Army Specialist Dustin Newsom, an Estancia High School graduate, won’t be spending the holidays with his family this year. Newsom will be on a 48-hour mission in Mosul, Iraq starting Christmas day.
Newsom graduated from Estancia in 2003 and joined the Army in July 2006. He deployed to Iraq in December 2007, where he is a tank driver. He has only been home once since his 15-month deployment began.
Newsom’s mother, Julie Griffo, who works for the Estancia School District, said she will wait until her son returns in February to celebrate Christmas.
“It’s really hard to get in the Christmas spirit,” Griffo said. “I know Christmas is important because it is the celebration of Christ’s birthday, but it is hard to get in the spirit.”
Griffo said she is grateful for the people in the community who ask about her son and appreciates the support they are giving her. She uses prayer to help manage the stress that comes with knowing her child is in a combat zone.
“I pray a lot,” Griffo said. “I know God is watching over him. I don’t know how parents that don’t have a faith in God can handle it. That’s the only thing that has kept me strong.”
In an e-mail from Iraq, Newsom answered the question of what he wants the most for Christmas: “I have the best wife, family and friends anyone could ask for so I don’t want anything except to be home.”
Griffo’s Christmas wish is the same: “What I would like most this Christmas would be for Dustin to be here – safe and sound. If that’s not possible, a call from him would be great.”
Although Newsom may not be able to call on Christmas day, his mother’s wish to get a phone call sometime over the holidays may come true. In Newsom’s e-mail he wrote, “We run our missions out of a small base in the city that has Internet and phone access so I can communicate with loved ones. Thank god.”
When asked what the Iraqis think of the Christmas holiday, Newsom said some of the Iraqis he has met are Christians, but most of the communication he has with them is “usually directed toward more mission effectiveness.”
Both Newsom’s mother and wife, Danielle, sent care packages to Newsom for the holidays. Newsom did not say in his e-mail if he had received the packages.
Griffo still has fresh memories of celebrating the holidays with her son in previous years: “I have many great memories of Christmases past that I’ve been thinking about,” Griffo said. “I like to remember us decorating cookies and making cinnamon wreath together, as well as going to Christmas Eve services at the Methodist church here in town. The service last year, right before Dustin deployed, was especially nice since both he and Danielle were there.”
Several other locals have deployed overseas who won’t be celebrating the holidays at home, including Dolores Delgado, one of Newsom’s Estancia High School classmates.
Griffo explained how she found out that Delgado was in the same city as her son after talking to Delgado’s mother, Barbara Delgado. Griffo said she was talking to Barbara Delgado one day when she said that her daughter had seen Newsom.
“I thought it was funny how her mom said Dolores saw Dustin,” Griffo said. “I asked how she could recognize him out there because everybody looks the same. Dolores said she knew him by his walk.”
Newsom and Delgado are not the only locals who will be spending their holidays in combat zones this year. Thirty-seven year old Tamara Mendez of Estancia will be spending the holidays in Kuwait where she provides landing coordinates for pilots. Her son Chris Mendez, a ninth grader at Estancia High School, said this is the first Christmas he’ll spend without his mother around. Chris, who is also a cousin to Dolores Delgado, said the last time he spoke to his mother was about two months ago. He said he sent care packages to both his mother and cousin which included cookies, popcorn, books and magazines. He said the hardest thing about having his mom overseas is that he can talk to her but can’t see her in person.
There is a benefit to his mom not being around for the holidays though.
“If I get a check or money I actually get to keep it instead of her giving it to my grandma,” Chris said.
Chris said he’s not too worried about his mom being in danger.
“She told me in the last letter that she was far away from the action.”
Chris said that he has thought about joining the Marines because “they are the devil dogs. They’re the ones that go in first for all the action.”
He said if he does join he wants to be a sniper because he likes to hunt and is good with rifles.
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