Nov 28, 2005 By Patty Yauger 4 min read

The turkey was in the oven and the same accompaniments that have been a part of the Thanksgiving dinner for years were on the table, but for two local families, the holiday wasn’t the same as those celebrated in the past. Sandy Bufano, mother of Pennsylvania Army National Guardsman 2nd Lt. Sean Bufano and Jaime Gammon, wife of Maj. Ros Gammon, said that they were with family and friends for the annual celebration, but their thoughts and prayers were thousands of miles away.

Sean Bufano and Ros Gammon are among the 2,200 state National Guardsmen, along with units from 30 other states deployed to Iraq in July for a one-year tour of duty and missed the visits with family, carving the turkey and watching football games – the traditional activities of Thanksgiving Day. The two soldiers are members of the Mount Pleasant based 1st Battalion, 110th Infantry Headquarters unit.

The National Guardsmen, along with a U.S. Marine battalion and Iraqi security team form the nearly 7,000 member 2nd Brigade that was deployed to Iraq in July.

Jaime Gammon said that she helped other family members of deployed soldiers to prepare and deliver turkey dinners to senior citizens as a way to pass the holiday.

“Ros has always been very involved with the program,” she said. “He’d stay late the night before Thanksgiving to help cook the turkeys and then get up early the next day to help deliver the meals.

“This year, I took a few of my students to help both days. He’ll be glad that we did.”

A Beth-Center School District teacher, Jaime Gammon is also taking graduate courses and doing some home improvements to occupy her mind and time and relies on family and friends for support.

“Every minute that you are not doing something you are thinking about him being there and not here,” she said. “Everyone at school and our families has been very supportive.”

The two correspond via e-mails and occasional real-time text messaging, to keep in touch.

“He’s keeping busy and that helps him pass the time,” said Jaime Gammon.

There have been some minor mishaps that her husband would oversee if he were at home, but Jaime Gammon said that she has stepped in to make the needed repairs. It is the times that tear at her heart, however, that tend to make her miss him most of all.

“We don’t have children, but we have dogs and they are our children; right now we have one that is sick,” she said. “Those are the things that are most difficult for me; I can handle the grass needing cut or a window that needs replaced; it is the emotional things that are tough.”

For Sandy Bufano, it was the first time her eldest son was not at home for Thanksgiving.

“I try not to think too much about it; it is very difficult,” she said. “The holidays are very important to us; I know that it was very difficult for him, too.”

Sandy Bufano said that her son had no particular chore or activity during the holiday, but made the most of being with those that joined the family.

“He loves everything about (the holidays),” she said.

Like Jaime Gammon, she passes the time with family and friends.

“I have to keep busy,” she said.

At Camp Habbaniyah where Bufano is stationed, the Thanksgiving Day fare included ham and turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, cranberries, salad and vegetables, according to Lt. Antonia Greene, camp press secretary.

Due to a lack of equipped kitchen facilities at the camp, neighboring personnel prepared the dinner and transported it to the approximate 1,000 soldiers at Camp Habbaniyah.

Similar dinner selections was available for Gammon and the other 2nd Brigade soldiers stationed at Camp Ramadi and Camp Taqaddum, speculated Greene.

Joni Reagan of Connellsville, meanwhile, understands what the Bufano and Gammon families are going through this holiday season.

Her husband, SFC Jeffrey Reagan, a member of the Connellsville-based National Guard unit was in Iraq last year. The bulk of the unit has returned to their hometowns over the past three weeks. Five of its members are serving with the 2nd Brigade.

“It’s awful,” said Joni Reagan of the separation. “It was hard because you are so accustomed to doing things as a family and then he’s not here.”

During the deployment, Joni Reagan said she quit her job to stay at home with the couple’s two children – Hailey, 11, and Alex, 9.

This holiday season, she said, would be a much happier holiday with the family now reunited.

“My heart goes out to the families with deployed soldiers,” she said.