NAWILIWILI — There was never much doubt in the family’s mind that Brian A. Milenkoff would go to war, even though he probably could have avoided combat duty given the fact that his mother recently passed away. The brother of
NAWILIWILI — There was never much doubt in the family’s mind that Brian A. Milenkoff would go to war, even though he probably could have avoided combat duty given the fact that his mother recently passed away.
The brother of Therese A. Jasper of Lihu’e has always been gung-ho, said Jasper, owner of the formal-wear shop Sophisticated You in Anchor Cove here and the 1989 Mrs. Hawai’i.
Somewhere in Iraq driving a truck in support of the most-forward U.S. Army and Marines ground troops, the private first class recently told his sister, “I’m doing what I believe in.”
“My brother wouldn’t have had it any other way,” Jasper said.
“With our mom passing away, he probably could have gotten out of serving,” said Jasper. Their mother passed away in late December, a victim of cancer. The funeral was Jan. 3, 2003. On Jan. 4, he left their home of Hobart, Ind., for desert training in Texas.
There, after receiving shots to prevent smallpox and anthrax, he prepared his will with Army assistance, and had his legal rights before entering a combat zone explained to him, Jasper said.
Shortly after the training, it was off to Fort Campbell, Ky., then across the Atlantic, and eventually to Iraq.
Somewhere in Iraq, Milenkoff spends 12-hour days driving a five-ton truck with a trailer, hauling fuel, water and food in support of the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army.
Regular readers will recognize that as the division that includes Lt. Courtney Blake Sugai, daughter of Hartwell Blake of Koloa.
“I’m really proud of him serving over there,” said Jasper. While he tells her and other family members in letters and e-mails not to worry, of course she does. But she’s not terribly concerned, convinced that their late mother is watching over him.
“It’s dry and hot, and it’s very emotional to see all that’s going on around me,” he told his sister in one of his correspondences.
What’s seen on TV is only a small slice of life in battle, he added. He recently e-mailed the family from the driver’s seat of his truck, from a terminal that can’t accept inbound e-mails for security reasons.
The 42-year-old grandfather is a union pipe-fitter in Jasper’s hometown when not freedom-fighting, and served in the U.S. Air Force before joining the U.S. Army Reserve.
After the terrorist events of Sept. 11, 2001, he signed up again for the U.S. Army Reserve, telling his sister his feelings: “If this country’s not worth fighting for, get out of the country.”
Both Jasper and Milenkoff support President George Bush, and don’t care for people talking bad about Bush or bad about the war, she said.
“Nobody wants war,” and the country should feel fortunate that it hasn’t incurred too many casualties in the current campaign, she feels.
Their father, Ted Milenkoff, is a Korean War veteran, so it is no shocker that the eldest of four Milenkoff children would also feel a duty to serve, said Jasper, 38.
Brian A. Milenkoff lived on Kaua’i for awhile, working at Kmart for a few months.
He tells his sister he misses Kaua’i, and longs for a day in the near future when he can return here, drink some Kaua’i Coffee and eat some of that company’s chocolate-covered coffee beans, and hang out with the Jasper family.
They may all take an interisland cruise aboard Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Star or Norwegian Wind, she said.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
