Groveland Twp.-Bob and Teresa Sage’s home is just a little too quiet this holiday season.
If one family member serving in the military this holiday season was not difficult enough, the township family has two.
‘I’m just lucky my boys are not overseas,? said Teresa. ‘I’m very proud of them’but it’s still hard with both boys gone over the holidays,? she said. ‘The boys left for the service when they were 18-years-old. It’s not like college when they can come home for the weekend. We are very proud of them but, it’s still hard’honestly, you miss out on a big part of their life.?
Both sons are Brandon High School graduates. Petty Officer 3rd Class Daniel C. Sage, 20, graduated in 2007 and Petty Officer 2nd Class Andrew T. Sage, 23, received his diploma in 2004.
Daniel enlisted for 6 years, and has served one, in the United States Coast Guard. He trained for eight months at USCG Training Center Petaluma, in Petaluma, Calif. as an Electronics Technicians (A-school) and is currently in C-school at USCG Training Center Yorktown in Yorktown,Va. where he is receiving additional training on weapons guidance and radar systems. He will move to USCG Alameda, in Alameda, Calif. in the summer of 2009, where he will spend at least the next three years. His job as an electronics technician will be to troubleshoot and repair electrical systems on one of the Coast Guard’s larger ships.
Teresa said Daniel misses being home and seeing his friends.
Andrew also enlisted for six years and has served four in the United States Navy as an Electronics Technician in the Navy’s Nuclear Engineering Program. He trained at the Navy Nuclear Power School (A-school) in Charleston, S.C. and also at C-school in Saratoga Springs, NY. He has been stationed for the past 2 1/2 years on the USS George H W Bush (CVN-77), which is the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, and is still under construction in Newport News, Va. at the Northrop Grumman shipyard. It will be commissioned on Jan. 10, 2009 and moved to Naval Station Norfolk, in Norfolk Va. once it is deemed seaworthy. After his carrier is in operation, his job will be to operate the nuclear reactors which power the ship. In his words, he is ‘the gas pedal for the aircraft carrier.?
Teresa said Andrew misses the cool weather in Michigan, home cooking and sleeping.