Anderson High grad going to Afghanistan for a year

This is an especially bittersweet New Year's for Kimberly Forseth, 22, of Cottonwood. Her 24-year-old husband, Sam, expects to have his "boots on the ground" in Afghanistan by the first week of February.

Sam Forseth and nearly a dozen of his fellow California Army National Guardsmen home-based in Redding recently volunteered for a year of dangerous duty clearing roads and highways of lethal bombs and explosives.

Although the mission is critical, its timing - at least for the Forseths - is by no means ideal.

The couple married in late September and are expecting their first child, a girl, in April.

Although her husband, a Redding native who was raised in Palo Cedro and graduated from Anderson High School in 2002, will most likely miss the birth of their baby girl, they have already picked out a name for her, Chanel.

With her husband gone, Kimberly Forseth, a 2005 Anderson High School graduate and dental assistant, will be staying with her supportive parents, Jeff and Judy Timpe, she said.

Although Kimberly Forseth said she's long expected the day would come when her National Guard husband would be called away on duty, that day arrived much too soon.

And she can't help but worry for his safety.

"I think about that a lot," she said during a pre-Christmas luncheon with her husband and two of his National Guard buddies who also are being sent to Afghanistan.

Sam, as well as Alex Dickerson and Chris Due, both 23, share a military brotherhood bond and an attitude of confidence, but Kimberly Forseth can't help but feel a little left out because she's not sure what they might encounter in Afghanistan.

"I feel clueless," she said.

She said that her husband, the son of Frank Forseth of Palo Cedro and Mary Jimison of Las Vegas, is helping to lay a solid foundation for their family's future through his work with the National Guard.

And, she said, he will return home just in time to begin properly pampering the baby.

"She will be old enough for the fun stuff," she said.

Dickerson and Due both saw combat in Iraq in 2006, but this will be Forseth's first deployment overseas since he joined the California Army National Guard about two years ago

They say they will look out for each other in Afghanistan, and Dickerson and Due, as seasoned combat veterans, have already given valuable advice and reassurance to the combat-novice Forseth.

"Stay vigilant," Due said.

"Keep you eyes open and rely on your instincts," said Dickerson, noting that's the same important advice he was given when he arrived in Iraq in 2006.

Due said he expects Afghanistan will be much different than Iraq.

"It will be 180 degrees different," said Due, adding that he's not talking just about the weather.

The three Redding men, all combat engineers, were assigned from Redding to the Petaluma-based 235th Engineer Company after volunteering to go to Afghanistan for a year.

Just before Christmas, several members of the group returned home to share the holiday with family members after extensive training at Fort Shelby in Hattiesburg, Miss., but returned there after the holidays for a 15-day exercise before being sent to Afghanistan.