thedrifter
03-14-08, 05:26 AM
Memory of 9-11 shaped young state Marines
Middle schoolers in 2001 are now deployed with units in Iraq
By MEG JONES
mjones@journalsentinel.com
Posted: March 13, 2008
Habbaniyah, Iraq - Kyle Pearson was listening to his English teacher and Devin Fedel was in art class when planes slammed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania farm field.
Like the rest of America, the eighth-graders were shocked as they watched the awful scenes on TVs in their middle schools. They wondered why anyone would want to murder innocent people.
Later, they watched as bombs fell on Baghdad and as Saddam Hussein's statue was pulled down, and they wondered if they would eventually become part of the fight.
It took several years, but it's now their turn.
For Pearson, Fedel and the handful of other Marines in Milwaukee-based Fox Company who were in eighth grade on Sept. 11, 2001, the global war on terror has been waged for almost one-third of their lives.
Pearson and Fedel both serve in the 1st Platoon of Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines, which arrived in Iraq in late January. For these young Marines, this is their first deployment to Iraq.
Pearson, a private first class from Oconomowoc who turned 20 the day before his unit was mobilized in September, always wanted to be a Marine. The war didn't deter his dream, even though he knew that if the insurgency dragged on long enough, he would come here.
"I definitely knew I would come," said Pearson, who drives Humvees and armored vehicles. "We were always told in boot camp - you're coming over."
Fedel remembers he was drawing in art class when he heard an announcement over the loudspeakers about the attack on the World Trade Center. Televisions in classrooms were turned on. Thirteen years old at the time, he vividly remembers seeing people leaping to their deaths as black smoke poured from the towers.
"It kind of steered me into joining the Marines. It made me mad, and I wanted to do something about it," Fedel said.
After graduating in 2006 from Waukesha South High School, Fedel watched a few of his friends become Marines and decided that he, too, would join the reserves. It took a bit of convincing to get his mother on board, but ultimately his family supported his decision, he said.
"In the back of my mind, I knew I wanted to do my part. Without the military we wouldn't have anything," said Fedel, a gunner who celebrated his 20th birthday in January.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have relied more heavily on reserves and National Guard troops, have skewed toward an older fighting force compared with previous conflicts such as Vietnam and World War II.
Though the average age of those serving in Iraq is older, there are plenty of service members who aren't old enough to legally drink alcohol or rent a car in some states. Not that it makes a difference here, since coalition forces are not allowed to drink anything stronger than near beer in this Muslim country, and guys like 19-year-old Ben Marx are driving vehicles with more power and heft than a Taurus or Corolla.
Marx, a lance corporal and MRAP (mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle) driver in 2nd Platoon, joined the Marines while he was a junior at Laconia High School in Rosendale and left for boot camp a month after graduating from the Fond du Lac County school.
Already interested in world affairs because he was taking a current events class, he watched the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 when he was a sophomore. Marx saw the "shock and awe" of the war's start and listened to President Bush declare an end to major hostilities.
"I figured we annihilated them and it was pretty much over. Then as it wore on and on, I figured I'd be part of it," said Marx, who married his girlfriend while on leave in January. He became a father when his son was born Feb. 13.
Though his life has changed quite a bit since 9-11, "the time went by fast. I remember partying in high school, and all of a sudden I'm here."
Pfc. Leary Dean left for boot camp in February 2007, eight months after graduating from Oconomowoc High School, then went through infantry school and returned home in August. A month later he was back in his camouflage uniform, heading to California to train for deployment to Iraq. He turned 20 in November.
Dean worried that he might not see any action in Iraq. So far, that has come true, since violence has dropped dramatically, and his group from 2nd Platoon spends most of its days patrolling, working with the Iraqi police and providing security to their small outpost at a former potato factory.
"It's not so bad, but if you complain about something (the veterans say), 'Oh, you should have been here before.' What can I do? I'm only 20. I got in as soon as I could," he said.
Like Dean, Fedel and Pearson are the youngest Marines in their platoon. When they're not out patrolling this area between Fallujah and Ramadi in Anbar Province, they hang out by lifting weights, listening to their iPods and watching movies on their laptops.
They both married their longtime girlfriends in a hurry, both at the Waukesha County Courthouse - Fedel on Aug. 17, less than a month before he deployed, and Pearson on Dec. 27, when he was home on leave between training in California and shipping out to Iraq.
