Staff Sergeant Gary Vandertang and Major Lonny MacDonald take a break on the balcony of one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces in Mosul. The area is now called Forward Operating Base Courage and looks out over the city of Mosul. (Photo provided via e-mail by Vandertang).

Local connection renewed by two soldiers in Iraq

It was a chance conversation that led former Spencerport classmates and graduates (Class of 1988) Lonny MacDonald and Gary Vandertang to become reacquainted. The conversation is a bit out of the ordinary as it didn’t happen at a local sporting event or grocery store - it happened in Iraq, more than 6,000 miles from where they both started out.

“Gary and I met here through Task Force Freedom (TFF) Provost Marshal’s office,” MacDonald said. “One of the captains up in TFF that works with Gary’s unit asked me if I knew a ‘Gary Vander-something?’ I said, ‘You mean Gary Vandertang?’ The captain said ‘yeah, that’s him.’ ”

After that comment, the captain e-mailed Vandertang and confirmed that MacDonald worked in the 1/25 Infantry (SBCT).

“Gary e-mailed me about two days later asking if he can come see me the next Saturday,” MacDonald said. “He arrived and we spent time talking, seeing where old friends were and updating each other on what we have been doing since graduation and where we have been.”

MacDonald, a major, belongs to the 1/25 Infantry Brigade Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) and Vandertang is a staff sergeant with the 59th Military Police Company. Both men have made the Army their careers. Vandertang joined right after graduating high school in 1988 and MacDonald was commissioned as an officer in 1992; his first rank was second lieutenant.

It’s a family thing
“My grandfather and father were both soldiers, and my brother was in the Air Force,” Vandertang said. “It just ran in my family. My son is in NAVY JROTC in high school. I always knew this is what I wanted to do - I just never thought I would spend 20 years or more doing it.”
MacDonald said he always liked the military and its lifestyle.

“In college I got the opportunity to join the Army as a private and later go to ROTC and I jumped at the chance,” he said.

A day in the life
For both soldiers, their days start out at 5 a.m. with physical training exercises which typically involve running a couple of miles before they head back to get ready for their jobs.

Vandertang’s position as one of the Operations Sergeants for his unit usually sees him being at work from 7:30 a.m. until 5 or 6 p.m.

“Basically we plan and track the unit’s missions,” he said. “We monitor everything the unit does 24 hours a day.”

Vandertang and the other operations sergeants are the unit commanders’ planning and action center.

“When a mission is underway, we monitor everything that is going on to make sure there are no issues during the mission,” he said. “Planning is great but when you actually start to execute it, that’s when ‘Murphy’s Law’ kicks in.”

In the past, when Vandertang completed his work for the day he would head back to his room and spend his evenings working on his college classes. “They’re done now and I graduate in May so I don’t have to worry about them any longer,” he said. “Now at night I’ll be able to just hang out and read a magazine or watch my portable DVD player.”

MacDonald’s duties involve assisting the Iraqis in establishing their own security and government. “My duties are classified as Stability and Support Operations,” he explained.

For MacDonald, he arrives at the Tactical Operations Center (TOC) no later than 8 a.m. and updates himself on what is going on in the area that the brigade is assigned. At 9 a.m. there is a tactical update to discuss what’s transpired in the area over the past 12 hours. Following that, there are Intelligence Update meetings in which discussions evolve around the enemy’s most likely actions and trends they’re establishing.

“After about 10 a.m. my day varies from planning upcoming operations to going out to visit units and the people in the area surrounding Mosul,” he said.

Keeping the home fires burning
Both MacDonald and Vandertang have families at home: from wives and children to mothers, fathers and other relatives.

MacDonald has a fiancé, Karie Missler, who lives in Dupont, Washington, just outside of Fort Lewis where he’s stationed.

“I have two sons, Jonathan MacDonald who is eight and Thomas MacDonald, who is six. They both live in Buffalo,” he said. “My parents, Lynda and Donald MacDonald, still live in the home where we lived when I attended high school in Spencerport.”

Vandertang’s wife, Victoria, and his children, JP, JT and Bethanne, live in Colorado. “I’d never have been able to accomplish my job without the love and support of my wife and kids,” he said. “I wouldn’t be able to be gone for months at a time without knowing they are well and taken care of.”

His wife, Vandertang said, is responsible for everything while he is gone and in addition to taking care of the children she works full time and is completing her bachelor’s degree. “My wife is the best that anyone could ever ask for,” he said.

Even though the Army is his life right now, Vandertang said that when he is home he loves spending time with his family, riding motorcycles, watching NASCAR and just hanging out with his friends. He anticipates being home in March 2006.

Vandertang’s mother, Sheila, and grandparents, Adrian and Nellie Vandertang, still live in the area as do his aunts and uncles, Bill and Alison Vandertang and Judy and Gary Gartz. He is the son of the late Tom Vandertang.

MacDonald anticipates being back in the states some time this fall and hopes to make a trip back to see his family.

“When I get back the first thing I want to do is hug all of my loved ones - from my fiancé to my two sons to my mom and dad,” he said. “Then I’d like to take some time to go mountain biking. It’s a time for me to think about things and gives me time to reflect on what I’ve done.”

Both men say the things they miss most about home are their families and just having time to relax and enjoy life.

Vandertang added that he moved to Colorado Springs in June 2003 and left for Iraq shortly thereafter. “I made it home in March 2004 and in February 2005 came back to Iraq,” he said. “So I’m not sure exactly where home is.”

He and his wife bought a new house last year and he has had less time in it than he has spent in Iraq. “I miss getting to do a lot of the things that a family does every day,” he said. “Just being there when the kids need something or just watching them play around the house is what I miss most.”

Vandertang thanked his friends and family and Spencerport for their support and also thanked his Aunt Alison (Vandertang) for the packages of cookies and Goldfish crackers she sends to him.

“The support we’ve gotten from everyone is great and truly appreciated,” he said.

Contact information
Hearing from friends and family members is the highlight of what could be an otherwise long, lonely day away from home, both men agreed.

To contact MacDonald via ground mail: MAJ Lonny MacDonald, HHC, 1/25 INF(SBCT), FOB Courage APO AE 09345; via e-mail: lonny.j.macdonald@us.army.mil

To contact Vandertang via ground mail: SSG Gary T. Vandertang, 59th Military Police Company, APO AE 09334; via e-mail: gary.vandertang@us.army.mil

Editor’s note: This interview and article were made possible via e-mail with the soldiers. In MacDonald’s unit there is a computer with Internet access that he shares with about 15 others. Vandertang’s position allows him access to the computer on a semi-regular basis. Both men say that having mail in their in-box is almost as good as getting regular mail but both say that Internet access is sporadic at best.

Coming in a future issue: Letters from the Front -- what mail meant to a serviceman in Korea, and the story of four brothers who served in WWII.