thedrifter
09-16-08, 11:42 AM
Monday, September 15, 2008
Dillow in Iraq: Dana Point and other connections in the desert
Gordon Dillow
Columnist
The Orange County Register
GLDillow@aol.com
Lt. Col. Robert E. McCarthy III is every inch the tough, hard-charging Marine infantry officer. I mean, the man’s nickname is “Ogre.”
But even he gets a little misty-eyed when he talks about what the good folks in Dana Point have done for his Marines.
“It’s one thing to get support from your family or your close friends,” McCarthy says. “But it’s another thing when you’re getting that kind of support from Americans you don’t even know. The Marines are amazed by it.”
Dana Point is one of more than a dozen Orange County cities that have “adopted” various military units. In Dana Point’s case the “adoptee” is the Camp Pendleton-based 5th Marine Regiment, whose headquarters unit is now is Al Asad as Regimental Combat Team 5. McCarthy is the executive officer of RCT-5.
The help from the 5th Marine Regiment Support Group, the Monarch Beach Sunrise Rotary Club, the Dana Point VFW, South Shores Church, the Words of Comfort, Hope and Promise organization and many other groups and churches and individuals comes in various forms. Sometimes it’s care packages of snacks and toiletries that are put in the base chapel for any Marine who needs them. Sometimes it’s emergency airfare for a Marine or sailor in need, or a washing machine for a Marine family that doesn’t have one.
McCarthy says the support has importance far beyond the physical or monetary value.
“It makes them (the Marines) feel that people back home care about them,” he says. “It’s awesome.”
You can contact your local city hall to see if your city has a military support group.
• • • • •
You get to meet some interesting people traveling in this part of the world. One I met was Matt Roloff.
Matt is the star of The Learning Channel’s popular TV reality show, “Little People, Big World,” which is about Matt’s “mixed stature” family. I met Matt in at an air base Kuwait, when he was coming out of Iraq and I was going in.
Matt, 46, who is a little person – he stands about 4 feet tall – had been in Baghdad with a TV crew filming a show about American doctors teaching Iraqi doctors how to help Iraqi children with dwarfism. Matt said the show was supposed to focus on just two Iraqi children, but when the word got out they were swarmed with Iraqi families seeking help for their children with dwarfism.
They got it.
Matt said he was impressed by the friendliness and openness
of the Iraqi people, and the eagerness of the Iraqi doctors to learn. He was also impressed by the American troops he met, and how much they wanted to help. As I was talking with him, a succession of soldiers came up to shake his hand.
“There are good stories there (in Iraq),” Matt told me. “It’s not all bad news. When you get there, tell good stories.”
The show will air in October.
CONTACT THE WRITER: GordonDillow@gmail.comYou can find more of Dillow’s stories and photos about Iraq at www.ocregister.com
Ellie
Dillow in Iraq: Dana Point and other connections in the desert
Gordon Dillow
Columnist
The Orange County Register
GLDillow@aol.com
Lt. Col. Robert E. McCarthy III is every inch the tough, hard-charging Marine infantry officer. I mean, the man’s nickname is “Ogre.”
But even he gets a little misty-eyed when he talks about what the good folks in Dana Point have done for his Marines.
“It’s one thing to get support from your family or your close friends,” McCarthy says. “But it’s another thing when you’re getting that kind of support from Americans you don’t even know. The Marines are amazed by it.”
Dana Point is one of more than a dozen Orange County cities that have “adopted” various military units. In Dana Point’s case the “adoptee” is the Camp Pendleton-based 5th Marine Regiment, whose headquarters unit is now is Al Asad as Regimental Combat Team 5. McCarthy is the executive officer of RCT-5.
The help from the 5th Marine Regiment Support Group, the Monarch Beach Sunrise Rotary Club, the Dana Point VFW, South Shores Church, the Words of Comfort, Hope and Promise organization and many other groups and churches and individuals comes in various forms. Sometimes it’s care packages of snacks and toiletries that are put in the base chapel for any Marine who needs them. Sometimes it’s emergency airfare for a Marine or sailor in need, or a washing machine for a Marine family that doesn’t have one.
McCarthy says the support has importance far beyond the physical or monetary value.
“It makes them (the Marines) feel that people back home care about them,” he says. “It’s awesome.”
You can contact your local city hall to see if your city has a military support group.
• • • • •
You get to meet some interesting people traveling in this part of the world. One I met was Matt Roloff.
Matt is the star of The Learning Channel’s popular TV reality show, “Little People, Big World,” which is about Matt’s “mixed stature” family. I met Matt in at an air base Kuwait, when he was coming out of Iraq and I was going in.
Matt, 46, who is a little person – he stands about 4 feet tall – had been in Baghdad with a TV crew filming a show about American doctors teaching Iraqi doctors how to help Iraqi children with dwarfism. Matt said the show was supposed to focus on just two Iraqi children, but when the word got out they were swarmed with Iraqi families seeking help for their children with dwarfism.
They got it.
Matt said he was impressed by the friendliness and openness
of the Iraqi people, and the eagerness of the Iraqi doctors to learn. He was also impressed by the American troops he met, and how much they wanted to help. As I was talking with him, a succession of soldiers came up to shake his hand.
“There are good stories there (in Iraq),” Matt told me. “It’s not all bad news. When you get there, tell good stories.”
The show will air in October.
CONTACT THE WRITER: GordonDillow@gmail.comYou can find more of Dillow’s stories and photos about Iraq at www.ocregister.com
Ellie