by FRANCINE M. SCOBORIA

In civilian life, Kathy L. Cafoncelli ’99 monitors the nerve center that is Albright President Lex O. McMillan’s office as his assistant.

While most days are extremely hectic, Cafoncelli keeps the stress in perspective.

After spending 10 months monitoring the nerve center of Camp Arifjan, U.S. Military Hospital Kuwait, Cafoncelli has experienced life and death in a combat zone. She says she appreciates the American freedoms she was
willing to work for and even to die for.

“I have truly loved the Navy,” says Cafoncelli, 45, who recently retired from the Navy after 27 years of service, 13 active duty and 14 in the Reserves. “It has made me who I am.”

The Navy hospital near Kuwait City is a huge tent, equipped with an emergency room, a lab, an orthopedic clinic and an operating room. Wounded soldiers arrive from Southern Iraq day or night in trucks or helicopters.

“We saved so many patients,” she says.“But there were several deaths while I was there. It was horrible to know that there was a mother who was going to grieve terribly.

There was a protocol when they would take the body out of the hospital and prepare to send him home. Everyone stood in line and we saluted, and the chaplain said a prayer. There was respect for another service member, someone who was willing to die for their country.”

During her years in the Navy, Cafoncelli advanced through the ranks as a yeoman, or clerical administrator. In Kuwait, she served as the acting command master chief, the second highest enlisted sailor in charge of the welfare of 450 troops.

“Some of them were only 18 or 19, and there was a lot of homesickness and problems with marriages,” says Cafoncelli, a graduate of Albright’s Accelerated Degree Completion Program. “Senior chiefs really serve as quasi mothers and fathers to junior troops.”

Several suicides heightened her awareness of the troops’ vulnerability. She also mourned the loss of two servicemen who died while running in the 100-degree plus heat.

Cafoncelli was trained to survive the dangers of gas attacks, roadside bombs and shootings. Luckily, she was never attacked.

But she was always aware of the danger, especially when she traveled to other camps, accompanied by military security, to check on the troops.

She says she will never forget receiving the order to spend a year in Kuwait. Her father was having heart surgery when she received the call from her commanding officer.

Cafoncelli, mother of 25-year-old Jessica L. Cohen ’02, and Michael, now 17, learned she would leave for Kuwait Dec. 27, 2004.

“That was my son Michael’s 16th birthday,” she says.

Once in Kuwait, she missed her children and her husband, Joseph ’02, a Reading police officer, so much it felt unbearable.

“I could not wrap my brain around the concept that I would not see them for a year,” she says. “My husband e-mailed me almost every day. He really rose to the occasion and handled the home front. He would always tell me to take care of myself and the troops.”

Packages from co-workers at Albright and from people across the country helped keep her spirits up. People sent everything from Kit-Kats to fall leaves to copies of Soap Opera Digest.

Cafoncelli shared cramped living conditions with 80 servicewomen. They slept in bunk beds. Each woman had a locker and a stack of drawers which doubled as a nightstand.

Blankets were used as curtains in an attempt to create a tiny bit of privacy. They worked seven days a week, 12 hours a day, with a few days off each month.

To cope with the homesickness, Cafoncelli ran almost every morning, wrote in her journal, watched movies on a portable DVD
player and talked to her family on the phone on weekends. A sense of humor and many friendships helped her stay positive.

Prior to her service in Kuwait, Cafoncelli spent about a month each summer on active duty, including humanitarian medical missions in Ghana and Senegal in West Africa.

When Cafoncelli returned from Kuwait in November 2005, she resumed her old job, but with a new president. President McMillan began leading Albright in May 2005.

“From my first days at Albright, Kathy Cafoncelli was ‘present’ in spirit,” says McMillan. “Her colleagues in my office and elsewhere on campus assured me that all would be well when Kathy returned. They spoke of her great work ethic, her professionalism and her deep love for Albright College.

Since her return, I have discovered that the praise was not exaggerated. I am very fortunate to have Kathy at my right hand, running our office and keeping me on track.”

While the controversy over the war increases here at home, Cafoncelli supports the position of the commander in chief to fight terrorists.

“I believe so strongly in the freedoms we have here, including the freedom to criticize the government,” she says. “I would rather fight this war on terror in another country than see it come here again, like on September 11. I felt a great sense of meaning and purpose in being there. I told my family, if I would have been killed there, I would have wanted them to be proud that I served my country honorably.”