thedrifter
11-28-05, 06:20 AM
Four best friends to serve in Iraq together
gainesville.com
When Marine reservist Daniel Bowman volunteered to serve in Iraq with another platoon, his three best friends in Gainesville were worried.
Not because they didn't want the recent Santa Fe Community College graduate to go, but because they didn't want him to go without them.
"I couldn't handle Bowman being out there without me there to help if anything happened," said Ryan Riker, one of the best friends, who's a senior history major at the University of Florida.
Bowman, 21, was not chosen to serve in that earlier mission, but today he, Riker, 22, and two other best friends, Jonathan Bowling, 20, and Alex Hayes, 23, begin a deployment together. The four, each lance corporals in the same platoon, will spend 10 months guarding the Haditha Dam on the Euphrates River in Iraq. The hydroelectric dam provides energy to about two-thirds of Iraq.
Bowling, a Gainesville native and SFCC criminology student, spent the day Sunday packing his sea bags for the trip. It will be his first time abroad, except for one vacation to the Bahamas.
Sporting a fresh "jarhead" Marine haircut, Bowling said he's "trying to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. I want to go there and do my best, and most of all I hope we all come back alive.
"I don't think anybody can say they're not scared to go over there."
Bowling, Riker and Hayes, who's a senior in family youth sciences at UF, each dropped out of their fall classes when they found out two months ago that they would have to deploy. Each was reimbursed for his tuition, and each plans to return to school when the deployment ends.
Hayes said he has mixed feelings about the deployment. It's hard to leave when he's so close to graduating, and it's hard to say "goodbye" to his girlfriend, he said, but at the same time, "it's what I signed up for," and he's taking three of his closest friends with him.
The foursome met during MOS (military occupational specialty) training about two years ago. Later, they all lived in Gainesville, worked the same part-time jobs at Showcase Restorations, a home improvement company, and went out together on weekends.
The foursome are trained to operate amphibious assault vehicles, which operate like tanks on land and like boats on water. But their mission calls for work on CRRC (Combat Rubber Recognizance Craft), or Zodiac, boats. So they'll spend the next several months at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C., for training on the new boats and the four to five machine guns they'll be equipped with onboard.
They're expected to leave for Iraq in March.
The Marines said they approve of the war effort despite increasing public demands for it to end.
"I know everything's messed up politically now. I just hope everyone stays supportive of the troops," Hayes said.
Riker said he knew deployment was in his future before he joined the Marines, and, in fact, the war in Iraq was the reason he joined.
"The night President Bush addressed the United Nations and said you're either with us or against us, that was the night I decided I would talk to a recruiter," Riker said. "I felt I had the mental and physical strength to do it, so why not me?"
Tiffany Pakkala can be reached at (352) 338-3111 or pakkalt@gvillesun.com
Ellie
gainesville.com
When Marine reservist Daniel Bowman volunteered to serve in Iraq with another platoon, his three best friends in Gainesville were worried.
Not because they didn't want the recent Santa Fe Community College graduate to go, but because they didn't want him to go without them.
"I couldn't handle Bowman being out there without me there to help if anything happened," said Ryan Riker, one of the best friends, who's a senior history major at the University of Florida.
Bowman, 21, was not chosen to serve in that earlier mission, but today he, Riker, 22, and two other best friends, Jonathan Bowling, 20, and Alex Hayes, 23, begin a deployment together. The four, each lance corporals in the same platoon, will spend 10 months guarding the Haditha Dam on the Euphrates River in Iraq. The hydroelectric dam provides energy to about two-thirds of Iraq.
Bowling, a Gainesville native and SFCC criminology student, spent the day Sunday packing his sea bags for the trip. It will be his first time abroad, except for one vacation to the Bahamas.
Sporting a fresh "jarhead" Marine haircut, Bowling said he's "trying to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. I want to go there and do my best, and most of all I hope we all come back alive.
"I don't think anybody can say they're not scared to go over there."
Bowling, Riker and Hayes, who's a senior in family youth sciences at UF, each dropped out of their fall classes when they found out two months ago that they would have to deploy. Each was reimbursed for his tuition, and each plans to return to school when the deployment ends.
Hayes said he has mixed feelings about the deployment. It's hard to leave when he's so close to graduating, and it's hard to say "goodbye" to his girlfriend, he said, but at the same time, "it's what I signed up for," and he's taking three of his closest friends with him.
The foursome met during MOS (military occupational specialty) training about two years ago. Later, they all lived in Gainesville, worked the same part-time jobs at Showcase Restorations, a home improvement company, and went out together on weekends.
The foursome are trained to operate amphibious assault vehicles, which operate like tanks on land and like boats on water. But their mission calls for work on CRRC (Combat Rubber Recognizance Craft), or Zodiac, boats. So they'll spend the next several months at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C., for training on the new boats and the four to five machine guns they'll be equipped with onboard.
They're expected to leave for Iraq in March.
The Marines said they approve of the war effort despite increasing public demands for it to end.
"I know everything's messed up politically now. I just hope everyone stays supportive of the troops," Hayes said.
Riker said he knew deployment was in his future before he joined the Marines, and, in fact, the war in Iraq was the reason he joined.
"The night President Bush addressed the United Nations and said you're either with us or against us, that was the night I decided I would talk to a recruiter," Riker said. "I felt I had the mental and physical strength to do it, so why not me?"
Tiffany Pakkala can be reached at (352) 338-3111 or pakkalt@gvillesun.com
Ellie