thedrifter
05-03-08, 07:30 PM
Posted on Sat, May. 03, 2008
Near base, war support clashes with frustration
BARBARA BARRETT
After five years of war in Iraq, the rhythm of troop deployments and homecomings in this military community has evolved into a steady pulse.
With every unit that leaves nearby Camp Lejeune, far-flung families convene to wish loved ones godspeed. Every week, young Marines roll into town to have their heads shorn. War has become familiar, the way an arthritic ache becomes familiar to its sufferer.
"You'd think people would be talking about it all the time," said Terrence Bannerman, 33, whose Platinum Cuts opens early on Tuesday mornings for the Marines tumbling out of Greyhound buses. "But they're accustomed."
As Onslow County prepares to vote in Tuesday's primary, many residents are wrestling with the tension between their support for the troops and frustration with the war itself. The war issue has propelled a candidate trying to unseat seven-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Walter Jones.
Jones, a Farmville Republican, angered his GOP base when he flipped on the war in Iraq, first voting to authorize it, then decided he could no longer stand it. A former supporter, Joe McLaughlin, has taken him on, saying Jones doesn't represent North Carolina's values.
But like Jones, others have changed their minds. At Platinum Cuts, Bannerman and his business partner, Omar McAllister, have heard opinions evolve in recent years. Over time, more clients walk in on prosthetics, or with burned visages, or telling of the breakdowns they suffered in the dust of Iraq.
"The troops whose hair I cut, they say they don't want us over there," Bannerman said.
"I'm not all against the war," added McAllister, 34. "I think there's a better way to go about it."
Bannerman is a Democrat; McAllister is Republican.
Jones' district spreads across 17 counties in Eastern North Carolina, dipping inland among the marshlands and then curling along the coast, through the Outer Banks to the Virginia state line.
But it is in Onslow County, home to the Marine Corps' massive Camp Lejeune, where Osprey aircraft cut across skies and N.C. 24 is dubbed "Freedom Way," that the district's military heart beats strongest. Here, in this corner of the 3rd Congressional District, the war feels very close.
Ellie
Near base, war support clashes with frustration
BARBARA BARRETT
After five years of war in Iraq, the rhythm of troop deployments and homecomings in this military community has evolved into a steady pulse.
With every unit that leaves nearby Camp Lejeune, far-flung families convene to wish loved ones godspeed. Every week, young Marines roll into town to have their heads shorn. War has become familiar, the way an arthritic ache becomes familiar to its sufferer.
"You'd think people would be talking about it all the time," said Terrence Bannerman, 33, whose Platinum Cuts opens early on Tuesday mornings for the Marines tumbling out of Greyhound buses. "But they're accustomed."
As Onslow County prepares to vote in Tuesday's primary, many residents are wrestling with the tension between their support for the troops and frustration with the war itself. The war issue has propelled a candidate trying to unseat seven-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Walter Jones.
Jones, a Farmville Republican, angered his GOP base when he flipped on the war in Iraq, first voting to authorize it, then decided he could no longer stand it. A former supporter, Joe McLaughlin, has taken him on, saying Jones doesn't represent North Carolina's values.
But like Jones, others have changed their minds. At Platinum Cuts, Bannerman and his business partner, Omar McAllister, have heard opinions evolve in recent years. Over time, more clients walk in on prosthetics, or with burned visages, or telling of the breakdowns they suffered in the dust of Iraq.
"The troops whose hair I cut, they say they don't want us over there," Bannerman said.
"I'm not all against the war," added McAllister, 34. "I think there's a better way to go about it."
Bannerman is a Democrat; McAllister is Republican.
Jones' district spreads across 17 counties in Eastern North Carolina, dipping inland among the marshlands and then curling along the coast, through the Outer Banks to the Virginia state line.
But it is in Onslow County, home to the Marine Corps' massive Camp Lejeune, where Osprey aircraft cut across skies and N.C. 24 is dubbed "Freedom Way," that the district's military heart beats strongest. Here, in this corner of the 3rd Congressional District, the war feels very close.
Ellie