thedrifter
08-01-06, 07:02 AM
Marines to deploy to Iraq, some for second or third time
BY LORI YOUNT, The Beaufort Gazette
Published Tuesday, August 1, 2006
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT -- Even with only the first few rays of dawn and the unnatural glow of lights from a hangar early Monday, it was clear April Tripepi, pregnant with her second child, was fighting back tears. Her husband, Staff Sgt. Matthew Tripepi, held their 5-month-old son in his arms for the last time for six months. She could only manage to nod when asked whether she was proud of him.
"It's going to be rough, but you got to do what you've got to do," Sgt. Tripepi said with an endearing glance at his wife and her protruding belly. The baby boy is due in October. "I wish I could be here for the birth, but some things are more important."
Tripepi and 35 other Marines from Marine Air Control Squadron 2, Detachment A, left on a bus early Monday for a six-month deployment in central Iraq. Most of them will provide air traffic control at Camp Taqaddum.
Though this is Tripepi's first deployment to Iraq, many Marines in the unit are going there for their second and third times.
Lt. Kapell Eugene said this will be his second deployment as an air-traffic-control watch commander.
"I know a little bit what to expect, but I always have to expect the unexpected," said Eugene, whose two sons didn't make it to his send-off because they and his wife moved back to Memphis, Tenn.
Besides his family, Eugene said he'll miss television commercials from the States. "When you go away, you want to see those corny commercials that come on TV."
Warrant Officer John Yukica said it comforts him in his first deployment to Iraq to be with a group of Marines with experience at this assignment.
"I'm more excited than anything," he said. "And ready to go."
For Cpl. Timmy Cousins, who will work 12-hour shifts fixing air conditioners and generators for the air traffic control operations, his third deployment to the war-torn country feels like more of the same.
"Almost whenever I go there ... it feels like I never left," he said.
He said his parents came to visit him from Houston last weekend, and he plans to eat some Texas barbecue and drink iced tea when he returns.
Fellow Marines "kept telling me the third time's a charm, but I don't know what that means," Cousins said with a smile.
The charter bus will take the Marines to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina, where they're scheduled to leave Wednesday.
Ellie
BY LORI YOUNT, The Beaufort Gazette
Published Tuesday, August 1, 2006
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT -- Even with only the first few rays of dawn and the unnatural glow of lights from a hangar early Monday, it was clear April Tripepi, pregnant with her second child, was fighting back tears. Her husband, Staff Sgt. Matthew Tripepi, held their 5-month-old son in his arms for the last time for six months. She could only manage to nod when asked whether she was proud of him.
"It's going to be rough, but you got to do what you've got to do," Sgt. Tripepi said with an endearing glance at his wife and her protruding belly. The baby boy is due in October. "I wish I could be here for the birth, but some things are more important."
Tripepi and 35 other Marines from Marine Air Control Squadron 2, Detachment A, left on a bus early Monday for a six-month deployment in central Iraq. Most of them will provide air traffic control at Camp Taqaddum.
Though this is Tripepi's first deployment to Iraq, many Marines in the unit are going there for their second and third times.
Lt. Kapell Eugene said this will be his second deployment as an air-traffic-control watch commander.
"I know a little bit what to expect, but I always have to expect the unexpected," said Eugene, whose two sons didn't make it to his send-off because they and his wife moved back to Memphis, Tenn.
Besides his family, Eugene said he'll miss television commercials from the States. "When you go away, you want to see those corny commercials that come on TV."
Warrant Officer John Yukica said it comforts him in his first deployment to Iraq to be with a group of Marines with experience at this assignment.
"I'm more excited than anything," he said. "And ready to go."
For Cpl. Timmy Cousins, who will work 12-hour shifts fixing air conditioners and generators for the air traffic control operations, his third deployment to the war-torn country feels like more of the same.
"Almost whenever I go there ... it feels like I never left," he said.
He said his parents came to visit him from Houston last weekend, and he plans to eat some Texas barbecue and drink iced tea when he returns.
Fellow Marines "kept telling me the third time's a charm, but I don't know what that means," Cousins said with a smile.
The charter bus will take the Marines to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina, where they're scheduled to leave Wednesday.
Ellie