Maricopa fire captain answers call

Duty called, and Maricopa resident Will Sherwood answered a very unique call.

Sherwood works for the city of Maricopa as a fire captain and also serves in the Arizona Air National Guard as a Staff Sergeant. In April he voluntarily deployed to an undisclosed location in the Middle East. His mission: to serve and protect his fellow troops. His job in the Air National Guard is very similar to his job with the city of Maricopa. He serves as a station captain for the 161st Air Refueling Wing based at the Phoenix International Airport.
 
Sherwood joined the Arizona Air National Guard in 1998 and has been assigned to the 161st Air Refueling Wing ever since. When his unit was called to be deployed, it would have required select members of his unit to deploy for 18 months. Sherwood and the other members of his unit volunteered to deploy in place of their fellow soldiers, splitting up the assignment in six-month increments. With an attitude to get the job done and the support of his wife, Karri, he was the first of his unit to deploy in April.
 
While deployed, Sherwood continues to spread his patriotism through a patriotic flag program.  Sherwood takes email requests for flags and sends them back stateside. The flags are flown on his fire engine for a day and then sent back with a certificate signed by the entire crew. The program has been a huge success, and the backlog for flags is large. (I waited approximately three months for mine). He is expected back in October and, due to the backlog, is no longer taking requests for flags.
 
Sherwood joined the Maricopa Fire Department in July 2006 and was promoted through the ranks. He will return to his duties as captain and Emergency Operation Center coordinator upon his return; until then his office remains relatively untouched.

His absence does not go without notice, and everyone is pitching in to help out, but his presence is missed the most at home. His wife and two children wait patiently for his return. Karri, who is currently raising their two sons, Brandon, 9, and Kyle, 2 1/2, alone, receives support from family and fellow firefighters. Sherwood expressed his appreciation for the support saying, “I would like to thank everyone that has helped support me and Kerri during this deployment. There are a lot of worries back at home and knowing that some of those are taken care of relieves a lot of the stress.”
 
When thinking about returning home his thoughts turn to his wife and he says, “getting married to Kerri is the best.” He also misses home cooked meals. They are served chicken and rice every day, and he said, “the first thing I want to do is eat a great steak dinner. Can’t wait for that good ole’ American food!”
 
On the anniversary of 9-11, our thoughts and prayers turned to those who have served and those who continue to serve us. Will Sherwood is Maricopa’s unsung hero, and we all wait and pray for his safe return.

To the soldiers, we owe our highest respect, our unwavering gratitude and our ongoing support for their service to our country and the cause of freedom.

Editor’s note: Will Sherwood arrived home on Thursday, Sept. 16th.

Submitted photo

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