Masontown native serving in military intelligence in Iraq
MASONTOWN – Shawn Ryeczek thought he’d be out of the Army 10 months ago, but the military had other plans for the 26-year-old Masontown native. The sergeant with the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, Third Brigade, is believed to be somewhere in Iraq.
At least, that’s what his family has gleaned from television reports.
“Last May is when he was supposed to be released from the military,” said his mother, Debbie Stalnaker.
Instead, Ryeczek was sent to Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom. Ryeczek works in military intelligence, and his unit was assigned to the destruction of the al-Qaida network.
“When he was in Afghanistan the last time, he mapped out all the searches for Osama bin Laden,” Stalnaker said.
Ryeczek spent eight months in Afghanistan and then was sent home to Fort Campbell, Ky. On Feb. 28, he was deployed to Kuwait. Ryeczek has been able to provide very little information to his family about his current assignment.
“They told him he probably wouldn’t go because he was getting out soon. His replacement was even there, but he had too much training,” Stalnaker said. “He’ll be serving his country for as long as necessary.”
Both Ryeczek and his replacement were sent overseas. His girlfriend, Erin Peavornick, used television weather reports, which indicated major sandstorms in Kuwait, to figure out where he was just before the war with Iraq began.
“The only way I knew he was in Kuwait is because of the sandstorms,” Peavornick said. “They had a desert sandstorm that was so bad they had to hold their compasses in front of their eyes to get back to their tents.”
The last letter Peavornick received from Ryeczek actually contained some Kuwaiti sand.
“It’s dated March 7, but I got it Tuesday of this week. That’s the last correspondence we had from him,” Peavornick said.
The letter contained what had been Ryeczek’s address, but now that his unit is on the move, his mother said there is no way to know where to send mail and toiletries to make sure he receives them.
Stalnaker is a teacher’s aide at Menallen School, and Peavornick is a teacher at Lafayette School. Students at both schools have been concerned about Ryeczek.
“They wanted to get a care package together, but, right now, we can’t send anything,” Stalnaker said.
“The way things are going, we hope we don’t need to send him anything more, because he’ll be coming home,” said Thomasina Burner, Ryeczek’s aunt and godmother.
Ryeczek had been calling and e-mailing regularly until this past week.
“All he said was, ‘Watch the television,’ and, ‘It’s going to be sooner than we thought. If it starts, it’s going to be 22 days of hard bombing,'” Stalnaker said.
“They said on television that the 101st didn’t move out until last night,” Peavornick said Saturday.
Stalnaker said she’s been losing sleep because of the amount of time she’s been watching news reports, but Burner said she has a hard time watching the war coverage.
“I won’t watch it. Every time you see one bomb fall, you know they’re safe, but you still worry. You never think of them as being grown up, no matter how old they are,” Burner said. “We know he was trained right and we know he’s bright. We’re just praying he gets home safe.”
Ryeczek joined the army immediately after graduating from Albert Gallatin High School in 1995, signing up without his mother even knowing about it. He left for basic training at Fort McClelland, Ala., a week later. He then served three years in the Panama Canal Zone in the military police. He followed that assignment with training in Army intelligence and his assignment to Fort Campbell, Ky.
“Shawn wants to go into the Secret Service or the CIA or something like that when he gets out,” Stalnaker said.
Ryeczek is following a strong family tradition of military service. His uncle, Steve Ryeczek, is a retired lieutenant colonel in the Army, and his grandfather was in the Marines. He has a stepsister in the Air National Guard and a stepbrother who had been in the Air Force.
He is the son of David and Debbie Stalnaker of Masontown and John Joseph and Debbie Ryeczek of Point Marion.