MTMC employee responds to call for overseas service.

In all, Don Dees had four days to get his work and personal life ready to be gone a minimum of six months--and maybe as long as a year.

The call came May 31. The 300th Public Affairs Detachment, Fort McPherson, Ga., was mobilizing for Operation Enduring Freedom and was short a broadcast journalist. Would Dees volunteer?

"I didn't have to think about it," said Dees, a sergeant in the Army Reserve. "I said `Yes' right away. It's a job I can do well and a mission I believe in."

Dees becomes the latest MTMC employee to be called to duty for the War on Terrorism. Others include Pete Lennon, of Transportation Engineering Agency, Newport News, Va.; and Richard Lockwood, of the 597th Transportation Group, Southport, N.C. Lennon serves as a colonel at the MTMC Operations Center, Fort Eustis, Va. Lockwood, a lieutenant colonel, serves Commander, Detachment 1, 171st Area Support Group, based in Kuwait. Earlier, Lockwood had temporary duty in Afghanistan.

"I'm sorry I can't be more specific, due to classification issues," said Lockwood.

Meanwhile, more than 600 Reservists are now serving with MTMC in support of the command's operations.

"I've always known our Reserve soldiers are great," said Col. Gary Engel, Chief, Reserve Affairs.

To make the deployment, Dees transferred from his Fort Meade, Md., based unit. The transfer was handled with a series of facsimile messages among the Reserve units.

The weekend of June 1-2 was a blur for Dees. He packed up his newly rented efficiency apartment in downtown Alexandria for storage. Monday morning, with orders calling for active duty up to one year, he turned over his duties to fellow staffers.

Before departing for a flight to the overseas processing center at Fort Benning, Ga., Dees offered some observations about the work that is ahead.

"My wife, Jennifer, and I are used to this," said Dees. "We first met in Korea. Just after we got married, I was put on an assignment to Cobra Gold in Thailand."

Both Dees and his wife have had assignments to the Balkans. Jennifer Dees, now out of the Army, has served in both Albania and Bosnia. While working as a commercial radio announcer in Savannah, Ga., in 1996, Dees was activated for six months' duty as a force protection specialist in Bosnia.

What will his mission be?

"We will be working with the XVIII Airborne Corps," said Dees. "It isn't clear where in-country that assignment will be. The unit was especially interested in me as a recent graduate of the Defense Information School's Officer's course."

Dees completed the eight-week public affairs officer's course at Fort Meade in late March. In an initial Army enlistment, he served as a broadcast journalist, primarily at Fort Polk, La., and, later, Korea.

"I hate to see Sergeant Dees go, but it's a great career opportunity," said Maj. Gary Sheftik, Commander, 356th Public Affairs Detachment (Broadcast).

A member of the MTMC Command Affairs Office, Alexandria, Va., since April 2001, at 9 a.m., June 3, Dees walked out of MTMC and headed for a noon flight to Columbus, Ga.

"We wish him the very best--our little office family is diminished," said Mike Bellafaire, Command Historian. "This is where cross training pays off."