thedrifter
03-06-07, 08:25 AM
Coming back from Fallujah
The story of one UNH student's time in a warzone
Dave Saggese
Posted: 3/6/07
To an outsider, a fraternity is a place where people go to party, get drunk and act immature. However, one member of the UNH fraternity Pi Kappa Alpha (Pike) feels truly blessed to be reunited with such a strong brotherhood after a long and hazardous journey.
Iraq or Bust
It was Jan. 2005 when now 21-year-old Anthony Dineen made a life altering decision and joined the New Hampshire Army Reserves.
"I knew that I would have to go [to Iraq] sooner or later. I joined the service because I felt it was the right thing to do, and [I chose] the reserves because I wanted to finish my education," he said.
A little over a year later, Dineen, along with the rest of First Battalion 25th Marines, landed in Iraq, about to embark on a seven-month mission in one of the country's top three most dangerous cities, Fallujah.
For Dineen, the quick deployment was certainly no surprise, and after four months of training he was at war in a foreign land, with no turning back.
"It didn't hit me that I was fighting a war for at least two weeks. Everyone around me was nervous in some kind of way. I didn't get nervous for at least two weeks," he said.
Dineen was not a smoker before he joined the Marines, something that changed very quickly.
"I smoked a lot of cigarettes in Iraq. It was a social thing to keep you busy. Say you're tired and hot and you just finished a patrol, your friend offers you a cigarette and you now have something to relax with and a little time to talk," he said.
Almost everything else in the seven-month period in which Dineen served as a soldier in Iraq was negative. Besides the obvious challenge of trying to stay alive and completing daily missions of warfare, the heat was Dineen's least favorite part of his wartime experience.
"An average day was 125 degrees, and then there were the hot days. I remember seeing the thermostat top out at 130 [degrees] -- it didn't read anything past that but we all knew it was much hotter," he said.
To make matters worse, Dineen never had a full day off and spent many nights trying to fend off the scorpions that arrived as silent as the Middle Eastern night. There also was no TV or radio at his base camp. He was completely shut off from the United States, except for the occasional phone call or package from his family and friends.
Dineen admits he felt fear. "Everyone was [scared], but you don't think about being scared when things start happening. You just do it. It's like a blackout almost; you don't even know what you're doing until you've already done it. I never thought about what was going to get me to survive the deployment, only IF I was going to survive." Twelve of Dineen's fellow soldiers did not survive while serving their country in Iraq. For Dineen, it was like losing members of his family.
"I've made some of the best friends I have ever had over there. People I will always be close to for a lifetime," he said.
Through everything Dineen experienced, he remains a loyal and proud United States soldier. Ask him what he thinks about the war and you'll only get one answer: "I am a Marine, and I am ready and willing to carry out any order the president chooses to give to my battalion."
Being a soldier makes sense to Dineen.
"I felt like if I joined (the Marines), then my friends and family wouldn't have to," said Dineen.
Welcome Home
When Dineen finally returned to the United States to continue where he left off as a civilian, he had mixed emotions.
"It was strange at first. I felt out of place. It felt like I needed to go back [to Iraq] because this [United States] was no longer my home, but that feeling went away soon after."
Dineen was greeted by his mother, brother and friends from his hometown of Hudson, N.H. when he was formally released by the Army. The first thing he did was go out to eat. Everyone at the table ordered enormous steaks.
Dineen enjoyed his first real meal in over seven months but admitted that he missed his mother's home cooked meals the most during his tour of duty and thought about them every time he ate his military-issued rations.
The next few days were interesting, to say the least.
"I didn't have any trouble sleeping because we barely ever had time to sleep in Iraq," Dineen said. "But being around a lot of people bothered me when there were no other Marines around."
When he finally decided to go to his first party in his hometown since coming back from Iraq, he felt overwhelmed.
"I felt like people got too close to me, bumping and pushing and standing behind me. I left in a hurry."
The culture shock continued to plague Dineen.
"I came home and I had no idea what was going on. For example, all the songs that came out on the radio seemed brand new when they were old." One song, "Chicken Noodle Soup" by DJ Webstar, shocked Dineen.
"That song is so stupid. I can't believe someone got away with making a song about chicken noodle soup with a soda on the side," he said.
It had been almost a year since Dineen had seen his friends at UNH.
