thedrifter
12-04-06, 01:12 PM
Sailor made life easier for troops in Iraq
(Published Monday, December 4, 2006 11:27:25 AM CST)
By Marcia Nelesen
Gazette Staff
Dan Delaney doesn't carry a weapon in his tool pouch anymore.
It's one of the things that the Janesville electrician is getting used to now that he's safe back home after serving in Iraq.
Delaney, 35, is a chief petty officer with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 25 based out of Fort McCoy. He joined the Naval Reserves in 1998 after eight years of active duty.
Delaney's battalion shipped to California in January and then Iraq in March. He returned to California in October.
"Everybody loves the Seabees here because we build things to improve morale,'' Delaney said in an e-mail home from Iraq. "It makes you feel good to be helping out.''
The Seabees endeared themselves to Marines living on remote posts when the sailors provided such luxuries as air conditioning, running water and reliable power.
Delaney was stationed first at the Al Asad Air Base about 100 miles west of Baghdad. There, he coordinated projects and worked on the base, where Seabees built anything from pull-up bars to plaques to a chapel with a stained glass window.
"It was just anything to make life easier or a bit more like home,'' Delaney said in a recent interview.
He zipped around the huge base on a bike. The base was safe and had many of the comforts of home, including a Pizza Hut and Burger King.
Later, though, he was sent "outside the wire'' to Al Qa'im, an old train station in western Iraq. There, troops lived in warehouses.
From there, the Seabees were dispatched to small battle positions, called BPs, held by Marines. Often, BPs were vacant homes or abandoned schoolhouses.
The Seabees worked alongside the Marines and Iraqi Army members. Whatever the Seabees did for the Marines, they did for the Iraqis.
The troops especially welcomed care packages sent from home to these remote locations.
Danger came when the Seabees convoyed from one base to another. Delaney's battalion lost three men when roadside bombs exploded. Three more were injured, including Troy DeVault of Orfordville.
In one e-mail, Delaney wrote to his wife, Tori: "I did not have a very exciting week. (That) is a good thing if you are in Iraq.''
The Seabees usually worked seven days a week, starting before sunrise and quitting well after sunset.
"For the most part, you did your job, and your job was however long it took,'' he said. "There was no overtime.''
The Seabees gave the Marines and Iraqi soldiers electrical power and running water. They built three wells, all of which will eventually be used by the Iraqis.
"I guess one of the better memories is just leaving each (BP)-there were 14 that we did,'' Delaney said. "Every single time we left, there were so many thank yous. It was a real thank you. It was (for) pretty much making their lives better. You could see it on their faces.''
He won't forget other things from Iraq:
-- The buddies he made. In an e-mail home, he wrote: "I have been hanging out with a good bunch of guys here at Al Qa'im. They are all Marines, but that is fine.''
-- Watching the sun rise over a mosque.
-- The beauty of the Euphrates River. He ate a meal of lamb with Turkish electricians there as he checked out a project at the Haditha Dam.
-- Sandstorms, which looked "pretty cool.''
What he missed most:
-- The color green. Iraq is mostly shades of brown, and green actually looked darker when he got home.
-- Drinking water from a sink rather than a bottle.
-- Real milk, not the powdered variety.
-- Sun Drop soda and Gray's Honey Ale.
-- Eating off regular plates and using real silverware instead of plastic.
The worst?
-- The stress from being away from home and missing his young children's milestones.
-- The friends who were killed and injured in Iraq.
Once, Delaney was working with Marines who jumped into Humvees to get them all hot meals from a nearby post. Three were killed and one severely burned when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle.
"That was pretty tough,'' Delaney said.
Still, Delaney believes it's good the United States is in Iraq.
"I don't know if it will solve the problem over there, but you gotta try … We are making a difference,'' he said.
Back home, Delaney's perspective on life has changed.
"Your family seems a lot more important, spending time with them," he said. "Some of the stuff you think is so important, it's like, maybe it wasn't that important.
"Now, I know I can get by with less.''
He's also grateful for the little things.
"Did you ever feel that you had a really bad day, like something happened to your car?'' Delaney asked. "That's not even close to a bad day.
