thedrifter
08-28-06, 12:10 AM
Marine call-up puts life on hold
FW: Possible return to active duty has reservist fighting his emotions
11:13 PM CDT on Sunday, August 27, 2006
By MICHAEL E. YOUNG / The Dallas Morning News
FORT WORTH – When Eric Anderson joined the Marines, his dad figured he would do his five years of active duty stateside, become a part of the Corps brotherhood and grow up a little in the bargain.
But that was before Sept. 11, 2001, "and 9/11 changed everything," Mike Anderson said.
Eric, now 25, did two tours in Iraq and returned home with a 70 percent service-related disability – hearing loss, a sliver of steel in one eye and damage to his ankles, knees, hips, back and shoulders, "but no bullet holes," his father said.
He went back to Tarrant County College, where he'd performed woefully right after high school, and quickly excelled.
"I've got a 3.9-something GPA after 35 hours," he said. "This time, I'm going to every class and studying for every test."
Come January, he wants to enroll at Texas Christian University to study business. At least that had been the plan until his future was turned upside down last week.
That's when the Marine Corps announced that it is calling up former active-duty troops in the Individual Ready Reserve, which is made up mostly of people who have left active duty but still have time left on their eight-year military obligations.
Eric Anderson has two years left.
Waiting for the call
With the Marines stretched thin by various conflicts around the world, and the number of volunteers for active duty running far below needs, the Marines want to call 2,500 reservists back to active duty for tours of 12 to 18 months.
That could mean a year or more at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina or at Camp Pendleton in California. Or it could mean another tour of duty in Iraq.
"They're looking for second- and third-year IRR troops for specific jobs, including combat," Eric Anderson said. "I did my second tour with a combat unit, running convoys and doing patrols through cities, checkpoints, things like that. And I'm in my second year in the IRR."
Marine officials put the IRR pool at about 59,000 members. But reservists in their first or final year are exempt, so those called back to active duty would come from a group of 35,000. The Corps can call up a maximum of 2,500 troops at a time, enough to fill gaps for two overseas rotations.
If he's called back, Mr. Anderson said there's a reasonable chance he'd be assigned to Camp Lejeune to replace a Marine being sent overseas.
The prospect doesn't please him.
"I've been in the rear, doing the support stuff, and it was some of the unhappiest times I spent in the Marines," he said. "I enjoyed what I was doing more when I was overseas, instead of dealing with all the politics.
"I know you hate to hear that," he added, turning to his father.
"I know exactly where you're coming from," said Mike Anderson, a Marine himself who served in Vietnam. "But from the standpoint of being a dad, my point of view is a little clouded compared to how it was when I was your age.
"My dad and I were never as close as Eric and I are," he said. "But as I've told Eric, I understand now why my dad looked so old when I came back from Vietnam. There wasn't a night he didn't walk the floors worrying."
A couple weeks ago, Mike Anderson saw a photo in a newspaper of a Marine carrying two American children to a ship that would take them from Lebanon. He cut it out to show to his students at Sam Houston High School in Arlington, where he teaches history.
That evening, he brought it home for Eric.
"That's my best friend," Eric said, pointing to the Marine in the photo.
"And you feel like you should be over there with him, don't you," his dad said.
"Yeah."
Battle scars
Both son and dad understand the bonds formed during wartime – lifelong bonds for the survivors, and a lifetime sense of loss for those who don't come back. And they know the emotional baggage that soldiers drag home.
Along with his service-related disabilities, Eric deals with post-traumatic stress, too.
"I'm [diagnosed] at 10 percent for PTSD," he said. "The doctors said my symptoms were enough to give me 20 percent, but since I didn't have to take any time off and didn't complain about it, they could only give me 10.
"Plus, the nightmares weren't that bad when I was on active duty. They only got bad after I got out and started to decompress."
The bad dreams come in spurts, depending on what's going on in his life, Eric said. Anniversaries are particularly tough. And August is a bad month.
"Two years ago, I lost a pretty good friend," he said. "So this is a tough time."
But the friendships he still enjoys would make it easy enough to rejoin his old unit, to go wherever the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is assigned, even back to Iraq.
"I heard about this IRR plan the day before it came out in the papers," Eric Anderson said. "I have a friend who's a teacher at Lamar High School, and she called and said, 'I just saw this on the Internet.'
"And while I was talking with her, another friend from the 24th MEU called me and said, 'Have you heard?'
"Five minutes later I got another call, while I was still on the first call, and then another. 'Have you heard?' 'Have you heard?'
"In that first half-hour, I got at least half a dozen calls."
'On the fence'
He misses some things about the military. And he knows he'd fall into the routines immediately, with close friends around him.
But even the possibility of returning to active duty tears at him.
"I'm on the fence here," Eric said. "I've started a new life here and I'm doing very well at it. Another part of me wants to go back and do this. It's what I know and what I'm good at.
"I turn on CNN and see my old unit doing something, and I'd like to be there with them right now, doing that."
That's tough for any father, even a Marine, to hear, especially with his child home from the war.
"He told me he doesn't want to do six to eight months stateside, or whatever it would be, and of course I get a lump in my throat," Mike said. "I'm just going, 'Oh my gosh.' "
The Marine Corps is still sorting out which jobs it most needs to fill. And once orders are given, the reservists will have up to five months to report. So the Andersons are trying to stay on track with their present lives, even if those might change drastically a few months down the line.
"Do you prepare for a train wreck before you've even bought the ticket, or do you make plans for your life and change them if something happens?" Mike said.
"I'm going to go ahead and prepare myself as much as I can mentally for the chance they call me back," Eric added. "And if they do, there's nothing I can do about it.
"But I have to continue on the path I'm on now," he said. "And if they call me, I'll hit the pause button."
