MONROE - Green County's 1989 New Year baby will be spending Christmas and his 20th birthday in Iraq.
Kyle John Bruehlman, now a Lance Corporal in the Marines, was deployed from Camp Lejeune to Iraq on Sept. 15, just days after marrying his Argyle High School sweetheart, Kasey Canon.
"I would love nothing more than to have him home," his mother, Rita Novak, Monroe, said. "But my Christmas will be in April when Kyle gets home."
Her eyes fill with tears when she thinks about the danger that surrounds her son and the void his absence will leave in the family holiday festivities.
"He's missing the snow; he loves the snow," she said.
This will be the second year his military service keeps Bruehlman from being home for Christmas.
His job as an Intelligence Analyst keeps his exact location in Iraq a secret this year, but security at his facility is high.
"He told me, 'They keep me in a vault, Mom,' just to make me feel secure," Novak laughed.
Canon, who is attending college in La Crosse, doesn't even try to keep track of the time she is separated from her new husband.
"He doesn't like people worrying about him," Canon said.
She gets an e-mail or a phone call from Bruehlman every day or two. She made arrangements with her professors to allow her to keep her cell phone on vibrate and to take any call from Bruehlman.
Canon compared the communication she and Bruehlman have with that of her great-grandparents.
"I have some of my great-grandfather's letters, when he was in World War II. Back then information was slower; you waited longer. My great-grandmother, who was not an independent woman, went to New York City once to see him. She got all the way there, but the military changed things and she didn't get to see him at all," Canon said.
Bruehlman's calls come at about 2 or 3 p.m. when he is just getting off his shift, Canon said, noting the nine-hour time difference.
"It's late over there," she said. "They work seven days a week, about 12-plus hours during the weekdays, slightly less on the weekends. He said the highlight of his day is waking up and going out to exercise."
"They're all so tired that they only get to watch about 20 minutes of a movie before they're all asleep. It take them about a week to watch a movie," Canon laughed.
Bruehlman likes to read, too, especially about history, she said.
Novak's husband, John, sends a package to Bruehlman every month. It takes three weeks to arrive.
"He sends beef sticks, Oreos, magazines, movies, anything he can get wedged in the box," Novak said.
Besides missing Bruehlman, this Christmas looks to be even harder on the families. Novak expects to be laid off from her job at Federal Industries in Belleville, and Canon said her father, a construction supervisor, also is expecting to be laid off.
"John told me, 'We've always bounced through this stuff before, so why do you worry about it now?'" Novak said.
Joining the military was not Kyle's childhood dream, but it became the only career that appealed to him when he got older.
When did the idea of joining the military occur to him?
Novak and Canon answered in unison. "He always wanted to," they said.
Kyle was barely a teenager when he became interested in the military, after visiting an uncle who was an Army helicopter mechanic.
"He was climbing in the tanks and looking in the helicopters. Kyle just loved it," Novak said.
Novak said Kyle always had been open about talking with her about everything, so she knew of his interest in joining.
"One day, he asked me for my marriage license and his birth certificate and said, "I'm going to do it, Mom,'" she said.
"I said, 'Oh, O.K. I never asked you kids how I should live my life; I'm not going to make you ask how to live yours,'" she said.
Kyle joined the Marine Corps through the Delayed Entry Program while still a high school senior. He left for basic training in June 2007, just nine days after graduation.
Kyle had been talking with Kasey about marriage for "about a year and a half."
"We were talking about it when he went to boot camp," she said.
While on a 16-day leave before going to Iraq, Kyle made his decision and went to his mother and told her.
Kyle and Kasey were married at noon Sept. 5 in the Lafayette County Courthouse in Darlington. Close family members attended.
Two days later, Kyle returned to Camp Lejeune before being deployed.
A formal church wedding will come when he gets back home.
"I don't know what it is, if it's just something solid to come home to, or what. I don't care what it is, as long as he comes home," Novak said.
Kyle John Bruehlman, now a Lance Corporal in the Marines, was deployed from Camp Lejeune to Iraq on Sept. 15, just days after marrying his Argyle High School sweetheart, Kasey Canon.
"I would love nothing more than to have him home," his mother, Rita Novak, Monroe, said. "But my Christmas will be in April when Kyle gets home."
Her eyes fill with tears when she thinks about the danger that surrounds her son and the void his absence will leave in the family holiday festivities.
"He's missing the snow; he loves the snow," she said.
This will be the second year his military service keeps Bruehlman from being home for Christmas.
His job as an Intelligence Analyst keeps his exact location in Iraq a secret this year, but security at his facility is high.
"He told me, 'They keep me in a vault, Mom,' just to make me feel secure," Novak laughed.
Canon, who is attending college in La Crosse, doesn't even try to keep track of the time she is separated from her new husband.
"He doesn't like people worrying about him," Canon said.
She gets an e-mail or a phone call from Bruehlman every day or two. She made arrangements with her professors to allow her to keep her cell phone on vibrate and to take any call from Bruehlman.
Canon compared the communication she and Bruehlman have with that of her great-grandparents.
"I have some of my great-grandfather's letters, when he was in World War II. Back then information was slower; you waited longer. My great-grandmother, who was not an independent woman, went to New York City once to see him. She got all the way there, but the military changed things and she didn't get to see him at all," Canon said.
Bruehlman's calls come at about 2 or 3 p.m. when he is just getting off his shift, Canon said, noting the nine-hour time difference.
"It's late over there," she said. "They work seven days a week, about 12-plus hours during the weekdays, slightly less on the weekends. He said the highlight of his day is waking up and going out to exercise."
"They're all so tired that they only get to watch about 20 minutes of a movie before they're all asleep. It take them about a week to watch a movie," Canon laughed.
Bruehlman likes to read, too, especially about history, she said.
Novak's husband, John, sends a package to Bruehlman every month. It takes three weeks to arrive.
"He sends beef sticks, Oreos, magazines, movies, anything he can get wedged in the box," Novak said.
Besides missing Bruehlman, this Christmas looks to be even harder on the families. Novak expects to be laid off from her job at Federal Industries in Belleville, and Canon said her father, a construction supervisor, also is expecting to be laid off.
"John told me, 'We've always bounced through this stuff before, so why do you worry about it now?'" Novak said.
Joining the military was not Kyle's childhood dream, but it became the only career that appealed to him when he got older.
When did the idea of joining the military occur to him?
Novak and Canon answered in unison. "He always wanted to," they said.
Kyle was barely a teenager when he became interested in the military, after visiting an uncle who was an Army helicopter mechanic.
"He was climbing in the tanks and looking in the helicopters. Kyle just loved it," Novak said.
Novak said Kyle always had been open about talking with her about everything, so she knew of his interest in joining.
"One day, he asked me for my marriage license and his birth certificate and said, "I'm going to do it, Mom,'" she said.
"I said, 'Oh, O.K. I never asked you kids how I should live my life; I'm not going to make you ask how to live yours,'" she said.
Kyle joined the Marine Corps through the Delayed Entry Program while still a high school senior. He left for basic training in June 2007, just nine days after graduation.
Kyle had been talking with Kasey about marriage for "about a year and a half."
"We were talking about it when he went to boot camp," she said.
While on a 16-day leave before going to Iraq, Kyle made his decision and went to his mother and told her.
Kyle and Kasey were married at noon Sept. 5 in the Lafayette County Courthouse in Darlington. Close family members attended.
Two days later, Kyle returned to Camp Lejeune before being deployed.
A formal church wedding will come when he gets back home.
"I don't know what it is, if it's just something solid to come home to, or what. I don't care what it is, as long as he comes home," Novak said.