Harrison mom proud, worried about son's Army deployment to Afghanistan

Devin Myers was determined to serve his country, and nothing was going to stop him.

The decision is one that brings a sense of worry — and extreme pride — to his mother, Kathy.

Devin Myers, 20, is a member of the 420th Engineer Company (Clearance), U.S. Army Reserve, based out of Indiana, Pa. He is being deployed to Afghanistan.

He left his Harrison home early Wednesday to board a bus headed from the reserve center to the John Murtha Johnstown-­Cambria County Airport on his way to some training stateside.

“It’s a very mixed bag of emotions, because you’re going to miss him so much, and you love him so much and you don’t want anything to happen, but you’re so proud of him,” she said. “He’s doing what he wants to do, and you have to admire that.”

Kathy Myers, also of Harrison, said she is relieved to know her son will still be going to Afghanistan despite the escalating tensions in the Middle East. Early Wednesday in Iraq, two Iraqi military bases that house American troops took missile fire from Iran in retaliation for the U.S. killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

“Everyone was asking him, ‘Are you going to go to Iran now?’ and he said, ‘No.’ That gives me a little bit of comfort knowing that they can’t change his orders, but it’s still just an awful feeling in your stomach not knowing what will happen and what’s going on,” Myers said.

A 2017 graduate of Highlands High School, Devin Myers has always been patriotic, but his passion for the military began in college. He attended the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, where he studied political science. He joined the college’s ROTC and signed up for the Army Reserve in spring 2018.

Kathy Myers said her son is a smart, driven young man.

“He knows everything going on in the world. He knows his politics, he knows his current events, his world events,” she said. “You can really have an intelligent conversation with that kid about any of that.”

Kathy Myers believes her son knew as early as last spring or summer that he was going to be deployed.

He was scheduled to start his junior year of college in August, but ended up taking the semester off for training. The training took so much time, he never would have been able to do his schoolwork, his mother said.

Kathy Myers said her son wanted to be deployed now so he could perform the duties he was taught in basic training, which is to clear the way for the infantry.

“They look for the bombs,” Kathy Myers said of her son’s company.

She woke early Wednesday to say goodbye to her son.

She wasn’t able to see him board a bus, because she had to work. Her husband, Kerry, and her son, Korry, were able to bid him farewell. Devin drove separately from his dad and brother, who brought his car back home.

His mom said he’s going to be deployed for a year. He’s supposed to come home next January.

At home Wednesday, Kathy Myers gave her son “the longest hug I’ve ever hugged.”

“I don’t know what I can tell you about coping with this. It’s day by day,” she said. “I just have a pit in my stomach. All we can do is just pray that he stays safe.”