thedrifter
09-12-07, 06:27 AM
Son follows father's Marine footsteps
Reserve unit prepares for Iraq mission
By MEG JONES
mjones@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Sept. 11, 2007
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Joe Durham knows it's hot, dusty and dangerous in Iraq. His father told him so.
The 20-year-old private first class from Cedarburg is leaving soon for several months of training with Milwaukee-based Fox Company of the Marine Reserve 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment.
Then he'll be on to Iraq, a country his father knows well.
"He was pretty excited I was going," Joe Durham said Tuesday morning while taking a smoke break at Fox Company's headquarters. "He told me it's pretty miserable over there."
David Durham served in Iraq with another company in the battalion when the unit spent seven months there. He was in Madison-based Golf Company but now serves as a lieutenant colonel with Marine Forces Pacific out of Hawaii.
He wishes he could go with his son, the oldest of his six children.
"He kept asking me, 'Dad, do you think this will be over before I get to Iraq?' I said, 'No, you'll get your chance.' He's ready to go," said David Durham, 40, in a phone interview. He works at U.S. Bank in Milwaukee.
Though this will be Joe Durham's first deployment to Iraq, it's the second for Fox Company. About 40% of the 180 Fox Company members deploying now also served with the unit on the first mobilization in 2004 and 2005, said 1st Sgt. Cecil Goodlowe.
This week the Marines are gathering at the company's headquarters to go through administrative and medical paperwork and get their gear organized. They leave early next week for California, where they will go through four months of training at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms.
Ahead of them are weapons proficiency, physical fitness training, mission-specific tactics and Arabic language classes before they finish up with a long exercise involving live fire and work with Iraqi citizen role players to simulate what the Marines will encounter on the streets of Iraq.
"There will be a lot of early morning runs and late nights," said Fox Company commander Maj. Guillermo Rosales, 38, an engineering manager for Motorola in Chicago. "I told them they have to put away the comforts of their families and home and get in the Marine mind-set."
The entire 2nd battalion, 24th Marines - about 900 members - is heading to Iraq, and that includes Fox and Golf companies in Wisconsin as well as companies from Illinois and Iowa. Nicknamed the "Mad Ghosts" on its last tour, the battalion was headquartered in Mahmudiyah, in the middle of the insurgent heartland in central Iraq called "the Triangle of Death."
With the surge in Iraq and the war in its fourth year now, it wasn't a surprise to any of the Marines that the unit would deploy to Iraq for a second time. They have had time to put their affairs in order, tell employers and friends they're going and leave college classes behind. About a half-dozen Fox Company members have gotten married in the past few weeks.
Rosales, who served with Echo Company of the 2nd Battalion on the last mobilization, said the veterans will be invaluable to the new guys.
"Every military unit relies on their veterans. They're taking all the new Marines under their wings," said Rosales.
Among those who know the drill is Cpl. Ron Poppie. He answers the "what's it like over there?" questions simply by saying "it's tough."
Poppie, 24, of La Crosse, got married last spring and will depend on his wife, Abby, to handle things while he's gone.
"It's probably a lot easier this time because you know what to expect. You expect a year of hard work," said Poppie.
Joe Durham, who is studying business at Concordia University, plans to bring with him his laptop, pictures of his family and girlfriend and an iPod filled with country music. His friend Lance Cpl. John Paul Kennedy, 20, of Fond du Lac, doesn't have an iPod but hopes to get one before shipping out to Iraq.
Both have tattoos - Durham has a tribal band on his right bicep, the Marine Corps emblem on his left arm; Kennedy has only a tribal band on his back. Both said they plan to get another tattoo when they're at the Marine training base in California, though they haven't figured out the design yet.
Neither Kennedy nor Durham is scared, they said. They're excited about going to Iraq.
"I told my parents if my time's up, my time's up," said Kennedy, who wants to be a history teacher someday.
