thedrifter
01-08-06, 07:11 AM
With hugs goodbye, Marines off for Iraq
With hugs goodbye, Marines off for Iraq
By Rick Rogers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 8, 2006
CAMP PENDLETON – Pfc. Norman Burge knelt next to his wife and sleeping baby boy and smoked a cigarette. His black rifle leaned against a backpack. Absent-mindedly, he turned his gold wedding band.
Around him, some 300 other Marines also were saying goodbye in the blue dawn before departing for Iraq yesterday.
"I just don't want to leave him behind," said Burge, 22, of his 3-month-old son, Daidyn. "But I guess I don't want to take him with me, either."
Jennifer Burge didn't crack a smile at her husband's quip. She never even heard it. Like many this morning, her mind was on something else.
"I'm just really scared," said Jennifer, 19. "All the wives are really scared, too. I hate it, but what can we do?"
Her husband chimed in as the sun peeked over the nearby mountains, "The sooner we go, the sooner we get back, right?"
He's a radio operator for the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, the first Camp Pendleton unit heading to Iraq this year. This will be his first combat deployment.
By the end of March, his unit will be joined by 25,000 troops, mostly from San Diego County. It will be the region's second massive deployment of service members to support military operations in Iraq.
Yesterday, the Marines and their families spoke sincerely about pride of service and how the deployment should be relatively safer because – at least in theory – Iraqi troops will lead the combat operations.
As Sgt. Steven Browning, a squad leader and father of five, put it: "I'm not going to be entering a room first. It's a lot more secure that way."
Lt. Adrian Pirvu said that with no pending battle on the horizon, his men would concentrate on training the Iraqi troops.
"There will be no mission that we don't partner up with Iraqi forces," said Pirvu, 24. "Their forces are going to take the lead on all operations so that they can be ready when we leave."
The assessments were upbeat and uttered repeatedly. What no one could bring themselves to talk about was what everyone silently feared.
Nearly 300 Camp Pendleton Marines who said goodbye at farewells like yesterday's never returned to their families again. In all, at least 2,194 U.S. troops have been killed since the war in Iraq began in March 2003.
The last time the 3rd Battalion deployed, 16 of its Marines died. Many of those casualties came during the first battle of Fallujah in spring 2004.
That's where Lance Cpl. Cody Turpen was shot in the leg.
The stocky infantry leader, who's returning for his second Iraq tour, is under no illusions this time around.
"Most of the Marines who haven't been to Iraq are like I was: I couldn't wait to get over there and see some action," said Turpen, an expectant father. "But what they are going to find out is that there is a lot of stress. They are going to learn to push themselves longer than they ever thought possible and that they have a bigger heart than they know."
Maj. John Dickens, the battalion's chaplain, said veterans such as Turpen are "a little more sober about war. They know that bullets don't bounce off them. Only a few of the new Marines have jitters. They're not sure if they'll live or die.
"This might be hardest for the families. For many, this is their Marine's second or third deployment, and I think there is resentment."
Rick Rogers: (760) 476-8212; rick.rogers@uniontrib.com
Ellie
With hugs goodbye, Marines off for Iraq
By Rick Rogers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 8, 2006
CAMP PENDLETON – Pfc. Norman Burge knelt next to his wife and sleeping baby boy and smoked a cigarette. His black rifle leaned against a backpack. Absent-mindedly, he turned his gold wedding band.
Around him, some 300 other Marines also were saying goodbye in the blue dawn before departing for Iraq yesterday.
"I just don't want to leave him behind," said Burge, 22, of his 3-month-old son, Daidyn. "But I guess I don't want to take him with me, either."
Jennifer Burge didn't crack a smile at her husband's quip. She never even heard it. Like many this morning, her mind was on something else.
"I'm just really scared," said Jennifer, 19. "All the wives are really scared, too. I hate it, but what can we do?"
Her husband chimed in as the sun peeked over the nearby mountains, "The sooner we go, the sooner we get back, right?"
He's a radio operator for the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, the first Camp Pendleton unit heading to Iraq this year. This will be his first combat deployment.
By the end of March, his unit will be joined by 25,000 troops, mostly from San Diego County. It will be the region's second massive deployment of service members to support military operations in Iraq.
Yesterday, the Marines and their families spoke sincerely about pride of service and how the deployment should be relatively safer because – at least in theory – Iraqi troops will lead the combat operations.
As Sgt. Steven Browning, a squad leader and father of five, put it: "I'm not going to be entering a room first. It's a lot more secure that way."
Lt. Adrian Pirvu said that with no pending battle on the horizon, his men would concentrate on training the Iraqi troops.
"There will be no mission that we don't partner up with Iraqi forces," said Pirvu, 24. "Their forces are going to take the lead on all operations so that they can be ready when we leave."
The assessments were upbeat and uttered repeatedly. What no one could bring themselves to talk about was what everyone silently feared.
Nearly 300 Camp Pendleton Marines who said goodbye at farewells like yesterday's never returned to their families again. In all, at least 2,194 U.S. troops have been killed since the war in Iraq began in March 2003.
The last time the 3rd Battalion deployed, 16 of its Marines died. Many of those casualties came during the first battle of Fallujah in spring 2004.
That's where Lance Cpl. Cody Turpen was shot in the leg.
The stocky infantry leader, who's returning for his second Iraq tour, is under no illusions this time around.
"Most of the Marines who haven't been to Iraq are like I was: I couldn't wait to get over there and see some action," said Turpen, an expectant father. "But what they are going to find out is that there is a lot of stress. They are going to learn to push themselves longer than they ever thought possible and that they have a bigger heart than they know."
Maj. John Dickens, the battalion's chaplain, said veterans such as Turpen are "a little more sober about war. They know that bullets don't bounce off them. Only a few of the new Marines have jitters. They're not sure if they'll live or die.
"This might be hardest for the families. For many, this is their Marine's second or third deployment, and I think there is resentment."
Rick Rogers: (760) 476-8212; rick.rogers@uniontrib.com
Ellie