thedrifter
06-13-07, 04:01 AM
Utah Marines return to Iraq for another tour of duty - and a very different war
By Matthew D. LaPlante
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:
CAMP WILLIAMS - The Marines of Charlie Company, 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, returned home from their first tour of duty in Iraq just after President Bush declared an end to major combat operations.
As it turned out, the battles were far from over.
On Monday, the 140-member unit of Marine reservists began the first leg of their return trip to the war. Leaving behind their families, friends and civilian jobs, the company's members packed onto several buses en route to Salt Lake City International Airport. By Monday evening, they were in North Carolina. There, the company will train for four months for a war that only vaguely resembles the one it left behind more than four years back.
The Marines depart at a time when most Americans - 61 percent in a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll - say the war in Iraq was not worth fighting. In four months, they head to the western desert Anbar Province, an area that has seen more Marine deaths than any place in Iraq.
But they also go at a time of some promise. American military commanders and Iraqi officials say violence against Americans in Anbar has dropped significantly over the past months as previously noncommittal tribal leaders have backed - at least for now - a U.S. plan for regional stability.
The Marines of Charlie Company are not ignorant of their nation's political temperament nor of Iraq's violent currents. But holding his wife in his arms, on Monday afternoon, Jonothan Sharp had closer concerns.
And nonetheless, Sharp said, he was prepared to do his job.
"This is why I joined the Marine Corps," the Orem resident said.
"And I knew what I was getting into when I married him," Melissa Sharp confirmed.
Richard Lindgren, of Alpine, said he felt "lucky" to be deploying with Charlie Company.
"This is what we sign the paper to do, to go out and help other people and try to do a little good in the world."
As did his comrades, Clint Lund accepted that his duty to the Marine Corps demanded his willingness to fight when called. But as Lund stood with his wife - now seven months pregnant - next to a large pile of duty bags, he lamented the timing.
"We've been trying to get pregnant ever since we were married," said Lund, who wed his wife, Sarah, three years ago.
The couple learned they had finally succeeded just one month before Clint Lund received his deployment orders.
"You've gotta do what you've gotta do," he sighed.
Sarah Lund said that although she had not prepared to raise their infant son Heber alone, she knew she would survive the challenge.
"It's not so bad for me," she said. "I just feel bad that his dad is going to miss so much."
mlaplante@sltrib.com
Ellie
By Matthew D. LaPlante
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:
CAMP WILLIAMS - The Marines of Charlie Company, 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, returned home from their first tour of duty in Iraq just after President Bush declared an end to major combat operations.
As it turned out, the battles were far from over.
On Monday, the 140-member unit of Marine reservists began the first leg of their return trip to the war. Leaving behind their families, friends and civilian jobs, the company's members packed onto several buses en route to Salt Lake City International Airport. By Monday evening, they were in North Carolina. There, the company will train for four months for a war that only vaguely resembles the one it left behind more than four years back.
The Marines depart at a time when most Americans - 61 percent in a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll - say the war in Iraq was not worth fighting. In four months, they head to the western desert Anbar Province, an area that has seen more Marine deaths than any place in Iraq.
But they also go at a time of some promise. American military commanders and Iraqi officials say violence against Americans in Anbar has dropped significantly over the past months as previously noncommittal tribal leaders have backed - at least for now - a U.S. plan for regional stability.
The Marines of Charlie Company are not ignorant of their nation's political temperament nor of Iraq's violent currents. But holding his wife in his arms, on Monday afternoon, Jonothan Sharp had closer concerns.
And nonetheless, Sharp said, he was prepared to do his job.
"This is why I joined the Marine Corps," the Orem resident said.
"And I knew what I was getting into when I married him," Melissa Sharp confirmed.
Richard Lindgren, of Alpine, said he felt "lucky" to be deploying with Charlie Company.
"This is what we sign the paper to do, to go out and help other people and try to do a little good in the world."
As did his comrades, Clint Lund accepted that his duty to the Marine Corps demanded his willingness to fight when called. But as Lund stood with his wife - now seven months pregnant - next to a large pile of duty bags, he lamented the timing.
"We've been trying to get pregnant ever since we were married," said Lund, who wed his wife, Sarah, three years ago.
The couple learned they had finally succeeded just one month before Clint Lund received his deployment orders.
"You've gotta do what you've gotta do," he sighed.
Sarah Lund said that although she had not prepared to raise their infant son Heber alone, she knew she would survive the challenge.
"It's not so bad for me," she said. "I just feel bad that his dad is going to miss so much."
mlaplante@sltrib.com
Ellie