thedrifter
01-09-06, 09:59 AM
Families fret as Marines head to war
Unit known as `3-5' draws the most peril
By Tony Perry
Los Angeles Times
Posted January 9 2006
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. · In the predawn chill on Saturday, Anna Plank of Huntington Beach was here to see her 21-year-old son, Marine Cpl. Jason Plank, begin the trip back to Iraq for his third tour of duty.
The waiting and worrying never get easier for the families of Marines, particularly those of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment, 1st Marine Division, which has a reputation for drawing the most dangerous of assignments.
"You pray a lot and you stay busy, and you wait for those phone calls and letters to arrive," Anna Plank said.
But there is something else that family members pray never arrives: an official car with an officer or senior enlisted soldier, possibly accompanied by a chaplain. That's how the Marine Corps notifies families that a loved one has been killed.
"During his last deployment, I saw an official car in the neighborhood, and I immediately ran upstairs and closed the door as if that could stop it," said Plank, a tear on her cheek at the memory. "But it wasn't that, thank God."
Among the hundreds of family members who gathered to see 300 Marines and sailors board buses that would take them to a nearby airport, fear of the "knock on the door" was a shared experience.
"I remember one day an officer came to our office complex and my heart stopped, it just stopped," said Julie Galaviz of Whittier, whose son, Lance Cpl. Joshua Tallis, 21, is returning to Iraq for a third tour.
The 3-5, as it is known, is the first battalion from Camp Pendleton to depart for Iraq as the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force begins to relieve troops from Camp Lejeune, N.C., in violence-plagued al-Anbar province west of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.
In 2003, three Marines from the battalion were killed in Iraq.
In 2004, 19 were killed, most in the November fight to wrest control of Fallujah from the insurgents. The 3-5 was one of the lead units in the assault.
Now the battalion is returning to Fallujah for a seven-month deployment to help train Iraqi security forces, although that assignment could change if U.S. commanders order an assault on insurgent strongholds.
An estimated two-thirds of the battalion's 1,000 Marines have made at least one deployment to Iraq. Like the Marines, family members have developed strategies for survival.
"You need to surround yourself with friends and family, and stay focused," said Lauren Maricic, 23, of Ontario, Calif., whose husband, Cpl. Miles Nelson, 21, is returning for a third tour.
"And the friends and family members have to be ready to get a phone call at 2 o'clock in the morning if you need support," she said.
Hayley Lynn, 18, of La Crescenta married Lance Cpl. Chad Lynn, 19, on Tuesday at a chapel in Las Vegas.
As his departure to Iraq for his first tour grew closer, she extracted a promise.
"He promised me that he wouldn't die," she said.The Los Angeles Times is a Tribune Co. newspaper.
Ellie
Unit known as `3-5' draws the most peril
By Tony Perry
Los Angeles Times
Posted January 9 2006
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. · In the predawn chill on Saturday, Anna Plank of Huntington Beach was here to see her 21-year-old son, Marine Cpl. Jason Plank, begin the trip back to Iraq for his third tour of duty.
The waiting and worrying never get easier for the families of Marines, particularly those of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment, 1st Marine Division, which has a reputation for drawing the most dangerous of assignments.
"You pray a lot and you stay busy, and you wait for those phone calls and letters to arrive," Anna Plank said.
But there is something else that family members pray never arrives: an official car with an officer or senior enlisted soldier, possibly accompanied by a chaplain. That's how the Marine Corps notifies families that a loved one has been killed.
"During his last deployment, I saw an official car in the neighborhood, and I immediately ran upstairs and closed the door as if that could stop it," said Plank, a tear on her cheek at the memory. "But it wasn't that, thank God."
Among the hundreds of family members who gathered to see 300 Marines and sailors board buses that would take them to a nearby airport, fear of the "knock on the door" was a shared experience.
"I remember one day an officer came to our office complex and my heart stopped, it just stopped," said Julie Galaviz of Whittier, whose son, Lance Cpl. Joshua Tallis, 21, is returning to Iraq for a third tour.
The 3-5, as it is known, is the first battalion from Camp Pendleton to depart for Iraq as the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force begins to relieve troops from Camp Lejeune, N.C., in violence-plagued al-Anbar province west of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.
In 2003, three Marines from the battalion were killed in Iraq.
In 2004, 19 were killed, most in the November fight to wrest control of Fallujah from the insurgents. The 3-5 was one of the lead units in the assault.
Now the battalion is returning to Fallujah for a seven-month deployment to help train Iraqi security forces, although that assignment could change if U.S. commanders order an assault on insurgent strongholds.
An estimated two-thirds of the battalion's 1,000 Marines have made at least one deployment to Iraq. Like the Marines, family members have developed strategies for survival.
"You need to surround yourself with friends and family, and stay focused," said Lauren Maricic, 23, of Ontario, Calif., whose husband, Cpl. Miles Nelson, 21, is returning for a third tour.
"And the friends and family members have to be ready to get a phone call at 2 o'clock in the morning if you need support," she said.
Hayley Lynn, 18, of La Crescenta married Lance Cpl. Chad Lynn, 19, on Tuesday at a chapel in Las Vegas.
As his departure to Iraq for his first tour grew closer, she extracted a promise.
"He promised me that he wouldn't die," she said.The Los Angeles Times is a Tribune Co. newspaper.
Ellie