thedrifter
08-21-07, 07:56 PM
Going to War
By Scott Rochat (Contact)
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
It’s almost time for Spc. Marie Vernon to return to Afghanistan. She’s ready. But it’s still not easy.
“I love what I’m doing over there and I’m proud of what I’m doing,” said 19-year-old Vernon, who leaves Emporia on Wednesday after a brief leave. “But it’s hard to see my family for so little time and then says ‘Goodbye, I’m going again.’ That’s the hardest part — saying your goodbyes.”
The Bright men can understand. They’ve got some more time to get ready — Cpl. Matt Bright doesn’t leave for Iraq until October. His older brother, Sgt. Caleb Bright, goes back to training in October and will be redeployed to Iraq in December. Eventually, goodbyes will come and duty will call.
“I support what we’re doing there,” their father, Jeff Bright said, looking at his two young Marines. “But it’s tough, knowing both of them are going to be there. It’s a dangerous place.”
Joining up
Both of the Brights have known they wanted to be Marines since they were children, especially after the Sept. 11 attacks. So it wasn’t too much of a shock when Caleb joined up five years ago and Matt just two years later.
Vernon’s enlistment in the Army in November 2005, however, was a little more of a surprise to her folks. Just a year before, she had been competing for Miss Teen Kansas City. Now, she was asking permission to join the military at 17.
“Mom and Dad were a little shocked,” Vernon said wryly.
“Not to mention Grandma just about fell out of her chair,” added her mother, Anita Vernon.
At the time she joined up, Vernon knew of only one other living relative who had served, an uncle on her dad’s side. She had noted it as an option when she was a freshman at Emporia High School but started thinking about it more seriously at a college job fair.
The more she thought about it, the more the Army sounded like a way to build a future.
“I knew she had made up her mind when she said ‘Mom, I haven’t made up my mind, but ....’” Anita Vernon said.
Going into the Marines, both Caleb and Matt Bright knew there was a strong likelihood that they’d wind up in the thick of things. But both had relatives who had served. And both were more than ready to take their turn.
“Your adrenaline’s pumping,” said Caleb Bright, who was sent to Iraq in 2005. “It’s what you live for, basically. They get it instilled in you. That’s what you’re training for — war. You just want to get out there and do your job.”
Shipping out
Still, that job can come more quickly than anyone expects. Vernon finished her basic training in August 2006 and her individual training as a supply specialist the following October. By November, she was being mobilized. She was at a dental appointment when she got the call.
Her first thought was to call Mom. Maybe it should have been the second one.
“I messed up,” Vernon admitted sheepishly. “I told Mom I was being deployed while she was at work.”
“For a long time, people would ask me how she was doing and I couldn’t speak without getting all teary,” her mother said. “But I’m getting better with that.”
It’s a moment every soldier trains for. But for all the training, it only really became real for Caleb Bright when he heard the whistle of mortars attacking his unit.
“I had no clue how hard my job was going to be until I started doing it, and then I got a big eye-opener,” he said. “You see the movies about it, but it’s a whole different experience out there.”
Matt Bright at least had some stories and accounts from his brother to help ready him. But even that only goes so far, he said. Every soldier has a different experience. His was formed in Guantanamo Bay and later in Beirut and Cyprus, helping Americans evacuate from Lebanon during that country’s war with Israel in 2006.
“I remember one of the ladies was having a problem, she couldn’t make it up the ramp,” he said. “We had to carry her up. She told us ‘Thank you so much for coming. God bless the Marines!’ I thought that was kind of nice.”
Familiar faces
Even as they get ready to serve halfway around the world, reminders of home can crop up at the oddest times. When Vernon began to mobilize with her unit, she realized that a couple of faces looked familiar.
“There were two guys in my unit that I went to high school with and I didn’t know they were going with me until I was getting mobilized,” she said. “That was neat to have a little piece of home with me.”
The two were Brian Gerriets and Jose Martinez, both of whom held specialist rank at the time. The two had each had a class with Vernon, but graduated a couple of years ahead of her. Now it seemed the time had come for an impromptu reunion.
Matt Bright also found a bit of home unexpectedly, again in Beirut. Two of the evacuees were young women from the University of Kansas. Both were thinking about shifting to Emporia State University.
“It was wild,” he said.
Doing the job
All three of the young soldiers soon became familiar with the war that didn’t always make it on the TV. For Caleb Bright, the war itself is just one half of the story, the one that gets the ratings for the networks.
