thedrifter
10-31-06, 05:46 AM
After three tours with the Marines, corporal returns home
By Natalie Storey Santa Fe Mexican
Deming Headlight
Article Launched:10/31/2006 12:00:00 AM MST
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) —John Romero awoke at 3 a.m. in a dirt hole in Fallujah, Iraq, to the sound of mortar rounds exploding.
It was 2004, and he and fellow Marines were living in 3-by-5-foot holes in a cemetery and date grove, holding a security line in the northeastern part of the city. Romero opened his eyes and saw the rounds were exploding all around him. Insurgents had found the Marines' hideout and were taking aim at them. He saw flashes. He took cover.
"There were bombs everywhere," the 26-year-old corporal said. "How I did not get hit — wow. It's amazing."
Romero escaped that attack without a scratch. It's one of the miracles of his time in Iraq _ more than 20 months _ where he served three tours with the Marine Corps. Despite being part of Marine battalions that had 15 killed in action and many more wounded, Romero came home unscathed. Physically at least. He lost nine friends in Iraq and that will stay with him, but he still marvels over having all of his fingers and toes.
"You might call it luck," he said. "I call it prayers from back home. Everybody here who was praying — I like to think it was that."
After being away for the better part of four years, he is finally home in Santa Fe. "It's been a rough four years," he said. "I look at my mom's hair now — it's all white — and I blame myself."
Romero joined the Marines at the age of 22. The war in Iraq had just begun, and he knew he would go there. But he was not deterred. Joining the Marine Corps was something he always wanted to do, he said.
"My parents raised me to do what I can do to help those I can help," he said.
Romero was sent to Fallujah in December 2003, a place known as a hot spot of insurgent activity. He returned to Fallujah in January 2005 and went to western Iraq, near the border with Syria, last January.
Torrey Gray, Romero's best friend, was killed the second day of fighting in Fallujah in 2004. He was shot in the neck and the shoulder. Another close friend, Aaron Simons, died in April when he was hit with a piece of shrapnel. Romero's scars are the deaths of these friends and others, but he said he has learned how to cope. Everyone in the Marine Corps knows death is a possibility.
"I don't think anyone comes back completely intact," he said. "They just find ways to channel energy into something good instead of letting it be something that gets you down."
Just before Gray was killed, he and Romero made a pact that they would erect memorials to each other if one of them died. Romero, an amateur artist who painted murals in Iraq, said he is going to carve a statue of a Marine in honor of Gray.
Romero will be discharged in January. He said he is planning to go back to school at the University of New Mexico, where he wants to study Arabic, which he picked up while in Iraq. A 15-year-old boy named Ahmed taught him enough to get around.
Since he's been in Santa Fe, he said, he's had time to relax and hopes to do some fishing. But at night his thoughts drift to Iraq, and he knows the impression the Marine Corps left will not fade soon or easily.
Romero can now lie in a soft bed, a long night of sleep ahead of him. In Iraq, he could sleep only three or four hours a night. He thinks of his buddies who are still there and prays for them. Then his mind goes through the rehearsed battle situations. How would he call in air support? What would he do if there were an attack? Often he thinks of Ahmed, Gray and Simons.
"When I joined, I told myself, if I'm going to do this for four years, make it the hardest four years of my life," he said. "In the future, if I feel like I can't do something, all I have to do is think back and say, 'I made it through that.' "
Ellie
By Natalie Storey Santa Fe Mexican
Deming Headlight
Article Launched:10/31/2006 12:00:00 AM MST
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) —John Romero awoke at 3 a.m. in a dirt hole in Fallujah, Iraq, to the sound of mortar rounds exploding.
It was 2004, and he and fellow Marines were living in 3-by-5-foot holes in a cemetery and date grove, holding a security line in the northeastern part of the city. Romero opened his eyes and saw the rounds were exploding all around him. Insurgents had found the Marines' hideout and were taking aim at them. He saw flashes. He took cover.
"There were bombs everywhere," the 26-year-old corporal said. "How I did not get hit — wow. It's amazing."
Romero escaped that attack without a scratch. It's one of the miracles of his time in Iraq _ more than 20 months _ where he served three tours with the Marine Corps. Despite being part of Marine battalions that had 15 killed in action and many more wounded, Romero came home unscathed. Physically at least. He lost nine friends in Iraq and that will stay with him, but he still marvels over having all of his fingers and toes.
"You might call it luck," he said. "I call it prayers from back home. Everybody here who was praying — I like to think it was that."
After being away for the better part of four years, he is finally home in Santa Fe. "It's been a rough four years," he said. "I look at my mom's hair now — it's all white — and I blame myself."
Romero joined the Marines at the age of 22. The war in Iraq had just begun, and he knew he would go there. But he was not deterred. Joining the Marine Corps was something he always wanted to do, he said.
"My parents raised me to do what I can do to help those I can help," he said.
Romero was sent to Fallujah in December 2003, a place known as a hot spot of insurgent activity. He returned to Fallujah in January 2005 and went to western Iraq, near the border with Syria, last January.
Torrey Gray, Romero's best friend, was killed the second day of fighting in Fallujah in 2004. He was shot in the neck and the shoulder. Another close friend, Aaron Simons, died in April when he was hit with a piece of shrapnel. Romero's scars are the deaths of these friends and others, but he said he has learned how to cope. Everyone in the Marine Corps knows death is a possibility.
"I don't think anyone comes back completely intact," he said. "They just find ways to channel energy into something good instead of letting it be something that gets you down."
Just before Gray was killed, he and Romero made a pact that they would erect memorials to each other if one of them died. Romero, an amateur artist who painted murals in Iraq, said he is going to carve a statue of a Marine in honor of Gray.
Romero will be discharged in January. He said he is planning to go back to school at the University of New Mexico, where he wants to study Arabic, which he picked up while in Iraq. A 15-year-old boy named Ahmed taught him enough to get around.
Since he's been in Santa Fe, he said, he's had time to relax and hopes to do some fishing. But at night his thoughts drift to Iraq, and he knows the impression the Marine Corps left will not fade soon or easily.
Romero can now lie in a soft bed, a long night of sleep ahead of him. In Iraq, he could sleep only three or four hours a night. He thinks of his buddies who are still there and prays for them. Then his mind goes through the rehearsed battle situations. How would he call in air support? What would he do if there were an attack? Often he thinks of Ahmed, Gray and Simons.
"When I joined, I told myself, if I'm going to do this for four years, make it the hardest four years of my life," he said. "In the future, if I feel like I can't do something, all I have to do is think back and say, 'I made it through that.' "
Ellie