A Town Called to Duty, VT locals struggle to cover Guards' absence

[Rose Siding]

ENOSBURG FALLS, Vt. — For four years, Matt Tracy spent his days pumping gas and repairing car engines at Mark LaRose's Texaco on Main Street. At night, the 33-year-old father of two studied law. He fended off frequent entreaties from military recruiters and held fast to his dream of becoming a litigator.

Then in December, LaRose was called up for active duty, along with the entire National Guard unit in this remote, rural town of 1,473. The deployment of 88 men in Company B, 1st Battalion, 172nd Armor Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division — better known as Bravo Company — has touched just about everyone in the area.

For Tracy, it meant his plans to exchange his wrench for an attache case went on hold.

"Right now I am just going to be a well-educated mechanic," he said, his voice devoid of any emotion beyond simple resignation. "There is a point where you just have to accept it. What Mark has to do over there is much worse and much more of a sacrifice than whatever I have to give up here.".......

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-guardsmen2may02,0,3842861.story?coll=la-home-headlines