Newport-Mesa families await word from the fronts

Deepa Bharath

Today is Cass and Carrie Spence’s second wedding anniversary.

Carrie Spence will spend the day in Costa Mesa with their two

children, 2-year-old Connor and 3-month-old McKayla.

Cass Spence will probably be in camouflage, awaiting orders, as

the desert blows hot and cold on him and hundreds of thousands of

other troops.

The U.S. Marine Corps staff sergeant left for the Persian Gulf

during the first week of February. The last piece of communication

Carrie Spence got from her husband was a letter that arrived Tuesday

that was dated March 4. E-mail and other communications have been

suspended for a while, she said.

“I know Cass must be very close to Iraq right now,” Carrie said.

“And I have butterflies in my stomach.”

In his letter written about two weeks ago, Cass tells his wife

that things “are getting pretty hot and heavy” and that “it’s getting

close to game time.”

“He said they just want to get in and get out,” Carrie said,

reading from the letter. “He says the sooner we get in, the sooner

they get out and come back home.”

Mixed with war talk and statements such as how it’s going to be a

bigger air war than the last time are emotional touches, in which he

tells his wife he can’t wait to get back and get upset about the

little things like hair strands on the shower wall.

“I have long, long hair,” Carrie Spence said with a laugh.

In his own way, Cass Spence gave his family a strong warning that

a war wasn’t too far off.

But President Bush’s speech on Monday establishing a 48-hour

deadline to Saddam Hussein that ended Wednesday evening came more as

a stunner to the Bakkila family in Newport Beach. Victor Bakkila, a

Costa Mesa Police detective and a reserve officer who left home last

week, is waiting in the wings in Washington state, ready to leave for

Iraq at any minute.

“He’s busy getting ready, getting his shots and everything,” his

wife, Corey, said. “His equipment has already been shipped out.”

But she added that she did expect the war to begin in a hurry.

“We’ve given [Saddam] the last 4 1/2 months,” Corey Bakkila said.

“I think it’s about time we went in there and took him out of power.”

She said she wasn’t sure how long her husband would be gone.

“It could be anywhere from six months to two years,” Corey said.

Her mother, Cathy Crook, said the toughest issue for her and Corey

Bakkila was the lack of communication there would be once her

son-in-law hits the war zone.

“I think that’s really hard,” Crook said. “To listen to the news

and watch it all the time and not know where Vic is and how he’s

doing. To not be able to hear his voice or get an e-mail from him.

Not knowing is the worst.”

Corey Bakkila and Crook say they have confidence in “Vic” and know

he has the training to make it through the worst of situations.

Carrie Spence knows that about her husband, too. She knows he’ll

come back home because, in Cass Spence’s own words, “My mamma didn’t

raise no fool.”