The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 14, 2005, Page 4, Image 4
Navy reservist, father of 11, to deploy with no regrets
By JOHN GEROME
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Johnnie
Chennault has no regrets about joining
the Navy Reserve, even though it means
he’s going to Iraq later this month.
But he does worry about not being
around to help take care of his house full
of 11 kids.
“Leaving my children, leaving my
wife for so long — you’re going to miss
all the little things as the kids grow up,”
he said.
Chennault and his wife Ronda have a
full range of children of all ages growing
up at their home in Springfield, a small
town about 30 miles north of Nashville:
Terr’i, 17; Stephen, 15; Jobie, 14;
Joshua, 12; Zakari, 8; Johnnie IV, 7;
Mikal, 6; Syerra, 4; Gracie, 3; Jakob, 1;
and Nikalus, 8 months.
“Yeah, I have more kids than most
people, but I don’t think my kids are any
more important to me than somebody
who has two kids. His kids are
important to him, too. I just have more
to miss.”
The Chennaults knew deployment
was possible when he joined the Navy’s
Construction Battalion, the famed
Seabees, two years ago
Chennault, 29, had inquired about
enlisting in the Army, the Air Force, the
Marines and the Navy, but they all told
him it was against policy to take
someone who has that many children to
support on a newly enlisted man’s pay.
The Navy, however, said that wouldn’t
matter if he joined the Reserves.
But with the war in Iraq, his unit was
called up for duty, and he leaves Sunday
for training at Gulfport, Miss., and then
on to Iraq.
“After 9-11 it just seemed like a big
need, like there was something else I
could do,” Chennault said. “My country
has done so much for me and my family
— why couldn’t I take a little time out
and do something for it.”
His employer, Sears, will make up
the difference in pay while he’s in Iraq,
an assignment Chennault thinks will last
seven or eight months.
He has worked for Sears for nine
years, mosdy as an auto mechanic. But
he recently took a promotion to assistant
manager in the auto department.
“He’s big-hearted, and he’d do
whatever it takes to help someone else
out,” said his boss, Chris Nokes. “I wish
he wasn’t going. I just hope he comes
home safe.
After entering the reserves,
Chennault remained committed to his
military service. He recalls that when the
Navy announced that his unit was
getting called up, his name wasn’t on the
initial deployment list because of a
clerical error
“I raised my hand and the first
question I asked was, ‘Why am I not
going?’... I said, ‘Look, I don’t think it’s
fair for my brothers and sisters here to be
going. They have children, and their
children are just as important to them as
mine are to me.’”
Chennault’s wife is supportive.
“We go to a really good church, and
they talk in there a lot about the
husband’s and the wife’s role, what the
Bible says is the husband’s and wife’s
role,” she explains. “And my role is to
support my husband. My mother told
me when I got married, ‘Your life is
about him, and you need to be there for
him.’”
They met while working on the
General Jackson excursion boat and
married when she was 25 and he was 19.
Four of the children are hers from a
previous marriage.
While her husband is away, Ronda
Chennault will rely more on her parents
and on their church, South Haven
Baptist. The children will have to do
more for themselves.
Still, she worries.
“I have trouble sleeping when he’s
not here. That’s one of the hardest
things,” she said.
She knows she’s going to miss him,
but Ronda Chennault is proud of the
example her husband is setting.
“It’s important for the kids to see that
he can’t just weasel out of the duty that
he volunteered for,” she said.
Navy reservist Johnnie Chennault and his wife Ronda at home with their 11 children, in Springfield, Tenn., on Friday. From the left are, Stephen, 15; Jakob, 2; Jobie, 14;
Mikal, 6; Syerra, 4; Gracee, 3; Johnnie IV, 7; Joshua, 12; Zakari, 8; Terri, 17, and 8-month-old Nikalus. Chennault leaves for training and then will be deployed to Iraq.
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What if it’s NOT a hurricane?
Commander (R) Gary
Merrick, former Captain of!'
I ■
the Port and Commanding
Officer of the Marine Safety
Office in Charleston, SC, is
giving a “Lunch & Learn”
presentation about
protecting our coastal
ports and communities
from terrorist threats.
sfiiesdag, Feb. 15
■Koon-l.BO p.i.
alissell low 308
*LOMCH MOTIDED*
Valentine's Day spurs activism
By DAVID CR ARY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Chocolates and flowers
still abound, but Valentine’s Day is
acquiring a new, politically tinged layer of
symbolism: For many activists, it’s now
the date of choice to mobilize on matters
of the heart — advocating abstinence,
decrying divorce, rallying nationwide to
demand gay marriage.
Across the country, teens from
hundreds of schools and youth groups will
make chastity pledges Monday on the
“Day of Purity” — organized by the
Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based
conservative legal group.
In Arkansas, Gov. Mike Huckabee and
his wife, Janet, will renew their wedding
vows in the presence of hundreds of other
couples at a ceremony promoting the state’s
covenant marriage law — a voluntary
system that makes divorce harder to obtain.
“The nation will be watching as we take a
stand for marriage,” the Huckabees’
invitation says.
