Home from the War, Back on the Job

Eric Terry, char house operator in Imperial Sugar Company’s Port Wentworth refinery, returned to work after being stationed in the Afghan city of Jalalabad with the U.S. Army.

Today, Eric Terry works as a char house operator in Imperial Sugar Company’s Port Wentworth refinery. This time last year, he was in the Afghan city of Jalalabad, serving in the U.S. Army as a gunner – one of the soldiers who rides on top of a tank or Humvee, manning a .50-caliber or M240B machine gun.

“I was proficient with the really big guns,” Terry says, “so they put me on that job.”

Riding in a Humvee made him a regular target for roadside bomb attacks, so he feels “fortunate to make it back.” In the same breath, though, he humbly points out that he was simply doing his job in Afghanistan – just like he’s doing his job here.

His military service began in 2005, when he joined the 48th Infantry Brigade of the Georgia National Guard. At the time, he felt he “wanted some direction and to be a part of something.” He entered boot camp for 18 weeks at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, which was every bit as rigorous as people say: “You pretty much train from 4 a.m. when you wake up, until two hours before you bed down. Every day, for 18 weeks.”

With his training complete, “you go back to the civilian world to do your job and take care of your family,” he explains. His involvement with the National Guard was scaled back to training once a month during the year, with a two-week training stint during the summer.

And then, his unit was called up for active duty.

Terry left Savannah in January 2009 to spend six months in training before being deployed to Jalalabad for 10 months. It meant leaving his wife and baby boy, Bryson, behind. “I missed his first steps, his first words –- everything,” he says.

Terry rides on top of a tank or Humvee, manning a .50-caliber or M240B machine gun, similar to this military photo of an Afghan patrol.

Deployment is tough on a family, but so is the transition when a soldier returns. When he first returned home in April 2010, he spent a lot of time with his son to recapture “that bond,” he says. For the months that Terry was gone, he and his wife had told Bryson that Daddy was at work.

Coming home meant returning to work for Imperial Sugar Company – where he had been employed for the two years before deploying. When Terry returned to Savannah, the company “put me where they needed me,” says Terry – the char house. “My job at Imperial is really important to me, because it helps me support people who were supporting me while I was in Afghanistan.”

He has nothing but positive words for his co-workers, who have told him how much they value his brave service in Afghanistan. And the experience of serving in the military has made him even more thankful for and aware of what he has.

“It helps me appreciate what I have back home more,” he says. “As a man, I think I’m a little more grown-up than I was before.”

Terry will be with the National Guard until next year. He knows there is a chance he’ll be called up for active duty again. For now, though, he isn’t thinking about it. He’s too busy adjusting to his new role in the char house and playing toy trains with Bryson.