Colonel Valentine Goes to Iraq

With a name like Valentine, you'd better be planning something extra special for the big red-letter day. Especially if you're deploying to Iraq before the next one rolls around.

For Lieutenant Colonel Herman P. Valentine, 43, of Canton, Ohio, that means dinner at a bed-and-breakfast in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, two dozen roses, and a gift certificate for a massage and facial for his wife Jennifer, the love of his life and mother of their two children, ages 6 and 2.

Valentine, who runs the Operational Support Airlift Agency and flies C-12U Cargo Airplanes from Davison Army Airfield in Fort Belvoir, Va., will head to Iraq in early 2008. The U.S. Army-trained pilot has been away from his family before--flying OH-58A reconnaissance helicopters and AH-1S helicopters in the Ohio Army National Guard; performing in air shows around the country; commanding the nation’s Drug-Eradication Task Force for President George H.W. Bush; and since 1997, on active duty with the National Guard Bureau in Washington, DC, which sent him to Kosovo in 2003.

But Herman and his wife know Iraq will be different. And that calls for a different kind of Valentine's Day celebration. Not that last year's wasn't memorable.

"I had it all planned out...dinner, dancing, drinks, gifts," Herman recalls. Two dozen roses delivered to his wife's second-grade classroom. Hours on the phone in search of a babysitter. Reservations at the finest restaurant in town.

"After work we rushed to get dressed, left the kids with a school-teacher friend of Jennifer's, got to the restaurant, enjoyed a wonderful dinner, had one glass of cabernet--and Jennifer fell asleep in her chair!" says Herman,"I wouldn't have noticed, but a waiter startled me as I was dozing off. With two young kids, both of us working full time, and no breaks since our first child was born, we were chronically exhausted--we just didn't know it! Needless to say, we were home and in bed by 8 p.m."

With Iraq on the horizon, the Valentines are savoring every minute. These days they prefer family nights at places like Carrabba's Italian Grill in Woodbridge, Va., and Murphy's Grand Irish Pub in Old Town Alexandria, Va., where owners are always on site to chat with the locals. Herman's family has been in the Italian restaurant business since 1949, so the experience is a slice of home, and perhaps a respite from his high-flying days.

In addition to serving in the National Guard, Valentine is co-owner of Redhorse Aviation, Inc., a team of U.S. Army-trained helicopter pilots that provides local, state and federal law-enforcement agencies with search and rescue, aerial surveillance, and photography support. Their counter-narcotics missions are credited with eradicating more than $50 million in marijuana and 128 arrests in Ohio alone.

No wonder Gunnery Sergeant R. Lee Ermey called in Redhorse Aviation for the History Channel hit TV show not long ago. Ermey --the Marine Corps drill instructor best known for his role in Full Metal Jacket--wanted someone he could trust to carry him into a jungle walk simulation of Vietnam.

Here's hoping this Valentine is delivered back to his family safe and sound, after his most dangerous mission yet.

Lisa Gensheimer, Travel Correspondent:

The Culinary Tourist  appears every other Thursday and by chance in Gather Essentials: Travel. Explore all 50 states with award-winning documentary producer Lisa Gensheimer as she discovers the fun, food and people she meets along the way. Whether you’re visiting the home of a faraway friend, stopping for directions at a roadside market, or on holiday in an exotic location, richly layered experiences await. A published author, Lisa has several new projects in the works, including a cultural cookbook and companion travel DVD. Read more about Lisa’s work at MainStreetMedia.tv and TheForestPress.com.

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