thedrifter
10-11-05, 07:18 AM
Concord
After Iraq, home is sweeter
Marine, 25, enjoys respite before return to action
By ALLISON STEELE
Monitor staff
October 10. 2005 8:00AM
Aaron Keller knew something was up. During the time it took for him and his father to drive from Rochester to Concord, Keller's mother called twice to see where they were. When Keller and his father David turned up West Street, where Keller's mother Deb Lamoureux lives with Keller's brother, the parked cars lining the street were a dead giveaway.
So by the time Keller came up the driveway and saw friends and family members in the yard, balloons and yellow ribbons everywhere, it wasn't exactly a surprise. But it still felt pretty great, he said.
"A lot of these people I haven't seen in a long time," said Keller, 25, a lance corporal with the U.S. Marines who just finished serving in Iraq. "This is what being home is all about."
Lamoureux started organizing the surprise party for her son when she learned he'd be coming home. Keller had been in Iraq since February, an infantryman who spent much of his time overseas on the front lines.
Keller landed in the states last month, then headed to Cancun, Mexico, with a few of his friends for a week. After popping in to see his mother, he headed up to Rochester to spend time with his father and friends. When he returned to his mother's house yesterday, it was to a cheering, clapping crowd.
Yesterday, more than 50 friends and relatives gathered to welcome him back. They cheered, toasted him with beers, cranked the music, slapped Keller on the back and passed around photographs. It was good to have him back, they said.
"I love this kid, he's like my brother," said Ryan Luczynski, 25, who used to play hockey with Keller and has known him for years. "It was weird, having him over there - I definitely would think about it from time to time. When I heard he was back, I couldn't miss this."
Guests milled around yesterday, checking out the photographs Keller had e-mailed from Iraq: Keller with his elbows propped on his gun, Keller sprawled in the sand during some down time, eating Skittles with his machine gun nearby on the ground, casually pointed towards him, a Black Hawk helicopter taking off, a sandstorm, the sun setting over the desert.
A few years ago, when Keller was a student and hockey player at Plymouth State University, he would have had a hard time imagining himself in those pictures. But he decided to enlist after the war began, something he said ended up being one of his best decisions. Soon after finishing boot camp, he found himself in Iraq.
"My mom didn't want me to join up, because of the war," Keller said yesterday. "But I wanted to get out of here, get out and do something with myself."
In Iraq, Keller spent three months traveling around the desert and to different towns, and the rest of the time at a base. He and his fellow Marines were often at the heart of the fighting, and Keller took part in street fighting and other intense missions. He became accustomed to hearing explosives landing nearby several times a day, and he tried not to worry his parents when he called home.
"I told my mom all the time, 'I'm not doing anything too dangerous, mom, nothing big,'" Keller said. "But she knew. She'd watch TV and see what was going on in places where I was."
Lamoureux is a proud Marine mom. In a corner of her dining room is a photograph of Keller in uniform, along with the plaque he received when he completed boot camp last year. She hung a banner up on an overpass over Interstate 93 to welcome him back, and has doted on him a little since he returned. Though she's not sure she agrees with the war in Iraq, she tries to believe in it because she believes in her son. And she takes comfort in the things he told her about the work he was doing there - as well as the smaller things, like his stories of watching shooting stars fall across the nighttime sky over the desert.
"It was just such a long time to have him gone, and I worried so much, " she said. "And now I just want to brag about him to everyone."
Doris Begin, Keller's grandmother, said Keller seems more mature than before he went into the service.
"But he did say the first thing he wanted to do was sit on the couch and use the remote," she said.
Keller, now back in the states for almost a month, said returning to New England was a serious culture shock at first.
"Everything looked pretty weird, really green," he said. "I've been away for a long time, but when I look back it feels like it just flew by. We were always so busy, always moving, I guess we never had time to think about it."
He doesn't have much more time to get re-adjusted to life back home. Next week he'll head back to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina to report back to duty. With the war's end seemingly nowhere in the near future, he and his fellow Marines will start basic training again in January. They've already got their preliminary orders: In July, he'll ship out again, this time to Fallujah.
