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38th CEG father, Sailor son meet together a world away, during deployment

  • Published
  • By Howdy Stout
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Six days is a short time to get ready for deployment. But, for Joe Little, being ready in six days will mean spending six months with his son.

A contracting officer with the 38th Cyberspace Engineering Group, Mr. Little deployed to Kabul this week where he will spend the next six months near his Sailor son, who arrived in Afghanistan last week. Both will spend the next six months serving together in the war-torn country.

"We're going to be there for pretty close to the exact same time," Mr. Little says. "He'll be a couple of blocks from me and I'm hoping to see him once a week or so."

The road to Afghanistan was an unlikely one for both father and son.

A veteran Navy aircrewman, Mr. Little began a second career in 1996 as a contracting officer at Tinker. He did the same job for the Center for Disease Control -- deploying during Hurricane Katrina -- before returning to Tinker with his wife two years ago.

"We always knew we'd come back," he explained.

What he never expected, though, was his youngest son's decision to join the Navy and follow in his father's footsteps. A talented drummer, singer and songwriter, Caleb Little had already left college to pursue a budding musical career.

"I call him my Beatnik son," Mr. Little laughs. "He's a great musician."

A self-confessed patriot, Mr. Little said he never encouraged or discouraged a military career or military service to any of his four children, preferring to let them make their own choices in life. It came as a surprise when Caleb announced he wanted to join the military to serve his country.

"So he ended up joining the Navy," Mr. Little says.

The younger Little did so well during basic training that he was assigned as a yeoman to the Navy's prestigious post-graduate facility in Monterrey, Calif. But for the young Sailor, that still wasn't enough.

He volunteered as an individual augmentee and soon received orders to pack his sea bags and ship out for combat training at Fort Jackson, S.C.

"He had a blast," his dad says.

In the meantime, the call had gone out for volunteers for the Civilian Expeditionary Workforce. Mr. Little applied, was accepted and early last week received orders to go overseas, coincidentally to the same location as his son.

"It's ironic because we'd planned to visit him this summer in California," Mr. Little says. During a going away party for his son, Mr. Little gave his son a card with the message, "See you in Kabul."

His son, Mr. Little said, was surprised and pleased that his father would be serving nearby. But don't expect Mr. Little to spend his time looking over his son's shoulder, although he admits that "the dad in me, I worry to death about him." Instead, Mr. Little understands the call to duty and the unique emotional experience that being in a combat situation creates.

"Your pucker factor will be up there for a couple of weeks," Mr. Little says. "You'll be aware of everything ... but when you come out on the other side, that feeling is unbelievable."

Mr. Little is no stranger to combat, coming under fire during the first Gulf War as an aircrew member on the P-3 Orion. Before that, he served as a naval rescue swimmer. Neither is he a stranger to deployments, although this is his first as a contracting officer with the 38th.

"I did nine deployments in 16 years," Mr. Little says. "That was my life."

Mr. Little says his wife, also a Navy veteran, understands his and his son's need to serve and the hardships that follow when husbands and sons are in harm's way. This time around, however, father and son will be nearby and both will be able to communicate daily with the rest of the family via e-mail and telephone.

"Thanks," he says, "to the 38th."