thedrifter
04-29-07, 05:58 PM
Semper Fi-nally
Marines get a taste of life as civilians in return to Knoxville
By MATT LAKIN, lakinm@knews.com
April 29, 2007
The flags still fly, but the bus is parked, the signs have come down and the prayers have been said.
Now it's back to life as usual for 42 area Marines -- as usual as life can be after eight months on combat duty in Iraq.
"After being over there, you learn to appreciate the simple things," Sgt. Kevin Gordon, 27, of Morristown said early Saturday as he hugged his 2-year-old daughter, Shalee. "It's going to be a different world."
Gordon and a busload of Marines from Knoxville's Delta Company, 4th Combat Engineer Battalion rolled up to the door of the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center on Alcoa Highway just before 2 a.m. amid cheers, tears and applause from friends and family.
The men left last June for training at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., and arrived in Iraq's Anbar province in September.
They walked foot patrols along the Euphrates River near the Syrian border, built berms to protect towns from rebel attacks, and helped uncover roadside bombs and hidden loads of weapons.
They suffered injuries and close calls -- including a roadside bomb blast that cost Cpl. Bradley Walker of White Pine his legs -- but never lost a man.
"The effort they put in never stopped," 1st Lt. Andrew Frick said. "We made a huge difference. And we brought everybody home."
Now these Marines face a new mission as they settle back into the lives they left behind.
"For the past few months, it's all been about one objective, one goal," said Sgt. Andrew Simmons, 24, of Halls. "You take on a totally different responsibility. Everything's pretty well planned out for you. Now you get back home, and it's just life.
"There's really not one road to follow."
FROM ANBAR TO EAST TENNESSEE
The men know learning to walk that road again will take some time.
"You're going from 100 mph to about 2 in a couple of days," said Frick, the lieutenant. "It's going to be hard to adjust."
Life in the Anbar province meant fast-paced days on patrol or on construction or demolition duty under the constant threat of attack. When the Marines first arrived, the area sometimes saw as many as 40 combat incidents -- from mortar fire to roadside bomb blasts to rebel attacks -- per day.
"There were nights when we hadn't slept in three days," Frick said. "The worst thing was just not knowing what's coming next."
Because of the remote location, most Marines only got to call home every few weeks, sometimes for as little as two minutes or less. Thoughts of home stayed on their minds, together with a focus on the job at hand.
"By the time you're out there, you're working on autopilot," Frick said. "You've got to do it right. And they really helped turn things around. Where we were, we saw a huge improvement."
By the time the Marines left, attacks in their part of the province, which included the cities of Haditha, Haqlinaya, Barwana and Rawah, had dropped, in some cases as low as one or two per day.
LIVES ON HOLD
Most of the Marines put home life on standby when the call to duty came last year. Husbands kissed their wives goodbye. Fathers held their children one last time.
Cpl. Neal Thornton and his fiancA(C)e, Ashley Hill, postponed their wedding.
"I'm not going to lie," Hill said. "It's hard, but I think it brought us closer together. He's a little more mature now, but he's still the same person. He hasn't lost his sense of humor or his personality. He's just more of an adult."
The couple plan to marry this summer.
Cpl. Michael Person and his wife, Amanda, spent just three days of marriage together before he left.
"We've never really lived together before," she said. "I keep telling him I know he's going to leave his dirty socks lying around everywhere, but I'm OK with that. We're going to take this summer to just be married and be in the same country for a change."
Simmons, a student at Pellissippi State Technical Community College, left school for this deployment -- and for his last deployment in 2005 to Fallujah, one of the most hard-fought spots in Iraq.
He hopes to resume classes and catch up on lost time.
Simmons and the other Marines spent most of Saturday relaxing and visiting with relatives and friends. Some fired up the back yard grill for family cookouts. Others took their children to the park or ate breakfast in bed.
"It's just so good being in a place where you don't have to worry about whether or not today's going to be the day," Simmons said. "It's good seeing the grass outside. There's no pressure to a conversation."
He and the others will return to the Reserve Center later this week to turn in their gear and wrap up paperwork. Some will go on leave after that, while others finish out their last weeks on active duty.
Most don't expect the transition to civilian life to take long.
"There's definitely an adjustment, but I've been down this road before," Simmons said. "I'm just glad to be home."
