thedrifter
10-31-06, 05:55 AM
NYers' survival stories
Marines in LI-based unit who experienced Iraq's turmoil now face challenge of returning to civilian life
BY GRAHAM RAYMAN AND STACEY ALTHERR
Newsday Staff Writer
October 31, 2006
Marine Lance Cpl. Jose Aquino served as a lead gunner on patrols during his eight-month deployment to the strife-torn Iraqi city of Fallujah. During that time, Aquino suffered three concussions - the result of two roadside bomb explosions and a direct hit from a rocket-propelled grenade - that have left him with piercing headaches and intermittent ringing in his ears.
"The headaches keep me up at night, but I'm still good," said Aquino, 21, a member of the 2nd Battalion of the Marine Reserves, who returned last week to Manhattan from his second tour in Iraq. "It's a small price I had to pay for my country. A lot of others paid much more."
On a day when the Pentagon reported that a Marine became the 101st American service member to die in Iraq this month, Aquino's battalion gathered again at district headquarters in Garden City yesterday before returning to their civilian lives. And while the Marines said they were proud of the work they had done, they agreed the job in Iraq will take years, if not longer.
'A taste of democracy'
"We did a lot of good, and the country is better off than it was 10 years ago," said Wes Drake, 38, a gunnery sergeant from West Islip who works at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. "But I don't know if it will be fixed in this generation."
"The people have had a taste of democracy," said Timothy Ledwith, 33, a city firefighter from Lynbrook who served in the same unit as his brother, Sean, 26. "That will catch and spark. If we don't stay and see it through, it will take a lot longer."
For the Ledwith brothers and much of the unit, it was the second deployment to Iraq, and for some, the third. Sent to Fallujah in January, the unit patrolled the streets, trained Iraqi police, manned checkpoints and fought insurgents in a city that long has been a hot spot for Sunni rebels.
Based on the Marines' accounts, it is clear that even now, 43 months into the war, Fallujah remains a very dangerous place. Three members of the battalion were killed - two from Brooklyn on Aug. 16 and one on Oct. 1. In all, 29 American service members have died in Fallujah since Jan. 1, 12 of those since Aug. 1.
The Marine unit routinely came across a half-dozen roadside bombs a day. The large concrete building where the unit lived - a former school - periodically took mortar and rocket fire inside the perimeter.
Adan Munoz, 25, of Manorville and a Queens police officer, described Fallujah this way: "Imagine the worst conditions and then multiply by twenty."
Munoz, a reservist since 2003, said Iraqi police recruits often had to hide.
Even something as simple as an encounter with children can turn to the unexpected. "I was on the street, and a kid threw a rock at me," Munoz said. "They don't want to be our friends, to show others they are supporting us, because they could be killed."
The danger factor in Fallujah varied on an almost block-by-block basis. "You knew that if you went north of a certain road, for example, you'd be in danger," Drake said.
Several of the Marines said the uptick in violence over the summer appeared to coincide with the release of detainees from Iraqi jails. It reached a peak on Sept. 4, when two Marines and a Navy corpsman from another unit were killed when a roadside bomb exploded underneath their vehicle. A fourth was severely burned. That evening, another roadside bomb severely wounded two more Marines.
Always on guard
The Marines learned to spot anything unusual. "I know that city better than I know my own hometown," said Sgt. Joseph Wilichoski, 25, a volunteer firefighter from Putnam County. "Every piece of trash, every piece of bent metal."
When insurgents began blowing up improvised explosive devices by remote control, U.S. forces used an electronic device to block the signal. When insurgents turned to pressure plates, which work like mines, the Americans began using sensors, which can spot buried wires.
Rocco Wahl, 25, of Mastic, said insurgents used satellite phones and even pigeons to communicate. "They'll wave at you, but they are signaling," he said. "They'll even yell a chain of command down the block to get ready to ambush you."
For now, the 225 Marines are hoping for a smooth transition to their civilian lives.
"You're on your toes all the time in Iraq," Wahl said, noting the unease he felt during a visit to a supermarket last weekend. "Here, there were so many people all going all over in different directions, all doing their thing."
Recordo Demetrius, 25, of Woodhaven, a police officer, looked forward to "simple things like my couch and being able to flush the toilet."
Drake insisted that after Iraq, nothing is going to bother him. "Driving to work this morning, dealing with Long Island traffic, it's like, 'Whatever,'" he said. "I'm not going to be stressed about it."
2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment
TROOPS More than 500, about 200 of whom came home from Iraq last week.
BASED IN Garden City, with units in Albany, Harrisburg, Pa., and Dover, N.J.
MISSION Deployed to Fallujah, Iraq, handling security, conducting patrol and house searches, and training Iraqi police and army units.
