Carson City man drives the longest road in Iraq

Carson City native Jacob Roberts celebrates his 23rd birthday today in Iraq.

Calling from a U.S. Marine base in Iraq, Roberts said he joined the Army National Guard to get some money for college. Only a few months ago he was loading trucks at Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, where he worked as a team leader.

His supervisor said he was the "character" of her group. He was the one who danced around during the morning meeting, but then took charge on the department floor.

Now Roberts, who posed stoically for all of his military photos, is behind an automatic weapon on top of an all-terrain vehicle looking out upon sand, sand and more sand. And it's cold in the desert. You wouldn't think so, but it is.

"Right now I'm on this transportation convoy," he said. "I'm a gunner on a Humvee."

Roberts can't say where he's at, because it's not a good idea over the phone, but at the end of his run the convoy will be near the Iranian border.

Those two words, transportation convoy, don't evoke the picture of safety. His mother, Becky Howard, of Carson City, said that's the worst part. When people ask where her son is, she has to tell them and the reaction is usually one of shock, or sympathy.

Roberts also has a twin brother, Jared, who is expecting a child today. All of Roberts' family lives in Carson City.

Ginger Irwin, administrative manager of Lowe's, a friend and supervisor, laughed loud and long at the memory of Roberts doing the "sprinkler dance," which involves imitating a sprinkler head with your right arm sticking straight out.

"He's an asset to Lowe's," she said. "A wonderful person to be friends with, real strong headed and a real go-getter and a real fighter."

He did his first training in Fort Benning in Georgia, left the guard and then re-enlisted. Roberts went to Las Vegas in August 2004 and thought he would be coming home for good.

Instead he was sent to Fort Lewis in Washington and now is stationed at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait.

His mother spelled "Arifjan" like it was the street she had once lived on. Lots of care packages go back and forth between Carson City and there.

She said Kuwait is pro-American, so she doesn't worry when he's there.

Roberts went out of the country in November 2004, so he's only supposed to be gone a year. He's with the 1864th Transportation Co. out of Las Vegas, but his original unit is based in Reno.

And people are supportive, in strange ways. Howard often sports her son's guard T-shirt. While waiting in line at In-N-Out Burger a stranger asked her about the shirt, then said: "He's going to be fine."

"Now I don't know how he knew that," she said. "But, personally, I'd like to see him come home."

Usually it's men who tell her that this war will mature her son.

Women just lament along with her and repeat these words: "Oh, your son."

Roberts loved the city of Balad in Iraq, his mother said, because of all the children he got to see there. He also loves the rapper Eminem, snowboarding and soccer.

Howard goes to sleep with her cell phone and house phone. She told him to call no matter what the time, whenever he gets a chance, even just to say "I'm OK." Usually Howard gets a call every other day.

She yearns for his calls and the answer to the question: "How was the drive?"

Roberts has always said: uneventful. He may not say it, but she hears the stress in his voice. There are huge holes in the road his convoy takes. She has asked him why they don't take another route, but he said "the other one is too dangerous."

She's learned a few things about how it all works. AT&T got the government contract to set up the phone lines in Iraq, so only the company's phone cards will work. And the farther Roberts gets into Iraq the fewer minutes he has on his card.

Howard said she doesn't really want him to be there, and the stories of the IEDs (improvised explosive devices) scare her. She said Iraq will probably be better off in the end, but right now her son is there and she just has to wait.

Until then she'll wear a metal bracelet, inscribed with: "Honoring an American hero serving in the Army National Guard."

Contact reporter Becky Bosshart at bbosshart@ nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.