thedrifter
09-20-05, 06:07 AM
Montville Marine returns from Iraq
Family, friends relieved at soldier's safe, sound return after 8 months
BY ROB SEMAN
DAILY RECORD
MONTVILLE -- For about eight months, Kristen Vanorski found herself attached at the hip to her boyfriend, Bryan Flanagan, even though he was halfway around the world.
Vanorski kept her cell phone at her side, waiting anxiously for a call from Flanagan, a lance corporal in the Marines who was serving in Iraq. Their conversations would never end in goodbye.
"I always said, 'I'll see you later,'" Vanorski said.
On Monday, "later"came, and Vanorski stopped carrying her cell phone as much. Flanagan returned to her and his family that afternoon, safe and sound from his tour of duty.
It was "damn good" to be home, he said.
Flanagan, 28, was greeted at his house on Cheyenne Drive by family, friends and members of the Montville Veterans of Foreign War Post 5481. He is the seventh Montville resident who has returned home from a tour of duty in Iraq.
"Man, it's nice to be home,"Flanagan said. "I can get away from the Marine Corps for a while, get reacquainted with my family."
For Flanagan, the choice to go to Iraq, despite the harrowing conditions and constant danger of the conflict there, came fairly easy.
Flanagan, who joined the Marines a year and a half ago, had come to despise the paperwork he had been accustomed to while stationed in Japan, and wanted an opportunity to do what he had been trained for.
He told his staff noncommissioned-officer "I'm going out there whether you like it or not."
His family and friends had somewhat more of a difficult time accepting Flanagan's decision. His father, Ed Flanagan, had served in the Army as a Vietnamese translator in the Vietnam War. "Having been in a war, I knew what it could be, and I was scared," Ed Flanagan said. The choice, however, rested with his son, Ed Flanagan said, and he did not try to dissuade him from going to Iraq.
Tough sell
Vanorski had a decidedly different reaction.
"I broke down and said, 'You're not going,'" Vanorski said. But ultimately, she, too, had no choice but to let her boyfriend fulfill his wish.
"He helped me a lot, actually," Vanorski said. "It wasn't an option for him, so if I wanted to be with him, that's what I had to do."
"She was a trooper," Lance Cpl. Flanagan said. "She handled it a lot better than some of the guys' girls did. A hell of a lot better."
One of the ways Vanorski found solace was through a Web site for Flanagan's platoon. There, she was able to see pictures of Flanagan, playing horseshoes and other games with other troops in their downtime. She also used the website to network with the wives and girlfriends of other Marines.
Flanagan was stationed at Al-Asad air base, one of the major distribution points for troops, and was assigned to a field military police battalion. There, he and other troops would be assigned to convoys, often riding at the head, 7 or 8 miles in front of the rest of the military vehicles.
Though he was never directly involved in a firefight, Flanagan said he had seen numerous mines, or holes in the ground left by them.
In his mind, Flanagan said he would run through hypothetical scenarios -- what he would do if he found a land mine, or an improvised explosive device, or ran into a firefight -- to keep himself focused.
"There's always something in the back of your head," Flanagan said. "The main concern is to get your job done."
Links to home
There was little downtime, he said. When he could, he would take advantage of a special room with pay phones set up by AT&T, or use the Internet to e-mail his parents and girlfriend.
"I really just wanted to know how everything was here," Flanagan said. "I just wanted them to know I was safe, I was fine."
Those messages were invaluable, his parents said.
"From my perspective, being in a war zone is one thing because you think you're okay and you think you can protect yourself," the elder Flanagan said.
Being a parent, unable to help their son, and not knowing what was happening to him each day, however, evoked a feeling of helplessness that only grew as casualty numbers mounted and fewer details and names of the Marines killed would be reported, his mother, Nancy, said.
"I got to the point where I just kept it on the news stations," she said.
"It's absolutely wonderful to see him here and have him home," Nancy said.
Rob Seman can be reached at (973) 428-6631 or rseman@gannett.com.