CASUALTIES Three members were killed, two on Aug. 16 and one on Oct. 1. Battalion earned at least 15 Purple Hearts.
SEAN LEDWITH, 26
HOMETOWN: Lynbrook
FAMILY: Single, 10 siblings
TIME IN IRAQ: Second tour
CIVILIAN JOB: Business adminstration student at Adelphi University.
TIMOTHY LEDWITH, 33
HOMETOWN: Lynbrook
FAMILY: Single, 10 siblings
TIME IN IRAQ: Second tour
CIVILIAN JOB: Fire Department of New York
TIMOTHY LEDWITH, 33
HOMETOWN: Lynbrook
FAMILY: Single, 10 siblings
TIME IN IRAQ: Second Tour
CIVILIAN JOB: Fire Department of New York
ADAN MUNOZ, 25
HOMETOWN: Manorville, originally from Staten Island
FAMILY: Wife Melody and daughter Kayleigh, 2 years old
TIME IN IRAQ: One tour
CIVILIAN JOB: New York City police officer
RECORDO DEMETRIUS, 25
HOMETOWN: Woodhaven
FAMILY: Wife Walta
TIME IN IRAQ: Second tour
CIVILIAN JOB: New York City police officer
ROCCO WAHL, 25
HOMETOWN: Mastic
FAMILY: Wife Faith Angel, no children
TIME IN IRAQ: Second tour
CIVILIAN JOB: Works at Sayville Electric
WES DRAKE, 38
HOMETOWN: W. Islip
FAMILY: Wife, three daughters, 3, 5 and 7
TIME IN IRAQ: Two deployments
CIVILIAN JOB: Diplomatic security, U.S. Mission to U.N.
JOSEPH WILICHOSKI, 25
HOMETOWN: Mahopac, N.Y.
FAMILY: Single
TIME IN IRAQ: Two deployments
CIVILIAN JOB: Candidate for FDNY
JOSE AQUINO, 21
HOMETOWN: Manhattan, Lower East Side
FAMILY: Married, no children
TIME IN IRAQ: One deployment
CIVILIAN JOB: Bank employee
BENJAMIN KLINE, 24
HOMETOWN: Baltimore Md.
(two years at C.W. Post)
FAMILY: Single
TIME IN IRAQ: One deployment
CIVILIAN JOB: Plans to return to school
Ellie
Marines in LI-based unit who experienced Iraq's turmoil now face challenge of returning to civilian life
BY GRAHAM RAYMAN AND STACEY ALTHERR
Newsday Staff Writer
October 31, 2006
Marine Lance Cpl. Jose Aquino served as a lead gunner on patrols during his eight-month deployment to the strife-torn Iraqi city of Fallujah. During that time, Aquino suffered three concussions - the result of two roadside bomb explosions and a direct hit from a rocket-propelled grenade - that have left him with piercing headaches and intermittent ringing in his ears.
"The headaches keep me up at night, but I'm still good," said Aquino, 21, a member of the 2nd Battalion of the Marine Reserves, who returned last week to Manhattan from his second tour in Iraq. "It's a small price I had to pay for my country. A lot of others paid much more."
On a day when the Pentagon reported that a Marine became the 101st American service member to die in Iraq this month, Aquino's battalion gathered again at district headquarters in Garden City yesterday before returning to their civilian lives. And while the Marines said they were proud of the work they had done, they agreed the job in Iraq will take years, if not longer.
'A taste of democracy'
"We did a lot of good, and the country is better off than it was 10 years ago," said Wes Drake, 38, a gunnery sergeant from West Islip who works at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. "But I don't know if it will be fixed in this generation."
"The people have had a taste of democracy," said Timothy Ledwith, 33, a city firefighter from Lynbrook who served in the same unit as his brother, Sean, 26. "That will catch and spark. If we don't stay and see it through, it will take a lot longer."
For the Ledwith brothers and much of the unit, it was the second deployment to Iraq, and for some, the third. Sent to Fallujah in January, the unit patrolled the streets, trained Iraqi police, manned checkpoints and fought insurgents in a city that long has been a hot spot for Sunni rebels.
Based on the Marines' accounts, it is clear that even now, 43 months into the war, Fallujah remains a very dangerous place. Three members of the battalion were killed - two from Brooklyn on Aug. 16 and one on Oct. 1. In all, 29 American service members have died in Fallujah since Jan. 1, 12 of those since Aug. 1.
The Marine unit routinely came across a half-dozen roadside bombs a day. The large concrete building where the unit lived - a former school - periodically took mortar and rocket fire inside the perimeter.
