Fort Frances woman to serve in Iraq

The people of Iraq may be on the brink of reclaiming power in their country, but the role of the United States military is not yet over.
In just a few months, Fort Frances native Rebecca Beck (nee McEvoy) and her American husband, Sean, will be leaving to do their part in the war, likely in Iraq but possibly Afghanistan.
“To me, it seems that Iraq is where the action is and that’s why I joined the army, because I want to be a part of it—part of being able to help a country, part of a team effort,” said Beck.
Beck joined the U.S. Army in January, 2000. She had been gearing up to go to college in Manitoba to study Early Childhood Education when her step-mother, who knew a few military recruiters, asked Beck if she wanted to talk to them to see if she was interested.
She joined, and served in Korea for one year, where she met her husband. They got married and she became pregnant, so she had to leave active duty and is now in the reserves.
But she has been ready to get back to work, so she let her superiors and other officers know she would like to go to Iraq should the opportunity arise.
“Since I joined the military, this is all I wanted to do,” she remarked. “Serving in a war is my dream.”
Even in light of the recent controversy over prisoner abuse in Iraq, Beck believes in doing her duty.
“I’m not going to say if it [the war] is right or wrong, but it’s part of my duty of being a United States soldier,” she stressed. “I wasn’t too pleased with how the people in the prisons who were in charge were abiding by the army values.
“In my opinion, they knew better. I don’t know, maybe they were angry or taking their aggressions out on the inmates.
“I can’t see anyone higher up giving those kind of orders,” she added.
Her husband currently is away training for two weeks, but neither of them know when they will be heading overseas.
Beck will be serving in a chemical company, which she spent two months in training to prepare for. Both she and her husband likely will be overseas for one year, in addition to a few months of training, leaving their two young children in the care of a family member.
Beck’s 10-year-old step-daughter, Jaymee, is old enough to know what is going on—and is worried about it. She attends a military school, so the teachers there try to prepare kids for this.
But sometimes her grades will slip when her dad is away.
“She doesn’t want both of us to go, of course,” said Beck. “She gets kind of stressed out when her dad leaves and asks ‘When is dad coming home?’ and ‘Why do you both have to leave?’”
Their son, Daniel, is only two-and-a-half years old and isn’t really aware of the situation. But Beck—who said she misses Daniel within an hour of being away from him—is very nervous to leave him.
“I’m very scared, especially now. Sometimes the thought crosses my mind, ‘What if we don’t come back?’” admitted Beck, leaving the question looming and unanswered.
But she believes what she is doing is important, and believes that “if this kind of war isn’t stopped, it could spread to Canada and to the whole world and turn into a much bigger thing.”
She still is unsure of when she is leaving, but hopes that when she comes back, she leaves behind a different Iraq than the one she arrived in.
“I’m hoping that they [Iraqis] can take control of their own country and can lead a civil, normal life,” said Beck. “I hope they can find a good leader and actually live in peace where they don’t have to be scared to walk out of their homes.
“That is my hope.”