| Sources |
- [S84] E-Mail, Sharon Lee Huffman [nannypaw@comcast.net], 22 Sep 2007.
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 11 Nov 2011.
Still in love with the service: Mitch Reagan has been soldier much of adult life
by GAIL CRUTCHFIELD
Mitch Reagan has spent 27 years serving his country in the Army and National Guard. Mitch Reagan in Iraq in 2010. Mitch Reagan, left, in Iraq in 2005.
Despite serving 27 years in the Army and National Guard and two tours in Iraq, Mitch Reagan finds it hard to label himself as a veteran.
“I’ve never really felt like a veteran, I don’t know why,” said the 47-year-old Sevier County native and current member of the 2/278th H-Troop out of Rockwood. “I like to go to those veterans ceremonies and those dinners at Golden Corral and sit with those guys, the real heroes of World War II and Korea and Vietnam. It just amazes me, because I’ve studied what they’ve done and all the hardships they’ve endured and how, you know, they didn’t deploy for a year and go home.
“They left for four and five years and were either in the heat of Africa or the rains of the Pacific or the cold of the European Theater,” he said. “Just imagine every able-bodied male in town to be gone for four years. Or to go fight a war in the jungles and to come home and the people be spitting on you.”
Reagan said he was touched when he returned home from his first tour of duty overseas.
“That first time we came home from Iraq, we landed in Bangor, Maryland, the first time we were on American soil.There was hundreds of Vietnam veterans there to welcome us home,” he said. “Makes you want to cry, and they said we wanted to make sure you got a homecoming. And immediately, I’m like, thank you for what you’ve done.
He said he feels soldiers today have more advantages than the soldiers of generations before.
“We’ve got the best soldiers and the best equipment in the world, and we live in air-conditioned buildings at times,” he said. “I mean, we get the latest and greatest electronic equipment and all that, and these guys didn’t get that. They just gave them a rifle and a field jacket and said go be in the Battle of the Bulge.”
Reagan, a native of Gatlinburg, is the son of Larry and Peggy Reagan, who just celebrated their 50th anniversary. He and his wife Rhonda have four children — two each from previous marriages.
A career in the military wasn’t something Reagan thought was available to him when he was growing up. He had medical issues that were attributed to asthma, but once a doctor identified the problem as allergies and treated him accordingly, that world opened up to him.
“I always wanted to go in the military but I had some health problems I had to get over,” he said. “I was asthmatic. I’d been to various doctors all over Gatlinburg, and I finally went to see old Doc St. John. And he said, your problem is really not asthma but your allergies, and he gave me an allergy shot and I was cured. So then I was like, hey, I can finally do this.”
He went to a recruiter and joined the Army, taking a three-year enlistment at first. He stayed in and spent four years in Fort Carson, Colo., and a year in Korea before being stationed at Fort Polk, La.
“By then I had about 8½ years in and I was married and had two small kids,” he said.
More orders for Korea came down for another unaccompanied tour, meaning his family wouldn’t be able to go with him. But he didn’t feel right leaving his wife alone again with two children under 2 years old and decided not to re-enlist and take the assignment.
He did, however, miss the opportunity to serve in Operation Desert Storm by not re-enlisting.
“You want to go and you don’t want to go,” he said. “But I trained all those years for combat and then there was a war going on and I was stuck in Louisiana.”
As part of his out-processing for leaving the Army, Reagan talked with a National Guard recruiter who informed him that there was an Army cavalry regiment located in Newport, just 30 miles from his home. With two years of inactive duty left on his contract with the Army, Reagan would be able to complete that time with the Guard. So he signed up and came back home to Sevier County.
“I really enjoyed it because I had both of my passions,” he said. “One weekend a month I could go shoot my tanks and the rest of the time I could spend time with the kids.”
He was finally able to put all his training into practice when the 278th was called to serve in the next Gulf War, where 1st Sgt. Reagan was a platoon leader. They spent 13 months in Iraq that first time. Their duties included providing security for the first free election in Iraq, and they were also involved in several skirmishes.
“I remember the first time we were actually involved (in a battle),” he said. “I’d trained 20 years for this and we got hit with a complex attack with IED and small-arms fire. All I could remember thinking to myself was, I wasn’t scared. I was like, hey, this is just like my training.”
Their second trip wasn’t as active as the first, providing security for transport trucks delivering and removing supplies from the area.
Since returning home in 2010, he’s started participating in a new program called Operation Warrior Training, working with soldiers set to go to Iraq. He’s spent one year in Mississippi training troops from all over the United States. He’ll return for another year in a matter of weeks. Luckily, the program allows him frequent trips home and holiday leaves.
While he’s spent almost 30 years serving his country, Reagan thinks it’s the families of soldiers like him who give up the most.
“I think the families actually sacrifice more than the soldier does,” he said. “I’m thoroughly trained to endure hardship and I can react to anything and I’m equipped.”
But families, he said, have to learn to do everything on their own — raise kids, make sure they graduate high school, apply to college, mow the yard, get the bills paid, etc.
“It’s hard to be overseas alone, but I can’t imagine what it’s like (for them),” he said. “I can’t stand spending a night alone when (my wife’s) at work. I can’t imagine being a part that long.”
Reagan said he has about 2½ years more on his contract with the National Guard. He said he’d probably sign up again if he’s physically able.
“I can still run with those young guys,” he said.
- [S126] The Official Marriage Records of Sevier County Tennessee 1945-1971, Volume III, Smoky Mountain Historical Society, (Copyright 2008), ISBN 1-890150-00-5.
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
REAGAN, LARRY GEORGE WARD, MARY NELL 1961-03-26
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
REAGAN, LARRY MITCHELL TAYLOR, CYNTHIA DENISE 1984-11-24
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
REAGAN, LARRY MITCHELL FRAZIER, RHONDA YVONNE 2000-03-11
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