Eugene Richards/VII, for The New York Times

Usually it has been Butler’s youngest factory workers and farmhands who have been called to arms. But that changed in the winter of 2004, when the local detachment of the Pennsylvania National Guard — Alpha Company, First Battalion, of the 112th Mechanized Infantry Regiment — was ordered to Iraq, part of the largest battlefield deployment of the National Guard since World War II. Among the 200-odd men of Alpha Company (unlike some other National Guard units, they were all men) fully two-thirds were married, more than half had children and at least 50 were over the age of 30. Even within this demographic, Chuck Norris was something of an anomaly: at 37, the father of three was one of the "old men" of Alpha Company.

This is an excerpt from the cover story of the Sunday Times magazine of a month ago. The mistake in calling up National Guardsmen in their 30s with wives and children to fight in the Sunni Triangle was not only tactical - these men are not the 20 year-old fighting specimens of the Marines - but unsympathetic: how do casual, family Army men who survived Iraq return home? One Guardsman, Ron Radaker, is quoted in the article on the trouble adjusting to home life:
"And I don’t mean to sound arrogant when I say this, but I miss the power," he says. "Over there…we were the king of the road, and they either respected or hated us for it. And now you’re back here and you ain’t king of nothing."

In 2004, the wives of these Guardsmen in Butler, PA created their own non-profit to support their deployed husbands called S.O.S. Butler, or Support Operation Soldier. A few soldier letters addressed to the organization are available on their website.

  April 6, 2005

Janice & Alecia and SOS Butler:

Please pass on to everyone involved and especially yourself; my thanks for the
numerous care packages that SOS Butler has sent me since being deployed.
It is like X-Mas every time I get one.

Thanks again….. SSG Talarico J.G.

Feb 26, 2005

SOS Butler:

Sorry it took me so long to write, but believe me, I have thought of your generosity
and that of the other ladies HUNDREDS OF TIMES! We appreciate your generosity!
So it has been a LONG 8 months, but the time has also gone by pretty fast. Sometime
in the next few weeks we will hit our half-way point, but since we don’t know EXACTLY
when we will be home we won’t know the half-way date. I still try to take it 1 day at a time. Have I mentioned that your generosity is appreciated? I have maintained the point that
we have way too many paperback novels and disposable shavers, but this is not a complaint. Bar soap, shaving cream, razor blades, hard candy and cloth wipes are snatched up quickly, but I suppose most have stocked away a small supply in their
room. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the time that you have devoted to our deployed soldiers! I am ALWAYS excited to receive mail, so I suspect others are too!

Thank you once and for all!

SFC H. Miller

Feb 10, 2005

Greetings, from the war torn country of Iraq. Thank you very much for your support
and Christmas packages.

SFC S. Fancella

Feb 1. 2005

Dear SOS Butler,

My name is SPC Nunn and I would like to take this time to thank you so very much
for all that you have done and for your support. Every little thing that you guys do for us means so very much and makes it easier to get through our long days here. We are
very busy and free time is rare, but I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart
for everything.

Sincerely,

Spc Trenton Nunn