Tewksbury brothers Iraq-bound

TEWKSBURY -- It had all the right ingredients for a festive summer bash: The sun was shining, and the pool was an inviting crystal blue.

But the cold beers and plentiful food couldn't cut the undercurrent of tension in Mario and Debbie Lombardi's backyard. Two of the couple's sons are being deployed and will soon be in Iraq.

Kenneth and Matthew Lombardi, ages 31 and 20, are members of the Massachusetts Army National Guard's 972d Military Police Company. They are among the 200 Massachusetts men and women who will say goodbye to loved ones today at Boston University's Nickerson Field.

There are five Lombardi brothers, and last Saturday afternoon in Tewksbury they gathered with dozens of friends at their parents' suburban home to say goodbye to the two who are leaving.

Their military police unit includes state and municipal police officers and other law enforcement professionals. After company members are trained at Fort Dix in New Jersey, they will go to Iraq to teach new Iraqi police officers some of the fundamentals of police work.

"They'll be fine," said Debbie Lombardi. "This is [Kenneth's] second deployment. He's been in the Guard for 13 years, and he's got the confidence. But the other one, it's a new experience for him, so I'm glad they are going together."

Kenneth and Matthew said they were relieved that they would be together, but worried about their safety and the impact their absence would have on their family.

Sergeant First Class Kenneth Lombardi, the oldest brother, is leaving behind a wife and two babies.

"I'm proud, but I'm nervous," said his wife, Aliki, 26, as she cradled 12-week-old Jason at last weekend's gathering. Nearby, a relative played with 16-month-old Joseph.

"He's going to miss so much with the kids," she said. "He won't be there for Jason's first whole year of his life."

Kenneth joined the Army National Guard right after high school. In 2001, his company provided security at Logan International Airport, and in 2002 traveled to Uzbekistan and then to Pakistan to protect an airfield.

He and Aliki married in 2003, and in 2005 Kenneth became a state trooper. In Iraq, he'll be supervising 42 soldiers and keeping a watchful eye on his easygoing younger brother.

"I'm sure he'll be fine, but my mother is worried," Kenneth said at the gathering. "The fact that he's going with me helps a lot."

Nearby, Specialist Matthew Lombardi bristled with enthusiasm.

"I'm psyched to go," said Matthew, who will work as a mechanic on military vehicles while in Iraq. "The last couple of months it's been, 'We're going, we're going, we're going.' I want to get there. I'm curious to see what it really looks like, compared to what I'm seeing on the news."

When Matthew joined the National Guard in 2005 after graduating from Shawsheen Valley Technical High School in Billerica, he was following a family tradition.

His father, Mario Lombardi, spent 21 years in the military. He said he is "extremely, extremely proud" of his boys.

As a steady stream of longtime friends stopped by the home, the youngest, Alex, 14, stayed inside, away from the crowd. Family members said he was bothered by the pending departures.

Michael Lombardi, 25, the self-described "family liberal," said he, too, was wrestling with mixed emotions.

"I don't support war, especially this war," he said, "but I definitely support my brothers' decisions.

"I think about things different than them," he said, "but I know that if it weren't for people like them, I wouldn't be free to question the war."

Michael, an artist and Emerson College graduate, has delayed plans to move to Los Angeles until his brothers return home.

He's not the only one making concessions.

Aliki's maternity leave is up, so she's returning to work, as an X-ray technician at Lowell General Hospital. Her mother and mother-in-law will be watching the boys while she's at work.

Then there's Ben Lombardi's September wedding. Ben and Kenneth are fraternal twins, (Kenneth is three minutes older), and Ben and Matthew are particularly close.

"He always comes to me for advice," said Ben, who is running the family's kitchen remodeling business.

Ben wants both his brothers to serve as ushers, but he's not sure if they can make it. "The company said they'd try, but there are no guarantees," the groom-to-be said, "so we held the bachelor and bachelorette party this week."

McConville can be reached at cmcconville@globe.com.