E-mail myoung@dallasnews.com
Ellie
FW: Possible return to active duty has reservist fighting his emotions
11:13 PM CDT on Sunday, August 27, 2006
By MICHAEL E. YOUNG / The Dallas Morning News
FORT WORTH – When Eric Anderson joined the Marines, his dad figured he would do his five years of active duty stateside, become a part of the Corps brotherhood and grow up a little in the bargain.
But that was before Sept. 11, 2001, "and 9/11 changed everything," Mike Anderson said.
Eric, now 25, did two tours in Iraq and returned home with a 70 percent service-related disability – hearing loss, a sliver of steel in one eye and damage to his ankles, knees, hips, back and shoulders, "but no bullet holes," his father said.
He went back to Tarrant County College, where he'd performed woefully right after high school, and quickly excelled.
"I've got a 3.9-something GPA after 35 hours," he said. "This time, I'm going to every class and studying for every test."
Come January, he wants to enroll at Texas Christian University to study business. At least that had been the plan until his future was turned upside down last week.
That's when the Marine Corps announced that it is calling up former active-duty troops in the Individual Ready Reserve, which is made up mostly of people who have left active duty but still have time left on their eight-year military obligations.
Eric Anderson has two years left.
Waiting for the call
With the Marines stretched thin by various conflicts around the world, and the number of volunteers for active duty running far below needs, the Marines want to call 2,500 reservists back to active duty for tours of 12 to 18 months.
That could mean a year or more at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina or at Camp Pendleton in California. Or it could mean another tour of duty in Iraq.
"They're looking for second- and third-year IRR troops for specific jobs, including combat," Eric Anderson said. "I did my second tour with a combat unit, running convoys and doing patrols through cities, checkpoints, things like that. And I'm in my second year in the IRR."
Marine officials put the IRR pool at about 59,000 members. But reservists in their first or final year are exempt, so those called back to active duty would come from a group of 35,000. The Corps can call up a maximum of 2,500 troops at a time, enough to fill gaps for two overseas rotations.
If he's called back, Mr. Anderson said there's a reasonable chance he'd be assigned to Camp Lejeune to replace a Marine being sent overseas.
The prospect doesn't please him.
"I've been in the rear, doing the support stuff, and it was some of the unhappiest times I spent in the Marines," he said. "I enjoyed what I was doing more when I was overseas, instead of dealing with all the politics.
"I know you hate to hear that," he added, turning to his father.
"I know exactly where you're coming from," said Mike Anderson, a Marine himself who served in Vietnam. "But from the standpoint of being a dad, my point of view is a little clouded compared to how it was when I was your age.
"My dad and I were never as close as Eric and I are," he said. "But as I've told Eric, I understand now why my dad looked so old when I came back from Vietnam. There wasn't a night he didn't walk the floors worrying."
A couple weeks ago, Mike Anderson saw a photo in a newspaper of a Marine carrying two American children to a ship that would take them from Lebanon. He cut it out to show to his students at Sam Houston High School in Arlington, where he teaches history.
That evening, he brought it home for Eric.
"That's my best friend," Eric said, pointing to the Marine in the photo.
"And you feel like you should be over there with him, don't you," his dad said.
"Yeah."
Battle scars
Both son and dad understand the bonds formed during wartime – lifelong bonds for the survivors, and a lifetime sense of loss for those who don't come back. And they know the emotional baggage that soldiers drag home.
Along with his service-related disabilities, Eric deals with post-traumatic stress, too.
"I'm [diagnosed] at 10 percent for PTSD," he said. "The doctors said my symptoms were enough to give me 20 percent, but since I didn't have to take any time off and didn't complain about it, they could only give me 10.
"Plus, the nightmares weren't that bad when I was on active duty. They only got bad after I got out and started to decompress."
The bad dreams come in spurts, depending on what's going on in his life, Eric said. Anniversaries are particularly tough. And August is a bad month.
"Two years ago, I lost a pretty good friend," he said. "So this is a tough time."
But the friendships he still enjoys would make it easy enough to rejoin his old unit, to go wherever the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is assigned, even back to Iraq.
"I heard about this IRR plan the day before it came out in the papers," Eric Anderson said. "I have a friend who's a teacher at Lamar High School, and she called and said, 'I just saw this on the Internet.'
"And while I was talking with her, another friend from the 24th MEU called me and said, 'Have you heard?'
"Five minutes later I got another call, while I was still on the first call, and then another. 'Have you heard?' 'Have you heard?'
"In that first half-hour, I got at least half a dozen calls."
'On the fence'
He misses some things about the military. And he knows he'd fall into the routines immediately, with close friends around him.
But even the possibility of returning to active duty tears at him.
"I'm on the fence here," Eric said. "I've started a new life here and I'm doing very well at it. Another part of me wants to go back and do this. It's what I know and what I'm good at.
"I turn on CNN and see my old unit doing something, and I'd like to be there with them right now, doing that."
That's tough for any father, even a Marine, to hear, especially with his child home from the war.
"He told me he doesn't want to do six to eight months stateside, or whatever it would be, and of course I get a lump in my throat," Mike said. "I'm just going, 'Oh my gosh.' "
The Marine Corps is still sorting out which jobs it most needs to fill. And once orders are given, the reservists will have up to five months to report. So the Andersons are trying to stay on track with their present lives, even if those might change drastically a few months down the line.
"Do you prepare for a train wreck before you've even bought the ticket, or do you make plans for your life and change them if something happens?" Mike said.
"I'm going to go ahead and prepare myself as much as I can mentally for the chance they call me back," Eric added. "And if they do, there's nothing I can do about it.
"But I have to continue on the path I'm on now," he said. "And if they call me, I'll hit the pause button."
E-mail myoung@dallasnews.com
Ellie