thedrifter
10-18-06, 07:48 AM
Posted on Wed, Oct. 18, 2006
Palmetto Marine recalls life, loneliness in Iraq
VIN MANNIX
The Herald
ALMETTO - P
Charlie West pushed away thoughts of home as quickly as they came.
It happened a lot in Iraq.
"Sitting on this couch, seeing your family, playing with the dogs . . . ," said West, a 24-year-old Marine corporal, recalling his fondest wishes as he experienced them Tuesday. "Come Saturday and Sunday, I knew all my friends'd be out doing something. You'd try to back it out of your mind, especially when you're working out there."
"Working out there" meant patrolling the vast perimeter of Al Asad Airfield, the second largest air base in Iraq, 111 miles west of Baghdad.
West, 24, did two six-month tours there.
It wasn't combat duty like the Marines endured fighting in Fallujah or Ramadi.
But it's still Iraq.
"You just have to have that thought - five more months, four more months, three more months, I'll be home soon," he said he kept telling himself.
West's family was just as glad to have him here, safe and sound.
"It's such a relief," said his sister, Kelly, a Palmetto High School senior. "Every time I'd read or hear about Marines getting killed, I kept praying it wouldn't be him."
West returned to the United States last month and got a two-week leave from his base in Yuma, Ariz.
He goes back to Arizona on Thursday.
One more emotional departure for his parents, Care and Ted.
"We're getting better at it," West's dad joked. "The second time he left was easier than the first. I remember when he called me and said, 'How am I going to tell Mom I'm getting deployed to Iraq?' "
That was summer 2004.
College wasn't doing it for the former Palmetto Tiger outfielder. So he volunteered for a five-year hitch with the Marines.
"I wasn't sure what I wanted to do at that point," West said. "So I talked to a recruiter. The Marines are the best. They make you a better person. I also wanted to be a part of what's going on in Iraq."
His parents were proud - and petrified.
Mom cried.
"He said he had to tell me something important, and I said, 'Charlie, you know you can tell me anything.' I expected anything but that," she said.
West's first tour - September 2004 to February 2005 - was limited to the air base's immediate perimeter. His second tour, a year later, involved mechanized combat patrols through surrounding villages for insurgent activity, and sweeping roads for improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
He said they never encountered insurgents.
But his Humvee unit, which included Bradenton's James Fiore, stopped short of running over an IED.
"It was a wire across the road tied to a propane gas tank," he said. "(Insurgents) are cowards. They hide, wait till you go by, and blow up IEDs."
That was West's final patrol.
Whether it's his last combat tour in Iraq, only time will tell.
With 1½ years left in the Marines, he said he could be deployed once more.
"I don't think anything's going to change over there," West said. "You feel like we're just doing our time, doing our job, and hope everything goes good till we get back home. All you can do now is keep weeding them out, find the guys you gotta get rid of and get rid of them. Slowly, but surely, we're doing what we got to do. That's our mission."
Vin Mannix is The Herald's local columnist. Please call Vin Mannix at 745-7055, write him at The Herald, Box 921, Bradenton, FL 34206, or send e-mail to vmannix@heraldtoday.com. Please include a phone number for verification.
Ellie
Palmetto Marine recalls life, loneliness in Iraq
VIN MANNIX
The Herald
ALMETTO - P
Charlie West pushed away thoughts of home as quickly as they came.
It happened a lot in Iraq.
"Sitting on this couch, seeing your family, playing with the dogs . . . ," said West, a 24-year-old Marine corporal, recalling his fondest wishes as he experienced them Tuesday. "Come Saturday and Sunday, I knew all my friends'd be out doing something. You'd try to back it out of your mind, especially when you're working out there."
"Working out there" meant patrolling the vast perimeter of Al Asad Airfield, the second largest air base in Iraq, 111 miles west of Baghdad.
West, 24, did two six-month tours there.
It wasn't combat duty like the Marines endured fighting in Fallujah or Ramadi.
But it's still Iraq.
"You just have to have that thought - five more months, four more months, three more months, I'll be home soon," he said he kept telling himself.
West's family was just as glad to have him here, safe and sound.
"It's such a relief," said his sister, Kelly, a Palmetto High School senior. "Every time I'd read or hear about Marines getting killed, I kept praying it wouldn't be him."
West returned to the United States last month and got a two-week leave from his base in Yuma, Ariz.
He goes back to Arizona on Thursday.
One more emotional departure for his parents, Care and Ted.
"We're getting better at it," West's dad joked. "The second time he left was easier than the first. I remember when he called me and said, 'How am I going to tell Mom I'm getting deployed to Iraq?' "
That was summer 2004.
College wasn't doing it for the former Palmetto Tiger outfielder. So he volunteered for a five-year hitch with the Marines.
"I wasn't sure what I wanted to do at that point," West said. "So I talked to a recruiter. The Marines are the best. They make you a better person. I also wanted to be a part of what's going on in Iraq."
His parents were proud - and petrified.
Mom cried.
"He said he had to tell me something important, and I said, 'Charlie, you know you can tell me anything.' I expected anything but that," she said.
West's first tour - September 2004 to February 2005 - was limited to the air base's immediate perimeter. His second tour, a year later, involved mechanized combat patrols through surrounding villages for insurgent activity, and sweeping roads for improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
He said they never encountered insurgents.
But his Humvee unit, which included Bradenton's James Fiore, stopped short of running over an IED.
"It was a wire across the road tied to a propane gas tank," he said. "(Insurgents) are cowards. They hide, wait till you go by, and blow up IEDs."
That was West's final patrol.
Whether it's his last combat tour in Iraq, only time will tell.
With 1½ years left in the Marines, he said he could be deployed once more.
"I don't think anything's going to change over there," West said. "You feel like we're just doing our time, doing our job, and hope everything goes good till we get back home. All you can do now is keep weeding them out, find the guys you gotta get rid of and get rid of them. Slowly, but surely, we're doing what we got to do. That's our mission."
Vin Mannix is The Herald's local columnist. Please call Vin Mannix at 745-7055, write him at The Herald, Box 921, Bradenton, FL 34206, or send e-mail to vmannix@heraldtoday.com. Please include a phone number for verification.
Ellie