Special to the News-Herald

Beverly Gray always knew

she wanted to be in the military.

In September of 2000, she followed her heart and joined the

National Guard. She had no idea, however, that one day she would make a big sacrifice.

While Gray, 27, a Suffolk resident, was employed at the Hampton Sheriff’s Department in September 2000, she enlisted in the National Guard and went through six months of Advance Individual Training (AIT) in Missouri. After that training, Gray

returned home to attend an insurance school and sold auto insurance at Al Vincents Insurance Company on Holiday Street.

Her training schedule included one weekend a month and two weeks a year with her active duty ranging from Dec. 2003-Dec. 2005. She is now a Specialist 4 in administration. To her surprise, in November 2003 while she was still enjoying a career in insurance, her unit was called to serve a tour of duty in northern Iraq.

That was the sacrifice she didn’t anticipate.

She said that since she had joined the National Guard she had no idea that she would be going to Iraq. Her orders required her to fly to Ft. Dix, N. J. where she trained extensively for two months. She recalled that sometimes snow was on the ground, and the temperature was zero.

&uot;We left the states on March 8, 2003, and when we arrived in Iraq, the temperature was 120 degrees, which was a surprise to me. Once we were there we had to train for two months with another unit and were also taught techniques on the operation of our mission,&uot; said Gray. &uot;I was a little afraid because I was in strange country and surrounded by a different culture. In all honesty, we were strangers to the Iraqis as much as they were strangers to us and we had to also learn their culture.&uot;

Gray arrived back in the states on Oct. 31 for what she said the Army calls Rest and Recreation (R&R) ,which she said was a very short time to get reacquainted with her two-year-old daughter Brittany and fiance Lamont Britt. However, this was a very much deserved break for

her, she said.

Today, as she moves forward in the National Guard, Gray said she doesn’t have any regrets for enlisting.

&uot;I feel like everything happens for a reason and the Lord knows everything,&uot; she said.

Gray is scheduled for honorable discharge from the service in 2008, but she could be discharged in 2006 with two years of reserve duty left.

&uot;I just know that by putting God first in my life in the end everything will be okay. I am really blessed because I have so many people back here supporting and praying for me. The worst part is leaving my daughter and missing the most important part of her growth because when I left in March she was hardly talking at all,&uot; said Gray.

&uot;But when I returned a couple of weeks ago, she called me mommy and was talking so well that it made me cry,&uot; she added. &uot;But I don’t worry when I am not with her because she is surrounded by love from grandparents on my and my friend’s side and my mother and father, Martha Gray-Hall and McCray Hall, take good care of her.&uot;

Gray wants to thank the numerous people who’ve supported her in the form of care packages and other displays.

These gestures, she said, are not overlooked by the troops. In fact, it’s what &uot;keeps hope alive&uot; for them, she said.

Meanwhile, one of Gray’s biggest hopes is to return home in March 2005 and exchange marriage vows with Britt.

Her request of her family, friends and anyone who knows her is simple:

&uot;I just want people to continue to pray for us because it is a blessing for soldiers to be able to come back and forth,&uot; said Gray.

&uot;My company has seen so many things while we have been stationed in Iraq and the biggest miracle that I have seen,&uot; she added, &uot;is the one that the Lord has performed in holding back the hand of death and keeping my company safe.&uot;

Gray is a 1996 graduate of Lakeland High school in Suffolk and is a member of St. John Pentecostal Church on Division Street. Her parents reside on Brook Avenue.