Shaffer
04-05-05, 04:16 PM
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the city of Greenwood, Miss., has a population of approximately 18,425.
So what are the odds of four Marines from this Mississippi town ending up in the same unit deployed to the rural deserts of western Iraq?
Evidently, the odds are pretty good.
Staff Sgt. Rodriguez Moore and Lance Cpls. Ralph Smith, Gresham Gregg and Arthur L. Ware, all natives of Greenwood, are also all with 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, currently deployed with the 2nd Marine Division to the Al Anbar province in Iraq.
Each had no clue there were others from Greenwood in the unit, until Gregg, a driver and rifleman with the battalion's security platoon, was introduced to Smith, a rifleman with K Company, back at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., in the summer of 2004.
"I met Smith through a mutual friend of ours from Greenwood. I got together with my hometown friend, and he told me about a Marine coming out of the School of Infantry who also was from our hometown. It turned out to be Smith," said Gregg, a 1996 Greenwood High School graduate.
Gregg and Smith became good friends and continued their friendship as they deployed to Iraq earlier this year. It was on this deployment that they would discover two more Greenwood natives from a reserve unit out of Jackson, Miss.
In January 2005, a truck detachment of Marines with E Co., 3rd Bn., 14th Marines, was assigned to 3rd Bn., 2nd Marines, for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Moore, a 2001 Greenwood High School graduate, and Ware, a 1993 S.V. Marshall High School graduate, were among those Marines.
"I knew that the guys attached to us were from Mississippi, and I talked to some of them. They told me that they had a few people from Greenwood," Gregg continued. "I saw Ware's name and hometown on the Marine Corps website, www.usmc.mil. Then in Kuwait, they staged both our platoons in the same area to catch our flight. So I went up and talked to Ware, and he introduced me to Staff Sgt. Moore. That's how we met."
Gregg introduced Smith to their newly found hometown brothers in arms when they arrived at Al Qa'im.
"I was completely shocked when I found out there were more Marines from Greenwood with (the battalion). It's crazy how four men from a small town like Greenwood would end up in a combat zone together in the same unit," explained Smith, who attended W.P. Daniel High School.
When Ware and Smith met each other, they found out something unique about their connection to Greenwood.
"My mom taught Ware Spanish in high school and we found that out after only talking for about two minutes," Smith explained.
All four of these Marines grew up no more than ten minutes away from each other. They have a lot of the same friends, went to the same schools and share the same Mississippi culture.
Yet they didn't meet each other until after they joined the Corps and ended up in the same unit together supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom here.
All four agree that it's very ironic and unusual that they are all here in this fight together.
"We all wanted to do something different than everybody else and it's kind of funny how we all got put in the same place in Iraq," they all agreed, as Ware summed it up. "You never know who you will run into in life, it's a small world and the four of us are proof of it."
So what are the odds of four Marines from this Mississippi town ending up in the same unit deployed to the rural deserts of western Iraq?
Evidently, the odds are pretty good.
Staff Sgt. Rodriguez Moore and Lance Cpls. Ralph Smith, Gresham Gregg and Arthur L. Ware, all natives of Greenwood, are also all with 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, currently deployed with the 2nd Marine Division to the Al Anbar province in Iraq.
Each had no clue there were others from Greenwood in the unit, until Gregg, a driver and rifleman with the battalion's security platoon, was introduced to Smith, a rifleman with K Company, back at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., in the summer of 2004.
"I met Smith through a mutual friend of ours from Greenwood. I got together with my hometown friend, and he told me about a Marine coming out of the School of Infantry who also was from our hometown. It turned out to be Smith," said Gregg, a 1996 Greenwood High School graduate.
Gregg and Smith became good friends and continued their friendship as they deployed to Iraq earlier this year. It was on this deployment that they would discover two more Greenwood natives from a reserve unit out of Jackson, Miss.
In January 2005, a truck detachment of Marines with E Co., 3rd Bn., 14th Marines, was assigned to 3rd Bn., 2nd Marines, for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Moore, a 2001 Greenwood High School graduate, and Ware, a 1993 S.V. Marshall High School graduate, were among those Marines.
"I knew that the guys attached to us were from Mississippi, and I talked to some of them. They told me that they had a few people from Greenwood," Gregg continued. "I saw Ware's name and hometown on the Marine Corps website, www.usmc.mil. Then in Kuwait, they staged both our platoons in the same area to catch our flight. So I went up and talked to Ware, and he introduced me to Staff Sgt. Moore. That's how we met."
Gregg introduced Smith to their newly found hometown brothers in arms when they arrived at Al Qa'im.
"I was completely shocked when I found out there were more Marines from Greenwood with (the battalion). It's crazy how four men from a small town like Greenwood would end up in a combat zone together in the same unit," explained Smith, who attended W.P. Daniel High School.
When Ware and Smith met each other, they found out something unique about their connection to Greenwood.
"My mom taught Ware Spanish in high school and we found that out after only talking for about two minutes," Smith explained.
All four of these Marines grew up no more than ten minutes away from each other. They have a lot of the same friends, went to the same schools and share the same Mississippi culture.
Yet they didn't meet each other until after they joined the Corps and ended up in the same unit together supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom here.
All four agree that it's very ironic and unusual that they are all here in this fight together.
"We all wanted to do something different than everybody else and it's kind of funny how we all got put in the same place in Iraq," they all agreed, as Ware summed it up. "You never know who you will run into in life, it's a small world and the four of us are proof of it."