By BILL HENDRICK
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/30/07

Lt. Col. Paul Ozmer of Kennesaw smilingly hugged a gaggle of lip-biting family members Wednesday before boarding a giant C-5 cargo plane at Dobbins Air Reserve Base and heading for a long flight to a seven-month tour in Iraq.

He was accompanied by about a half dozen or so Air Force personnel and a dozen other Marines, part of a contingent of 400 members of the Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 773 from the Naval Air Station in Marietta. The squadron will be in Iraq by the middle of next week.

Most of the squadron leaves Tuesday, the day after Labor Day.

"I hope it's not this hot in Iraq," Ozmer joked to wife Karen, son Colt, 16, and daughter Kelly, 20, a student at Kennesaw State University, as they waited on the steaming tarmac. "It probably is, but it won't be for long."

The squadron, wearing "Red Dog" patches, will be stationed in Al Anbar province. Most of the unit has seen action in Afghanistan or Iraq; some multiple times.

Ozmer was leaving on his third tour in a war zone, his first in Iraq after two in Afghanistan. His father, Paul Ozmer, 73, and mother Frances, 71, watched wearily, and "with not all that much fear because we've done this before," said the colonel's mom.

The four-story-tall C-5 was loaded with huge olive green steel boxes of cargo that the helicopter pilots and crewmen will need in Iraq, Ozmer said.

The deployment Tuesday will be the last from Dobbins, which is being turned over to the Georgia National Guard, according to Marine Maj. Tim Graham.

"You're excited to be going, but it's always difficult leaving your family," Ozmer said. "I have no reservations. When you have been flying, you get away from negative feelings. I felt safer in Afghanistan, seeing tracer rounds coming up at me, than I do on I-285."

"It's not as shocking as it was the first time," said his son, Colt. "I know he's going for a good reason, but it won't be normal at home."

Wife Karen, 45, said families try to stay focused on the positive. "I don't think any wife wants her husband to go anywhere, we have to back them up and support them," she said.

Others, such as the wife and four children of Maj. Jim Judkins, 42, of Kennesaw, also looked as if they've gone through this before. And they have.

His wife, Heather, is one of the key volunteers on the homefront, supported by the Marine Corps, who make sure spouses and loved ones are kept informed of events in the war zone.

The Judkins' children, Caleb, 10, Joshua, 9, Phoebe, 6, and Abigail, 5, hugged their dad, and put their fingers in their ears as the huge C-5 ramped up its ear-splitting engines.

"It's sad," said Abigail. "I miss daddy already. He tucks me in bed."

Added Phoebe, "He kisses me. He's always nice."

Caleb and Jarvis were more stoic, saying they had faith their dad would be OK.

"I believe that," Caleb said. "I know it's true."

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