Wrightsville Steam Fire Engine & Hose Co. No. 1

A newly wed Springettsbury Township couple will have to wait at least a year before taking their honeymoon. Today, the groom will join fellow soldiers on their way to Iraq in the largest Pennsylvania National Guard deployment since World War II.
Pfc. Shane Welsh, 20, and his wife, Rachel, 22, were married Dec. 3. He left for military training soon after, and the couple did not have time to plan a honeymoon.
He had also left for basic training the day after their daughter, Madison, who is 14 months old, was born in April 2004.
"She's walking, she's talking, she's playing a lot," Welsh said. "By the time I get back, she's going to be starting preschool."
He said it will be difficult to leave his family for the next year but he is committed to his assignment.
"Somebody has to fight for our freedom," Welsh said. "I have my wife and daughter to use as motivation to get back home."
He also said his mother, Peggy Overmiller of Wrightsville, is worried about him going to Iraq.
"My mom is a nervous wreck," Welsh said.
"I try to tell her I won't be exposed to danger every day but she's not buying it."
His unit is based in Fort Indiantown Gap, but for the upcoming deployment he will be serving with a unit near Philadelphia with which he has been training.
He will be a Humvee crewman for the deployment, stopping in Mississippi for brief training before heading to the Anbar Province near Fallujah, Iraq. The area is where many insurgents enter the country, Welsh said.
"It's actually a pretty hot spot in Iraq right now," he said.
The historically large brigade will include about 4,500 soldiers; 2,200 of them are from Pennsylvania.
Welsh has been a volunteer firefighter with Wrightsville Fire Department for the last six years and plans to attend Harrisburg Area Community College, study fire science and find a job as a career firefighter.
"I'll probably be in firefighting until I can't walk anymore," he said. "It's like a second family."
Rachel will fly to Mississippi with him today and attend a farewell ceremony Thursday.
"I'm a little nervous but I know he'll be OK," she said about his upcoming tour of duty. She said she will avoid news about happenings in Iraq while her husband is there.
"I'd rather not hear about it until he comes home," she said.
She said she will stay busy with their toddler and keep her mind occupied by continuing an online course to receive an associate's degree in health administration, medical billing and coding.
She and Madison will live with her parents, Greg and Sydney Otte, in Springettsbury Township.
"They've been a big help," she said. "If he gets home next summer, we're hoping to have a place of our own, a home."