Ellie
After Iraq, home is sweeter
Marine, 25, enjoys respite before return to action
By ALLISON STEELE
Monitor staff
October 10. 2005 8:00AM
Aaron Keller knew something was up. During the time it took for him and his father to drive from Rochester to Concord, Keller's mother called twice to see where they were. When Keller and his father David turned up West Street, where Keller's mother Deb Lamoureux lives with Keller's brother, the parked cars lining the street were a dead giveaway.
So by the time Keller came up the driveway and saw friends and family members in the yard, balloons and yellow ribbons everywhere, it wasn't exactly a surprise. But it still felt pretty great, he said.
"A lot of these people I haven't seen in a long time," said Keller, 25, a lance corporal with the U.S. Marines who just finished serving in Iraq. "This is what being home is all about."
Lamoureux started organizing the surprise party for her son when she learned he'd be coming home. Keller had been in Iraq since February, an infantryman who spent much of his time overseas on the front lines.
Keller landed in the states last month, then headed to Cancun, Mexico, with a few of his friends for a week. After popping in to see his mother, he headed up to Rochester to spend time with his father and friends. When he returned to his mother's house yesterday, it was to a cheering, clapping crowd.
Yesterday, more than 50 friends and relatives gathered to welcome him back. They cheered, toasted him with beers, cranked the music, slapped Keller on the back and passed around photographs. It was good to have him back, they said.
"I love this kid, he's like my brother," said Ryan Luczynski, 25, who used to play hockey with Keller and has known him for years. "It was weird, having him over there - I definitely would think about it from time to time. When I heard he was back, I couldn't miss this."
Guests milled around yesterday, checking out the photographs Keller had e-mailed from Iraq: Keller with his elbows propped on his gun, Keller sprawled in the sand during some down time, eating Skittles with his machine gun nearby on the ground, casually pointed towards him, a Black Hawk helicopter taking off, a sandstorm, the sun setting over the desert.
A few years ago, when Keller was a student and hockey player at Plymouth State University, he would have had a hard time imagining himself in those pictures. But he decided to enlist after the war began, something he said ended up being one of his best decisions. Soon after finishing boot camp, he found himself in Iraq.
"My mom didn't want me to join up, because of the war," Keller said yesterday. "But I wanted to get out of here, get out and do something with myself."
In Iraq, Keller spent three months traveling around the desert and to different towns, and the rest of the time at a base. He and his fellow Marines were often at the heart of the fighting, and Keller took part in street fighting and other intense missions. He became accustomed to hearing explosives landing nearby several times a day, and he tried not to worry his parents when he called home.
"I told my mom all the time, 'I'm not doing anything too dangerous, mom, nothing big,'" Keller said. "But she knew. She'd watch TV and see what was going on in places where I was."
Lamoureux is a proud Marine mom. In a corner of her dining room is a photograph of Keller in uniform, along with the plaque he received when he completed boot camp last year. She hung a banner up on an overpass over Interstate 93 to welcome him back, and has doted on him a little since he returned. Though she's not sure she agrees with the war in Iraq, she tries to believe in it because she believes in her son. And she takes comfort in the things he told her about the work he was doing there - as well as the smaller things, like his stories of watching shooting stars fall across the nighttime sky over the desert.
"It was just such a long time to have him gone, and I worried so much, " she said. "And now I just want to brag about him to everyone."
Doris Begin, Keller's grandmother, said Keller seems more mature than before he went into the service.
"But he did say the first thing he wanted to do was sit on the couch and use the remote," she said.
Keller, now back in the states for almost a month, said returning to New England was a serious culture shock at first.
"Everything looked pretty weird, really green," he said. "I've been away for a long time, but when I look back it feels like it just flew by. We were always so busy, always moving, I guess we never had time to think about it."
He doesn't have much more time to get re-adjusted to life back home. Next week he'll head back to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina to report back to duty. With the war's end seemingly nowhere in the near future, he and his fellow Marines will start basic training again in January. They've already got their preliminary orders: In July, he'll ship out again, this time to Fallujah.
Ellie