thedrifter
05-16-06, 05:19 AM
'Mike' Battery's Marines leave today on way to Iraq
Monday, May 15, 2006, at 3:57 p.m. -
By Angie Herrington
Staff Writer
As Lance Cpl. Jeff Ruark puts it, “his time has come.”
The Bryan College student said he joined the Marine Corps just a few months after the war began in Iraq and has been awaiting deployment. Now, two years later, he’s finally getting his chance.
Lance Cpl. Ruark and 32 other Marines in the Chattanooga-based “Mike” Battery — Battery M, 4th Battalion, 14th Marines — will leave next Monday for a journey that will place them in Iraq this summer.
“I don’t want to look back at my time in the Marines and not have gotten to go to Iraq the whole time the war was going on,” he said.
First Sgt. Jessie D. Smith, family readiness coordinator, said the Marines will train in North Carolina and California before going overseas for seven months.
Today, the 33 Marines attended classes dealing with finances and taking college courses while deployed.
“They’re excited,” First Sgt. Smith said. “This is our job. This is what we do.”
E-mail Angie Herrington at aherrington@timesfreepress.com
Ellie
Monday, May 15, 2006, at 3:57 p.m. -
By Angie Herrington
Staff Writer
As Lance Cpl. Jeff Ruark puts it, “his time has come.”
The Bryan College student said he joined the Marine Corps just a few months after the war began in Iraq and has been awaiting deployment. Now, two years later, he’s finally getting his chance.
Lance Cpl. Ruark and 32 other Marines in the Chattanooga-based “Mike” Battery — Battery M, 4th Battalion, 14th Marines — will leave next Monday for a journey that will place them in Iraq this summer.
“I don’t want to look back at my time in the Marines and not have gotten to go to Iraq the whole time the war was going on,” he said.
First Sgt. Jessie D. Smith, family readiness coordinator, said the Marines will train in North Carolina and California before going overseas for seven months.
Today, the 33 Marines attended classes dealing with finances and taking college courses while deployed.
“They’re excited,” First Sgt. Smith said. “This is our job. This is what we do.”
E-mail Angie Herrington at aherrington@timesfreepress.com
Ellie