Dec 26, 2003 By Amy Karpinsky 6 min read

SMITHFIELD – Although Ramona Sutton is proud of each of her three children, this year she is particularly proud of her “baby.” Sutton’s baby is her youngest child, Staff Sgt. Keith Adam Sutton, who is serving the U.S. Army in Iraq with the Fourth Military Police Company/Fourth Infantry Division out of Fort Hood, Texas. Although the soldier initially was slated to spend only six months in the desert when he departed in early April, on Dec. 18 he celebrated his 34th birthday in the midst of mortar fire and will also spend Christmas and New Year’s away from his family.

“I’m proud of him and proud of all of them,” Ramona Sutton said of the soldiers fighting in Iraq.

She recently ran into a soldier, thanked him for serving his country and told him about her son. She said the soldier replied that her son is a hero, a sentiment that brought a smile to her face. She added that some of the nurses who give her allergy shots told her to pass along a thank you to her son.

“I hope someday someone thanks him,” she said.

While most people are aware of what is happening a world away only by watching CNN and reading the newspaper, the war has really come home for the Suttons. When Keith Sutton was first deployed in Iraq 81/2 months ago, he spent a couple months camping out in Saddam Hussein’s palace in Baghdad and even sent home official Iraqi stationary from a desk inside the palace, complete with Arabic writing on it.

“He said the place is everything they say it is,” Ramona Sutton said.

“He bathed in a golden bath,” added his father, Douglas Sutton.

The Suttons said their son believes that the decision to invade Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein’s regime was the right one, even if allied forces don’t find weapons of mass destruction.

“The people over there are dirt poor,” Douglas Sutton said. “You wouldn’t believe how these people live. They have nothing.”

After spending a couple months inside the palace where he could jump in a nearby river to swim, Keith Sutton moved out into a harsher environment when he began sleeping outside in a tent. One morning, after sleeping with his mouth open, he awoke with a mouthful of sand.

“He’s lucky he woke up at all,” Douglas Sutton said.

To ensure that Keith has a merry Christmas, his family already has sent him his Christmas gifts. Ramona said it will be the warmest Christmas her son has ever spent, with temperatures expected in the 90s.

In addition to his parents and sister, Keith has an older brother in Carlisle and a wife and two sons. The 1987 graduate of Fairchance Georges High School is married to Ruby Cullum and has two sons, Layton Michael, who will turn 2 on Jan. 27, and Mitchell Adam, who is 11 and lives in Colorado.

Terri said Keith’s wife makes sure that Layton doesn’t forget his father, whom he hasn’t seen for a third of his life. Keith’s parents said he is still a kid at heart and loves children.

Doug recalled that his youngest son was always a little on the adventurous side, having climbed to the top of a 40-foot hemlock tree as a child. Joining the service was a lifelong dream for Keith, although he had been debating between the Air Force and Navy when he came home and announced that he had joined the Army.

The catch was that his parents had to sign for him because he was only 17, the same age at which he earned his Airborne wings. Keith plans to retire from the Army with 20 years of service.

With a military career that began in 1987, Keith Sutton narrowly missed deployment to Iraq during the Persian Gulf War. He also spent time in Cuba, Korea, Germany and Texas before he was shipped out to Iraq.

After spending time on the other side of the world where temperatures can reach 150 degrees, Keith believes that Americans take for granted what they have, Ramona Sutton said. The Suttons are not taking anything for granted these days. In addition to praying for the safe return of their son, they have yellow ribbons tied to their porch and show military support by having patriotic decorations displayed with their Christmas garland.

Despite the dangerous conditions, Keith Sutton keeps in e-mail contact with his older sister, Terri Sutton, as often as he can. She said she last heard from him on her 35th birthday, Dec. 1, and as bad as it seems to American television viewers, her brother said there is nearly constant retaliation against U.S. soldiers.

Terri said that as a loyal soldier, her brother was excited about serving in Iraq, but he didn’t think he would be there for an entire year.

“I know at times he does worry if he’s going to make it home in one piece,” she said. “You can tell from some e-mails when he’s having an OK day, but you know that he is aware that there is a possibility that he may not come back home. We pray every day that he does.”

The most important thing to her brother and others serving overseas is receiving something from home, even if it is only a note, she said. Terri Sutton said families who don’t have a loved one serving overseas don’t realize how much it means to American soldiers to get something from home.

“It’s amazing,” Terri Sutton said. “The people you thought would send things don’t and vice versa.” She said she realizes that life is very busy but people should take the time to send something, even if it is a quick note.

“It’s so important to them. Families that don’t have kids in the war don’t know how it feels,” she said.

When Saddam’s sons, Uday and Qusay were killed in a shootout with troops, Keith’s division was involved.

“He was very proud that he had a part in getting Saddam’s sons,” she said. Terri said she watched the footage on television, hoping to catch a glimpse of her brother, but that proved impossible since all the soldiers look similar.

“He tells us not to worry,” Ramona Sutton said.

“But I think he’s ready to come home,” Doug added.