"I'd rather it be doing something honorable than doing something stupid back here."
Ellie
Reserve unit prepares for Iraq mission
By MEG JONES
mjones@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Sept. 11, 2007
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Joe Durham knows it's hot, dusty and dangerous in Iraq. His father told him so.
The 20-year-old private first class from Cedarburg is leaving soon for several months of training with Milwaukee-based Fox Company of the Marine Reserve 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment.
Then he'll be on to Iraq, a country his father knows well.
"He was pretty excited I was going," Joe Durham said Tuesday morning while taking a smoke break at Fox Company's headquarters. "He told me it's pretty miserable over there."
David Durham served in Iraq with another company in the battalion when the unit spent seven months there. He was in Madison-based Golf Company but now serves as a lieutenant colonel with Marine Forces Pacific out of Hawaii.
He wishes he could go with his son, the oldest of his six children.
"He kept asking me, 'Dad, do you think this will be over before I get to Iraq?' I said, 'No, you'll get your chance.' He's ready to go," said David Durham, 40, in a phone interview. He works at U.S. Bank in Milwaukee.
Though this will be Joe Durham's first deployment to Iraq, it's the second for Fox Company. About 40% of the 180 Fox Company members deploying now also served with the unit on the first mobilization in 2004 and 2005, said 1st Sgt. Cecil Goodlowe.
This week the Marines are gathering at the company's headquarters to go through administrative and medical paperwork and get their gear organized. They leave early next week for California, where they will go through four months of training at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms.
Ahead of them are weapons proficiency, physical fitness training, mission-specific tactics and Arabic language classes before they finish up with a long exercise involving live fire and work with Iraqi citizen role players to simulate what the Marines will encounter on the streets of Iraq.
"There will be a lot of early morning runs and late nights," said Fox Company commander Maj. Guillermo Rosales, 38, an engineering manager for Motorola in Chicago. "I told them they have to put away the comforts of their families and home and get in the Marine mind-set."
The entire 2nd battalion, 24th Marines - about 900 members - is heading to Iraq, and that includes Fox and Golf companies in Wisconsin as well as companies from Illinois and Iowa. Nicknamed the "Mad Ghosts" on its last tour, the battalion was headquartered in Mahmudiyah, in the middle of the insurgent heartland in central Iraq called "the Triangle of Death."
With the surge in Iraq and the war in its fourth year now, it wasn't a surprise to any of the Marines that the unit would deploy to Iraq for a second time. They have had time to put their affairs in order, tell employers and friends they're going and leave college classes behind. About a half-dozen Fox Company members have gotten married in the past few weeks.
Rosales, who served with Echo Company of the 2nd Battalion on the last mobilization, said the veterans will be invaluable to the new guys.
"Every military unit relies on their veterans. They're taking all the new Marines under their wings," said Rosales.
Among those who know the drill is Cpl. Ron Poppie. He answers the "what's it like over there?" questions simply by saying "it's tough."
Poppie, 24, of La Crosse, got married last spring and will depend on his wife, Abby, to handle things while he's gone.
"It's probably a lot easier this time because you know what to expect. You expect a year of hard work," said Poppie.
Joe Durham, who is studying business at Concordia University, plans to bring with him his laptop, pictures of his family and girlfriend and an iPod filled with country music. His friend Lance Cpl. John Paul Kennedy, 20, of Fond du Lac, doesn't have an iPod but hopes to get one before shipping out to Iraq.
Both have tattoos - Durham has a tribal band on his right bicep, the Marine Corps emblem on his left arm; Kennedy has only a tribal band on his back. Both said they plan to get another tattoo when they're at the Marine training base in California, though they haven't figured out the design yet.
Neither Kennedy nor Durham is scared, they said. They're excited about going to Iraq.
"I told my parents if my time's up, my time's up," said Kennedy, who wants to be a history teacher someday.
"I'd rather it be doing something honorable than doing something stupid back here."
Ellie