thedrifter
10-29-05, 08:24 AM
Marines with a mission: Lansing-area families are proud of their men
By T.M. Shultz • Lansing State Journal
Next spring, Denise Barone's only son will leave Mason - most likely for Iraq - and trade a world of certainty and safety for one of confusion and danger.
Her son, Lance Cpl. Jason Roenicke, 21, and more than 100 other Marine Corps Reservists from Lansing's Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, expect to get their orders as early as January. They could leave in May or June.
"It's very hard," Barone said as she stood inside the Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Center on Saginaw Street during Charlie Company's recent Family Day.
"He wants to help things be better in the world and not just sit around doing nothing," Barone explained.
"I feel extremely proud for that, but I'm also extremely afraid."
She isn't alone.
Other parents have been through this before.
Richard Ochoa of Muskegon said this tour will be the second for his son, Lance Cpl. Jonathan Ochoa.
Waiting out his son's first deployment was wrenching: "I felt like I was going to go out of my mind."
But his son thought he could do some good in Iraq.
"He has a heart for protecting people," his father said.
Jonathan, 21, is ready to go back.
"He volunteered," Ochoa said. "I can't say that I understand it."
Tools of the trade
Outside the reserve center under an overcast sky, an array of bristling weapons lay on tarps in the parking lot.
When your job is to locate, close with and destroy the enemy, it pays to have choices.
Family members were encouraged to examine the tools of Charlie Company's trade: the M16 equipped with ACOG (advanced combat optical gunsight), the squad automatic weapon, the MK19 grenade machine gun, the shoulder-launched multipurpose assault weapon.
"The ACOG sights are excellent. I used them in Iraq both times," said Sgt. Jeffrey Pioszak of Mason.
He was part of the Marine contingent that entered Baghdad's Firdos Square on April 9, 2003. He watched as his comrades helped Iraqi citizens topple a huge statue of Saddam Hussein.
Pioszak was in Iraq again - this time in Fallujah - from January to June of 2004.
Now he wants to go back a third time.
"It's what I'm good at," he said in between well-placed spits of tobacco juice. Besides, he said, staring at the ground, in the civilian world, "there's no jobs for infantry Marines."
Getting the news out
When young Marines deploy, usually the last people to learn the details are their parents.
"Your average 18-year-old doesn't tell his mom anything," said Maj. Kevin Yeo, Charlie Company's commanding officer. "He just doesn't."
So while their sons are gone, families rely on one another for support.
That's why such groups as the Marine Corps' Key Volunteer Network is so important. It becomes the main source of information for their families.
Usually the network is mostly made up of wives. But because Charlie Company has so many single young men, it's mainly parents who'll be left behind, said Nancy Johnson of Holt, whose husband Don is the key volunteer coordinator.
The Marine Corps uses a phone tree when it needs to get information to the families.
When families have questions, they call the key volunteer coordinator.
Nancy's son, Cpl. Kevin Johnson, also has been to Iraq before, so Nancy knows what it's like.
"Probably the hardest thing when they're gone is that you don't get a lot of information," she said.
"But if a Marine is wounded or killed, the family is notified very, very quickly," Nancy said. "So usually, no news is good news."
Reassuring words
Maj. Yeo - a Marine for 18 years - is Charlie Company's new commanding officer.
"I've said goodbye to him so many times," said his wife, Andrea, of Farmington. "I have a lot of faith in him."
During the day's change of command ceremony, Yeo told the dozens of parents, wives and assorted relatives assembled on the grassy lawn outside the center that he would take care of "their Marines."
"I want you to know the responsibility I feel," he said.
Later, Denise Barone said she's confident her son is learning the things he needs to stay alive. She tries not to let him see her fear.
'Watch your back'
"The only thing I ever say is just 'watch your back.' You can't trust anybody. It's a different war. A man, a woman, a dog, anybody could hurt him."
It's frustrating, Barone said.
"You train your kids to be respectful, to look out for women and children. But when you go over there, it could be the women and children that attack you. It's all different. You have to be careful of even a child," she said slowly, shaking her head in disbelief.
