2008 Woodie Awards
Lessons learned in the midst of war
Mark Johnson
Issue date: 10/9/05 Section: News
For Tony Bartolotta, his first in the family accomplishment is something he would rather have avoided.
Bartolotta, the son of Bill and Elizabeth Bartolotta of Seneca and Chuck and Mary Jones of Orland Park, comes from a family from which no known member has ever fought in a war. His father served in the National Guard but had never seen combat.
That was a risk Bartolotta took when he joined the U.S. Army in October of 2003. Following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, America began its "war on terror," and combat was already under way in Afghanistan, with a conflict in Iraq seeming more and more likely with the passage of time.
Still, the risk of having to fight in a war was not enough to convice Bartolotta not to quit his job as a photo clerk at Walgreen's and sign himself up for a four-year stint in the military.
"I couldn't pay for more than two or three classes at a time at Joliet Junior College and I didn't want to take out loans," Bartolotta said. "Plus, I was taking classes without really even knowing what I'm going to do with my life. The army made sense because that would give me time to decide and then they'd pay for my classes on top of that."
On his preliminary test for getting into the military, Bartolotta scored extremely high.
He soon went to basic training in Georgia, knowing he would work in satellite communications, one of the most prestigious areas of work in the army.
Bartolotta came home from basic training in February of 2004 having already learned what he'd feared. After his leave, he would return to base in North Carolina, only to soon be transferred off overseas.
With the Iraq War fully underway by then, the risk was that Bartolotta would be sent there to the dangerous conditions. Bartolotta then found out he drew a more favorable card than that: he would be sent to the now more stable Afghanistan.
"It wasn't like I was dying to go to Afghanistan, but when you miss out on Iraq, you can't complain," he said.
Bartolotta, the son of Bill and Elizabeth Bartolotta of Seneca and Chuck and Mary Jones of Orland Park, comes from a family from which no known member has ever fought in a war. His father served in the National Guard but had never seen combat.
That was a risk Bartolotta took when he joined the U.S. Army in October of 2003. Following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, America began its "war on terror," and combat was already under way in Afghanistan, with a conflict in Iraq seeming more and more likely with the passage of time.
Still, the risk of having to fight in a war was not enough to convice Bartolotta not to quit his job as a photo clerk at Walgreen's and sign himself up for a four-year stint in the military.
"I couldn't pay for more than two or three classes at a time at Joliet Junior College and I didn't want to take out loans," Bartolotta said. "Plus, I was taking classes without really even knowing what I'm going to do with my life. The army made sense because that would give me time to decide and then they'd pay for my classes on top of that."
On his preliminary test for getting into the military, Bartolotta scored extremely high.
He soon went to basic training in Georgia, knowing he would work in satellite communications, one of the most prestigious areas of work in the army.
Bartolotta came home from basic training in February of 2004 having already learned what he'd feared. After his leave, he would return to base in North Carolina, only to soon be transferred off overseas.
With the Iraq War fully underway by then, the risk was that Bartolotta would be sent there to the dangerous conditions. Bartolotta then found out he drew a more favorable card than that: he would be sent to the now more stable Afghanistan.
"It wasn't like I was dying to go to Afghanistan, but when you miss out on Iraq, you can't complain," he said.
