Five members of Cathy Hammack’s family are serving in Iraq. Her husband, two sons, brother-in-law and son-in-law all are serving with the 111th Engineer Brigade. They are Sgt. Maj. Keith Hammack, husband (second from right); Capt. Keith Hammack, Jr. , son (second from left); Spc. Casey Hammack, son (top); Sgt. Roy Hammack, brother-in-law(right), and Sgt. Casey Phalen, son-in-law (left).
FRG Coordinator Has Five Family Members Deployed
US Army News
BY Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
This West Virginia National Guard family readiness assistant ought to know a thing or two about her job: five members of Cathy Hammack’s family are serving in Iraq.
Her husband, two sons, brother-in-law and son-in-law all are serving with the 111th Engineer Brigade. That’s Sgt. Maj. Keith Hammack, husband; Capt. Keith Hammack, Jr., son; Spc. Casey Hammack, son; Sgt. Roy Hammack, brother-in-law, and Sgt. Casey Phalen, son-in-law.
“Working with family programs helps me,” Mrs. Hammack said. “It’s the only thing that keeps me sane. I have a good support network with my real family, my military family and my work family.”
She assists Family Readiness Group leaders across the state of West Virginia.
You could say military service is a Hammack family value, but Cathy Hammack also says the family has reaped rewards. “The three oldest are benefiting from that Guard [college] tuition,” she said.
She married into the National Guard when she was 17. “It’s always been a part of my life, my whole married life,” she said. “I’ve been married three-quarters of my life, so it’s always been there.”
The multiple deployments weren’t an accident. Some of the family volunteered when they heard others were going. “If I want to go, I want to go with dad,” Spc. Hammack told his mother. “I’m going to have to go eventually.”
The Hammacks use e-mail and Webcams to stay in touch. “The Webcam’s nice,” Cathy Hammack said. “You can see their faces, and you can see their rooms – and the five boxes of stuff that I sent them that are still unopened.”
Her daughter, Christina Phalen, isn’t deployed – but she hasn’t broken the family tradition. She’s a full-time staff sergeant in the Air National Guard.
Military service is a long-standing Hammack tradition. Sgt. Maj. Hammack’s father was in the Air Force and National Guard; Cathy Hammack’s father was in the Air Force.
“I’m really proud of all of them,” she said. “We’re just patriotic people. You’ve got to have a love of country in order to go through this many deployments. I couldn’t do this without the support of my military family and my regular family. I couldn’t do it without this great support network.”
Wild Thing’s comment……..
A big thank you to Cathy Hammack and her family.
They are blest to realize that our nation’s 231 years of freedom isn’t free!
Five Family Members Deployed
I am so proud of all of you Keep the faith. G_d Bless.
“The family that serves together, stays together”. This is a neat story. The Hammack family serves America with loyalty and dignity, while some families serve themselves politically.
God Bless ’em.
The only thing that bothers me is, (1) the USS ‘The Sullivans’ moored in Buffalo Harbor after it was de-commisioned. everybody knows that story.
But too, they are to be admired for their courage and dedication to their country, and like the Sullivans you take us all or none.
God Bless them.
Wow!!! Thank you WT and a most gracious thank you to the Hammack family.
I know about family in uniform. In the mid 80’s my Grandfather in Havre, MT had 5 grandsons on active service. They were myself and 4 cousins. 4 Navy and 1 Army. The Army guy was my little cousin Sam, he was a product of ROTC at Northern Arizona and left the Army as a Captain in the Armour.
Hand Salute to this family for the dedication to service to OUR Country. God Bless.
drstrangeloveb52isok, yes they are blessed. I will never tolerate anyone that does not understand what our freedom cost.
SSgt Steve, USMC,such a great story and wonderful family.
Tom your right, what a comparison between this family and those serving only themselves in politics for power and nothing more.
Mark, when I read this I was thinking of the Sullivan family.
Jack, I am glad you got to read this story.
I always think how Vets feel when they read stories like this, so much experience of what it is like and the sacrifices made. Thank you Jack.
GM Cassel AMH1(AW) USN RET, thank you so much for sharing, it means a lot. Thank you for serving our country GM.