By Bruce DePuyt | February 6, 2019
A Maryland lawmaker widely considered to be a rising star spent Wednesday receiving both birthday greetings and expressions of support after announcing that he is being deployed to Afghanistan.
Sen. William C. Smith Jr. (D-Montgomery), an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve, will report for duty on March 29. He will take part in combat training at Ft. Jackson, S.C., before deploying overseas.
The seven-month stint will take him away from his family — Annapolis lobbyist Camille Fesche and the couple’s 10-month-old daughter, Jacqueline — and it’ll force him to miss the final 10 days of this year’s legislative session, a hectic time when the fate of hundreds of bills will be decided.