"A bad day is hearing some of your buddies aren't coming back.''
Ellie
(Published Monday, December 4, 2006 11:27:25 AM CST)
By Marcia Nelesen
Gazette Staff
Dan Delaney doesn't carry a weapon in his tool pouch anymore.
It's one of the things that the Janesville electrician is getting used to now that he's safe back home after serving in Iraq.
Delaney, 35, is a chief petty officer with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 25 based out of Fort McCoy. He joined the Naval Reserves in 1998 after eight years of active duty.
Delaney's battalion shipped to California in January and then Iraq in March. He returned to California in October.
"Everybody loves the Seabees here because we build things to improve morale,'' Delaney said in an e-mail home from Iraq. "It makes you feel good to be helping out.''
The Seabees endeared themselves to Marines living on remote posts when the sailors provided such luxuries as air conditioning, running water and reliable power.
Delaney was stationed first at the Al Asad Air Base about 100 miles west of Baghdad. There, he coordinated projects and worked on the base, where Seabees built anything from pull-up bars to plaques to a chapel with a stained glass window.
"It was just anything to make life easier or a bit more like home,'' Delaney said in a recent interview.
He zipped around the huge base on a bike. The base was safe and had many of the comforts of home, including a Pizza Hut and Burger King.
Later, though, he was sent "outside the wire'' to Al Qa'im, an old train station in western Iraq. There, troops lived in warehouses.
From there, the Seabees were dispatched to small battle positions, called BPs, held by Marines. Often, BPs were vacant homes or abandoned schoolhouses.
The Seabees worked alongside the Marines and Iraqi Army members. Whatever the Seabees did for the Marines, they did for the Iraqis.
The troops especially welcomed care packages sent from home to these remote locations.
Danger came when the Seabees convoyed from one base to another. Delaney's battalion lost three men when roadside bombs exploded. Three more were injured, including Troy DeVault of Orfordville.
In one e-mail, Delaney wrote to his wife, Tori: "I did not have a very exciting week. (That) is a good thing if you are in Iraq.''
The Seabees usually worked seven days a week, starting before sunrise and quitting well after sunset.
"For the most part, you did your job, and your job was however long it took,'' he said. "There was no overtime.''
The Seabees gave the Marines and Iraqi soldiers electrical power and running water. They built three wells, all of which will eventually be used by the Iraqis.
"I guess one of the better memories is just leaving each (BP)-there were 14 that we did,'' Delaney said. "Every single time we left, there were so many thank yous. It was a real thank you. It was (for) pretty much making their lives better. You could see it on their faces.''
He won't forget other things from Iraq:
-- The buddies he made. In an e-mail home, he wrote: "I have been hanging out with a good bunch of guys here at Al Qa'im. They are all Marines, but that is fine.''
-- Watching the sun rise over a mosque.
-- The beauty of the Euphrates River. He ate a meal of lamb with Turkish electricians there as he checked out a project at the Haditha Dam.
-- Sandstorms, which looked "pretty cool.''
What he missed most:
-- The color green. Iraq is mostly shades of brown, and green actually looked darker when he got home.
-- Drinking water from a sink rather than a bottle.
-- Real milk, not the powdered variety.
-- Sun Drop soda and Gray's Honey Ale.
-- Eating off regular plates and using real silverware instead of plastic.
The worst?
-- The stress from being away from home and missing his young children's milestones.
-- The friends who were killed and injured in Iraq.
Once, Delaney was working with Marines who jumped into Humvees to get them all hot meals from a nearby post. Three were killed and one severely burned when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle.
"That was pretty tough,'' Delaney said.
Still, Delaney believes it's good the United States is in Iraq.
"I don't know if it will solve the problem over there, but you gotta try … We are making a difference,'' he said.
Back home, Delaney's perspective on life has changed.
"Your family seems a lot more important, spending time with them," he said. "Some of the stuff you think is so important, it's like, maybe it wasn't that important.
"Now, I know I can get by with less.''
He's also grateful for the little things.
"Did you ever feel that you had a really bad day, like something happened to your car?'' Delaney asked. "That's not even close to a bad day.
"A bad day is hearing some of your buddies aren't coming back.''
Ellie