"I couldn't wait to get back to school; it was too much of a change going from constant action in Iraq to quiet boredom at home. I needed to find some middle ground," he said.
A Brotherhood Re-United
Before he left for Iraq, Dineen knew that his friends supported his decision.
"Most of my friends were very proud of me. Most of them didn't understand why I was going, but they still backed me 100 percent."
However, they weren't just his friends, they were his brothers. After pledging Pi Kappa Alpha in the spring semester of 2005, he didn't have much time with the brotherhood before his eventual deployment. Regardless, in the short time that he had been a brother, he had already made many lifelong friends and knew he would be missed.
"Dineen is the type of person that would do anything for you. He has an extreme loyalty to ones that are close to him," said Mike Jennings, 22, a fellow Pike brother. Andrew Limbeck, 21, another Pike brother, even went as far as to say, "[Dineen] is the most courageous person I have ever met."
The brothers of Pike weren't going to let Dineen come back to UNH without throwing him a surprise welcome home party. However, Dineen beat them at their own game.
"I didn't tell anyone that I was coming because I was scared they would try and throw a surprise party or something like that and I didn't want any part of that. Instead, I came up and surprised them. The bombardment would have been too much."
The brothers of Pike and Dineen shared a feeling of relief. He was happy to be able to go back to school, and everyone was glad he made it back from war. The transition was also surprisingly smooth.
"[The brothers] brought me back into the house and really made me feel like I was home," Dineen said.
The brothers of Pike showed great respect for Dineen and what he had been through. The brothers were careful not to overwhelm Dineen with intrusive questions.
"I went to military school and have studied the military heavily, so I understood that he might not want to talk about [his experience]," Taylor Treadeu, 20, said, "so out of respect I don't ask him about [his experience]."
Friend George Armstrong, 21, agreed, "I felt that if he had something he wanted to tell me, he would. I never asked him, like, 'Did you kill anyone?' I just thought that would be an insensitive question because I am not familiar with the environment [in Iraq]."
There is, however, one question Dineen wants to be asked.
"What can they send to a troop to make his day better?" Dineen's answer: cigarettes, drink powder and adult magazines. He also recommends that food items and soap should be shipped separately due to the heat making the two items combine, causing the food to taste, well, soapy.
Dineen certainly noticed how much brothers were willing to do to support him and respect his privacy.
"[The brothers] have helped to keep my life full. Full of everything. There is always something going on. The brotherhood helped me put [my experiences in Iraq] behind me by giving me something to do and stay busy."
While Dineen was in Iraq he was certainly not forgotten. As Jennings admits, "I was scared for him." Armstrong felt the same.
"Yeah, I was scared for him. I thought about it a lot; anytime there was a more-than-average gap in between our phone calls I would get nervous. I checked the Department of Defense's website countless times to make sure his name didn't show up on the causalities list. And thankfully I never saw it," Armstrong said.
Dineen and the brothers of Pike agree that having a large brotherhood to come back to has helped him feel more comfortable in the transition from soldier to civilian. Dineen is thankful every day for the support he has received,
"I think it would have been much harder if I didn't have this many supportive friends to come back to. I have a few Marine friends that went to college as freshmen and this semester don't know anyone. They're adjusting, but I'm sure they would've been better off with an entire house to help them with anything they needed help with," he said.
Jennings agreed almost word for word.
"I think it helped a lot having the fraternity to fall back on and making the transition much easier. It's nice to have a huge group of guys to have around and be able to help you out when you need it. I'm sure in some ways it reminded him of the friends that he had while he was in Iraq," Jennings said.
Armstrong is especially encouraged by the progress Dineen has made.
"He has adjusted great. He is pretty much back to the same exact kid he was before he left. His first semester back at Pike he ran for an executive position and he was elected house manager. He is taking three classes right now, easing back into the normal life of a college student. I feel being with all of us at Pike has kept his mind off of any traumatic experiences he may have gone through in Iraq. We all understand what he put on the line over there, so we were more than happy to help and cater to anything he needed."
As the war in Iraq continues, Marines like Dineen do their best to reacquaint themselves with the college lifestyle for the time being. They remember where they have been, where some of their brothers in arms still are, and where they might go once again.
"Anthony sacrificed everything for this country, and I can not say that about myself," said Armstrong. "[Dineen] is one of the most selfless people I know."