Ellie
Marines get a taste of life as civilians in return to Knoxville
By MATT LAKIN, lakinm@knews.com
April 29, 2007
The flags still fly, but the bus is parked, the signs have come down and the prayers have been said.
Now it's back to life as usual for 42 area Marines -- as usual as life can be after eight months on combat duty in Iraq.
"After being over there, you learn to appreciate the simple things," Sgt. Kevin Gordon, 27, of Morristown said early Saturday as he hugged his 2-year-old daughter, Shalee. "It's going to be a different world."
Gordon and a busload of Marines from Knoxville's Delta Company, 4th Combat Engineer Battalion rolled up to the door of the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center on Alcoa Highway just before 2 a.m. amid cheers, tears and applause from friends and family.
The men left last June for training at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., and arrived in Iraq's Anbar province in September.
They walked foot patrols along the Euphrates River near the Syrian border, built berms to protect towns from rebel attacks, and helped uncover roadside bombs and hidden loads of weapons.
They suffered injuries and close calls -- including a roadside bomb blast that cost Cpl. Bradley Walker of White Pine his legs -- but never lost a man.
"The effort they put in never stopped," 1st Lt. Andrew Frick said. "We made a huge difference. And we brought everybody home."
Now these Marines face a new mission as they settle back into the lives they left behind.
"For the past few months, it's all been about one objective, one goal," said Sgt. Andrew Simmons, 24, of Halls. "You take on a totally different responsibility. Everything's pretty well planned out for you. Now you get back home, and it's just life.
"There's really not one road to follow."
FROM ANBAR TO EAST TENNESSEE
The men know learning to walk that road again will take some time.
"You're going from 100 mph to about 2 in a couple of days," said Frick, the lieutenant. "It's going to be hard to adjust."
Life in the Anbar province meant fast-paced days on patrol or on construction or demolition duty under the constant threat of attack. When the Marines first arrived, the area sometimes saw as many as 40 combat incidents -- from mortar fire to roadside bomb blasts to rebel attacks -- per day.
"There were nights when we hadn't slept in three days," Frick said. "The worst thing was just not knowing what's coming next."
Because of the remote location, most Marines only got to call home every few weeks, sometimes for as little as two minutes or less. Thoughts of home stayed on their minds, together with a focus on the job at hand.
"By the time you're out there, you're working on autopilot," Frick said. "You've got to do it right. And they really helped turn things around. Where we were, we saw a huge improvement."
By the time the Marines left, attacks in their part of the province, which included the cities of Haditha, Haqlinaya, Barwana and Rawah, had dropped, in some cases as low as one or two per day.
LIVES ON HOLD
Most of the Marines put home life on standby when the call to duty came last year. Husbands kissed their wives goodbye. Fathers held their children one last time.
Cpl. Neal Thornton and his fiancA(C)e, Ashley Hill, postponed their wedding.
"I'm not going to lie," Hill said. "It's hard, but I think it brought us closer together. He's a little more mature now, but he's still the same person. He hasn't lost his sense of humor or his personality. He's just more of an adult."
The couple plan to marry this summer.
Cpl. Michael Person and his wife, Amanda, spent just three days of marriage together before he left.
"We've never really lived together before," she said. "I keep telling him I know he's going to leave his dirty socks lying around everywhere, but I'm OK with that. We're going to take this summer to just be married and be in the same country for a change."
Simmons, a student at Pellissippi State Technical Community College, left school for this deployment -- and for his last deployment in 2005 to Fallujah, one of the most hard-fought spots in Iraq.
He hopes to resume classes and catch up on lost time.
Simmons and the other Marines spent most of Saturday relaxing and visiting with relatives and friends. Some fired up the back yard grill for family cookouts. Others took their children to the park or ate breakfast in bed.
"It's just so good being in a place where you don't have to worry about whether or not today's going to be the day," Simmons said. "It's good seeing the grass outside. There's no pressure to a conversation."
He and the others will return to the Reserve Center later this week to turn in their gear and wrap up paperwork. Some will go on leave after that, while others finish out their last weeks on active duty.
Most don't expect the transition to civilian life to take long.
"There's definitely an adjustment, but I've been down this road before," Simmons said. "I'm just glad to be home."
Ellie