Ellie
Family, friends relieved at soldier's safe, sound return after 8 months
BY ROB SEMAN
DAILY RECORD
MONTVILLE -- For about eight months, Kristen Vanorski found herself attached at the hip to her boyfriend, Bryan Flanagan, even though he was halfway around the world.
Vanorski kept her cell phone at her side, waiting anxiously for a call from Flanagan, a lance corporal in the Marines who was serving in Iraq. Their conversations would never end in goodbye.
"I always said, 'I'll see you later,'" Vanorski said.
On Monday, "later"came, and Vanorski stopped carrying her cell phone as much. Flanagan returned to her and his family that afternoon, safe and sound from his tour of duty.
It was "damn good" to be home, he said.
Flanagan, 28, was greeted at his house on Cheyenne Drive by family, friends and members of the Montville Veterans of Foreign War Post 5481. He is the seventh Montville resident who has returned home from a tour of duty in Iraq.
"Man, it's nice to be home,"Flanagan said. "I can get away from the Marine Corps for a while, get reacquainted with my family."
For Flanagan, the choice to go to Iraq, despite the harrowing conditions and constant danger of the conflict there, came fairly easy.
Flanagan, who joined the Marines a year and a half ago, had come to despise the paperwork he had been accustomed to while stationed in Japan, and wanted an opportunity to do what he had been trained for.
He told his staff noncommissioned-officer "I'm going out there whether you like it or not."
His family and friends had somewhat more of a difficult time accepting Flanagan's decision. His father, Ed Flanagan, had served in the Army as a Vietnamese translator in the Vietnam War. "Having been in a war, I knew what it could be, and I was scared," Ed Flanagan said. The choice, however, rested with his son, Ed Flanagan said, and he did not try to dissuade him from going to Iraq.
Tough sell
Vanorski had a decidedly different reaction.
"I broke down and said, 'You're not going,'" Vanorski said. But ultimately, she, too, had no choice but to let her boyfriend fulfill his wish.
"He helped me a lot, actually," Vanorski said. "It wasn't an option for him, so if I wanted to be with him, that's what I had to do."
"She was a trooper," Lance Cpl. Flanagan said. "She handled it a lot better than some of the guys' girls did. A hell of a lot better."
One of the ways Vanorski found solace was through a Web site for Flanagan's platoon. There, she was able to see pictures of Flanagan, playing horseshoes and other games with other troops in their downtime. She also used the website to network with the wives and girlfriends of other Marines.
Flanagan was stationed at Al-Asad air base, one of the major distribution points for troops, and was assigned to a field military police battalion. There, he and other troops would be assigned to convoys, often riding at the head, 7 or 8 miles in front of the rest of the military vehicles.
Though he was never directly involved in a firefight, Flanagan said he had seen numerous mines, or holes in the ground left by them.
In his mind, Flanagan said he would run through hypothetical scenarios -- what he would do if he found a land mine, or an improvised explosive device, or ran into a firefight -- to keep himself focused.
"There's always something in the back of your head," Flanagan said. "The main concern is to get your job done."
Links to home
There was little downtime, he said. When he could, he would take advantage of a special room with pay phones set up by AT&T, or use the Internet to e-mail his parents and girlfriend.
"I really just wanted to know how everything was here," Flanagan said. "I just wanted them to know I was safe, I was fine."
Those messages were invaluable, his parents said.
"From my perspective, being in a war zone is one thing because you think you're okay and you think you can protect yourself," the elder Flanagan said.
Being a parent, unable to help their son, and not knowing what was happening to him each day, however, evoked a feeling of helplessness that only grew as casualty numbers mounted and fewer details and names of the Marines killed would be reported, his mother, Nancy, said.
"I got to the point where I just kept it on the news stations," she said.
"It's absolutely wonderful to see him here and have him home," Nancy said.
Rob Seman can be reached at (973) 428-6631 or rseman@gannett.com.
Ellie