Photos by At Schaben
Clockwise from far left:
Villwok and his twin brother, Jim, say goodbye at 1012th headquarters
in Fremont.
Villwok spends a quiet moment holding his rosary while packing gear
for Saudi Arabia.
A soldier shaves Villwok’s head in preparation for another climate.
Villwok takes a final look back before boarding a 747 bound for Saudi
Arabia.
During a combat exercise at Fort Riley, Villwok rushes between
buildings.
,
Reserves
Continued from Page 7
lime passes slowly.
“About ihe only thing we usually
do for entertainment is listen to our
Walkman, write letters,” Villwok
says. “We get excited if there’s a
short line for chow.”
Villwok and other soldiers in the
barracks discuss the food. Roast
beef, hamburgers, soups and salads,
rice and potatoes. Not bad, but it’s
the same stuff, over and over. Pretty
soon, he says, his diet may consist
of dehydrated T-rations. That’s
what frontline soldiers are getting in
Saudi Arabia.
“It makes dorm food look like
you’re eating a nice candlelight
dinner,” he says.
*
Villwok and Tichota first
became friends in seventh grade.
“We were both smaller kids,”
Villwok said, so they banded
together from the start.
Along with another friend — a
Marine Corps lance corporal cur
rently stationed a su ne’s throw
from the Saudi Arabia-Kuwait
border — they did the usual things
that teen-age friends do: baseball
games, the cross country team,
double dates, fishing trips to
Minnesota, jobs at Godfather’s
Pizza.
“All the good stuff,” Villwok
said.
At UNL, they continued doing
things together. Both are sophomore
criminal justice majors. They had
many of the same classes. They
worked together for the Office of
| Campus Recreation and they played
intramural football. Villwok was
president of their dorm floor.
But until this year, the two best
friends never had roomed together.
“I guess being roommates was
bad luck,” Villwok said. “They say
it doesn’t work.”
*
Villwok and Tichola don’t see
each other much anymore. They’re
in different platoons, separate
barracks. They don’t talk much
about school, cither — except to
plan when they will return.
“It looks like summer school un
less something bigger happens,” Ti
chota says. “Unless there’s war,
they can’t keep us long.”
Reserves can be activated for
“90 days or release by proper
authority,” Tichota quotes from
Army policy. The K)l2ih has
completed one-third of those 90
days. But its tour of duly can be
extended w ith one day’s warning.
Villwok says he was relieved
when his unit finally was called up.
Alter all, Reserves had been put on
alert since the beginning of the
semester, w hen the president
authori/ed upgrading some units to
active duty, it the unit had been
passed over, Villwok sa>s. he
would have had a lot ol catching up
to do for his classes.
“It was probably my hardest se
mester I’ve been through and it was
only six weeks long,” he says.
“School may seem tough at the
time and then you gel put in a dif
ferent situation. Getting up at 9 to
study is not as tough as (getting up)
at 5,” Tichota says.
*
Before graduating from Fre
mont’s Archbishop Bergan High
School, Villwok says, he and
Tichota faced many of the same
choices that other seniors deal w ith:
getting a job, going to college or
joining the Army.
His mother wanted him to go to
college; his father wanted him to
join the Army for a lew years. So
he took his parents’ advice and did
both. He visited an Army recruiter
during the spring of 1988, while
still a senior. A few days later he
was a reservist. Tichota, 17 at ihe
lime, had 10 he talked into it, but
eventually followed his friend's
lead
A couple months laler, Villwok
was al f ort I)i\, N.J., for Ixxil
camp. Alter a few more months ol
training at Fort l.ee, Va., he came
to UNL. for his freshman year of
college.
Since then, he has earned more
than $10,000 lor college because of
his commitment to the Army.
In return, he owes six years ol
military service.
That meant training one week
end a month and two weeks every
summer. It meant that up to Oct. 9.
Thai’s the day Tichota’s squad
leader called. He told them the unit
had been activated.
Villwok and Tichota had waited
hall a semester lor the new s. It’s no
wonder they remember exactly
; what they were doing.
It was midaficmoon; Tichota and
Villwok had just returned to their
room on the l()th floor of Schramm
Hall. Villwok had a premonition.
“When I got back from class, I
pul my dog tags on .. . ," Villwok
says. “About 20 minutes later we
got the call.”
Shortly alter the call, Tichota's
girlfriend called him during the day.
the lirst time she had done so all
year. Somehow, she knew . Tichota
says.
Villwok says he knew the night
before. He stayed up until ? a m.
writing a paper for his English com
position class. He poured out his
thoughts:
Ihc though', of going over to
Saudi Arabia doesn't bother me; /
am trained for war and feel that /
am i apable of handling the situ
ation. . . . I have been waiting every
day for the call to come and / would
be shipped off. Over 40 days so far
but only friends and wrong numbers
have been on the line. . . .If the call
comes the waiting will be over. The
school work keeps piling up and
every effort that / have been giving
to hit the books leads me to think,
"for what?" With all of these
questions / haven’t been able to
study. . . . All that I can pray for is
that something happens quick . . .
be it pulling on the green uniform
or playing catch-up in this crazy
semester that I am trying to en
dure."
“I didn’t want to write it,”
Villwok says, “because I knew it
would be for nothing.
When the call came, Tichota was
in a neighbor's room looking over
some homework before getting
ready to go to work at the Office of
Campus Recreation.
Instead of going to work that
night, he and Villwok both staff
assistants for intramural sports
returned their equipment and said
goodbye to their co-workers.
“They couldn’t believe it," Vill
wok says. “They thought we were
kidding.”
Then he and Tichota started gel
ling ready for a different job. They
were in Lincoln for only a few more
hours that night, taking care of es
sential business; their parents took
furniture home to Fremont later.
At midnight Oct. 11, they were
at headquarters of the 1012th in
Fremont, active soldiers in the U.S.
Army.
See RESERVES on 10
“44 -
When I got back from class, I put my dog tags on.... About 20 minutes
later we got the call.
Villwok
-99 “
