Elijah Amendola Thankful for Community’s Support During His Deployment
North Haven resident Elijah Amendola left his home in March 2021 to serve with the Connecticut National Guard 1-102 Infantry on a deployment to Africa. While he was serving as a religious affairs specialist across the world, his wife Kristen took care of things at home with the help of family, friends, and the community; his two sons grew; and his third son was born.
“I would daydream about coming home and seeing my wife and kids for the first time—it pales in comparison to actually coming home,” says Elijah, who was able to occasionally FaceTime his family. “My sister-in-law went to the hospital with my wife and I was able to find WiFi to watch the birth and able to somewhat be there. It was weird thinking there was a human being at my house I’d never met. When I was on the flight home, I was so excited, I was nervous.”
As Elijah’s plane landed at 10 p.m., he knew his sons would be home asleep with his parents. When he walked through the gates, through a crowd of people, he saw his wife waiting for him, holding what he thought was a teddy bear.
“I thought it was weird, but then I realized it was my son. It was a really surreal moment,” says Elijah. “It was weird hugging my wife for first time and driving home. It almost felt like I hadn’t left and no time had lapsed. My mom had a bowl of pasta with her homemade pasta sauce waiting for me when I got home, which is one of my favorite foods of all time. The next morning when I saw my boys, they’d gotten so huge and now had a full vocabulary.”
While things moved ahead at home, Elijah worked in 11 countries, spending the majority of his time in Djibouti. Elijah came to serve as a religious affairs specialist, a position took after his original position—artillery/forward observer—was transferred to Massachusetts after nine years.
As a religious affairs specialist, Elijah worked closely with the chaplain. His job also entailed working with the soldiers, helping to mitigate any issues. They would also travel to different security checkpoints to check in on the welfare of the soldiers.
“The military as a whole has a really high suicide rate, so my job is talking with soldiers and dealing with any issues as we look to try to help reduce those numbers,” says Elijah. “The chaplain was really cool and we got along really well. In a deployed situation, the chaplain can’t carry weapons, so you’re like his security detail.”
A History of Service
Being involved in the military wasn’t something new for the Amendola family. With a family history of military service, Elijah knew he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, uncles, and grandfather. After his original goal of going to West Point to become an officer and become active duty didn’t work out, he found another way.
“I looked at other options and talked to a National Guard recruiter who explained the guard would help with college,” says Elijah, who graduated from Notre Dame-West Haven in 2009. “With the Connecticut National Guard offering free tuition at state schools, I was able to go to college with minimal financial strain.”
Elijah attended the University of Connecticut where he studied economics. He then got his MBA from Southern Connecticut State University. Elijah worked for his father’s company, Trinity Electric, for six years.
Throughout his schooling and his career, Elijah has been an active member of Connecticut National Guard 1-102 Infantry serving one weekend a month along with a longer annual training. Elijah is part of a mountain battalion that specializes in mountaineering, ice climbing, and rock climbing.
When Elijah joined the National Guard, he had just been introduced to climbing by some friends. He was excited for the training, which included going to mountain schools in Vermont. He even traveled to the Arctic Circle twice to participate in a joint training with the Canadian Army.
Ten years into his service, Elijah was promoted to an aviation unit out of Groton, but before he could settle into his new position, his former unit reached out to him. In January 2020, 1-102 asked Elijah if he would participate in a deployment to Africa, leaving in March 2021.
“When this deployment came up, they called me back to see if I could go,” says Elijah. “It was my first full deployment. When I came into National Guard in 2010, by the time I finished training, the unit was already in Afghanistan and they haven’t been deployed since then.”
After receiving the request, Elijah was given time to think about the deployment. He and his wife, Kristen, processed the idea and discussed it, deciding that Elijah would go. At the time, the couple had two young sons, but in November of 2020, they found out that a third child was on the way.
“At that point, the ball had been moving and we were at the point of no return for deployment,” says Elijah. “The prospect of me leaving and not being there for birth was sad, but I focused more on my excitement to meet him. About a month out, we sat the boys down with a map and said, ‘Daddy’s going to Africa with the Army.’ They processed it the best they could.
“The day before I left, I cried like a baby putting them to bed reading them a story,” says Elijah. “I’d gone away for the military before, but we explained that this would be a really long time. I don’t think they understood it then, but they do now on the back end.”
Now that Elijah is back, he is enjoying spending time with his sons, six-year-old Connor and four-year-old Aiden, and getting to know seven-month old Ezekiel before he starts a new job with Turtle and Hughes, an electrical supply house company in Milford, in March. He and his wife are looking forward to taking the older boys climbing, scheduling camping trips, and spending time around their fire pit with their neighbors.
“Right now I’m relaxing and playing with the boys a lot and learn about Ezekiel. He’s been alive for six months, but I’ve only known him a week,” says Elijah,. “My wife and neighbors would send me pictures of them at the fire pit while I was gone and I missed that—the small things.”
While there were many things he missed while he was deployed and facing the challenge of being away from his family for so long, Elijah saw his family, friends, church community, and neighbors come together to support his wife and children while he was away. His neighbors Cindy Delillo, Jenny Graves, and Chuck Bruneau helped by taking care of the children, bringing coffee or food, helping with the lawn, and fixing Elijah’s truck.
“Our neighbors were amazing; my family lives five minutes down the road and they were helpful; and we have a pretty strong church family in Branford who would come help—it was a real communal effort and I don’t think I could thank people enough for that,” says Elijah. “This really showed me what a great community we have here in North Haven.
“Even strangers who found out I was deployed would show just a small act of kindness like helping her my wife to the car from the store,” adds Elijah. “Those acts of kindness had a ripple effect. It helped me tremendously knowing that people were here for my wife, who is the true American hero for taking care of everything here while I was away.”