thedrifter
03-08-08, 09:12 AM
Marine doing her bit with 'the best' in Iraq
LINDA CONNER LAMBECK lclambeck@ctpost.com
Far be it from Michael Richardson, 43, to talk his daughter, Melissa, out of joining the armed forces.
The former serviceman spent a brief time in Iraq himself during the Desert Storm operations in the early '90s. He would have only hoped his daughter, now 22, would have chosen an easier path than the Marines when she graduated from Central High School in Bridgeport.
"Marines are the toughest one. We tried to get [Melissa] to go into the Air Force. She wouldn't go. She said, 'If I'm going to do it, I'm going to go with the best,' " said Richardson, who couldn't argue with the logic.
A Norwalk native, Michael Richardson had joined the Marines right out of high school and served three years from 1981 to 1984. A year after being discharged, he went back into the Army, serving seven years and through Desert Storm in 1990.
"I always wanted to go into service. I never regretted one minute of it. I regretted getting out," said Richardson, now a postal employee in Fairfield, who moved from Bridgeport to Beacon Falls a few years ago.
Just the other day, he got a call from Melissa, a Marine lance corporal deployed last week with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115 to Al Asad Air base in Iraq.
Al Asad, in northern Iraq, is about 180 kilometers west of Baghdad.
"Worry? Every day. Every minute of the day. It's not like it's the best duty station in the world to be at," Michael Richardson said of his daughter's assignment.
Marcia Richardson, Melissa's mother, said it's hard on the family with their daughter in a war zone.
"We tried to talk her out of it. My husband was in the military 10 years. Melissa grew up going to outings at the base. I didn't realize how much she had it in her until she came home announcing she had enlisted," her mom said. Melissa's dad isn't her only link to the military. A grandfather, Raymond Richardson, served as a gunner on a ship in Vietnam, then later as a military police officer stationed in Saigon. A great grandfather, Virgil Richardson, served as a military police officer in World War II, guarding Italian prisoners of war. Another great-grandfather was a Bataan Death March survivor in the Philippines during World War II.
So it perhaps was inevitable that Melissa began talking about joining the military when she turned 16, her father said.
Lance Cpl. Richardson doesn't quite see it that way.
"I joined the Marine Corps as a way to learn a trade and see the world at the same time. Also, the rent in Connecticut is too expensive," she said in an e-mail from her base in Iraq.
"It just seemed like the best thing I could do for myself. My father used his military experience to try and talk me out it," she added.
Melissa Richardson entered the service in January 2005 and was based at Marine Corps air station in Beaufort, S.C. She spent two years stationed at Iwakuni, Japan. She came home for the holidays in December and was still in the States when her grandmother died in January. Melissa was allowed to attend the funeral.
She arrived last week in Iraq where she is an aviation ordnance technician. Ordnance are bombs and missiles, her father said.
Melissa's job is to load them onto jets and help ensure that they do and go where they are supposed to.
She expects to be in Iraq seven months. Her enlistment runs through January 2009.
Michael Richardson said having been in the military makes it hard because "I know what's going on."
During the Gulf War, Michael Richardson was stationed in Saudi Arabia and spent two days in Iraq "for clean-up" after the so-called 100-hour war when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.
"There was nothing but sand when I was there. It's built up a lot," he said.
After leaving the military for good, he moved to Illinois for a few years to be with his father, but grew homesick and settled back in Connecticut. Melissa attended Blackham School, then Central High.
Her mother, Marcia Richardson, works for Norwalk Hospital. Her sister, Amanda, 16, is now in high school in Beacon Falls.
Amanda has no military aspirations, according to her father.
Once she gets out of the service, Melissa hopes to study to be a nurse.
"Mostly, I would just like to let my friends and family know that everything here is going good and not to worry. I'm happy to be able to do my job in the Marine Corps over here in Iraq," she said.
Ellie
LINDA CONNER LAMBECK lclambeck@ctpost.com
Far be it from Michael Richardson, 43, to talk his daughter, Melissa, out of joining the armed forces.
The former serviceman spent a brief time in Iraq himself during the Desert Storm operations in the early '90s. He would have only hoped his daughter, now 22, would have chosen an easier path than the Marines when she graduated from Central High School in Bridgeport.
"Marines are the toughest one. We tried to get [Melissa] to go into the Air Force. She wouldn't go. She said, 'If I'm going to do it, I'm going to go with the best,' " said Richardson, who couldn't argue with the logic.
A Norwalk native, Michael Richardson had joined the Marines right out of high school and served three years from 1981 to 1984. A year after being discharged, he went back into the Army, serving seven years and through Desert Storm in 1990.
"I always wanted to go into service. I never regretted one minute of it. I regretted getting out," said Richardson, now a postal employee in Fairfield, who moved from Bridgeport to Beacon Falls a few years ago.
Just the other day, he got a call from Melissa, a Marine lance corporal deployed last week with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115 to Al Asad Air base in Iraq.
Al Asad, in northern Iraq, is about 180 kilometers west of Baghdad.
"Worry? Every day. Every minute of the day. It's not like it's the best duty station in the world to be at," Michael Richardson said of his daughter's assignment.
Marcia Richardson, Melissa's mother, said it's hard on the family with their daughter in a war zone.
"We tried to talk her out of it. My husband was in the military 10 years. Melissa grew up going to outings at the base. I didn't realize how much she had it in her until she came home announcing she had enlisted," her mom said. Melissa's dad isn't her only link to the military. A grandfather, Raymond Richardson, served as a gunner on a ship in Vietnam, then later as a military police officer stationed in Saigon. A great grandfather, Virgil Richardson, served as a military police officer in World War II, guarding Italian prisoners of war. Another great-grandfather was a Bataan Death March survivor in the Philippines during World War II.
So it perhaps was inevitable that Melissa began talking about joining the military when she turned 16, her father said.
Lance Cpl. Richardson doesn't quite see it that way.
"I joined the Marine Corps as a way to learn a trade and see the world at the same time. Also, the rent in Connecticut is too expensive," she said in an e-mail from her base in Iraq.
"It just seemed like the best thing I could do for myself. My father used his military experience to try and talk me out it," she added.
Melissa Richardson entered the service in January 2005 and was based at Marine Corps air station in Beaufort, S.C. She spent two years stationed at Iwakuni, Japan. She came home for the holidays in December and was still in the States when her grandmother died in January. Melissa was allowed to attend the funeral.
She arrived last week in Iraq where she is an aviation ordnance technician. Ordnance are bombs and missiles, her father said.
Melissa's job is to load them onto jets and help ensure that they do and go where they are supposed to.
She expects to be in Iraq seven months. Her enlistment runs through January 2009.
Michael Richardson said having been in the military makes it hard because "I know what's going on."
During the Gulf War, Michael Richardson was stationed in Saudi Arabia and spent two days in Iraq "for clean-up" after the so-called 100-hour war when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.
"There was nothing but sand when I was there. It's built up a lot," he said.
After leaving the military for good, he moved to Illinois for a few years to be with his father, but grew homesick and settled back in Connecticut. Melissa attended Blackham School, then Central High.
Her mother, Marcia Richardson, works for Norwalk Hospital. Her sister, Amanda, 16, is now in high school in Beacon Falls.
Amanda has no military aspirations, according to her father.
Once she gets out of the service, Melissa hopes to study to be a nurse.
"Mostly, I would just like to let my friends and family know that everything here is going good and not to worry. I'm happy to be able to do my job in the Marine Corps over here in Iraq," she said.
Ellie