Tuesday, November 25, 2008 9:42 PM CST
COLUMN: Physician with local ties returns to war zone to support troops
By BILL LAIR, Managing Editor
blair@jg-tc.com
Cheryl and I have had a yellow ribbon around a tree in the front yard for several years now.
We put it out even before our son, Patrick, was deployed to Iraq. He’s been back in the States for six months but the yellow ribbon is still on the tree because we know several young men and women who are still deployed.
We think about them and hope that you, too, will keep them in mind this holiday season.
Some have served and continue to serve.
Two who fit that description are brothers Pat and Mike Lynch.
We have known Tom and Jan Lynch’s family for many years.
The Lynches and Lairs live on the same street in Charleston.
Not many people can say they live on the same street as Santa and Mrs. Claus, but we do.
Tom and Jan have portrayed the Christmas celebrity couple for several years. Ever since Tom grew a beard, kids are convinced that he really is Santa.
Features Writer Bonnie Clark will have a story on their experiences in the coming days.
But Jan and Tom aren’t the only members of the family who are busy this holiday season.
Their youngest son, Mike, a longtime member of the Army National Guard, is in Iraq — again — with Special Forces.
Mike originally enlisted with the infantry unit in Mattoon but is now based in the Northwest.
And the Lynches’ oldest son, Dr. Pat Lynch, is preparing to deploy to Afghanistan with his National Guard unit that is based in Springfield.
Pat will serve several months in Afghanistan as an emergency room physician.
This is nothing new for Lynch, who is a family practitioner in the Western Illinois community of Carthage.
He also served in Iraq in a similar capacity in 2005.
“I’m going over in support of the big unit from Illinois — the 33rd Infantry,” Lynch said.
More than 2,900 soldiers from approximately 30 units in Illinois, including Alpha Company in Mattoon, make up the 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team. The soldiers are training at Fort Bragg, N.C., prior to deploying to Afghanistan.
Lynch is no stranger to the military or to combat areas.
He first joined the National Guard in Mattoon while in high school. And after graduating from Charleston High School in 1987, he was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
After graduating West Point, he served six years active duty in the Army as an armor officer. He was deployed to Somalia as a tank commander in 1993 and 1994.
“My experience in Somalia is kind of what turned me on to medicine,” Lynch said.
Later, he returned to the National Guard, became an EMT, then went to medical school at the University of Illinois.
But now he will give up family practice for a few months and the possible trauma of a military emergency room in a combat zone.
“I know what it’s like to be on the other end of the spear,” he said of his coming deployment. “I don’t want to give the impression that I’m volunteering. I’m in the National Guard but I consider it an honor to go there. I would never whine about being there for 90 days when others are serving much longer.”
Lynch said physicians spend 90 days in country while other soldiers spend 6 to 10 months in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“It’s an inconvenience for me but it’s a big commitment for them,” he said.
Lynch drills with a medical unit based in Springfield. He recently completed some additional training at a base in San Antonio for his upcoming assignment.
In early December, he will go to an active duty post for more training and to get his equipment.
“They guarantee that I will be over there before Christmas, so Christmas will come early at our house,” he said.
That means being away from his wife and three sons, ages 8, 4 and 1.
“They were disappointed that I would be gone for Christmas until they found out we would be celebrating early,” he said of the older boys. “That sounded pretty good to them.”
While Pat heads for Afghanistan and brother Mike is in Iraq, the rest of the Lynch family also is scattered.
Tom is working as a Santa in another state where Jan hopes to soon join him. Son Scott is a geologist in the Gulf of Mexico and daughter Kathy is in medical school at SIU, completing a residency in Wyoming.
This Thanksgiving will be unusual for a number of families, such as the Lynches.
With the Mattoon-based 634th Alpha Company about to deploy, some families will get together in North Carolina and a few fortunate soldiers will return to East Central Illinois for this holiday.
Then, like Lynch, they will be going to Afghanistan.
That yellow ribbon will stay out front on our tree. And we will be praying that it won’t be long until we can retire that big yellow ribbon for good.
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