Adan Munoz, 25, of Manorville and a Queens police officer, described Fallujah this way: "Imagine the worst conditions and then multiply by twenty."
Munoz, a reservist since 2003, said Iraqi police recruits often had to hide.
Even something as simple as an encounter with children can turn to the unexpected. "I was on the street, and a kid threw a rock at me," Munoz said. "They don't want to be our friends, to show others they are supporting us, because they could be killed."
The danger factor in Fallujah varied on an almost block-by-block basis. "You knew that if you went north of a certain road, for example, you'd be in danger," Drake said.
Several of the Marines said the uptick in violence over the summer appeared to coincide with the release of detainees from Iraqi jails. It reached a peak on Sept. 4, when two Marines and a Navy corpsman from another unit were killed when a roadside bomb exploded underneath their vehicle. A fourth was severely burned. That evening, another roadside bomb severely wounded two more Marines.
Always on guard
The Marines learned to spot anything unusual. "I know that city better than I know my own hometown," said Sgt. Joseph Wilichoski, 25, a volunteer firefighter from Putnam County. "Every piece of trash, every piece of bent metal."
When insurgents began blowing up improvised explosive devices by remote control, U.S. forces used an electronic device to block the signal. When insurgents turned to pressure plates, which work like mines, the Americans began using sensors, which can spot buried wires.
Rocco Wahl, 25, of Mastic, said insurgents used satellite phones and even pigeons to communicate. "They'll wave at you, but they are signaling," he said. "They'll even yell a chain of command down the block to get ready to ambush you."
For now, the 225 Marines are hoping for a smooth transition to their civilian lives.
"You're on your toes all the time in Iraq," Wahl said, noting the unease he felt during a visit to a supermarket last weekend. "Here, there were so many people all going all over in different directions, all doing their thing."
Recordo Demetrius, 25, of Woodhaven, a police officer, looked forward to "simple things like my couch and being able to flush the toilet."
Drake insisted that after Iraq, nothing is going to bother him. "Driving to work this morning, dealing with Long Island traffic, it's like, 'Whatever,'" he said. "I'm not going to be stressed about it."
2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment
TROOPS More than 500, about 200 of whom came home from Iraq last week.
BASED IN Garden City, with units in Albany, Harrisburg, Pa., and Dover, N.J.
MISSION Deployed to Fallujah, Iraq, handling security, conducting patrol and house searches, and training Iraqi police and army units.
CASUALTIES Three members were killed, two on Aug. 16 and one on Oct. 1. Battalion earned at least 15 Purple Hearts.
SEAN LEDWITH, 26
HOMETOWN: Lynbrook
FAMILY: Single, 10 siblings
TIME IN IRAQ: Second tour
CIVILIAN JOB: Business adminstration student at Adelphi University.
TIMOTHY LEDWITH, 33
HOMETOWN: Lynbrook
FAMILY: Single, 10 siblings
TIME IN IRAQ: Second tour
CIVILIAN JOB: Fire Department of New York
TIMOTHY LEDWITH, 33
HOMETOWN: Lynbrook
FAMILY: Single, 10 siblings
TIME IN IRAQ: Second Tour
CIVILIAN JOB: Fire Department of New York
ADAN MUNOZ, 25
HOMETOWN: Manorville, originally from Staten Island
FAMILY: Wife Melody and daughter Kayleigh, 2 years old
TIME IN IRAQ: One tour
CIVILIAN JOB: New York City police officer
RECORDO DEMETRIUS, 25
HOMETOWN: Woodhaven
FAMILY: Wife Walta
TIME IN IRAQ: Second tour
CIVILIAN JOB: New York City police officer
ROCCO WAHL, 25
HOMETOWN: Mastic
FAMILY: Wife Faith Angel, no children
TIME IN IRAQ: Second tour
CIVILIAN JOB: Works at Sayville Electric
WES DRAKE, 38
HOMETOWN: W. Islip
FAMILY: Wife, three daughters, 3, 5 and 7
TIME IN IRAQ: Two deployments
CIVILIAN JOB: Diplomatic security, U.S. Mission to U.N.
JOSEPH WILICHOSKI, 25
HOMETOWN: Mahopac, N.Y.
FAMILY: Single
TIME IN IRAQ: Two deployments
CIVILIAN JOB: Candidate for FDNY
JOSE AQUINO, 21
HOMETOWN: Manhattan, Lower East Side
FAMILY: Married, no children
TIME IN IRAQ: One deployment
CIVILIAN JOB: Bank employee
BENJAMIN KLINE, 24
HOMETOWN: Baltimore Md.
(two years at C.W. Post)
FAMILY: Single
TIME IN IRAQ: One deployment
CIVILIAN JOB: Plans to return to school
Ellie