Ellie
The story of one UNH student's time in a warzone
Dave Saggese
Posted: 3/6/07
To an outsider, a fraternity is a place where people go to party, get drunk and act immature. However, one member of the UNH fraternity Pi Kappa Alpha (Pike) feels truly blessed to be reunited with such a strong brotherhood after a long and hazardous journey.
Iraq or Bust
It was Jan. 2005 when now 21-year-old Anthony Dineen made a life altering decision and joined the New Hampshire Army Reserves.
"I knew that I would have to go [to Iraq] sooner or later. I joined the service because I felt it was the right thing to do, and [I chose] the reserves because I wanted to finish my education," he said.
A little over a year later, Dineen, along with the rest of First Battalion 25th Marines, landed in Iraq, about to embark on a seven-month mission in one of the country's top three most dangerous cities, Fallujah.
For Dineen, the quick deployment was certainly no surprise, and after four months of training he was at war in a foreign land, with no turning back.
"It didn't hit me that I was fighting a war for at least two weeks. Everyone around me was nervous in some kind of way. I didn't get nervous for at least two weeks," he said.
Dineen was not a smoker before he joined the Marines, something that changed very quickly.
"I smoked a lot of cigarettes in Iraq. It was a social thing to keep you busy. Say you're tired and hot and you just finished a patrol, your friend offers you a cigarette and you now have something to relax with and a little time to talk," he said.
Almost everything else in the seven-month period in which Dineen served as a soldier in Iraq was negative. Besides the obvious challenge of trying to stay alive and completing daily missions of warfare, the heat was Dineen's least favorite part of his wartime experience.
"An average day was 125 degrees, and then there were the hot days. I remember seeing the thermostat top out at 130 [degrees] -- it didn't read anything past that but we all knew it was much hotter," he said.
To make matters worse, Dineen never had a full day off and spent many nights trying to fend off the scorpions that arrived as silent as the Middle Eastern night. There also was no TV or radio at his base camp. He was completely shut off from the United States, except for the occasional phone call or package from his family and friends.
Dineen admits he felt fear. "Everyone was [scared], but you don't think about being scared when things start happening. You just do it. It's like a blackout almost; you don't even know what you're doing until you've already done it. I never thought about what was going to get me to survive the deployment, only IF I was going to survive." Twelve of Dineen's fellow soldiers did not survive while serving their country in Iraq. For Dineen, it was like losing members of his family.
"I've made some of the best friends I have ever had over there. People I will always be close to for a lifetime," he said.
Through everything Dineen experienced, he remains a loyal and proud United States soldier. Ask him what he thinks about the war and you'll only get one answer: "I am a Marine, and I am ready and willing to carry out any order the president chooses to give to my battalion."
Being a soldier makes sense to Dineen.
"I felt like if I joined (the Marines), then my friends and family wouldn't have to," said Dineen.
Welcome Home
When Dineen finally returned to the United States to continue where he left off as a civilian, he had mixed emotions.
"It was strange at first. I felt out of place. It felt like I needed to go back [to Iraq] because this [United States] was no longer my home, but that feeling went away soon after."
Dineen was greeted by his mother, brother and friends from his hometown of Hudson, N.H. when he was formally released by the Army. The first thing he did was go out to eat. Everyone at the table ordered enormous steaks.
Dineen enjoyed his first real meal in over seven months but admitted that he missed his mother's home cooked meals the most during his tour of duty and thought about them every time he ate his military-issued rations.
The next few days were interesting, to say the least.
"I didn't have any trouble sleeping because we barely ever had time to sleep in Iraq," Dineen said. "But being around a lot of people bothered me when there were no other Marines around."
When he finally decided to go to his first party in his hometown since coming back from Iraq, he felt overwhelmed.
"I felt like people got too close to me, bumping and pushing and standing behind me. I left in a hurry."
The culture shock continued to plague Dineen.
"I came home and I had no idea what was going on. For example, all the songs that came out on the radio seemed brand new when they were old." One song, "Chicken Noodle Soup" by DJ Webstar, shocked Dineen.
"That song is so stupid. I can't believe someone got away with making a song about chicken noodle soup with a soda on the side," he said.
It had been almost a year since Dineen had seen his friends at UNH.
