thedrifter
04-29-06, 11:19 AM
At a Marine base in desert, home ties help
Keeping up with family adds normalcy
Charles Crain, Correspondent
AL ASAD AIR BASE, IRAQ - Master Sgt. Tony Sexton likes to read a Sunday home-state newspaper and enjoy a cup of coffee brewed with beans bought in Durham. But these comforts of home come by mail to the High Point native while he serves a six-month deployment in Iraq.
Helicopter Squadron 269, based at Marine Corps Air Station New River in Jacksonville, N.C., flies and maintains choppers at this air base in the desert northwest of Baghdad.
But with many of these Marines on their second or third deployment to Iraq, they've settled into a rhythm and are treating Iraq almost as a home away from home, complete with coffee beans.
"I brought my grinder out here," said Sexton, 41. "I'm living large."
Unlike most air units, Squadron 269 flies and maintains two kinds of aircraft -- Cobra attack choppers armed with heavy guns and sophisticated missiles, and Huey transports armed with heavy machine guns. The unit transports Marines and soldiers, evacuates the wounded and provides air support to troops on the ground.
Sexton, a 23-year veteran with a neatly trimmed mustache, heads the avionics shop, maintaining communication and navigation systems. Other shops are responsible for body work, maintaining and loading weapons, and dealing with mechanical issues such as engine and transmission trouble. The shops are in plain one-story buildings that predate the 2003 invasion.
Organized workplace
Today, plywood barriers divide the rooms into main work areas and offices. Parts and manuals sit on wooden tables and work benches; plastic folders for paperwork hang from the walls.
Beyond the squadron's headquarters at al Asad, the gray helicopters sit on the airfield. Beyond them, the Iraqi desert stretches off to the horizon.
"You think of the desert and harsh living, but it's actually not too bad," said Cpl. Jennifer Middleton, 21, a mechanic from Chicago. "There's nothing really to complain about except being away from home."
Sexton, on his third deployment in Iraq, said life at al Asad has improved. "It's getting better every time," he said. "Less indirect fire this time around."
Sexton has two daughters: a 13-year old and a junior at N.C. State University.
Like the other Marines in the squadron, he keeps in touch with his family through the base's phone centers and Internet cafes. Many of the Marines can now send e-mail from the office.
Sexton e-mails his daughters often and calls them about once a week.
Sometimes his schedule isn't the one the family needs to work around.
"If I want to get ahold of my older daughter," Sexton said, "I should know better than to call at 7:30 in the morning."
Some Marines said they deliberately limit how often they call home.
Maj. Edward Sager, 36, one of the squadron's pilots, said he calls his wife in Raleigh every week or two.
"The more I call, the more I end up missing her," he said. "We spend a lot of time just chatting back and forth on e-mail."
Echoing many of his comrades, Staff Sgt. Larry Lowe, 33, of Gary, Ind., said being isolated and confined to the air base made it easier to focus on work.
"There are no distractions out here," Lowe said. "No one has to go anywhere, no one has appointments."
That single-mindedness comes in handy as crews work to maintain aircraft that are being flown hard in hot and dusty conditions.
"There are a lot of things that can go wrong out here," Sexton said. "These aircraft have been out here a long time."
While many of the Marines said they were happy to be putting their training to good use in wartime, they also look forward to returning home for good.
"Everybody always wants to get out there and test their mettle," Sager said. "At the same time, am I looking for a way to wrap this up? Absolutely!"
Ellie
Keeping up with family adds normalcy
Charles Crain, Correspondent
AL ASAD AIR BASE, IRAQ - Master Sgt. Tony Sexton likes to read a Sunday home-state newspaper and enjoy a cup of coffee brewed with beans bought in Durham. But these comforts of home come by mail to the High Point native while he serves a six-month deployment in Iraq.
Helicopter Squadron 269, based at Marine Corps Air Station New River in Jacksonville, N.C., flies and maintains choppers at this air base in the desert northwest of Baghdad.
But with many of these Marines on their second or third deployment to Iraq, they've settled into a rhythm and are treating Iraq almost as a home away from home, complete with coffee beans.
"I brought my grinder out here," said Sexton, 41. "I'm living large."
Unlike most air units, Squadron 269 flies and maintains two kinds of aircraft -- Cobra attack choppers armed with heavy guns and sophisticated missiles, and Huey transports armed with heavy machine guns. The unit transports Marines and soldiers, evacuates the wounded and provides air support to troops on the ground.
Sexton, a 23-year veteran with a neatly trimmed mustache, heads the avionics shop, maintaining communication and navigation systems. Other shops are responsible for body work, maintaining and loading weapons, and dealing with mechanical issues such as engine and transmission trouble. The shops are in plain one-story buildings that predate the 2003 invasion.
Organized workplace
Today, plywood barriers divide the rooms into main work areas and offices. Parts and manuals sit on wooden tables and work benches; plastic folders for paperwork hang from the walls.
Beyond the squadron's headquarters at al Asad, the gray helicopters sit on the airfield. Beyond them, the Iraqi desert stretches off to the horizon.
"You think of the desert and harsh living, but it's actually not too bad," said Cpl. Jennifer Middleton, 21, a mechanic from Chicago. "There's nothing really to complain about except being away from home."
Sexton, on his third deployment in Iraq, said life at al Asad has improved. "It's getting better every time," he said. "Less indirect fire this time around."
Sexton has two daughters: a 13-year old and a junior at N.C. State University.
Like the other Marines in the squadron, he keeps in touch with his family through the base's phone centers and Internet cafes. Many of the Marines can now send e-mail from the office.
Sexton e-mails his daughters often and calls them about once a week.
Sometimes his schedule isn't the one the family needs to work around.
"If I want to get ahold of my older daughter," Sexton said, "I should know better than to call at 7:30 in the morning."
Some Marines said they deliberately limit how often they call home.
Maj. Edward Sager, 36, one of the squadron's pilots, said he calls his wife in Raleigh every week or two.
"The more I call, the more I end up missing her," he said. "We spend a lot of time just chatting back and forth on e-mail."
Echoing many of his comrades, Staff Sgt. Larry Lowe, 33, of Gary, Ind., said being isolated and confined to the air base made it easier to focus on work.
"There are no distractions out here," Lowe said. "No one has to go anywhere, no one has appointments."
That single-mindedness comes in handy as crews work to maintain aircraft that are being flown hard in hot and dusty conditions.
"There are a lot of things that can go wrong out here," Sexton said. "These aircraft have been out here a long time."
While many of the Marines said they were happy to be putting their training to good use in wartime, they also look forward to returning home for good.
"Everybody always wants to get out there and test their mettle," Sager said. "At the same time, am I looking for a way to wrap this up? Absolutely!"
Ellie