thedrifter
01-03-06, 05:31 AM
Band of cousins bound for war in Iraq
NE Marine reservists leave for training
By Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff | January 3, 2006
Boston Globe
Among about 120 Marine reservists from Massachusetts who begin a year of active duty this morning that will take them to the war in Iraq, three have a special bond. They are a band of cousins, among the younger members of two companies scheduled to leave Devens Reserve Forces Training Area before sunrise today.
Joe Pugsley, of Weymouth, and Ryan Pugsley and Ken Downey, both of Braintree, have known each other since childhood. Their grandfather, the late Arthur Pugsley Jr., was a Marine combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient in the Pacific in World War II before joining a long line of Pugsleys in the Boston Police Department.
''We come from a Marine family, a very close family, as close as you could ever know," said Joe Pugsley, a hotel waiter who at 21 is the oldest of the trio and was the last to join the Marine Reserves. ''I'd be crazy not to be a little nervous, but I've got family going with me so it makes it a little bit easier," he said. ''I just want to go over and do a good job and make sure everybody I go over with comes back safe."
The deployment of the three young lance corporal reservists has taken an emotional toll.
''It's kind of hitting the family pretty hard," said Downey, also 21, who is taking a leave of absence from Bridgewater State College, where he is studying aviation science.
''I've known my cousins since I was a little kid, and now I'm going off to war with them," said Downey, who described himself as ''excited to serve my country and do my part."
The youngest cousin, Ryan Pugsley, a 20-year-old hotel clerk, transferred from another unit to train with his cousins in the Devens-based reserve unit, the Headquarters and Service Company of the First Battalion, 25th Regiment, Fourth Marine Division.
About 1,000 other reservists in the battalion are from other New England states, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. All are bound for the Marine Corps training facility at Twentynine Palms, Calif.
''They will undergo about three months of rigorous training in counter-insurgency, learning all the tactics, and then go to Iraq for about seven months," Gunnery Sergeant Pete Walz, the public affairs chief at Devens in Ayer, said yesterday.
Although polls suggest a majority of Americans are ambivalent or opposed to the war in Iraq, the Marines interviewed by the Globe have no doubt about the importance of the mission.
They are carpenters, contractors, and corrections officers. Most are husbands and fathers. For some, this is not the first call-up that has taken them away from family life.
For Sergeant Mark Sabourin, a 36-year-old union carpenter and father of three from Bellingham, this is his third activation since he joined the reserves in 1989. In 1990-91, he was in the first wave into Kuwait during the first Persian Gulf War. Two years ago, he was called up for homeland security duty at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and then assigned to Okinawa, Japan.
By right, Marine reservists called up a second time within two years can refuse activation. Sabourin was among many in his unit who did not, according to Walz.
''I volunteered," said Sabourin, a platoon sergeant and assistant radio chief. ''I enjoy fighting for freedom because I want my kids to grow up the way we did."
More than many of the reservists, Staff Sergeant Robert D. Voss II of Wareham is experienced in the Marine ethic. He served 5 1/2 years of active duty as a Marine security guard, with assignments at US embassies in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, before joining the reserves.
''I do what I've been told to do," said Voss, 30, and now a corrections officer at the Barnstable County House of Correction and father of a 2-year-old daughter. ''You get called up, you go. I've been a Marine for almost eight years. You get used to it."
Mark Wills of Waltham was in his 30s when he fulfilled a lifelong ambition and enlisted in the Marine reserves after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Now 36 and owner of an irrigation contracting company, he will leave behind his wife, Charlotte, who was his high school sweetheart, and two children, ages 10 and 6.
Ten members of his Marine unit attended an emotional farewell party with friends and family Friday at a Waltham hotel.
''There was the last dance with my mom," he said of his mother, Mary Wills. ''I'm her only son and going off to war, so she's got a little apprehension and she's nervous," Wills said. ''And then me with my wife. She started crying. But I couldn't do this without her. She's the backbone, raising my family and running the business."
''I'm very nervous," Charlotte Wills said in an interview yesterday. ''But I'm very proud. I know this is something he wants to do. He always wanted to be a Marine and give something back to his country. All our spirits are kind of low right now, but we'll get there. I'll be there 100 percent for him."
