thedrifter
09-29-07, 07:57 AM
Published: September 28, 2007 10:10 pm
Triton grad’s find averts disaster in Iraq
Sabrina Cardin
BYFIELD — While working the night shift on the Al Taqaddam base in Iraq, Marine Lance Cpl. Edmund “Joe” Hughes, a mechanic, was looking over a helicopter when he found a small crack on the boom that had been overlooked.
But it turned out it wasn’t just a simple crack — it was big enough that it could have brought down the helicopter. The entire boom needed to be replaced.
According to his superiors, Hughes’ discovery may well have saved the lives of the entire crew.
In the fifth month of his seven-month tour, Hughes, 24, has now received two Navy and Marine Achievement awards. His first award came also for his alertness — he saw an object fall off a helicopter. The latest award is for discovering the overlooked crack.
“The real award is doing what he thinks he should,” said his mother, Didi Hughes, who now lives in Poland, Maine.
Joe, a 2002 Triton graduate, initially felt the call to serve his country when he saw troops returning home on the news. Having already received a degree in automotive mechanics from Universal Technical Institute Illinois in 2004, Hughes, then 22, saw enlisting in the marines as the next logical step.
After testing high on the aviation mechanic portion of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery exam, Hughes was offered a position repairing and rebuilding marine aviation. He currently rebuilds UH-1Y Hueys and AD-1 Cobras.
After attending boot camp at Parris Island and school in Pensacola, Fla., Hughes was assigned to his home base at Camp Pendelton in California. He spent nine months adjusting to life at Pendleton before he was sent to Iraq.
“He was very proud when he finished boot camp, and was all set to go,” Didi Hughes said. “His father and I were nervous.”
Didi Hughes regularly corresponds with her son through e-mail and every two weeks by phone. With every e-mail and conversation, her son is always insistent that he safe. Despite the number of e-mails of scorpions and spiders tapering off, one aspect Didi believes her son still has not adjusted to is the heat, which can reach as high as 141 degrees. The soldiers’ only relief comes in the form of another obstacle they have to overcome, sandstorms.
Helping combat the heat, she sends over care packages containing videos, pictures, socks and lots of suntan lotion. Recently, a welcomed and rare glimpse of her son came in the mail, when Hughes sent home a photograph of himself with visiting celebrity Chuck Norris.
“He looked older,” said Didi Hughes of her son.
Returning right before the holiday season, Hughes will enjoy a Thanksgiving and Christmas with his mother, Didi, father, Ed, and sisters, Becky and Jess.
After a seven-month tour, Hughes will return home to Camp Pendleton for a year of American comforts before returning to Iraq for another seven months. Despite the perks of traveling, Joe Hughes, via e-mail, said he still sometimes misses the East Coast.
“I would always think about New England and being in the snow and seeing the autumn,” Hughes said.
Ellie
Triton grad’s find averts disaster in Iraq
Sabrina Cardin
BYFIELD — While working the night shift on the Al Taqaddam base in Iraq, Marine Lance Cpl. Edmund “Joe” Hughes, a mechanic, was looking over a helicopter when he found a small crack on the boom that had been overlooked.
But it turned out it wasn’t just a simple crack — it was big enough that it could have brought down the helicopter. The entire boom needed to be replaced.
According to his superiors, Hughes’ discovery may well have saved the lives of the entire crew.
In the fifth month of his seven-month tour, Hughes, 24, has now received two Navy and Marine Achievement awards. His first award came also for his alertness — he saw an object fall off a helicopter. The latest award is for discovering the overlooked crack.
“The real award is doing what he thinks he should,” said his mother, Didi Hughes, who now lives in Poland, Maine.
Joe, a 2002 Triton graduate, initially felt the call to serve his country when he saw troops returning home on the news. Having already received a degree in automotive mechanics from Universal Technical Institute Illinois in 2004, Hughes, then 22, saw enlisting in the marines as the next logical step.
After testing high on the aviation mechanic portion of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery exam, Hughes was offered a position repairing and rebuilding marine aviation. He currently rebuilds UH-1Y Hueys and AD-1 Cobras.
After attending boot camp at Parris Island and school in Pensacola, Fla., Hughes was assigned to his home base at Camp Pendelton in California. He spent nine months adjusting to life at Pendleton before he was sent to Iraq.
“He was very proud when he finished boot camp, and was all set to go,” Didi Hughes said. “His father and I were nervous.”
Didi Hughes regularly corresponds with her son through e-mail and every two weeks by phone. With every e-mail and conversation, her son is always insistent that he safe. Despite the number of e-mails of scorpions and spiders tapering off, one aspect Didi believes her son still has not adjusted to is the heat, which can reach as high as 141 degrees. The soldiers’ only relief comes in the form of another obstacle they have to overcome, sandstorms.
Helping combat the heat, she sends over care packages containing videos, pictures, socks and lots of suntan lotion. Recently, a welcomed and rare glimpse of her son came in the mail, when Hughes sent home a photograph of himself with visiting celebrity Chuck Norris.
“He looked older,” said Didi Hughes of her son.
Returning right before the holiday season, Hughes will enjoy a Thanksgiving and Christmas with his mother, Didi, father, Ed, and sisters, Becky and Jess.
After a seven-month tour, Hughes will return home to Camp Pendleton for a year of American comforts before returning to Iraq for another seven months. Despite the perks of traveling, Joe Hughes, via e-mail, said he still sometimes misses the East Coast.
“I would always think about New England and being in the snow and seeing the autumn,” Hughes said.
Ellie