War Dangers Don't Deter U.S. Workers

He went back and told the recruiter he would be in touch. His wife was having surgery next month and his father had cancer. He needed a few weeks to think about it.

"If you're on the fence, here's my advice," Ward had said. "Don't go. Some job fair, huh? Until you're 100 percent ready to go, don't go.

'You Know What to Do'

Go, the reverend told the congregation at Grace Christian Center in Killeen the first Sunday that Allen Petty was not sitting next to his wife. Go, he told them, is two-thirds of the word, God. Sylvia Petty nodded at the words.

They had a chance, Sylvia Petty said later, to go to Austin, where her husband could get more work and make more money. She could finally get her sign-language certification. But they don't want to move to a big city. "We don't want to be scared all of the time," she said.

Still, she was tired of not being able to afford the doctor that 18-month-old Lydia needs for a pestering ear infection. Sylvia Petty needs to fix her teeth, and Erica, the oldest child at 14, needs braces. They've had to rely on a local food bank once a month for the past five months. They have no telephone.

"The worst part is when we go to the store and the girls are with me and they ask for Fruit Roll-Ups," she said. "Or when your kids' eyes are wide when the refrigerator is full and they say, 'We're rich because we have food.' "

But with the money her husband was going to earn in Iraq, she said, "Life is going to change a lot. We can move into a new house. And get good blankets and go somewhere this summer."

After school one afternoon, as they sat in the car in the driveway, she told the children that their dad was leaving. "I said, 'Daddy is going to Iraq.' They asked if he would get captured and I told them no because they have new military support.' "

The last time they talked on a telephone before he left, Sylvia Petty ran through a list of last-minute things. How often did the oil need to be changed in the car? Should she look for a house while he was gone?

"Mama," he told her, using a pet name, "you know what to do."

After church ended, Sylvia Petty stood at the entrance with the girls waiting for her husband to bring the car around. She stood there until she remembered that he was on his way to Iraq and she would have to get the car herself.

She walked across the parking lot with the girls in tow.