"I couldn't wait to get back to school; it was too much of a change going from constant action in Iraq to quiet boredom at home. I needed to find some middle ground," he said.
A Brotherhood Re-United
Before he left for Iraq, Dineen knew that his friends supported his decision.
"Most of my friends were very proud of me. Most of them didn't understand why I was going, but they still backed me 100 percent."
However, they weren't just his friends, they were his brothers. After pledging Pi Kappa Alpha in the spring semester of 2005, he didn't have much time with the brotherhood before his eventual deployment. Regardless, in the short time that he had been a brother, he had already made many lifelong friends and knew he would be missed.
"Dineen is the type of person that would do anything for you. He has an extreme loyalty to ones that are close to him," said Mike Jennings, 22, a fellow Pike brother. Andrew Limbeck, 21, another Pike brother, even went as far as to say, "[Dineen] is the most courageous person I have ever met."
The brothers of Pike weren't going to let Dineen come back to UNH without throwing him a surprise welcome home party. However, Dineen beat them at their own game.
"I didn't tell anyone that I was coming because I was scared they would try and throw a surprise party or something like that and I didn't want any part of that. Instead, I came up and surprised them. The bombardment would have been too much."
The brothers of Pike and Dineen shared a feeling of relief. He was happy to be able to go back to school, and everyone was glad he made it back from war. The transition was also surprisingly smooth.
"[The brothers] brought me back into the house and really made me feel like I was home," Dineen said.
The brothers of Pike showed great respect for Dineen and what he had been through. The brothers were careful not to overwhelm Dineen with intrusive questions.
"I went to military school and have studied the military heavily, so I understood that he might not want to talk about [his experience]," Taylor Treadeu, 20, said, "so out of respect I don't ask him about [his experience]."
Friend George Armstrong, 21, agreed, "I felt that if he had something he wanted to tell me, he would. I never asked him, like, 'Did you kill anyone?' I just thought that would be an insensitive question because I am not familiar with the environment [in Iraq]."
There is, however, one question Dineen wants to be asked.
"What can they send to a troop to make his day better?" Dineen's answer: cigarettes, drink powder and adult magazines. He also recommends that food items and soap should be shipped separately due to the heat making the two items combine, causing the food to taste, well, soapy.
Dineen certainly noticed how much brothers were willing to do to support him and respect his privacy.
"[The brothers] have helped to keep my life full. Full of everything. There is always something going on. The brotherhood helped me put [my experiences in Iraq] behind me by giving me something to do and stay busy."
While Dineen was in Iraq he was certainly not forgotten. As Jennings admits, "I was scared for him." Armstrong felt the same.
"Yeah, I was scared for him. I thought about it a lot; anytime there was a more-than-average gap in between our phone calls I would get nervous. I checked the Department of Defense's website countless times to make sure his name didn't show up on the causalities list. And thankfully I never saw it," Armstrong said.
Dineen and the brothers of Pike agree that having a large brotherhood to come back to has helped him feel more comfortable in the transition from soldier to civilian. Dineen is thankful every day for the support he has received,
"I think it would have been much harder if I didn't have this many supportive friends to come back to. I have a few Marine friends that went to college as freshmen and this semester don't know anyone. They're adjusting, but I'm sure they would've been better off with an entire house to help them with anything they needed help with," he said.
Jennings agreed almost word for word.
"I think it helped a lot having the fraternity to fall back on and making the transition much easier. It's nice to have a huge group of guys to have around and be able to help you out when you need it. I'm sure in some ways it reminded him of the friends that he had while he was in Iraq," Jennings said.
Armstrong is especially encouraged by the progress Dineen has made.
"He has adjusted great. He is pretty much back to the same exact kid he was before he left. His first semester back at Pike he ran for an executive position and he was elected house manager. He is taking three classes right now, easing back into the normal life of a college student. I feel being with all of us at Pike has kept his mind off of any traumatic experiences he may have gone through in Iraq. We all understand what he put on the line over there, so we were more than happy to help and cater to anything he needed."
As the war in Iraq continues, Marines like Dineen do their best to reacquaint themselves with the college lifestyle for the time being. They remember where they have been, where some of their brothers in arms still are, and where they might go once again.
"Anthony sacrificed everything for this country, and I can not say that about myself," said Armstrong. "[Dineen] is one of the most selfless people I know."
Ellie