A last call home, then a call to duty

The telephone rang at 4:30 a.m. Eric Hines was calling from his base in Germany. He had only a few minutes, and other soldiers were waiting in line.

Quickly, he told his parents, Thomas and Joan Hines of Westwood, that he was leaving that day for Bosnia. He told them he was scared. He told them he would be carrying weapons into a dangerous situation for the first time in his military career. He asked them to tell his son, Brandon, that he loved him. The phone call was the only one he could make, and he couldn't call his son, who lives with Brandon's mother in Cincinnati.

"I asked him to bring a Bible," Mrs. Hines said later that day. "He said, 'Mom, it's already packed.' "

Spc. Hines, 23, a mechanic attached to the U.S. Army 467th Armor Division, shipped out on Jan. 13. He is expected to stay in Bosnia at least until fall.

Eric hasn't been in contact with his family since that call. His father thinks he is based somewhere north of Tuzla, U.S. military headquarters in Bosnia, probably along the Sava River, which divides Bosnia and Croatia.

Spc. Hines is one of more than 20,000 U.S. soldiers joining NATO allies in Bosnia. As part of the Dayton peace agreement, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization agreed to send troops to enforce a cease-fire and demilitarization in the area for one year.

Since December, U.S., French, British, Russian and other troops have been sent to Bosnia to divide the warring factions. Bosnian Orthodox Christian Serb militia fought on one side and Muslim-backed Bosnian army and Bosnian Catholic Croat militia fought on the other. More than 200,000 people died and more than 2 million were uprooted in the fighting that erupted in April 1992.

The NATO mission - to bring to an end the worst fighting in Europe since World War II - doesn't calm Spc. Hines' parents. They haven't seen him in two years.

"If I just could have hugged him before they sent him off," said Mrs. Hines, nervously toying with a bottle of nail polish and petting the family tabby, Samantha.

"After he called, neither one of us went back to sleep."

Mr. Hines finds himself having a recurring nightmare. He is standing with his wife while his son's body is brought back from the war.

"I see all the flag-draped caskets, and we're surrounded by dignitaries," Mr. Hines said.

"It's frightening."

Both parents think the U.S. decision to send ground troops to Bosnia was a mistake.

"What you've got over in Bosnia is an internal fight," said Mr. Hines, 50. "I'm of the opinion that they should settle it themselves."

Said Mrs. Hines, 52: "You feel for those people. But when it's your own son going over there . . . I just don't think we should participate in this thing.

"You don't want your son there. You don't want anybody's son there."

So far, no American soldier has been killed in Bosnia, although the Department of Defense has said from the outset that casualties are to be expected in the yearlong effort.

Spc. Hines told his parents he was frightened, but he never questioned his duty.

"It's my job," he told his mother. "I'm a United States soldier."

The family is sending him packages of pretzels and candy bars. Their new church, Highview Christian Church in Bevis, is including Spc. Hines on its weekly prayer list.

Mrs. Hines has two jobs: a teacher's aide in kindergarten at Welch Elementary in the Northwest School District, and at a child care center. Both have posted news of her son and the kindergartners are writing letters to him.

The Hineses have had cable installed so they can watch CNN reports from the region. They also have photocopied maps of the former Yugoslavia.

A large photograph of Spc. Hines in uniform sits on the TV.

Everyone in the family is concerned.

Mrs. Hines recounted a conversation with Spc. Hines' 6-year-old son, Brandon.

"Daddy's going to Bosnia?" Brandon asked.

"Well, I told him, 'Yes, Brandon, he is.' And he said, 'Daddy's going over to fight.' "

Mrs. Hines tried to calm him, to tell him that his dad was going over to help make peace.

Brandon told her he had seen men on TV talk about land mines.

"He said, 'I wish my daddy wasn't over there.' I didn't know what to say," Mrs. Hines said.

Countless mines were planted in Bosnian fields during four years of war. Each remains a deadly threat to the American troops.

A mine killed three British soldiers Sunday, andone U.S. soldier has been injured by a mine.

Mr. Hines said this worries him the most; a high school friend of his was killed by a mine in Vietnam.

Spc. Hines' siblings - two brothers and a sister - also are worried.

Jason, the youngest at 17, said he used to fight with his brother all the time when they were younger. In the last few months, the big brother reached out to Jason, calling and asking him to come visit in Germany.

"I'm worried now," Jason said. "It just seems like recently we've started to bond, to connect for the first time and now he's got to go off to Bosnia."

Michelle Smiley, his 27-year-old sister, just sent him a birth announcement of her second baby, Alyssa. She mailed it through the Army post office.

She said her brother wrote months ago that he had a premonition he would be wounded or killed if sent to Bosnia.

"He was really afraid, and since then he's been trying to resolve things with his family," said Mrs. Smiley, of Delaware, Ohio.

"I have two children," she said. "Hopefully he will get home soon and see them both."

The Hineses knew their son was bound for military service. As a boy, he enjoyed playing with G.I. Joe toys. At their old house in Pleasant Run, he would spend all day playing soldier in an abandoned lot across the street.

"He would be out there digging trenches all day, every chance he had," Mrs. Hines said. "He was just having a big old time. I wouldn't see him until dinner."

After graduating from Northwest High School in 1990, he signed up for the Army. Soon, he was off to Germany.

The Hineses never used to worry about him because he was stationed in a safe place. For a short while he was in Saudi Arabia, but everything there was peaceful.

Now anxiety gnaws at them.

Mr. Hines, a night custodian at Taylor Elementary School in Colerain Township, spends his evenings alone in empty schoolrooms, mopping the floors.

"It gives me a lot of time to think," he said, frowning. "I spend a lot of my time actually worrying about my children. How are they doing? Who has problems? Who has what job?

"I worry a lot. And these days, I focus on Eric."

Published Jan. 29, 1996