Marie Nesmith
Features Editor
Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009

As Mike Prieto prepares to be deployed to Afghanistan in December, Thanksgiving Day will be bittersweet for his family of five. In the midst of his impending departure, he also is counting his many blessings, some of which include his wife, Kathy, and their 4-year-old son, Drew, and twins, who were born prematurely Sept. 15 at 32 weeks.

"I have very mixed feelings," said Prieto, who was raised in Adairsville and is a partner of the law firm Perrotta, Cahn & Prieto P.C., which has an office in Cartersville. "I feel like I owe so much to the Army. I've been in the Army since I was 20 years old. I credit a large part of what successes I've had in my life to military service. I'm very proud to be part of the Army.

"I'm very proud to go serve abroad with my fellow soldiers, but the mixed side of that is I have a lot of obligations at home. I've been a managing partner of this law firm for years, and now I have not only my wife and son but two new children [Lauren and Ryan] and I'm going to miss things with them that I can never get back. And that's sad, but no one made me raise my right arm to join the Army, so I'm proud to do my duty."

Enlisting in the Army in 1989, Prieto now serves as a captain with the Georgia Army National Guard's 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. Once activated on Dec. 3, Prieto will stay at Camp Shelby in Mississippi for a few weeks before leaving for Afghanistan. As a Judge Advocate General officer, the 40-year-old could perform various roles in Afghanistan, ranging from providing legal assistance to soldiers to prosecuting service members for inappropriate behavior. While Prieto is uncertain about the length of his deployment, he is hoping to return home in May. He also is unsure how often he will be able to contact his family. Depending on his location overseas, Prieto will have limited -- at best -- access to phone and e-mail.

Prieto's life has been a flurry of activity since he received his orders nearly three weeks ago. Along with tending to his newborns, Prieto also is busy at work, reaching out to clients and working with lawyers who will be overseeing his cases during his absence. "I've been very fortunate to have been able to serve as the county administrator for Judge [Mitchell] Scoggins for the past eight or nine years in the Bartow County Probate Court," Prieto said. "Aside from that the majority of my practice is long-term care work, which means I represent families and patients when someone at an assisted living facility or long-term care facility or nursing home has been abused. It's not very common for a Cartersville practice.

"So a lot of my cases are not just throughout Georgia, but throughout the Southeast ... [I'm making] a lot of phone calls trying to assure clients that their files still are going to be worked by very competent lawyers, that my service abroad will not derail their pursuit of justice for their loved ones. I think that's the most difficult thing, because we have personal relationships with our clients. I've also been very touched by phone calls and e-mails that I've received from clients asking to put me on prayer lists and offering to take food to my family. It's been very gratifying. I've truly realized in the last month that patriotism is still alive."

While hosting Thanksgiving dinner, the Prietos will take comfort being in the midst of about 30 loved ones. For the special occasion, he also is trying to coordinate a telephone call from his brother, Daniel, an Army major currently serving in Iraq.

"[I would like to say] how proud we are of [Mike] and everyone that serves," Kathy Prieto said. "A lot of times people will say to us, 'Oh my gosh, it's not fair -- you just had babies, you have young kids.' What we always believe is everyone that is serving in the military is leaving a family.

"We all tend to forget the sacrifices that these people give up and the families too. It's not just us, there are so many people every day that are out there. We are a military family and we tend to forget it too, just because it's not in your face every single day that these people are away from their homes a long time, leaving their jobs and their families. It's a big sacrifice."

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