Over 200 Marines come home from Iraq

[thedrifter]

Over 200 Marines come home from Iraq
Sep 5, 2006 03:55 PM

NEW RIVER AIR STATION -- More than 200 New River Air Station Marines are home with family and friends tonight.

The men and women from the Attack Helicopter Squadron 269 just finished a seven-month mission in Iraq.

Their duties in the War on Terror included convoy and medical escorts, as well as reconnaissance missions.

Most came home to familiar faces. One marine got to hold his newborn son for the first time.

"He's the most beautiful thing in the world. I couldn't think of anything more beautiful," Marine Michael Brock said. "It's life-changing. I left here and didn't have a son and now I'm here and I have a whole world of responsibilities."

Some of the Marines will be deployed back to Iraq in the next few months.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Meet one today...

Enjoying Life again with a few cold ones...;)

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Squadron returns from Iraq
September 06,2006
CHRIS MAZZOLINI
DAILY NEWS STAFF

Deployments don’t freeze time. Kids get bigger. Sometimes they get born.

Cpl. Mark Comer returned Tuesday from seven months in Iraq to see Trey, his 4-month-old son, for the first time. His other son, 3-year-old Shawn, is bigger. His wife, Erin, has seen things that he never will. And vice versa.

“It’s overwhelming, almost,” said Comer, who returned to New River Air Station with more than 200 fellow members of Marine Light/Attack Helicopter Squadron 269. “It’s something you don’t get to experience very often.”

The Comers are not the only ones to experience bittersweet feelings. Every deployment leaves behind pregnant wives or young children who will look much different when dad comes home. Although there’s intense joy in first holding a child, there’s no way to reclaim lost time.

Capt. Sam Dabney savored the chance to hold his daughter, Malia, who turned 2 a month ago.

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” Dabney said of holding Malia. “It’s what I’ve been waiting for the last seven months.”

Dabney has been deployed twice during Malia’s life — for 14 of her 25 months. “It’s hard watching them grow up,” he said. “I missed both her birthdays and she’s growing like a weed.”

During their tour in Iraq’s Al Anbar province, HMLA-269 participated in operations such as convoy escorts, medevac escorts and reconnaissance missions, said Lt. Col. Scott Jensen, the squadron’s commander.

“They worked pretty hard, 24 hours, 7 days a week,” Jensen said, adding that many of his Marines had been to Iraq two or three — even four — times.

Now, those combat veterans must get reacquainted with their families and the lives they put on hold seven months ago.

“It’s weird coming home,” Comer said. “So much changed while you’re gone. It’s almost like starting over again.”