Mostly, she said, she just wants to hug her son all the time.
Ellie
By T.M. Shultz • Lansing State Journal
Next spring, Denise Barone's only son will leave Mason - most likely for Iraq - and trade a world of certainty and safety for one of confusion and danger.
Her son, Lance Cpl. Jason Roenicke, 21, and more than 100 other Marine Corps Reservists from Lansing's Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, expect to get their orders as early as January. They could leave in May or June.
"It's very hard," Barone said as she stood inside the Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Center on Saginaw Street during Charlie Company's recent Family Day.
"He wants to help things be better in the world and not just sit around doing nothing," Barone explained.
"I feel extremely proud for that, but I'm also extremely afraid."
She isn't alone.
Other parents have been through this before.
Richard Ochoa of Muskegon said this tour will be the second for his son, Lance Cpl. Jonathan Ochoa.
Waiting out his son's first deployment was wrenching: "I felt like I was going to go out of my mind."
But his son thought he could do some good in Iraq.
"He has a heart for protecting people," his father said.
Jonathan, 21, is ready to go back.
"He volunteered," Ochoa said. "I can't say that I understand it."
Tools of the trade
Outside the reserve center under an overcast sky, an array of bristling weapons lay on tarps in the parking lot.
When your job is to locate, close with and destroy the enemy, it pays to have choices.
Family members were encouraged to examine the tools of Charlie Company's trade: the M16 equipped with ACOG (advanced combat optical gunsight), the squad automatic weapon, the MK19 grenade machine gun, the shoulder-launched multipurpose assault weapon.
"The ACOG sights are excellent. I used them in Iraq both times," said Sgt. Jeffrey Pioszak of Mason.
He was part of the Marine contingent that entered Baghdad's Firdos Square on April 9, 2003. He watched as his comrades helped Iraqi citizens topple a huge statue of Saddam Hussein.
Pioszak was in Iraq again - this time in Fallujah - from January to June of 2004.
Now he wants to go back a third time.
"It's what I'm good at," he said in between well-placed spits of tobacco juice. Besides, he said, staring at the ground, in the civilian world, "there's no jobs for infantry Marines."
Getting the news out
When young Marines deploy, usually the last people to learn the details are their parents.
"Your average 18-year-old doesn't tell his mom anything," said Maj. Kevin Yeo, Charlie Company's commanding officer. "He just doesn't."
So while their sons are gone, families rely on one another for support.
That's why such groups as the Marine Corps' Key Volunteer Network is so important. It becomes the main source of information for their families.
Usually the network is mostly made up of wives. But because Charlie Company has so many single young men, it's mainly parents who'll be left behind, said Nancy Johnson of Holt, whose husband Don is the key volunteer coordinator.
The Marine Corps uses a phone tree when it needs to get information to the families.
When families have questions, they call the key volunteer coordinator.
Nancy's son, Cpl. Kevin Johnson, also has been to Iraq before, so Nancy knows what it's like.
"Probably the hardest thing when they're gone is that you don't get a lot of information," she said.
"But if a Marine is wounded or killed, the family is notified very, very quickly," Nancy said. "So usually, no news is good news."
Reassuring words
Maj. Yeo - a Marine for 18 years - is Charlie Company's new commanding officer.
"I've said goodbye to him so many times," said his wife, Andrea, of Farmington. "I have a lot of faith in him."
During the day's change of command ceremony, Yeo told the dozens of parents, wives and assorted relatives assembled on the grassy lawn outside the center that he would take care of "their Marines."
"I want you to know the responsibility I feel," he said.
Later, Denise Barone said she's confident her son is learning the things he needs to stay alive. She tries not to let him see her fear.
'Watch your back'
"The only thing I ever say is just 'watch your back.' You can't trust anybody. It's a different war. A man, a woman, a dog, anybody could hurt him."
It's frustrating, Barone said.
"You train your kids to be respectful, to look out for women and children. But when you go over there, it could be the women and children that attack you. It's all different. You have to be careful of even a child," she said slowly, shaking her head in disbelief.
Mostly, she said, she just wants to hug her son all the time.
Ellie