Ellie
NE Marine reservists leave for training
By Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff | January 3, 2006
Boston Globe
Among about 120 Marine reservists from Massachusetts who begin a year of active duty this morning that will take them to the war in Iraq, three have a special bond. They are a band of cousins, among the younger members of two companies scheduled to leave Devens Reserve Forces Training Area before sunrise today.
Joe Pugsley, of Weymouth, and Ryan Pugsley and Ken Downey, both of Braintree, have known each other since childhood. Their grandfather, the late Arthur Pugsley Jr., was a Marine combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient in the Pacific in World War II before joining a long line of Pugsleys in the Boston Police Department.
''We come from a Marine family, a very close family, as close as you could ever know," said Joe Pugsley, a hotel waiter who at 21 is the oldest of the trio and was the last to join the Marine Reserves. ''I'd be crazy not to be a little nervous, but I've got family going with me so it makes it a little bit easier," he said. ''I just want to go over and do a good job and make sure everybody I go over with comes back safe."
The deployment of the three young lance corporal reservists has taken an emotional toll.
''It's kind of hitting the family pretty hard," said Downey, also 21, who is taking a leave of absence from Bridgewater State College, where he is studying aviation science.
''I've known my cousins since I was a little kid, and now I'm going off to war with them," said Downey, who described himself as ''excited to serve my country and do my part."
The youngest cousin, Ryan Pugsley, a 20-year-old hotel clerk, transferred from another unit to train with his cousins in the Devens-based reserve unit, the Headquarters and Service Company of the First Battalion, 25th Regiment, Fourth Marine Division.
About 1,000 other reservists in the battalion are from other New England states, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. All are bound for the Marine Corps training facility at Twentynine Palms, Calif.
''They will undergo about three months of rigorous training in counter-insurgency, learning all the tactics, and then go to Iraq for about seven months," Gunnery Sergeant Pete Walz, the public affairs chief at Devens in Ayer, said yesterday.
Although polls suggest a majority of Americans are ambivalent or opposed to the war in Iraq, the Marines interviewed by the Globe have no doubt about the importance of the mission.
They are carpenters, contractors, and corrections officers. Most are husbands and fathers. For some, this is not the first call-up that has taken them away from family life.
For Sergeant Mark Sabourin, a 36-year-old union carpenter and father of three from Bellingham, this is his third activation since he joined the reserves in 1989. In 1990-91, he was in the first wave into Kuwait during the first Persian Gulf War. Two years ago, he was called up for homeland security duty at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and then assigned to Okinawa, Japan.
By right, Marine reservists called up a second time within two years can refuse activation. Sabourin was among many in his unit who did not, according to Walz.
''I volunteered," said Sabourin, a platoon sergeant and assistant radio chief. ''I enjoy fighting for freedom because I want my kids to grow up the way we did."
More than many of the reservists, Staff Sergeant Robert D. Voss II of Wareham is experienced in the Marine ethic. He served 5 1/2 years of active duty as a Marine security guard, with assignments at US embassies in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, before joining the reserves.
''I do what I've been told to do," said Voss, 30, and now a corrections officer at the Barnstable County House of Correction and father of a 2-year-old daughter. ''You get called up, you go. I've been a Marine for almost eight years. You get used to it."
Mark Wills of Waltham was in his 30s when he fulfilled a lifelong ambition and enlisted in the Marine reserves after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Now 36 and owner of an irrigation contracting company, he will leave behind his wife, Charlotte, who was his high school sweetheart, and two children, ages 10 and 6.
Ten members of his Marine unit attended an emotional farewell party with friends and family Friday at a Waltham hotel.
''There was the last dance with my mom," he said of his mother, Mary Wills. ''I'm her only son and going off to war, so she's got a little apprehension and she's nervous," Wills said. ''And then me with my wife. She started crying. But I couldn't do this without her. She's the backbone, raising my family and running the business."
''I'm very nervous," Charlotte Wills said in an interview yesterday. ''But I'm very proud. I know this is something he wants to do. He always wanted to be a Marine and give something back to his country. All our spirits are kind of low right now, but we'll get there. I'll be there 100 percent for him."
Ellie