As the war in Afghanistan intensifies and he finds himself in the middle of it, Staff Sgt. Alex Hawley would settle for some baby wipes, clean socks and clean underwear.

“And he wants batteries for his iPod,” said his father, Mike Hawley, a Freeland resident and a former Island County sheriff. “Even in the heat of battle in the middle of God knows where, he wants batteries for his iPod.”

Sgt. Hawley, 27, a 2001 graduate of South Whidbey High School, is a career Marine Corps noncommissioned officer on his fourth deployment to the Middle East.

In Afghanistan, Taliban militants have stepped up attacks and now control wide swaths of countryside in the south and east. A record 68,000 U.S. troops will be in the country by fall as the Pentagon increases its focus there while drawing forces out of Iraq.

On Tuesday, eight Taliban militants attacked three government buildings and a U.S. base in two eastern cities, the latest headline from Afghanistan in what has been the deadliest month for the U.S. since the war started in 2001.

Sgt. Hawley, a member of 2nd Platoon,

C Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, is the leader of a rifle platoon which recently was among the first into Helmand Province near the Pakistan border.

The push is targeting militants in the province, a Taliban stronghold and poppy-growing region. U.S.-directed forces are attempting to gain and hold ground ahead of national elections next month.

The strategy also involves persuading local residents to feel secure, and to cut the Taliban’s financial lifeline by convincing farmers to grow wheat instead of poppies, used to produce heroin.

“We are basically living in and amongst the locals,” Sgt. Hawley wrote in an e-mail to his parents this past week. “We took over an abandoned house. (Houses here are built like compounds with 8-foot high walls.)”

Sgt. Hawley’s letters and e-mails have been few and far between, his father said, mostly because of the scarcity of means to send them.

“We brought a combat camera guy with us,” the latest e-mail continued. “I have been in firefights with him at my side and he pulls his own weight. Anyway, this is his computer we are using now. If he wasn’t with us, we would have nothing.”

Sgt. Hawley wrote that his unit has driven the Taliban from the area, and that “now we do meet and greets. Getting to know the locals, the big wigs, etc. and try to help them rebuild.

“There are still enemy agents lurking around,” he continued, “and we must now rely on basic investigative work to identify who truly supports us and a free Afghanistan and who is a [blank-blank] Talib supporter. It’s tedious … and often involves headaches.”

His son’s blunt assessment of his situation isn’t surprising, his father said.

“He always tells us the truth as he sees it,” he said.

“Still waiting on mail,” Sgt. Hawley wrote. “‘Maybe tomorrow,’ is all I can get from anybody.”

Some 130,000 American forces are in Iraq and 58,000 are in Afghanistan. An influx of additional troops to Afghanistan will bring the number to 68,000 by the end of this year.

On Monday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates also announced plans to add as many as 22,000 soldiers to the Army, to help feed new deployments in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Hawley has served two tours of duty in Iraq, where he took part in a deadly battle at Fallujah in 2004. Half of his platoon was killed or wounded.

“He shakes his head about that,” his father said. “He doesn’t know how he walked away without a scratch.”

Mike Hawley said his son, who is single, was determined to join the Marines after high school, even before 9/ll, and he wore his Marine Corps uniform to graduation.

He says he plans to make the Corps a career. He volunteered for war-zone duty, his father said, and he’s three months into his Afghanistan tour. He also has been stationed in Okinawa and the Philippines.

When his military career is over, he says he plans to go into law enforcement, like his father — and like his grandfather, a retired Seattle police officer.

Mike Hawley was sheriff for more than 10 years until 2006, and currently is a sheriff’s lieutenant in the North End office. His wife M’Liss is an internationally-known author of quilting and textile books.

Their daughter Adrian, 24, is in a master’s degree program in history at a university in Dublin, Ireland after having graduated from South Whidbey High School and Seattle University, and spending time in AmeriCorps.

Mike Hawley said he and his wife try to send their son a care package every two weeks. Recently, friends and neighbors got together and sent new socks and underwear for his son’s entire unit.

“The temperature’s over 100 and there are no showers,” Mike Hawley said. “They also wanted baby wipes and talcum powder.”

He said communication has become easier through the years, thanks to new technology, but he admits it’s still stressful when your son is in a war zone and it’s difficult to get word of how he is.

“The deployments don’t get any easier,” he said. “We’re proud of him. It’s an amazing sacrifice, the conditions he’s been living in. But that’s what he wants to do.”

And as for the Afghans, Sgt. Hawley wrote: “I will admit I enjoy being around these people …. (They) actually care and want to better themselves.”

But he concluded: “Can’t wait to get back home and not leave the states for a LONG time.”