Justin May, left, and Zachary Mayo pose in May’s south Warren County home. (Jon GiffinThe Vicksburg Post)

[12/24/04]Longtime friends and now fellow soldiers have undergone months of Army training and are home for Christmas before possibly serving combat deployments next year.

Pfcs. Justin May, 21, and Zachary Mayo, 20, both graduates of Vicksburg High School, are visiting at the southern Warren County home of May’s parents, Pam and Carl May, during their two weeks’ Christmas leave.

Mayo grew up in a military family but lived with the Mays for six months after his own parents moved away from Vicksburg and before he went into the Army, on Nov. 13, 2003.

“I have many sons,'” said May’s mother, Pam May. “I was a Scout leader.”

May followed Mayo into the service, enlisting on April 13, 2004.

Both said the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were a key factor in their decisions to enlist.

“I wanted to do something about it,” May said of the attacks, which left nearly 3,000 civilians dead in New York; Washington, D.C.; and Pennsylvania.

Mayo also had a family background in the military. His father, Charles Mayo of Huntsville, Ala., is retired as a first sergeant and Army combat medic and his mother, Renee Mayo of Abilene, Texas, was a nurse in the Army.

He drives a Bradley infantry vehicle with the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry of the 4th Infantry Division, based in Fort Hood, Texas. He expects to be deployed overseas, either to the Middle East or to the demilitarized zone of Korea, probably by summer.

His unit has undergone much training in urban warfare, he said. And he has plans to eventually seek training as a Green Beret, a member of the Army’s special forces.

May, the son of Pam and Carl May, is a cavalry scout and Humvee gunner with a Reconnaissance Surveillance Target Acquisition Battalion of the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Ky. Before he went to basic training, he had the Army’s name for his job title, “19 Delta,” tattooed on his right forearm.

“My unit’s the one that caught Saddam Hussein,” May said of the 101st Airborne. “That gave it a reputation of a job well-done.'”

The 4th Brigade Combat Team is “a brand-new brigade” that is still being formed and is scheduled to be officially recognized by the Army in March, May said.

May said he has recently been qualified in air assault.

“We know all about helicopters,” including how to rappel from them and how to sling load Humvees to larger, May said.

May expects to be deployed overseas by about the fall.

Both said the military is trying to reduce the length of combat deployments to about six months but both said they were prepared for and expected longer deployments.

The Christmas break is the first time the two friends have been home together in about a year. They said they were enjoying being home and seeing family and friends.

“It’s great to be back,” May said, adding that the four-day passes they have been receiving have not been long enough.

Added Mayo, “It’s great to be with family, period.”