The other half, he said, is a story of cities that have been liberated and aid that’s been supplied to those who need it.
“What you see is part of it, but it’s not the whole thing,” he said.
The fighting in Iraq has often been described as a war without boundaries. Caleb Bright doesn’t dwell on that. For a noncommissioned officer, he said, it’s better to focus on doing the job, looking after your Marines and bringing them safely home.
“You never look at the big picture,” he said. “You look at the big picture, you just get lost. You just do your mission for that day and you’re done. And then you do it all over the next day. And then you can joke about how dumb they are when they’re done.”
As a supply specialist, Vernon is not to be directly in the line of fire — though you quickly learn, she added, that there are no guaranteed safe spots.
“You can’t get complacent over there, thinking everything’s fine,” she said. “That’s when you’re at your weakest. ... There’s really no ‘safe zone’ over there.”
But there are compensations. Because of her specialization, Vernon also gets to be part of supplying clothing and toys and other items to the Afghans.
“There’s a lot worse places I could be,” she said.
The folks back home
In the modern military, it helps to have e-mail. Vernon writes home pretty regularly, though not always as frequently as Mom would like. And since one of her older sisters doesn’t have e-mail, there’s still no substitute for the call home.
“When I call her, it’s ‘Thank goodness you called home -- I’ve been SO worried!’” Vernon said with a laugh.
Jeff Bright and his wife, Mickie even got a little unexpected reassurance last summer when a CNN report on the evacuation showed a familiar face on the screen.
“I was glued to the TV and Jeff was coming in every now and again and he said ‘That’s Matt!’” Mickie Bright said. “And of course they never showed it again.”
Still, there’s no substitute for having them back home, even if it’s just for a little while. And it is. There’s just too many other responsibilities for it to last forever.
“As soon as you make it to NCO, you stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about the guys underneath you,” Matt Bright said. “...You have to be accountable for everything you do. And you have to have your guys accountable for everything they do.”
Vernon feels the responsibility, too. In fact, she’s feeling it from an unexpected direction — the home front.
“She’s become a role model for a lot of other girls thinking about military careers,” Anita Vernon said. “They say ‘I want to be just like Marie. I want to be an Army girl.’”
Ellie
By Scott Rochat (Contact)
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
It’s almost time for Spc. Marie Vernon to return to Afghanistan. She’s ready. But it’s still not easy.
“I love what I’m doing over there and I’m proud of what I’m doing,” said 19-year-old Vernon, who leaves Emporia on Wednesday after a brief leave. “But it’s hard to see my family for so little time and then says ‘Goodbye, I’m going again.’ That’s the hardest part — saying your goodbyes.”
The Bright men can understand. They’ve got some more time to get ready — Cpl. Matt Bright doesn’t leave for Iraq until October. His older brother, Sgt. Caleb Bright, goes back to training in October and will be redeployed to Iraq in December. Eventually, goodbyes will come and duty will call.
“I support what we’re doing there,” their father, Jeff Bright said, looking at his two young Marines. “But it’s tough, knowing both of them are going to be there. It’s a dangerous place.”
Joining up
Both of the Brights have known they wanted to be Marines since they were children, especially after the Sept. 11 attacks. So it wasn’t too much of a shock when Caleb joined up five years ago and Matt just two years later.
Vernon’s enlistment in the Army in November 2005, however, was a little more of a surprise to her folks. Just a year before, she had been competing for Miss Teen Kansas City. Now, she was asking permission to join the military at 17.
“Mom and Dad were a little shocked,” Vernon said wryly.
“Not to mention Grandma just about fell out of her chair,” added her mother, Anita Vernon.
At the time she joined up, Vernon knew of only one other living relative who had served, an uncle on her dad’s side. She had noted it as an option when she was a freshman at Emporia High School but started thinking about it more seriously at a college job fair.
The more she thought about it, the more the Army sounded like a way to build a future.
“I knew she had made up her mind when she said ‘Mom, I haven’t made up my mind, but ....’” Anita Vernon said.
Going into the Marines, both Caleb and Matt Bright knew there was a strong likelihood that they’d wind up in the thick of things. But both had relatives who had served. And both were more than ready to take their turn.
“Your adrenaline’s pumping,” said Caleb Bright, who was sent to Iraq in 2005. “It’s what you live for, basically. They get it instilled in you. That’s what you’re training for — war. You just want to get out there and do your job.”
