Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 4, 1991                   TAG: 9102040086
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GATE CITY                                LENGTH: Medium

SOUTHWEST VIRGINIANS DO THEIR PART AND MORE

Reservists from rural Scott and Wise counties have gone to war in the Persian Gulf in disproportionately high numbers; more than 400 troops from the two counties alone have departed for the Middle East.

The same has been true in past wars. Steven Giles, chief of psychological services at the Veterans Administration Medical Center at Mountain Home, Tenn., said Appalachians serving in Vietnam were about 50 percent higher than the national average among regional groups, and figures from the Korean war are similar.

Both men and women from the area have joined the military for reasons that are practical and patriotic.

The National Guard is a reliable source of money in coal country, where jobs are often hard to obtain and don't last long. And patriotism also runs in the mountains as deep as the coal.

There have been 469 Virginia National Guard members deployed to Saudi Arabia so far, the National Guard said. About 200 people from Scott County alone are with the 1033rd Transportation Company of Gate City.

"This is a very conservative area, and you won't hear many questions about whether we're doing the right thing in the gulf," said Mark K. Reeter, Gate City town manager.

Robin Hensley of Gate City, who has a brother serving with the 1033rd, gave his views on the war in the gulf.

"If there's one thing people in America can cluster around, it's some big dog beating on a little dog," he said. "There's a lot of tobacco-chewing, cowboy boot-wearing rednecks here that are dying to show people what they can do for freedom."

Gate City Mayor Billy W. Frazier said, "People here know when their country needs them, and they go."

People in coal country also know they need the military. When the coal mines have boomed and busted, and factory layoffs are common, the armed forces have been recession-proof.

"It's all anybody talks about or thinks about," said Brenda Cox, of Gate City. Her husband, Gary, is a Virginia state trooper and a chemical warfare technician with the 1033rd.

Almost everyone in the area has friends or family members involved in the Persian Gulf. Whole communities are shaken by television coverage of the war.

"You're watching television, and there's a reporter in the desert saying, `Here comes a missile,' and all of a sudden the screen goes blank," Brenda Cox said. "You're thinking, `Is my husband there? Is he all right?' It's too much, almost."