Fedel and Pearson both plan on big weddings when they get home from Iraq.
Ellie
Middle schoolers in 2001 are now deployed with units in Iraq
By MEG JONES
mjones@journalsentinel.com
Posted: March 13, 2008
Habbaniyah, Iraq - Kyle Pearson was listening to his English teacher and Devin Fedel was in art class when planes slammed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania farm field.
Like the rest of America, the eighth-graders were shocked as they watched the awful scenes on TVs in their middle schools. They wondered why anyone would want to murder innocent people.
Later, they watched as bombs fell on Baghdad and as Saddam Hussein's statue was pulled down, and they wondered if they would eventually become part of the fight.
It took several years, but it's now their turn.
For Pearson, Fedel and the handful of other Marines in Milwaukee-based Fox Company who were in eighth grade on Sept. 11, 2001, the global war on terror has been waged for almost one-third of their lives.
Pearson and Fedel both serve in the 1st Platoon of Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines, which arrived in Iraq in late January. For these young Marines, this is their first deployment to Iraq.
Pearson, a private first class from Oconomowoc who turned 20 the day before his unit was mobilized in September, always wanted to be a Marine. The war didn't deter his dream, even though he knew that if the insurgency dragged on long enough, he would come here.
"I definitely knew I would come," said Pearson, who drives Humvees and armored vehicles. "We were always told in boot camp - you're coming over."
Fedel remembers he was drawing in art class when he heard an announcement over the loudspeakers about the attack on the World Trade Center. Televisions in classrooms were turned on. Thirteen years old at the time, he vividly remembers seeing people leaping to their deaths as black smoke poured from the towers.
"It kind of steered me into joining the Marines. It made me mad, and I wanted to do something about it," Fedel said.
After graduating in 2006 from Waukesha South High School, Fedel watched a few of his friends become Marines and decided that he, too, would join the reserves. It took a bit of convincing to get his mother on board, but ultimately his family supported his decision, he said.
"In the back of my mind, I knew I wanted to do my part. Without the military we wouldn't have anything," said Fedel, a gunner who celebrated his 20th birthday in January.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have relied more heavily on reserves and National Guard troops, have skewed toward an older fighting force compared with previous conflicts such as Vietnam and World War II.
Though the average age of those serving in Iraq is older, there are plenty of service members who aren't old enough to legally drink alcohol or rent a car in some states. Not that it makes a difference here, since coalition forces are not allowed to drink anything stronger than near beer in this Muslim country, and guys like 19-year-old Ben Marx are driving vehicles with more power and heft than a Taurus or Corolla.
Marx, a lance corporal and MRAP (mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle) driver in 2nd Platoon, joined the Marines while he was a junior at Laconia High School in Rosendale and left for boot camp a month after graduating from the Fond du Lac County school.
Already interested in world affairs because he was taking a current events class, he watched the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 when he was a sophomore. Marx saw the "shock and awe" of the war's start and listened to President Bush declare an end to major hostilities.
"I figured we annihilated them and it was pretty much over. Then as it wore on and on, I figured I'd be part of it," said Marx, who married his girlfriend while on leave in January. He became a father when his son was born Feb. 13.
Though his life has changed quite a bit since 9-11, "the time went by fast. I remember partying in high school, and all of a sudden I'm here."
Pfc. Leary Dean left for boot camp in February 2007, eight months after graduating from Oconomowoc High School, then went through infantry school and returned home in August. A month later he was back in his camouflage uniform, heading to California to train for deployment to Iraq. He turned 20 in November.
Dean worried that he might not see any action in Iraq. So far, that has come true, since violence has dropped dramatically, and his group from 2nd Platoon spends most of its days patrolling, working with the Iraqi police and providing security to their small outpost at a former potato factory.
"It's not so bad, but if you complain about something (the veterans say), 'Oh, you should have been here before.' What can I do? I'm only 20. I got in as soon as I could," he said.
Like Dean, Fedel and Pearson are the youngest Marines in their platoon. When they're not out patrolling this area between Fallujah and Ramadi in Anbar Province, they hang out by lifting weights, listening to their iPods and watching movies on their laptops.
They both married their longtime girlfriends in a hurry, both at the Waukesha County Courthouse - Fedel on Aug. 17, less than a month before he deployed, and Pearson on Dec. 27, when he was home on leave between training in California and shipping out to Iraq.
Fedel and Pearson both plan on big weddings when they get home from Iraq.
Ellie