Brother, can you spare a hammer?

By CONSTANCE SEE

Whitefish Pilot

Memorial Day usually celebrates fallen soldiers from past wars, but Becky Cannon's 23-year-old son, Gregg Prideaux, of Whitefish, is on duty in Iraq, and she asks Flathead Valley residents to remember our soldiers fighting today.

"They need our prayers and our help now," Cannon said. "Gregg called me and asked me to send tools so he could do his job. He didn't even have a hammer. Gregg said he was building something for our Army and Marines to save their lives. It's pretty dangerous over there and everything is secret. The last time he called, he was in Ramadi, but I don't know where he is today."

A U.S. petty officer with the 4th Naval Construction Battalion Seabees since 2003, Prideaux's specialty is rebuilding after a disaster. They were stationed in the states following hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

From the U.S., the battalion was sent to Pakistan after a 7.6 earthquake leveled a town leaving more than 70,000 dead in 2005. They helped build a school in Thailand for a town without one. Most recently, they've traveled to Iraq, building in places like Fallujah, Baghdad and Ramadi.

"The soldiers don't have anywhere but rubble to live in sometimes," Cannon said. "One night, they slept in a mortuary. These young men and women are loaded down with guns, ammo and some tools in 115 degree temperatures, and it's not even summer yet. I don't think people realize what they're all going through."

Cannon's younger son, Doug Prideaux, is a junior at Whitefish High School. He's come up against a few challenges of his own with students who don't view the war in Iraq the same way he and his family do.

"One kid said, 'Your brother is stupid for fighting,'" Prideaux said. "I say, if we hadn't responded to the terrorist attack, then they'd be over here. Our troops are fighting for our freedom so we can get to school and work and be safe. They're facing roadside bombing every day for us. I'm proud of my brother, my dad and my mom. They've all served in the military. My grandpa served, too."

Enlisting at age 24 in Las Vegas, Nev., seeking travel and adventure, Cannon said she served as a petty officer in the U.S. Navy from 1980-1989 with aircrew survival personnel assisting flight crews.

During the Persian Gulf War, both she and her ex-husband were in the military. He was a jet mechanic on the USS Okinawa in the middle of the Persian Gulf, while she worked with a helicopter training squadron in North Island, Calif.

Stationed at one time with the Top Gun squadron, Cannon said one of the highlights of her service came after a group of pilots had to eject when their plane went down somewhere near Japan. Following their successful rescue, they all sought out the soldiers who packed their parachutes.

"Each one thanked me because they were alive," Cannon said. "I enjoyed what I was doing. I was proud to serve my country. I did the stuff that helps save people's lives, and I liked that action. I wouldn't have left the service, but I became a single mom and had to take care of my kids."

When she left the Navy, Cannon worked for Gen. John Prendergast in the Montana Army National Guard in Helena and Kalispell.

She knows how important secrecy is to protect the troops, but that doesn't keep a mother from worrying where her son is and if he's safe.

On May 12, the day six soldiers disappeared outside Ramadi near where her son was last stationed, Cannon waited for a call, but none came.

A few days later, Prideaux contacted his mother to say he was safe. Prideaux said the phone lines and computers were tied up with troops trying to call home for the holiday.

Cannon watches the news on the Internet closely, trying to keep up on the situation abroad. The same outpost where her son had been stationed in Fallujah was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. Another Navy Seabee was killed there, and the post has since been named after the fallen soldier.

"On television news, you never hear about the good they're doing there, and in Congress, they're fighting each other rather than supporting our troops," Cannon said. "They don't even have what they need to do their job. Gregg just takes it in stride. He has a good attitude about it. He had to buy his own carpenter's square, hammer and tape measure. He ordered them through Home Depot, and I packed them and shipped them to him this week."

Cannon is asking for help from the community to send supplies to the soldiers in her son's battalion. In addition to carpentry tools, the men are asking for jerky, protein bars, powdered vitamin drinks, dried fruit, nuts and prayers.

"When they go to sleep at night, they hear helicopters shooting and car bombs going off," Cannon said. "They're working really hard and need our support. I could tell in Gregg's voice that he's wiped out, and I know they all are. He said, 'Pray for us mom.'"

For more information about how to help support the troops, contact Cannon at 863-2627.

Cannon is also offering her home at 120 Bear Trail, Whitefish MT 59937 as a drop-off center for cards and letters of support and supplies.