NewsUpper SchoolStudent LifeFaculty/StaffPre-K to 8Service
Home from War: A family together again
Oct 13, 2004 8:00 AM
By Tannika King - Faculty
Patti Maffett, Algebra II teacher at the Upper School, and her family were reunited this month after her husband Lance returned from a seven-month tour in Afghanistan. Their children attend Darlington.
Four-year-old Callie Maffett knew that when the pumpkins came out, her daddy would come home.
Callie spent the past seven months wishing on pumpkins in Rome while her father, Lt. Col. Lance Maffett, was fighting the War on Terrorism in Afghanistan. Maffett finally made it home last week, just after his youngest daughter spotted a bumper crop of orange squash spread across a local church lawn.
A typical military-style homecoming with “the classic flag-waving and jumping up and down” on Tuesday was just the beginning of the family’s celebration of Maffett’s homecoming.
“I can’t even tell you how exciting it was for them,” Maffett said with a warm, fatherly smile. “Callie has been like a little tick on my back.”
Maffett’s wife Patti and their other two children Natalie, 13, and Luke, 10, felt equally blessed to have their beloved husband and father return safely from the warfront. “It’s just real exciting and we’re glad to have him home,” Luke said.
Maffett’s first night home last week was a chance for the family to reunite and “just get back to a sense of normalcy.” Callie got to play on the trampoline with her father before the family sat down to eat a meal together for the first time in seven months.
The night was a bit of a blur for Maffett, who arrived in Rome after a long, tiring flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta. “We had a nice dinner together,” Maffett recalled. “And that’s pretty much the last thing I remember, because I fell asleep.”
2 decades of service
Maffett has been an active Marine for 22 years, but this tour in Afghanistan was one of the longest times he’s spent away from his family. “The last time I was gone that long was during Desert Storm,” he recalled.
At that time, he was stationed in the Philippines, but he was granted leave midway through his tour to witness Natalie’s birth.
“It was tougher this time,” Maffett said. “The kids are older, and they know what’s going on … I was serving over there, but my family was serving back here.”
Natalie agreed. “It was hard. I didn’t know how to feel or what to think. I was kind of shocked at first.”
Her father, a helicopter pilot for a reserve unit based out of Dobbins, was deployed with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 773 last March to defend Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan.
Maffett – whose Georgia roots earned him the squadron call sign “Peaches” – was stationed in Bagram, just north of Kabul, and was responsible for leading a quick reaction force that drives rebels trying to sneak across the border back into Pakistan.
Watching a budding democracy, rebuilding
His squadron’s efforts have become increasingly important as this weekend’s presidential elections have approached, Maffett said.
The terror threat was so high in the area that Maffett couldn’t leave his base. Unfortunately this meant that while he was able to communicate with the Afghan interpreters on the base, interactions with other locals didn’t go much further than fly-bys.
Still, Maffett says he has been able to witness huge improvements in the quality of life for Afghans during his seven months abroad. Rebuilding efforts are taking place, he said, although change is happening slowly.
“The whole culture is kind of in shock right now,” Maffett said. “Women can walk the streets, but they’re covered head to toe because they’re so frightened.”
Maffett has seen hundreds of schools built for boys and girls, but at the same time he has seen those schools become targets for terrorists.
“It’s just an absolute tragedy,” he said, recalling a car bombing at a girls’ school. “But at the same time, we’re making progress.”
Streetlights and glass windows portend better times to come in Afghanistan. But it’s reactions from the general public that are the most positive things to see, Maffett said.
“The vast majority of people wave as we fly over. I’d say 95 percent of the people over there appreciate the coalition forces.”
Maffett said he is discouraged that progress in Afghanistan sometimes gets over-shadowed by news about Iraq in media coverage.
“I’m confident many of the same gains in Iraq are being made in Afghanistan – they’re just not being reported.”
In fact, he said progress in both wars often goes unreported.
“There are pockets of resistance,” he said. “That’s what gets reported. But the vast majority of people are supportive.
“What we’re doing over there is extremely worthwhile. The people in the street recognize what we’re doing is good … We are not there as conquerors by any means. They are being put in the position to succeed.”
Continuing the effort
Home for less than a week, Maffett is already prepared to continue those efforts. This week he will resume training for his next tour in Afghanistan, which will most likely start in early 2005.
His wife, daughters and son aren’t happy to part with him again so soon, and are already praying for a second safe return.
Prayer – “a lot of prayer” – was how Patti Maffett managed to get through the last tour. “And the community’s just been incredible,” she said.
Daily e-mail access makes the separation just a little easier, Maffett said – especially in contrast to the early ‘90s, when he could only get one letter every four weeks.
It comforts Natalie to know that her father’s service is such an honor for her and for Americans. “I’m proud to say he fought over there and saved our country,” she said.
