thedrifter
10-07-06, 07:33 AM
Lima Company heals slowly, a year after Iraq
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Jeb Phillips
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
One of the hardest-hit units of the Iraq war came home to Columbus a year ago today.
Twenty-three members of Lima Company, 3 rd Battalion, 25 th Marines were killed near the Syrian border. On Oct. 7, 2005, about 160 surviving members landed at Port Columbus, rode a parade route in the rain through the city and arrived at Rickenbacker Airport to hundreds of cheering friends and family members.
They marched in formation, and the people watching talked about how strong they looked, how tough.
But there was one Marine who walked with a cane. If people needed reminding of what this unit went through, he was right there: a 24 yearold corporal, hobbled like an old man.
That was Cpl. Seth Judy, who is now 25 and doesn’t need a cane anymore. The last of the shrapnel finally was removed from his left knee in July. But a year after the official homecoming, he’s not quite well.
Judy and 11 other Lima Company members injured in Iraq are on what the military calls "medical hold." Those reservists are still active-duty Marines — it’s easier for the military to handle their health care if they remain activated.
Nearly all of the other company members are back to their civilian lives. They’re in school, at work. Most of the dozen on hold, however, still wear their uniforms every day.
They go to physical therapy when they need to, but they spend a lot of time at the Reserve Center at Ricken- backer. They handle paperwork. A couple of times a week they serve as an honor guard at a veteran’s funeral, or they present the colors at a sporting event.
Last night, they served at the Blue Jackets’ opener.
But during the past year, they’ve been trying to get back to their regular lives, too. Cpl. Mark Camp, 25, who caught on fire in an explosion, took three classes at Ohio State this past winter. When his classmates asked him what happened to his hands, he told them he burned them at work.
Lance Cpl. Mark Strahle, 22, coaches football at his alma mater, Bryan High School, in northwestern Ohio. He took shrapnel in his right arm, stomach and groin in the same explosion that hurt Camp. The players know what he’s been through, he said, but they don’t talk about it.
Judy hangs out with his friends. When he gets off medical hold, which could be as early as December, he’ll go to school at the University of Cincinnati. His knee hurts when it’s cold outside.
Like the rest of the guys, he says he’s mostly back to normal. Though normal isn’t what it used to be. They have the scars, for one thing. And they’ve seen friends die.
"I feel like a different person," he said. "I don’t have a free spirit the way I used to."
It took awhile even to get to that point. Judy, Camp and Strahle came home before the others because of their wounds. Camp was hurt particularly badly — he needed months of surgeries, skin grafts and recovery. But as soon as they were physically able, the Marines still on hold began receiving counseling.
They needed it, they all say. Strahle had nightmares. He doesn’t remember much about them, except that he’d hear a boom and wake up sweating.
"There were dark thoughts," he said, "bad thoughts."
They hated being in crowds, because crowds in Iraq mean trouble. They checked people’s hands to make sure they weren’t holding weapons, even just shopping at a mall. If they presented colors at a basketball game, the rafters made them nervous.
"If someone gave you a weird look, you thought about it a little more," Camp said.
For Strahle, the one-on-one civilian counseling didn’t do much. The doctors couldn’t understand what he’d been through.
"They tilt their heads and say they are sorry for you, but that doesn’t help," he said.
But there was group counseling every Thursday night with other Lima Company Marines, and that’s what has helped the most, Strahle said. Someone would mention he’d been having trouble sleeping. Then it would become clear that a lot of them had trouble sleeping.
And there was something more subtle, Strahle said. When the counseling started, lots of guys needed walkers and canes to get around. Then as the weeks went on, people needed less and less equipment.
"It felt like we were all getting better together," he said.
Now Judy, Strahle and Camp look good. No canes, no walkers.
Camp doesn’t wear the black gloves to protect his scarred hands that much anymore.
Camp was married in July, and he and his wife are buying a condo.
Strahle thinks he’ll be off medical hold in the next month, and he’d like to go back to school and study criminology.
Judy wants to be a federal agent. He’s started running on that left knee again. He’s healthy enough to think he’d like to drop a few pounds.
