By Jason C. Mattox

One Panola County soldier made it home on leave for Thanksgiving but will return to Iraq next week.

Specialist Jonathan Hudson, son of John and Pam Hudson of Courtland, and Jimmy and Brenda Patrick of Sardis, has been serving in Iraq at the Q-West base as part of a convoy security detail since the summer.

He is assigned to the 2-198th Senatobia unit of the U.S. Army National Guard.

Hudson is among the 3,400 Mississippi National Guard members who were deployed in May.

Hudson, 21, said he put in for his two-week leave period early on in hopes of being home for Thanksgiving.

“There were some people that wanted to take their leave earlier, and some that wanted to wait until we got longer into it, but Thanksgiving was about a mid-way point,” he said.

Hudson, a 2006 graduate of South Panola High School, said he has missed spending time with his fiancée, Lydia Rumfelt of Sardis, and his friends and family.

“It’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be because we do have Internet on the base and I have been able to keep in touch with people on Skype,” he said.

Skype is an Internet-based communication program that uses a Webcam to broadcast.

The military life is nothing new to Hudson, whose father John spent many years also serving in the National Guard.

Hudson also worked at the Readiness Center in Senatobia prior to his deployment, and hopes to do something similar when the current deployment ends in the spring.

Presently his job is providing security for convoys traveling from Q-West.

“We travel with any of the civilian contractors or military personnel who are leaving the base to deliver goods to other locations,” he said.

He sometimes serves as the gunner for the base’s colonel.

“That’s more of a side job, but it is something I do when we go out with the colonel,” he said.

While on base and not out on missions, Hudson said he spends time watching television and running.

“There is a golf course on base, and I have played, but not too well,” he said jokingly.

“I have really gotten used to the routine of being in Iraq, but it has been nice to be home spending time with my family and friends,” he said.

“Sometimes you tend to forget that life goes on, even if you aren’t around every day.”