Leaving his new family behind and putting his life in potential danger, Staff Sergeant Christopher Perkins of Norwood is on his way back to Iraq for a second tour of duty.

Perkins spent his first 15-month tour in southern Iraq with his fellow soldiers from the 245th Maintenance Company of the National Guard, a unit based in the Kingsbridge Armory.

Upon his return, Perkins wasted no time readjusting to civilian life. He not only returned to his job at the Institute for Literacy Studies at Lehman College, but also met and fell in love with a woman named Sonia. The couple recently celebrated the birth of their first baby, Christopher Anthony, Jr., born Nov. 21.

Perkins spent the rest of his time back catching up with family and friends, making new friends at the local AMVETS Post and visiting his favorite comic book store on Bainbridge Avenue.

Taking into consideration his new family and the worsening situation in Iraq, Perkins is pragmatic about his decision to head back into a war zone.

“I’m sure I could have fought harder to get out of it, but I know they need medics,” Perkins said, adding, “I’d rather get this out of the way while the baby’s young.” Asked where he will be deployed for the next 10 months, Perkins replied with a laugh, “I have an idea, but I’m not supposed to talk about it.”

“The orders were cut for 310 days,” he said, referring to the amount of time stipulated in his tour of duty orders.

While he doesn’t know where he will be, he does know he will have a new job when he gets there. “When I joined the military, I was an optician [an eye care specialist]; that was my first job. But then they retrained me to become a combat medic.”

For this tour, Perkins will be joining the 466th Medical Company based out of Glenn Falls, NY.

The former air conditioner and automobile repairman said of his upcoming duty, “This time I’ll be working in the air conditioning instead of on the air conditioning.”

There is one thing Perkins appreciated most upon his return and will miss during his upcoming tour. “The showers,” he said with a laugh. “The showers over there just didn’t seem to get you clean. I guess it was the treated water.”

After a week in Texas, Perkins boarded a plane on Friday, March 2 and after an 18-hour flight, arrived in Kuwait. By now, Perkins is most likely already in Iraq.

Ed. note: The Norwood News covered Sgt. Perkins’ emotional return visit to his colleagues at the Lehman College Literacy Institute in October 2005.