Jeb.phillips@dispatch.com
Ellie
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Jeb Phillips
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
One of the hardest-hit units of the Iraq war came home to Columbus a year ago today.
Twenty-three members of Lima Company, 3 rd Battalion, 25 th Marines were killed near the Syrian border. On Oct. 7, 2005, about 160 surviving members landed at Port Columbus, rode a parade route in the rain through the city and arrived at Rickenbacker Airport to hundreds of cheering friends and family members.
They marched in formation, and the people watching talked about how strong they looked, how tough.
But there was one Marine who walked with a cane. If people needed reminding of what this unit went through, he was right there: a 24 yearold corporal, hobbled like an old man.
That was Cpl. Seth Judy, who is now 25 and doesn’t need a cane anymore. The last of the shrapnel finally was removed from his left knee in July. But a year after the official homecoming, he’s not quite well.
Judy and 11 other Lima Company members injured in Iraq are on what the military calls "medical hold." Those reservists are still active-duty Marines — it’s easier for the military to handle their health care if they remain activated.
Nearly all of the other company members are back to their civilian lives. They’re in school, at work. Most of the dozen on hold, however, still wear their uniforms every day.
They go to physical therapy when they need to, but they spend a lot of time at the Reserve Center at Ricken- backer. They handle paperwork. A couple of times a week they serve as an honor guard at a veteran’s funeral, or they present the colors at a sporting event.
Last night, they served at the Blue Jackets’ opener.
But during the past year, they’ve been trying to get back to their regular lives, too. Cpl. Mark Camp, 25, who caught on fire in an explosion, took three classes at Ohio State this past winter. When his classmates asked him what happened to his hands, he told them he burned them at work.
Lance Cpl. Mark Strahle, 22, coaches football at his alma mater, Bryan High School, in northwestern Ohio. He took shrapnel in his right arm, stomach and groin in the same explosion that hurt Camp. The players know what he’s been through, he said, but they don’t talk about it.
Judy hangs out with his friends. When he gets off medical hold, which could be as early as December, he’ll go to school at the University of Cincinnati. His knee hurts when it’s cold outside.
Like the rest of the guys, he says he’s mostly back to normal. Though normal isn’t what it used to be. They have the scars, for one thing. And they’ve seen friends die.
"I feel like a different person," he said. "I don’t have a free spirit the way I used to."
It took awhile even to get to that point. Judy, Camp and Strahle came home before the others because of their wounds. Camp was hurt particularly badly — he needed months of surgeries, skin grafts and recovery. But as soon as they were physically able, the Marines still on hold began receiving counseling.
They needed it, they all say. Strahle had nightmares. He doesn’t remember much about them, except that he’d hear a boom and wake up sweating.
"There were dark thoughts," he said, "bad thoughts."
They hated being in crowds, because crowds in Iraq mean trouble. They checked people’s hands to make sure they weren’t holding weapons, even just shopping at a mall. If they presented colors at a basketball game, the rafters made them nervous.
"If someone gave you a weird look, you thought about it a little more," Camp said.
For Strahle, the one-on-one civilian counseling didn’t do much. The doctors couldn’t understand what he’d been through.
"They tilt their heads and say they are sorry for you, but that doesn’t help," he said.
But there was group counseling every Thursday night with other Lima Company Marines, and that’s what has helped the most, Strahle said. Someone would mention he’d been having trouble sleeping. Then it would become clear that a lot of them had trouble sleeping.
And there was something more subtle, Strahle said. When the counseling started, lots of guys needed walkers and canes to get around. Then as the weeks went on, people needed less and less equipment.
"It felt like we were all getting better together," he said.
Now Judy, Strahle and Camp look good. No canes, no walkers.
Camp doesn’t wear the black gloves to protect his scarred hands that much anymore.
Camp was married in July, and he and his wife are buying a condo.
Strahle thinks he’ll be off medical hold in the next month, and he’d like to go back to school and study criminology.
Judy wants to be a federal agent. He’s started running on that left knee again. He’s healthy enough to think he’d like to drop a few pounds.
Jeb.phillips@dispatch.com
Ellie