Hudson Family Reunited After Dad Serves Overseas

The Dubuc family can finally settle into their new home in Hudson, following Sergeant John Dubuc’s return, after serving thirty weeks of Air National Guard service based in Oman.

The Dubuc family includes John, his wife Sandra and their two small children, Matthew (age 2) and Christopher (age 4). The Dubuc’s had just moved from Lowell, Massachusetts to a new home in Hudson this past February when a member of the “call tree” left the voice message.

The voice message meant that John would be spending the next seven months of his life living in another neighborhood, far from New England. John was called to a mission located on Masirah Island in Oman, an area very close to Saudi Arabia.

John left for Oman just six days after he and his family had moved into their Hudson home. “That gave me just six days to cram seven month’s worth of household projects,” says John.

Far from the comforts of his new home and family, John would be tenting with eight other men. His environment consisted of little vegetation, where temperatures rose to 124 degrees, depending on the day. John experienced his first monsoon season on Masirah Island. The monsoon season brought very gusty winds, averaging 30-40 miles per hour. The friendly chirping of New Hampshire crickets was replaced with tents flapping furiously through the night. A water plant was provided for showers and brushing teeth, along with bottled water and hot meals that offered a much different taste of home.

When asked about the security on Masirah Island, John replied, “It’s as safe as any other place in the Middle East. Other than doing independent research on the internet, I really didn’t know what to expect until I got there.”

“The call,” says John, “came as no surprise, really. When you’re in the guard, you know what your mission is, so you expect that you can get called at anytime.” John said that he anticipated being tasked about two weeks prior to the phone call. At the time, however, the location of his mission would not be disclosed.John’s Air National Guard headquarters is based out of the Otis Air National Guard in Cape Cod.

John has served in both the army and air national guard for a total of seventeen-and-a-half years. His current rank is, Technical Sergeant, in base combat communications. John is responsible for sustaining network of communications. He sets up computers, manages networks and backup systems, email, servers and maintains all other computer related needs.

John is part of the 267th Combat Communications Quadrant. His team was sent on the Oman mission to build upon a communications network that already existed on Masirah Island.

“Our job was to make the network more robust,” says John. “The objective is to make the network effective, so that successful communications between the air force can occur.”

While John was completing his international mission, his wife and children were busy settling into their new home. Sandra says, “I have a very good support system. My parents who live in Lowell have been incredible. Me and my sons slept over their house and ate all of our meals with them.” She says her Hudson neighbors have been great, but since the move, she really hasn’t spent too much time here. She and her family are very much looking forward to finally “living” in their new hometown.

In an effort to stay close to family, John would email pictures home, and call them on the telephone. He was allowed two 15-minute calls per week. Most of the telephones have timers on them, cutting all phone conversations after the allotted time.

“I would write letters home and receive lots of care packages from family and friends,” says John.

“We get the Lowell Sun and Hudson Litchfield News, so I would send him all of the newspapers, so that he knew what was going on in town,” adds Sandra.

“When 9/11 hit, I knew John might be called, and I also realized what he would be fighting for. I couldn’t be mad about that. It really helped me keep a positive attitude.”

Sandra says that it wasn’t until her husband’s going away party that she realized the impact of his leaving. “We had a cake with a picture of our boys on it. It read, ‘Daddy… Happy Fathers Day, Happy Anniversary, Happy Easter,’ and all of the other special holidays he would miss. That’s when it hit me, the day he was leaving, as I drove home from Cape Cod.”

She says that working on their new house helped keep her busy, so that she wasn’t constantly dwelling on her husband’s absence. “We had lots of pictures and videos that John had recorded of himself, reading books to our two sons.”

Meanwhile, in Oman, all indications for John and his crew were that they would be finished with their mission in August. And then, more surprising news came. He was told that they would be required to stay another thirty days.

“That wasn’t a good call home,” says John. Breaking the news to his wife was difficult, and the next thirty days seemed an eternity for John.

Since his arrival home on Friday, September 20, life has been a bit overwhelming for the Dubuc family. “John is still unpacking,” says Sharon, adding that their son Matthew hasn’t let his Daddy go.

“Daddy hasn’t had a break and Mommy hasn’t gotten near him,” says Sharon. He arrived home just in time to celebrate Matthew’s third birthday. “Christopher has been anxious to introduce his Dad to his new school that he started when his Dad left for Oman.”

John will be returning to his full-time job in November, when he is released from active duty. John works as an engineer for Sun Microsystems in Burlington, Massachusetts. Meanwhile, the Dubuc family is very much looking forward to their family vacation to Disney in a few weeks.