thedrifter
09-02-07, 05:56 AM
SHIPPING OUT
Tears flow as a Marine Corps unit leaves Belle Chasse for western Iraq
Sunday, September 02, 2007
By Paul Purpura
West Bank bureau
The arrival of a Navy C-130 Hercules transport Saturday morning set in motion the bidding of farewells.
About 70 Marines fell into last embraces with family members who had waited with them through the pre-dawn darkness at the Naval Air Station-Joint Reserve Base in Belle Chasse. A rush of camera flashes sent sparks of light bouncing through the Marine Corps hangar as troops posed beside their wives, their parents, with their children and with each other.
More than an hour later, when a Marine's order -- "Let's go, let's go" -- echoed through the cavernous hangar, Belinda Butts tearfully and tightly wrapped her arms around Staff Sgt. Corey Butts' neck one last time.
Staff Sgt. Butts, 26, kneeled before his children, Kain, 4, and Kailyn, 3, to share parting fatherly words. He hugged and kissed them again and again before joining the single-file line that quickly formed on the hangar's parking apron.
Fifteen minutes later, the C-130 lifted off the runway. Back in the hangar, relatives stood silent, their emotions evident in their glazed-over eyes.
"This is his second time going to Iraq, but it doesn't make it any easier," Belinda Butts, 25, said. Her husband is a crew chief and UH-1 Huey helicopter door gunner assigned to Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 773, Detachment A.
After a three-day layover at the Naval Air Station near Atlanta, the Belle Chasse-based Marines will deploy to al-Asad air base in western Iraq, for what is expected to be a seven-month combat tour. A reserve unit, the squadron is equipped with Huey and AH-1 Cobra helicopters, which bring in aerial guns and rockets to support friendly ground troops.
First deployment
While many Marines assigned to the "Red Dogs" have been to Iraq as members of other units, most of the younger troops will make their first foray to the desert. Among them is Lance Cpl. Joshua Richter, 21, of Marrero.
Through the night Friday, his sister, Sarah Richter, 19, stayed by his side, helping him pack his gear. She admitted just after dawn Saturday that she wanted to "lock him in my closet" and keep him home.
"It's hard, because at one point in my life, my brother, he was everything to me," she said. Graduates of John Ehret High School in Marrero, the Richters come from a Marine Corps family. Their parents and an older brother were Marines, and they spent their childhood moving around before settling in Marrero seven years ago.
Lance Cpl. Richter, whose job is to arm the helicopters, rubbed his sister's back, smiled and displayed the M-16A2 assault rifle slung over his shoulder.
"This will keep me just fine," he said of the rifle he named "Amazing Grace."
Saturday's departure marked the first of three deployments for at least 300 Belle Chasse-based Marines heading to Iraq this month.
The headquarters and service companies for the 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines, a reserve infantry unit with companies in Baton Rouge, Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama, is going through pre-deployment combat training in North Carolina before shipping out to al-Anbar province in western Iraq.
Separately, a military police unit of about 25 Marines, assigned to Marine Air Group 42, Detachment C, also is undergoing pre-deployment training before heading to western Iraq to work at a regional detention facility, Lt. Col. Ricardo Martinez said.
Martinez, an Iraq-seasoned and combat-decorated Huey pilot, commands the helicopter squadron and other aviation units based in Belle Chasse, in addition to the military police. He took command of the air group detachment on June 29, while the Marines were training for this deployment.
"Since they got their marching orders, it had been non-stop" preparation, Martinez said. "I told them, 'Hey, slow it down. It's going to be a seven-month marathon.' "
'Take care of each other'
As they filed across the apron before lifting off Saturday, Martinez and Sgt. Maj. Michael Sprague shook each Marine's hand and patted every back. Sprague, who has seen combat in Iraq three times since 1991, will remain behind and was struck by the thought that he could only offer parting words.
"The advice I gave them is: Take care of each other," Sprague said. "If anything can be said of the Marine Corps in its 232 years, it's that Marines take care of each other. This is a good group of Marines. It's a good mix of young ones and well-seasoned ones."
The families left behind have a support network in place, including a "phone tree" through which news can spread quickly. Because the squadron is a reserve unit, its members mostly are dispersed among communities throughout the southeastern United States, unlike their active-duty brethren who all live on or near military bases.
While her husband is gone, Belinda Butts, a Georgia native who lives in family housing at the air station, will stay with a friend in Gonzales, where support is more available as she cares for the couple's young children.
Friday night, in Gonzales, the couple tried to explain to their children that their daddy would be going away, she said.
"I think Kain understands a little more than Kailyn," Butts said. "She knows Daddy's leaving, but it's just hard."
In Belle Chasse, Sarah Richter held back tears just thinking of her brother's departure.
"I just wish him and everybody the best of luck," she said.
Answering his sister, Lance Cpl. Richter again offered comfort.
"We'll all be back," he said.
. . . . . . .
Paul Purpura can be reached at ppurpura@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3791.
