On a Mission: Brigadier general will head to Iraq in one more stint

Julie Luckey surveyed the mound of fatigues and boots in her dining room and told her husband, Charles, that it looked as if he was heading to summer camp.

"You'll be gone a few months and it's going to build to a year," she said to him.

It was a lighthearted way for her to deal with a harsh reality -- Charles Luckey is going to war.

Luckey, 53, is a brigadier general in the Army Reserves. About two weeks ago, he learned that he needed to be in Iraq in mid-April to assist the Iraqi military. He will leave Winston-Salem about April 1.

After more than 30 years in the Army, Luckey knows that deployments are unpredictable. But the news that he was going to Iraq came as a bit of a surprise. In the past few years, he has been in charge of preparing troops for combat, a job that required him to remain in the United States.

Julie Luckey said she certainly was caught off guard. An e-mail from her husband telling her of his deployment was a "gut-check moment," she said.

"I had a perverse mixture of pride and dread," she said. "I love my husband very much and I'm definitely going to miss him, but service is so much a part of his ethos, and I have so much pride in him."

Tying up loose ends

Since learning of his deployment, Luckey has been scrambling to take care of loose ends at his law practice and spend time with his family while also preparing for his assignment in Baghdad.

Last week, he spent two days at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. He will spend all of this week talking with military leaders at the Pentagon.

His mother, and two of his children, Lissa, 25, and Tim, 19, all of whom live in the eastern half of the United States, flew into town this weekend for a small farewell party.

Another son, Max, 22, attends the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and was not able to come.

Luckey said he expects to be gone for at least a year. It is unlikely he will get to come home during his tour.

It will mark the longest period that the Luckeys have been apart.

"So many families have made the sacrifice," said Julie Luckey, who is herself a bankruptcy lawyer. "It's my turn to sacrifice."

Luckey leaves his post as commanding general of the 78th Operations Group in Fort Dix, N.J., to work in Baghdad where he will be in command of an office that includes other branches of the U.S. military and leaders from the coalition. His mission will be to help the Iraqi military get the training, equipment and manpower it needs to stand on its own.

"I'm confident in saying that what I've been asked to do is part of the way out," he said. "This office is a critical piece, in my opinion, in bringing the bulk of American combat power out of Iraq."

Besides broader strategic plans, part of Luckey's job will be to build relationships with senior Iraqi leaders. A friend in the Army recently passed along some tips, which include plastering the walls of his office with as many family photographs as possible.

"Family is so important in this culture," he said.

A tradition of service

Luckey, who grew up in Connecticut and New Hampshire, comes from a line of military veterans. A grandfather was awarded a Silver Star for service in World War I, and his father was a sergeant in World War II.

He had never given much thought to military service until a friend persuaded him to join the ROTC while he was a student at the University of Virginia.

The Army's emphasis on loyalty, service and leadership appealed to him then, he said, and today it continues to give young people a chance to make a difference.

"There are all kinds of ways for young people to engage with America, and we are one of the paths," Luckey said. "Frankly, that continues to bring me solace and satisfaction every day."

Luckey's career includes long stints in active duty and in the Reserves. He has served all over the world, including Germany, Panama and Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm. This is his first deployment to Iraq.

Much of his service has been in the legal branch of the Army, but he said that what he has enjoyed the most is being a commander.

"The responsibility, to me, is energizing," he said.

No grand plan

Luckey's appointment to brigadier general in 2005 was a surprise, Julie Luckey said.

"You meet some people in the military who set out a grand plan for themselves. For him, it was never like that.

"He always thought, ‘I'll do whatever mission I get. If I end up retiring as lieutenant colonel, fine. If I retire as major, fine.' He never had this expectation, ‘This is what I will become,'" she said.

Julie Luckey said she supports the military.

"In my opinion, you have to separate what the military is doing from the politics," she said. "It's really important as an Army wife that nothing I say ventures into the political."

Luckey said that it's reasonable for people to disagree on whether the Iraq war was a good or bad idea.

"I think the fair question is, ‘Given where we are, where do we go from here?'" he said.

As he prepares to leave for Iraq, Luckey said, he feels as if he can play a role in helping stabilize Iraq so that American troops can come home and the Iraqi economy can prosper.

"We need to get this resolved," Luckey said, "And I intend to make a difference."

n Lisa O'Donnell can be reached at 727-7420 or at lo'donnell@wsjournal.com.