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thedrifter
10-14-05, 04:58 AM
BACK FROM IRAQ
Marine safely returns to Newark after tour
By L.B. WHYDE
Advocate Reporter

NEWARK -- Fresh out of boot camp and numerous training classes, 23-year-old Marine Josh Ricker, of Newark, didn't actually look forward to being deployed in Iraq last March with the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, but he knew it was part of his commitment to the U.S. Marine Corps.

Now, seven months later and at home, Ricker has a new perspective on the life he values more.

"When I first got there, I was like 'Wow, a vacation with a M-16,'" Ricker said. "Then it started to suck. I thought I would see more action. I was in the rear, but I did volunteer for convoys, always as a gunner. At first, we had one every other day. Then in July, we stopped having them, maybe only once every two weeks."

The Marines of the 3rd, 25th suffered 48 deaths, including that of Devon Seymour, 21, of St. Louisville. Ricker, a 2000 graduate of Licking Valley, was not a member of Lima Company, which received the most losses, but did get to know Seymour while they had 'chow' duty together on training missions in Twentynine Palms, Calif. He found out about Seymour's death from reading the killed-in-action (KIA) list posted everyday.

"It sucks when you know someone," Ricker said. "I don't know how to explain it."

Ricker had always wanted to join the Marines, and did so when he was 21.

As part of the Headquarters & Supply Company, he was a mechanic in the motor pool. The company was stationed at Haditha Dam, in the Al Anbar Province, with a unit from Azerbaijan that was protecting a dam. His daily routine was to report to the motor pool by 7:30 a.m. and work until the trucks that were needed for that day were completed.

"I was really uneducated on our role there. I was not very political," Ricker admits. "The Iraqi people were scared. I think they feel safer now, but I don't think they are ready to run their country. I think we are winning. It just seems we can't get rid of the insurgents."

Ricker says that his company accomplished a lot while at the dam, helping to ensure a continual power supply for the Iraqis.

Ricker occasionally came into contact with men in the Iraqi Army and even tried to learn Arabic as he purchased Iraqi money from them. "Iraq Army guys weren't too bad," Ricker said, adding that many of them were just trying to get by.

While Ricker handles his deployment with the carefree attitude of a young man, his father Roger and stepmother Candy Ricker, of Hopewell Township, lived day by day. When her stepson told her about the convoys he was going on, Candy was on pins and needles.

Life became extremely difficult after the Rickers heard the news of Lima Company's casualities. Candy was unable to go to work at State Farm in New Albany the day after the first six were killed.

"You don't know who to call. You are lost," Candy said. "I called the Red Cross, and finally the key volunteer, and I was told Josh was not on the list."

But then the next day, 14 more of the 3rd, 25th were killed. This time Candy called Brook Park, near Cleveland, where the H & S Company is headquartered. She was told that not everyone had been informed yet and she would have to wait, which was not easy to do. Tears well up in her eyes when she remembers that week.

"It was the longest four days of my life," Candy said. "We were overwhelmed that he wasn't one of the causalities. I had people praying at work for him, and they were so happy he was coming home."

The one good thing that happened to Ricker while he was deployed was meeting his girlfriend, Holly Weber, 26, of Stow. Through mutual friends, the two started dating and talking over the Internet. Living near the H & S Company's headquarters in Brook Park, Weber took flowers to the base after the first casualities. Weber also tears up when she remembers that week.

"Even though we were only talking on the phone and Internet, I still cared about Josh," Weber said. "I would sit in front of the computer and wait for his name to pop up."

Though he is home, Ricker is still on active duty until next January. Then he will be on reserve duty until 2008. During that time, Ricker has plans to go back to school to become a personal trainer.

Lois Whyde can be reached at (740) 328-8513 or lwhyde@nncogannett.com

Ellie