Maffett plans to dedicate himself to that cause for as long as it takes. “We have one of two choices: We can fight the terrorists over there or we can fight them here in the United States,” he said. “I’d much rather fight them over there, because the enemy is not going to give up.”
*Written by Lauren Gregory, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer, published 10/10/04
Four-year-old Callie Maffett knew that when the pumpkins came out, her daddy would come home.
Callie spent the past seven months wishing on pumpkins in Rome while her father, Lt. Col. Lance Maffett, was fighting the War on Terrorism in Afghanistan. Maffett finally made it home last week, just after his youngest daughter spotted a bumper crop of orange squash spread across a local church lawn.
A typical military-style homecoming with “the classic flag-waving and jumping up and down” on Tuesday was just the beginning of the family’s celebration of Maffett’s homecoming.
“I can’t even tell you how exciting it was for them,” Maffett said with a warm, fatherly smile. “Callie has been like a little tick on my back.”
Maffett’s wife Patti and their other two children Natalie, 13, and Luke, 10, felt equally blessed to have their beloved husband and father return safely from the warfront. “It’s just real exciting and we’re glad to have him home,” Luke said.
Maffett’s first night home last week was a chance for the family to reunite and “just get back to a sense of normalcy.” Callie got to play on the trampoline with her father before the family sat down to eat a meal together for the first time in seven months.
The night was a bit of a blur for Maffett, who arrived in Rome after a long, tiring flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta. “We had a nice dinner together,” Maffett recalled. “And that’s pretty much the last thing I remember, because I fell asleep.”
2 decades of service
Maffett has been an active Marine for 22 years, but this tour in Afghanistan was one of the longest times he’s spent away from his family. “The last time I was gone that long was during Desert Storm,” he recalled.
At that time, he was stationed in the Philippines, but he was granted leave midway through his tour to witness Natalie’s birth.
“It was tougher this time,” Maffett said. “The kids are older, and they know what’s going on … I was serving over there, but my family was serving back here.”
Natalie agreed. “It was hard. I didn’t know how to feel or what to think. I was kind of shocked at first.”
Her father, a helicopter pilot for a reserve unit based out of Dobbins, was deployed with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 773 last March to defend Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan.
Maffett – whose Georgia roots earned him the squadron call sign “Peaches” – was stationed in Bagram, just north of Kabul, and was responsible for leading a quick reaction force that drives rebels trying to sneak across the border back into Pakistan.
Watching a budding democracy, rebuilding
His squadron’s efforts have become increasingly important as this weekend’s presidential elections have approached, Maffett said.
The terror threat was so high in the area that Maffett couldn’t leave his base. Unfortunately this meant that while he was able to communicate with the Afghan interpreters on the base, interactions with other locals didn’t go much further than fly-bys.
Still, Maffett says he has been able to witness huge improvements in the quality of life for Afghans during his seven months abroad. Rebuilding efforts are taking place, he said, although change is happening slowly.
“The whole culture is kind of in shock right now,” Maffett said. “Women can walk the streets, but they’re covered head to toe because they’re so frightened.”
Maffett has seen hundreds of schools built for boys and girls, but at the same time he has seen those schools become targets for terrorists.
“It’s just an absolute tragedy,” he said, recalling a car bombing at a girls’ school. “But at the same time, we’re making progress.”
Streetlights and glass windows portend better times to come in Afghanistan. But it’s reactions from the general public that are the most positive things to see, Maffett said.
“The vast majority of people wave as we fly over. I’d say 95 percent of the people over there appreciate the coalition forces.”
Maffett said he is discouraged that progress in Afghanistan sometimes gets over-shadowed by news about Iraq in media coverage.
“I’m confident many of the same gains in Iraq are being made in Afghanistan – they’re just not being reported.”
In fact, he said progress in both wars often goes unreported.
“There are pockets of resistance,” he said. “That’s what gets reported. But the vast majority of people are supportive.
“What we’re doing over there is extremely worthwhile. The people in the street recognize what we’re doing is good … We are not there as conquerors by any means. They are being put in the position to succeed.”
Continuing the effort
Home for less than a week, Maffett is already prepared to continue those efforts. This week he will resume training for his next tour in Afghanistan, which will most likely start in early 2005.
His wife, daughters and son aren’t happy to part with him again so soon, and are already praying for a second safe return.
Prayer – “a lot of prayer” – was how Patti Maffett managed to get through the last tour. “And the community’s just been incredible,” she said.
Daily e-mail access makes the separation just a little easier, Maffett said – especially in contrast to the early ‘90s, when he could only get one letter every four weeks.
It comforts Natalie to know that her father’s service is such an honor for her and for Americans. “I’m proud to say he fought over there and saved our country,” she said.
Maffett plans to dedicate himself to that cause for as long as it takes. “We have one of two choices: We can fight the terrorists over there or we can fight them here in the United States,” he said. “I’d much rather fight them over there, because the enemy is not going to give up.”
*Written by Lauren Gregory, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer, published 10/10/04
