Stewart, even for just a moment together.

Britt Smith said he has "been waiting all my military life to be a sergeant first class." He has turned down the promotion when it would have meant missing his daughter's high school graduation. By transferring to be closer to his son, Smith has put that dream on hold again.

He hopes his son eventually will outrank him.

"I hope one day to salute him," he said. "Nothing would do me prouder."

As for while they're in Iraq, there's a limit to what he can do.

"I can't do a thing to help him except be there and be his mama's eyes," Smith said. "I'll tell her he's fine ... but I'll keep an eye on him."