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Patrolling a 'Domestic Front Line' in the Terror War
Far From Family, Guardsmen Secure Weapons Depot
 Listen to Renée Montagne's report.
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Lt. Victor Rojas. Photo: Renee Montagne, NPR |
March 14, 2002 -- In the aftermath of Sept. 11, Victor Rojas' California National Guard unit was called up and sent to an old Army base in Tooele, Utah, to guard munitions.
Six months later, Lieutenant Rojas is still in Utah -- and his family in Los Angeles is getting used to missing him. Last fall, NPR's Renée Montagne profiled Rojas' wife, Betty. Now, Montagne checks in with the family again, as part of Morning Edition's coverage of how 9/11 has changed Americans' lives.
Each day, Victor Rojas calls home -- at least once, sometimes twice -- to talk to his wife and five daughters. They tell him they love him, and they tell him what he's missed: red spots on five-year-old Valeria's stomach, quite possibly chicken pox... the long-planned remodeling of the family's home, which Betty gave a new coat of paint….
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Rojas is 700 miles east, at the Tooele Army Depot in the Utah desert. In often-frigid weather, he and other California-born guardsmen keep watch across the vast stretch of sand and cactus, for bad guys who so far haven't materialized.
Massive amounts of weapons are stored at the depot, where heavily armed soldiers guard the entrance and patrol a 24-mile perimeter. "Weapons being dropped down in Afghanistan are being pulled out of here," says Rojas, "so we want to make sure nobody who doesn't belong gets in here."
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At the Tooele Army Depot (above), California National Guard members on duty include Sergeants Joey Chung and Darrell Westbrook (below, l-r). Photos: Renee Montagne, NPR |
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Before Sept. 11, the base wasn't in use, and most of the buildings had been turned over to the town of Tooele. But the munitions remained, protected by a few guards. After the terrorist attacks, the California National Guard was called in to provide more security.
On the wall of his home-away-from-home in Utah, Rojas' fellow Guardsman, Sergeant Joey Chung, has a poster of koi, the fish he breeds at home in Long Beach. Chung's roommate, Sergeant Darrell Westbrook of Los Angeles, decorates his wall with photos of his wife and 8-year-old daughter. The two sergeants seem to have settled into the camaraderie traditional among soldiers far from home.
Some younger soldiers in the unit grouse that they'd rather be in Afghanistan, in the center of the action. But Chung and Westbrook believe that while what they are doing is more or less invisible, securing this "domestic front line" is important. When they walk the streets of Tooele, they say, people stop them to say thanks.
In his own room, Victor Rojas has plastered the walls with drawings from his five girls, cards dating back to Halloween -- and a photo of his wife high up on a ladder, a paint brush in one hand. "Here's a picture of my wife working on the house!" he crows. "I feel so proud of her... fixing the house, making it look nicer -- obviously, doing my work. I love that picture so much. "
Rojas was 15 when he came to California from Mexico. He intended only to make some money, but ended up going back to school, studying English, earning a GED, and eventually -- thanks to programs offered by the Guard -- getting a college degree. So to Rojas, his last six months in the Utah desert, and the six still to come, are "a way for me to pay back a little of what this country has done for me."
Previous NPR Coverage
Listen to Renée Montagne's Dec. 5, 2001, report on National Guard families.
Other Resources
• Tooele Army Depot
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