Left to right, Eric Schofield, Phil Doran and Andy Donahue.

IBEW Members in Service

June 2005 IBEW Journal

Members of Chicago, Illinois, Local 134 gave a standing ovation to three brothers on leave from service in Iraq at the local’s monthly membership meeting. Army Staff Sgt. Eric Schofield, an apprentice, Army Staff Sgt. Phil Doran, a residential journeyman and Marine Lance Cpl. Andy Donahue, a communications journeyman were also featured on the front page of the local’s newsletter. Staff Sgt. Doran has subsequently returned to Iraq, with the 308th Illinois National Guard, where he and his unit are serving as military advisors training native Iraqis to defend their country.

Christopher Carter, a 25-year member of IBEW, currently with Salisbury, Maryland, Local 1307 at Choptank Electric Co-op, returned from two years of active duty in Iraq in March. The veteran joins local union brother Christopher Wigfall, a 29-year member and hydraulic equipment technician at Delmarva Power, who served in Iraq from May 2003 to June 2004, and Daniel Kidd, a four-year member, and apprentice lineman at Delmarva Power, who served from January 2003 to April 2004.

Steve Bjork, Rockford, Illinois, Local 364, served in Iraq from September 2004 to February 2005. The 11-year IBEW member was a warrant officer in the United States Marines Reserve and a platoon commander of the Engineer Support Company.

Residential apprentice Paul Troutman, Akron, Ohio, Local 306 returned home from Iraq in March. An Army sergeant, Troutman was stationed in Mosul. He joins local brother Sgt. 1st Class Dan Williamson who has returned from Baghdad.

Brendan Toth, a member of New Haven, Connecticut, Local 90 since 1986, has been deployed to Iraq.

The U.S. Army reservist is assigned to the 98th U.S. Army Reserve Division, based in Rochester, New York, as commandant of basic combat training for the Iraqi National Guard.

Assigned to Kirkush Military Training Base in central Iraq, Toth frequently travels to other sites to oversee several dozen non-commissioned officers who are involved in combat, officer and medic training. After attending several graduation ceremonies for Iraqi soldiers, he says: "I let them know how brave they are. At the end of my tour in Iraq, I go back to the United States and I am safe. These soldiers are fighting for the democracy in Iraq and literally deal with threats on their lives and their families’ lives."

Toth, son of a Local 90 retiree and brother of an active member, thanks Local 90 for sending a box of good things to eat, use and share with other soldiers. His fellow soldiers have also read the letter which he sent to the Local 90 monthly meeting.

Local 8 Member Killed Working For Contractor in Afghanistan

Jason "Sy" Lucio, Toledo, Ohio, Local 8, went to work for a military contractor in Afghanistan in January. With construction work sparse in Ohio, he figured that working as an electrician could help him provide for his 2-1/2 –year-old son, Lars.

In early April, Lucio was killed along with two other civilians and 15 soldiers in the crash of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter about 100 miles southwest of the Afghan capital of Kabul.

Stanley Lucio, Jr., his father, said, "He believed in the union. He believed in his son and taking care of him. He believed in God."

Sy Lucio was an activist. Despite his relative youth, Lucio, 27, was elected last March to the central committee of the Lucas County Democratic Party.

Dennis Duffey, business manager of Local 8, said, "We are deeply saddened by the loss of our brother Sy. He was very well liked by everyone who knew him. He was laid off in November 2004, with no job opportunities in sight. We feel that if this country had a labor-friendly White House, there would be more work available here in the United States so that our members wouldn’t have to seek work elsewhere, and Sy would be with us today."