Shipping out
Still, that job can come more quickly than anyone expects. Vernon finished her basic training in August 2006 and her individual training as a supply specialist the following October. By November, she was being mobilized. She was at a dental appointment when she got the call.
Her first thought was to call Mom. Maybe it should have been the second one.
“I messed up,” Vernon admitted sheepishly. “I told Mom I was being deployed while she was at work.”
“For a long time, people would ask me how she was doing and I couldn’t speak without getting all teary,” her mother said. “But I’m getting better with that.”
It’s a moment every soldier trains for. But for all the training, it only really became real for Caleb Bright when he heard the whistle of mortars attacking his unit.
“I had no clue how hard my job was going to be until I started doing it, and then I got a big eye-opener,” he said. “You see the movies about it, but it’s a whole different experience out there.”
Matt Bright at least had some stories and accounts from his brother to help ready him. But even that only goes so far, he said. Every soldier has a different experience. His was formed in Guantanamo Bay and later in Beirut and Cyprus, helping Americans evacuate from Lebanon during that country’s war with Israel in 2006.
“I remember one of the ladies was having a problem, she couldn’t make it up the ramp,” he said. “We had to carry her up. She told us ‘Thank you so much for coming. God bless the Marines!’ I thought that was kind of nice.”
Familiar faces
Even as they get ready to serve halfway around the world, reminders of home can crop up at the oddest times. When Vernon began to mobilize with her unit, she realized that a couple of faces looked familiar.
“There were two guys in my unit that I went to high school with and I didn’t know they were going with me until I was getting mobilized,” she said. “That was neat to have a little piece of home with me.”
The two were Brian Gerriets and Jose Martinez, both of whom held specialist rank at the time. The two had each had a class with Vernon, but graduated a couple of years ahead of her. Now it seemed the time had come for an impromptu reunion.
Matt Bright also found a bit of home unexpectedly, again in Beirut. Two of the evacuees were young women from the University of Kansas. Both were thinking about shifting to Emporia State University.
“It was wild,” he said.
Doing the job
All three of the young soldiers soon became familiar with the war that didn’t always make it on the TV. For Caleb Bright, the war itself is just one half of the story, the one that gets the ratings for the networks.
The other half, he said, is a story of cities that have been liberated and aid that’s been supplied to those who need it.
“What you see is part of it, but it’s not the whole thing,” he said.
The fighting in Iraq has often been described as a war without boundaries. Caleb Bright doesn’t dwell on that. For a noncommissioned officer, he said, it’s better to focus on doing the job, looking after your Marines and bringing them safely home.
“You never look at the big picture,” he said. “You look at the big picture, you just get lost. You just do your mission for that day and you’re done. And then you do it all over the next day. And then you can joke about how dumb they are when they’re done.”
As a supply specialist, Vernon is not to be directly in the line of fire — though you quickly learn, she added, that there are no guaranteed safe spots.
“You can’t get complacent over there, thinking everything’s fine,” she said. “That’s when you’re at your weakest. ... There’s really no ‘safe zone’ over there.”
But there are compensations. Because of her specialization, Vernon also gets to be part of supplying clothing and toys and other items to the Afghans.
“There’s a lot worse places I could be,” she said.
The folks back home
In the modern military, it helps to have e-mail. Vernon writes home pretty regularly, though not always as frequently as Mom would like. And since one of her older sisters doesn’t have e-mail, there’s still no substitute for the call home.
“When I call her, it’s ‘Thank goodness you called home -- I’ve been SO worried!’” Vernon said with a laugh.
Jeff Bright and his wife, Mickie even got a little unexpected reassurance last summer when a CNN report on the evacuation showed a familiar face on the screen.
“I was glued to the TV and Jeff was coming in every now and again and he said ‘That’s Matt!’” Mickie Bright said. “And of course they never showed it again.”
Still, there’s no substitute for having them back home, even if it’s just for a little while. And it is. There’s just too many other responsibilities for it to last forever.
“As soon as you make it to NCO, you stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about the guys underneath you,” Matt Bright said. “...You have to be accountable for everything you do. And you have to have your guys accountable for everything they do.”
Vernon feels the responsibility, too. In fact, she’s feeling it from an unexpected direction — the home front.
“She’s become a role model for a lot of other girls thinking about military careers,” Anita Vernon said. “They say ‘I want to be just like Marie. I want to be an Army girl.’”
Ellie