Lansford native talks about tours in Iraq, friends made and friends lost

Veterans Day has deep roots for Sgt. Christine (Williams) LeClair.

Her father served in Korea.

Her grandfather was a Bronze Star recipient in World War II.

Her great-grandfather was a doughboy in World World I.

So it only seemed a natural fit when the Lansford native decided to follow in her family’s footsteps and join the U.S. Army on her 21st birthday.

“For as long as I could remember, I have always had an interest in the military, and I decided to join the Army for four years with the hope of growing up a little and figuring out what I wanted to do with my life,” LeClair said. “I grew up with a great respect for the military and was excited to embark on that journey.”

The 1998 Marian High School graduate enlisted in January 2001, just months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

She completed basic training and advanced individual training with distinction before being stationed at the Joint Readiness Training Center to learn what she needed to learn for her military duties.

Her next duty station took her to Germany before deploying with the 1st Infantry Division, 4th Aviation Brigade, to Camp Speicher in Iraq in 2004.

“During my first tour, I did everything from being a door-gunner, to providing security on convoys, to maintaining flight records. We drove in convoys from Kuwait to Iraq and the trip was an eye-opening experience,” she said, adding that during that tour, she lived first in a tent and then a containerized housing unit with three other women, all of whom became like sisters.

“The early months and years of duty in Iraq left much to be desired, but our families showered us with the most amazing care packages and we managed to make the most out of our time together,” LeClair said.

“It was during that deployment that my best friend and I reenlisted in a helicopter over Tikrit to complete an additional three years of service. As part of my reenlistment, I asked to complete a tour in Central America and was sent to Honduras shortly after my return from Iraq.”

LeClair’s family wasn’t happy that Christine was going from one war-torn country to another, but she said the mission was appealing and afforded her with an opportunity to continue to see the world.

During that deployment to Central America, LeClair worked on counter-narcotics missions, traveling to Belize, Guatemala and El Salvador to work with their militaries in the hopes of stopping drug cartels that were trying to transport drugs into the United States.

“Our missions had us working around the clock, but we managed to take full advantage of our down time and traveled as much as possible,” she said.

After 15 months in Honduras, LeClair joined the 1st Infantry Division again and was transferred to Fort Riley, Kansas, where the unit began preparations for another deployment to Iraq.

They were sent back to Contingency Operating Base Speicher, where things had changed drastically over the last two years.

LeClair recalls tents and the containerized housing units were no longer an option for living quarters, rather there were wooden buildings that provided better housing accommodations.

She worked 14-hour days with only one day off over the next 15 months.

When LeClair returned to American soil at the end of her second term of service, she decided civilian life was calling.

She returned to the Panther Valley area, where she grew up the youngest of three children to Arthur and Mary Williams.

She soon welcomed two children — a son and daughter — and settled into her new role as a mother.

“I was a very busy new mom,” LeClair said.

But as her children grew, the tug of the Army crept back into her life.

“I toyed with the idea of joining the reserves, but the possibility of another deployment would always be there and the thought of leaving my children for that long was unimaginable,” she said. “Jack (7) and Reagan (6) are my entire world and I don’t think I would be as mission-oriented, having them on my mind.”

LeClair still keeps in touch with the friends she made in the military, which helps keep the desire to reenlist at bay.

“We send texts or emails to each other to check in and see what’s new,” she said. “Most of these exchanges are pleasant, but they aren’t always that way. We talk about friends who were lost, some to war and some to the war they brought home with them. Other times I’ll be included in a group text from someone who is boarding a plane to go on their sixth deployment or a quick note from an old pal who finally had their back pain deemed as service-related, but not soon enough to save him from the opiate addiction.

“I am blessed to have returned from my time in the military with my limbs and mind intact and for that I will be forever grateful. Because of that gratefulness, I decided to start volunteering and giving back to my community to show my appreciation for the life I know now.”

Since then, LeClair has been using her Post-9/11 GI Bill to obtain a master’s degree in public administration and become very active in various organizations around the area.

She currently serves as the vice commander and a service officer for American Legion Post 123 in Lansford; a trustee in the Legion Home Association; a Carbon County Outreach representative for the Valor Clinic Foundation; the secretary for both the St. Vincent de Paul Society and Parish Pastoral Council of St. Joseph Church; a veteran mentor for Carbon County Veterans Court; is on the board of directors for the Panther Valley Public Library; and is a VFW and American Legion Auxiliary member.