Peter and Jaime Woreck and their children, Trent, JoLea and Jalyn, are enjoying time together while Peter is home on leave from Afghanistan. He will serve as the guest speaker at Veterans Day ceremonies in Randolph and Cambria on Wednesday before returning to Afghanistan on Nov. 15.
RANDOLPH — A man returning home on leave from duty in Afghanistan on Oct. 29 was a surprise for his children.
Peter and Jaime Woreck kept the news of his visit from their three children — son Trent and daughters JoLea and Jalyn — so they would not get their hopes up if the trip was cancelled. Woreck did not arrive home until late that night.
“They were asleep when I got home,” Woreck said. “I think they thought they were dreaming.”
The family enjoyed a reunion the next morning, and Woreck said he has been very busy since then visiting with friends and family while trying to spend as much time as possible with his own family. He said his wife has been very organized while he has been overseas, with a schedule set up for the family.
“I feel a little bit out-of-place,” Woreck said. “Sometimes I mess up the routine.”
Woreck has been following a routine of his own while serving in Afghanistan at Kandahar Airfield. A first lieutenant, he serves as the platoon leader of 50 soldiers, with 34 on duty with him in Afghanistan. He said that serving in Afghanistan is “kind of like the movie ‘Groundhog Day.’” He gets up for physical training and breakfast, and goes to work from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
His unit, the 826th Ordnance Company, arrived in Afghanistan on Feb. 15, and he said they “hit the ground running when they arrived.”
“You are trained so you know what to do,” Woreck said.
He said that it was just a matter of getting his bearings and getting used to the poor air quality, with a lot of dust and dirt in the air.
“They call it KAF crud ... it causes lot of head colds and sinus problems,” Woreck said. “That was a tough adjustment.”
Woreck said the heat in Afghanistan is not too bad because the humidity is low, except when temperatures reach 120 degrees.
Woreck said the food is less than desirable because they do not get real milk and that other than the watermelon and cucumbers in the area, they get very little fresh fruit or vegetables. He said he can’t complain, though, because troops serving on the front lines are eating MREs out of bags.
“It’s edible,” he said.
He lives in modular housing, basically a shed with seven rooms and a latrine. There were four-to-a-room when he arrived, but because of troop increases, he expects it to be up to eight-to-a-room when he returns. There is Internet access.
“We’ve got it pretty good,” Woreck said.
His platoon operates a supply point and ships, receives, retrogrades and issues ammunition. He calls his role the “principal” of the platoon.
“We deal in millions of dollars in ammunition every month,” Woreck said. “Anything you can think of, we’ve got it.”
Woreck will return to Afghanistan on Nov. 15 to complete his tour of duty. He is scheduled to come home in January. He has worked at Beaver Dam High School for 12 years and hopes to return to work as a social studies teacher for the second semester.
While in Afghanistan, Woreck hopes to help distribute school supplies donated through “Operation Randolph Cares,” a supply drive he spearheaded to benefit children in Afghanistan. He wants to visit some NATO-built schools so he can see the children’s reactions to receiving backpacks full of supplies.
Woreck has been serving in the military for 10 years.
“I’m just glad I could do it,” Woreck said of his service. “It’s an honor for me to do what I do and to serve my country.”