Ellie
Tears flow as a Marine Corps unit leaves Belle Chasse for western Iraq
Sunday, September 02, 2007
By Paul Purpura
West Bank bureau
The arrival of a Navy C-130 Hercules transport Saturday morning set in motion the bidding of farewells.
About 70 Marines fell into last embraces with family members who had waited with them through the pre-dawn darkness at the Naval Air Station-Joint Reserve Base in Belle Chasse. A rush of camera flashes sent sparks of light bouncing through the Marine Corps hangar as troops posed beside their wives, their parents, with their children and with each other.
More than an hour later, when a Marine's order -- "Let's go, let's go" -- echoed through the cavernous hangar, Belinda Butts tearfully and tightly wrapped her arms around Staff Sgt. Corey Butts' neck one last time.
Staff Sgt. Butts, 26, kneeled before his children, Kain, 4, and Kailyn, 3, to share parting fatherly words. He hugged and kissed them again and again before joining the single-file line that quickly formed on the hangar's parking apron.
Fifteen minutes later, the C-130 lifted off the runway. Back in the hangar, relatives stood silent, their emotions evident in their glazed-over eyes.
"This is his second time going to Iraq, but it doesn't make it any easier," Belinda Butts, 25, said. Her husband is a crew chief and UH-1 Huey helicopter door gunner assigned to Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 773, Detachment A.
After a three-day layover at the Naval Air Station near Atlanta, the Belle Chasse-based Marines will deploy to al-Asad air base in western Iraq, for what is expected to be a seven-month combat tour. A reserve unit, the squadron is equipped with Huey and AH-1 Cobra helicopters, which bring in aerial guns and rockets to support friendly ground troops.
First deployment
While many Marines assigned to the "Red Dogs" have been to Iraq as members of other units, most of the younger troops will make their first foray to the desert. Among them is Lance Cpl. Joshua Richter, 21, of Marrero.
Through the night Friday, his sister, Sarah Richter, 19, stayed by his side, helping him pack his gear. She admitted just after dawn Saturday that she wanted to "lock him in my closet" and keep him home.
"It's hard, because at one point in my life, my brother, he was everything to me," she said. Graduates of John Ehret High School in Marrero, the Richters come from a Marine Corps family. Their parents and an older brother were Marines, and they spent their childhood moving around before settling in Marrero seven years ago.
Lance Cpl. Richter, whose job is to arm the helicopters, rubbed his sister's back, smiled and displayed the M-16A2 assault rifle slung over his shoulder.
"This will keep me just fine," he said of the rifle he named "Amazing Grace."
Saturday's departure marked the first of three deployments for at least 300 Belle Chasse-based Marines heading to Iraq this month.
The headquarters and service companies for the 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines, a reserve infantry unit with companies in Baton Rouge, Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama, is going through pre-deployment combat training in North Carolina before shipping out to al-Anbar province in western Iraq.
Separately, a military police unit of about 25 Marines, assigned to Marine Air Group 42, Detachment C, also is undergoing pre-deployment training before heading to western Iraq to work at a regional detention facility, Lt. Col. Ricardo Martinez said.
Martinez, an Iraq-seasoned and combat-decorated Huey pilot, commands the helicopter squadron and other aviation units based in Belle Chasse, in addition to the military police. He took command of the air group detachment on June 29, while the Marines were training for this deployment.
"Since they got their marching orders, it had been non-stop" preparation, Martinez said. "I told them, 'Hey, slow it down. It's going to be a seven-month marathon.' "
'Take care of each other'
As they filed across the apron before lifting off Saturday, Martinez and Sgt. Maj. Michael Sprague shook each Marine's hand and patted every back. Sprague, who has seen combat in Iraq three times since 1991, will remain behind and was struck by the thought that he could only offer parting words.
"The advice I gave them is: Take care of each other," Sprague said. "If anything can be said of the Marine Corps in its 232 years, it's that Marines take care of each other. This is a good group of Marines. It's a good mix of young ones and well-seasoned ones."
The families left behind have a support network in place, including a "phone tree" through which news can spread quickly. Because the squadron is a reserve unit, its members mostly are dispersed among communities throughout the southeastern United States, unlike their active-duty brethren who all live on or near military bases.
While her husband is gone, Belinda Butts, a Georgia native who lives in family housing at the air station, will stay with a friend in Gonzales, where support is more available as she cares for the couple's young children.
Friday night, in Gonzales, the couple tried to explain to their children that their daddy would be going away, she said.
"I think Kain understands a little more than Kailyn," Butts said. "She knows Daddy's leaving, but it's just hard."
In Belle Chasse, Sarah Richter held back tears just thinking of her brother's departure.
"I just wish him and everybody the best of luck," she said.
Answering his sister, Lance Cpl. Richter again offered comfort.
"We'll all be back," he said.
. . . . . . .
Paul Purpura can be reached at ppurpura@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3791.
Ellie