And at statehouses, courthouses and
city halls nationwide, gay-rights
supporters will be rallying in support of
gay marriage as Valentine’s Day serves as
the centerpiece of Freedom to Marry
Week. Similar observances have occurred
annually since 1998, but this year the
mood is more combative as state after state
moves to entrench bans on gay marriage
in their constitutions.
“There’s a greater appreciation this
year of how much more work there still is
to do,” said Evan Wolfson, a gay-rights
lawyer who heads the Freedom to Marry
campaign. “The hits we took last year
were sad but predictable.”
Last year, 13 states enacted
constitutional bans on gay marriage,
seeking to thwart any ripple effect from
court rulings like the one that legalized
same-sex marriages in Massachusetts.
Legislatures in at least a half-dozen more
states are considering similar bans this
year; Kansas lawmakers already have
placed such a ban on the ballot for a
statewide vote April 5.
“We are at a moment of peril right
now where our opponents are able to
stampede people into adopting these
discriminatory amendments, depriving
them of the time to take a deep breath and
embrace fairness,” Wolfson said.
Monday’s events include rallies for gay
marriage in Milwaukee, Portland, Ore.
and Tampa, Fla., and at the statehouses in
Maryland, New Mexico and Washington
state. In Richmond, Va., gay and lesbian
couples plan to apply for marriage licenses
at City Hall, then be united in ceremonies
performed by a minister from the
Metropolitan Community Church.
Same-sex couples in California plan to
request marriage licenses from their
county clerk’s office.
A very different crowd is expected
Monday evening at a North Little Rock
arena for the marriage celebration in
Arkansas — where voters overwhelmingly
approved a gay-marriage ban last year.
“This ffin-filled, romantic evening will
encourage and equip you as a couple to go
the distance,” said the Huckabees’
invitation, which promised entertainment
from a Gram my-winning gospel singer
and inspirational speeches from marriage
experts.
The governor, in a telephone
interview, said he wants to make more
Arkansans aware of covenant marriage —
an option in which couples pledge to go
through lengthy counseling before any
divorce, unless there is a dramatic factor
such as physical abuse
“We’re trying to combat the idea that
covenant marriage is some kind of holier
than-thou religious act,” Huckabee said.
“It’s an admission on our part that
keeping a marriage together is very hard
work; it’s a commitment that if the
marriage hits a crisis, we’ll see counselors
before we see lawyers — and see if we can
work it out.”
Arkansas has one of the nation’s
highest divorce rates. Thus far, few
couples have exercised the option of
covenant marriage — about 600 in three
years out of roughly 40,000 marriages that
occur annually in the state.
Organizers of the Day of Purity, being
held for the second time, said young
people from roughly 2,000 schools and
church groups have signed up to
participate. They are encouraged to wear
white T-shirts as a symbol of purity, and
to hand out flyers to fellow students on
such topics as promiscuity and sexually
transmitted disease.
“Students are bombarded with the
message that they should become sexually
active at a young age and to experiment
with their sexual preferences,” organizers
said in a statement. “The Day of Purity
offers the youth who strive for sexual
purity an opportunity to stand in
opposition to a culture of moral decline.”
Rena Lindevaldsen, the event’s
national coordinator, said students
themselves — not adults — were doing
much of the organizing. School officials
and teachers in some communities were
wary of promoting the Day of Purity for
fear it would be seen as a religious activity,
she said.
Why choose Valentine’s Day for the
event?
“The focus is so much on going out on
that special date,” Lindevaldsen said. “It’s
a good time to be thinking about making
wise choices.,k
■ SCOTT
Continued from page 1
Scott said student-leaders in other
states have discussed how slowly their
comparable programs were started, but
that USC has been at the forefront of
the fast-growing SCSSA and will play
host to a national conference in
Washington, D.C.
“I think it is too young to accomplish
its goals,” Scott said. “But we were able
to make sure it was stable for future
administrations.”
After participating in numerous SG
elections, Scott said he has watched the
latest elections closely, but jis bothered
by the veracity of which some candidates
attack SG, and not other candidates.
“I don’t have a problem with people
criticizing Student Government,” Scott
said. “But I do have a problem with
students who only start criticizing when
they are running.”
Scott said he wouldn’t endorse
candidates directly, but there were
certain people he would prefer to be in
office, all of whom have some form of
experience in SG.
“Looking at the debates, I am
impressed with most of the candidates,”
Scott said. “They really seem to care
about students and we are lucky for
that.”
Scott will begin his “lame duck”
period after election results are finalized
and will not formally leave office until
March 2, when the president-elect is
inaugurated in Rutledge Chapel. After
graduating, Scott said, he will be moving
to California with his family, where he’ll
take an educational hiatus until he
returns to school for a public
administration degree.
Scott said he doesn’t have the
stomach for more politics, but that he is
glad he came to USC and took part in its
democratic process.
“I don’t think I would have been
happy anywhere else,” Scott said. “1 may
have disagreed with some of the school’s
actions, but this is a great school with
great tradition."
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