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thedrifter
04-14-07, 06:24 AM
Award, barbecue welcome Marines
Maj. Gen. O'Dell: 'There is not a group of any size ... that I am more proud of'
Originally published April 14, 2007


By Alison Walker-Baird

FREDERICK — Less than two weeks after an emotional reunion with his wife that capped his six-month deployment to Iraq, a Frederick Marine said life is pretty much business as usual.

Within three days of returning with Fort Detrick-based Dam Security Unit-3, it was as though Sgt. John Brangaccio had never left, his wife, Nicole Brangaccio, said.

"He's hogging the blankets, blasting the TV," she said, smiling, as they sat together during a community "welcome home" barbecue Friday at the American Legion Francis Scott Key Post No. 11 in Frederick.

About 110 Marines from DSU-3 deployed to Iraq in October and returned to Frederick on April 3. The unit is back to its original designation as Bravo Company, 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion in the 4th Marine Division. The reserve unit is based at the Pfc. Flair U.S. Army Reserve Center.

Roughly two-thirds of the unit's members were patrolling and securing Iraqi waterways in Haditha and the Euphrates River Valley. The rest conducted security operations in the violent city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province west of Baghdad.

About 75 percent of the Bravo Marines were on their first deployment. The company could deploy again in 2009.

At the barbecue, U.S. Marine Maj. Gen. Douglas O'Dell, commanding general of the 4th Marine Division, announced the division had honored Bravo with the Gen. Clifton B. Cates award, given annually to one exceptional 4th division unit.

The award, presented Friday morning, was particularly important to Bravo because of the company's small size: the 108 Marines who deployed were among 20,000 in the division deployed at the same time, Bravo's 1st Sgt. David Jobe said.

"There is not a group of any size, of any capability, that I am more proud of than these 108 Marines for what they did," O'Dell said. "The experiences they shared in the last seven months will join them as brothers in a very special way for the rest of their lives."

One Marine was injured during the deployment and no one in the unit was killed.

Lance Cpl. Christopher Charette, 21, of Leesburg, Va., was shot twice Oct. 23 during security patrol on the Euphrates River. He attended the barbecue Friday as well as last week's homecoming.

Charette is left-handed and has been learning to write with his right hand after doctors amputated his left thumb. One of the bullets caused nerve damage in his left shoulder, but he is regaining movement in his left arm.

Two Marines have been killed during Bravo Company deployments. Lance Cpl. Gregory MacDonald died during a 2002-2003 deployment and Lance Cpl. James M. Lang was killed in the Persian Gulf in the early 1990s.


Back home — for a while

Nicole Brangaccio, 27, and the couple's two children went to the unit's arrival last week moments before the buses pulled into the reserve center.

"I didn't see him at first," Nicole said, describing how she teared up when she heard the police motorcycle horn that heralded the arrival.

"Of course they all look alike — it's like 'Where's Waldo?'"

Daughter Cheryl, 6, jumped onto dad first for a hug, followed by son, Jeremy, 7, and Nicole. They celebrated with an Italian dinner out.

This deployment was John's second; the couple's first during their marriage.

An active-duty Marine, he joined in 1997 and deployed to the Western Pacific in 1998. During his deployment with Bravo he managed the Marines' supplies.

The couple had become friends before the deployment, meeting when he was stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif. He returned from his tour in December 1998 and they began dating a month later, marrying in November 1999.

John Brangaccio, 28, has applied for re-enlistment and if it goes through he will move to a new unit. He would be eligible to deploy again in early 2008.

"This is his job," Nicole Brangaccio said. "It takes a certain type of individual who wants to do something like this — he loves this."

Ellie