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Public Comments - Media

Evans puts civilian life - and marriage - on hold
Polk County Itemizer-Observer
February 24, 2005

Craig Coleman
February 24, 2005

MONMOUTH -- Newlyweds Paul Evans and Joan Mooney are eager to start their honeymoon, a romantic nine-day getaway to Italy.

Evans said he wants to show his wife the Vatican, walk the back streets of Verona and visit a few of the quaint villages that dot the Tuscan countryside.

"It's been sort of dream of mine," Evans said.

The couple was married, appropriately enough, on Valentine's Day last week. The honeymoon, however, will have to wait until the summer.

Evans, an Air Force major, is scheduled this week to return to Iraq, where he'll spend the next three to four months as a mission crew commander for the 728th Air Control Squadron.

The former Monmouth mayor has jumped from state to state during the last few years, because of his job as a supervisor for the Joint Air Defense Operations Center in Washington, D.C.

He said he was trying to get his "civilian life back in order" when his commanding officers approached him to return last summer -- before he met Joan -- due to a shortage of experienced officers.

Unlike a 91-day stint in Iraq in 2003, Evans said he had mixed feelings about opting for this current tour.

"The first time, I wanted to make sure that I did my part," he said. "I willed myself to be over there.

This time "I didn't want to go, but I told them if they needed me to, I'd go," he continued. "A commander isn't going to ask if they don't need you."

"If you accept a commission, you're honor-bound to play a role if called upon," he said.

The couple's respective jobs -- Mooney works as a chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Darlene Hooley (D-Oregon) in Alexandria, Va. -- require them to be apart often, sometimes weeks at a time. Still, Evans said the tour would be a challenge for the both of them.

"She's concerned," he said, and added, "She hopes as time continues on, my feelings about service will be tempered with my responsibilities back home."

Evans's expertise is air battle management. His squad monitors and directs U.S. war planes flying over Iraq. His duties vary, from coordinating the refueling of military units to ordering air support for ground troops.

"It's basically making sure nobody goes where we don't want them to go," Evans said. "It's like playing 3-dimensional chess, blindfolded."

Evans said the details and exact location of this tour are classified. In 2003 in Iraq,he and his squadron trundled 480 miles from Kuwait to Baghdad, where they set up an air control center in what was then Saddam International Airport.

The operation was conducted from what is now a relatively secure location. Back then, it wasn't without its dangers, Evans said.

"It wasn't uncommon to see tracer fire, we were mortared on some nights," he said. "It's not knocking on doors and charging into buildings, but it's not sitting on a beach, either."

One of Evans's soldiers was killed by a roadside bomb during the convoy to Baghdad. Two others were hospitalized and flown home with injuries.

"I get e-mails from guys that say they're busy there, that things are different than the first time around," he said. "I don't know what to expect."

Evans said he expects the physical and political landscape of Iraq to be somewhat different than when he was there in May of 2003.

The nation held its first democratic election last month. And the military has made progress in rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure, Evans said.

At the same time, insurgent attacks and suicide bombings have been a constant since the war officially ended almost two years ago.

"I don't know exactly what to expect," he said. "I get e-mails from friends in the military over there who say they're busy."

While he's focused on the task at hand, Evans said he had plans for his return, such as job hunting. He said he hoped to find work in education or advocacy issues, or even service in the legislature.

"I'd love to work with (Sen. Ron) Wyden on homeland security," he said.

He'd also like he and his wife to eventually settle in Oregon on a full time basis.

He said this visit to Iraq would be the last for a while.

"I promised my wife I wouldn't take any more of those phone calls," he said with a laugh. "I'm looking forward to some civilian opportunities in Oregon or D.C."