Brother's Departure for Iraq Weighs On Church's FamilyBy Barry Svrluga
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 9, 2007; E01
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/08/AR2007030801955.htmlVIERA, Fla., March 8 -- Thursday afternoon was officially Armed Forces Appreciation day at Space Coast Stadium, and the Washington Nationals marked the occasion by wearing blue camouflage hats in their 12-5 victory over the Houston Astros. When it was over, Ryan Church arrived in the home clubhouse, took off that homage to the military, sat on a stool at his locker and thought about his little brother.
"It's tough," Church said. "It's tough not to get caught up in it and worry about that stuff. But you know what? The man upstairs has got a plan, and if something happens to him, he'll be taken care of."
Matthew Church is a member of the Army's Special Forces unit. On Sunday he will leave behind his baby boy -- just a few days shy of his first birthday -- and deploy to Tikrit, Iraq. He is not due to return until October, the entire expanse of the baseball season.
Ryan Church came here last month to prove that he deserved the job Nationals Manager Manny Acta bestowed upon him: starting left fielder. To this point, he has just two hits in 13 at-bats. He said Thursday, when he had the day off, that he is searching to find his timing. Acta, though, won't waver. Even with Chris Snelling, Alex Escobar and Kory Casto potential left fielders in waiting, Acta reiterated that his starting outfield will be Church in left, Nook Logan in center and Austin Kearns in right.
"They could go 0 for the rest of the games in spring training," Acta said. "Those are the guys who are going to start the year here."
In a way, that has put Church's mind at ease, though he wants to guard against any level of comfort. "Nothing against Manny," Church said. "But I can't afford to think of it that way."
Most springs, this would be the central story line for the Church family of Lompoc, Calif., because the second of Karen and Gary Church's three sons has been battling to get to -- and then stick in -- the majors since 2000, his first year out of the University of Nevada. Would Ryan make the team, as he did in 2005? Or would he be sent down, as he was in 2006?
This year, their thoughts are about to be transported from this planned community on the side of Interstate 95 to the town where Saddam Hussein was born, nearly 6,900 miles farther away. It is the moment Karen Church has dreaded since that day in the summer of 2003 when she and her husband were watching Ryan play Class AA ball in Akron, Ohio, and Matthew called to tell them the news: The paperwork was signed. He was enlisting in the Army.
"I cried," Karen Church said by phone Thursday.
In some ways, Matthew's choice was predictable. Karen and Ryan said the Church's youngest child grew up playing with toy guns, painting his face in camouflage and storming around the neighborhood at night, enlisting the other kids in war games. As he grew older, he became addicted to paintball. For a time, after high school, Karen thought Matthew might become a police officer.
Instead, he chose the Army.
"We don't have many military people in our family," Karen Church said. "This is all kind of new for us. But he knows what he wants. He's very bright. He's been trained by the best. That's what we keep telling ourselves, that he's been trained by the best."
That, Ryan Church said, offers even the smallest bit of comfort. But even in a short conversation, it is clear that the 28-year-old is prepared for the worst, because he knows it is not safe, "especially with what's going on daily over there," he said.
"A day doesn't go by when you're not thinking about it," Church said. "This is what he's been trained to do and this is what he wants to do. All I can do is just hope and pray and everything's going to be fine and he's back alive."
The Churches will be able to keep in touch with Matthew by phone and e-mail, and Matthew's wife, Courtney, and their son Matthew II will move from Colorado Springs, where Matthew has been training, to Lompoc. And Karen Church will suck in a deep breath, and perhaps not exhale until October.
"I'm not going to lie," Karen Church said. "I'm going to worry every day. But I'll pray, too. I'll do that every day."
As he sat Thursday morning in front of his locker discussing his place on the Nationals and in the majors, Ryan Church's locker stood in front of him. In it was a small coin given to him by his brother, the coin representing his unit, one often used to determine who buys drinks at a bar. The last member of the unit to pull the coin from his pocket, Church said, might be stuck buying a round.
When he gets to Washington, Ryan intends to bring the coin to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, to show it to some of the troops there, to lift some spirits.
With the coin, though, Matthew sent his older brother a letter. Ryan said Matthew wrote: "This might be the last thing you get from me."
"You never know," Ryan Church said. On Friday he will travel down I-95 to Fort Lauderdale for an exhibition game, a road trip. On Sunday his brother will leave for what, right now, is the only trip that matters to the Church family.
