His ship, the USS Comstock, is a land deployment vessel, designed to get U.S. Marines onto the beach. They deployed the 1st Marine Battalion for the invasion of Iraq.

McDonald is the son of Rod and Sandy McDonald of Sisters. He graduated from Redmond High School in 1990, two years before Sisters High School opened.

He was an All-Conference center on the football team.

According to his mother, McDonald thought the Navy offered an opportunity to obtain some useful skills, so he enlisted -- not necessarily planning to make it a career.

That changed when he discovered firefighting. Shipboard damage control became his specialty and he rose to his current leadership position as the damage control officer for the Comstock. Now, his wife Penny said, he's "a lifer."

Sandy McDonald said she was more nervous about her son's deployment this time around than she was when he shipped out for Operation Desert Storm. Yet, she said, his confidence in his training and mission help make her confident.

She said her son believes strongly in the mission.

"He said, 'Mom, we should have taken care of it when I was over there the first time,'" Sandy said.

Penny said her husband would very much enjoy hearing from folks from his hometown -- although they now live in San Diego.

"If somebody sent him letters that would make his day," she said.

Reach P.O. 1st Class McDonald at:

DC1 McDonald, Richard
R-Div
USS Comstock LSD 45
FPD-AP 96662-1733
email: mcdonald@comstock.navy.mil

Updated address for McKibben Womack: