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thedrifter
09-22-08, 08:30 AM
Hanover native serving in Iraq: 'I am the guy they love to hate'

Staff Sgt. 'Mac' trained 180 Marines before heading to war zone

BY JAKE REMALY
DAILY RECORD

HANOVER -- Marine Staff Sgt. Paul McLaughlin is stationed at Al Asad Airbase in Iraq.

The 1998 Whippany Park High School graduate has been a Marine for 10 years and is serving a seven-month deployment to Iraq, his first.

He is in Fighter Attack Squadron 122, which provides aerial intelligence, close air support and armed reconnaissance to the infantry and must always be ready to bomb enemy targets, he said.

In the six months before his new squadron's first combat deployment in some 40 years, he was responsible for ensuring the more than 180 Marines and three sailors in the unit were properly trained for the deployment, which began at the end of August.

"Basically, I am the guy they love to hate," McLaughlin, 29, said in an e-mail from Al Asad.

He oversaw training requirements that were broken down into two parts, Block I and Block II. Block I involved training in weapons use, combat, protective gear and included weigh-ins and fitness tests. There was a swimming component and a briefing on sexual harassment.

Block II was geared toward the war: learning Arabic, IED recognition, conducting searches and taking down detainees. The rules of engagement and casualty assessment and movement also were listed as Block II requirements.

Known in the Marines as Staff Sgt. Mac, he volunteered to switch into the unit in February and conducted training for three weeks at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico in March and then in Yuma, Ariz., in April, he said.

"I beat them over the head with this training day in and day out," he said. "But, once it's done we all get the warm, fuzzy feeling that they are very well trained and will have the highest Marine confidence to over come any issue thrown at them while in Iraq.

"You never know who, what, where the surprise will come from or where we will go or end up," he said.

He volunteered for the Iraq deployment by switching into Squadron 122 from his previous unit, Squadron 224, he said.

"224 is heading back to Japan for six months in a few months. I could have gone with them, flew my wife out to Japan and all would have been fine," he said. "But, I would have to say 'pride' made me jump from 224 to 122. Pride as a Marine, pride as (a) U.S. citizen.

"I didn't want my grandkid or someone in 20-30 years asking me what did you do during the war ... if I could only reply 'I came close but never went,' that would never feel/sit right with me."

He was deployed to Iraq in August. Now, he is working 12 hours on and 12 hours off for seven months.

"It's rough," said his mom, Whippany resident SueAnn McLaughlin. "I try to avoid the news. Ignorance is bliss at this point.

"When I go to bed, I know he's waking up. You're proud of him, but you're scared at the same time," she said. She said he calls and e-mails his siblings.

McLaughlin said he misses his family, including his wife, Mika, whom he met while stationed in Okinawa in 2003. They were married in Whippany later that year. He communicates with her via Skype, which is an Internet phone service.

He said life on the base is better than at most bases, and worse than others in Iraq.

"We have a good chow hall, usually can get to a phone or Internet. But, the heat, sandstorms and cramped living quarters is a downer. And just being away from (your) loved ones is tough. But I have zero room to complain," he said. "This is what I volunteered for."

He will miss his high school class's 10-year reunion.

He said he wants to visit Hanover's new veterans memorial, which was unveiled and dedicated on Saturday at the municipal building, when he gets back. He said he wants to thank those who went before him from Hanover that he knows of, including his cousin Kyle Staples, who is in the Navy and planning for his second deployment to Iraq in November.

"I'll go visit the memorial site once I get back. Just wanted to mention them and all who have served; we are (a) band of brothers, and unless you have been (where) we have been, it's hard to imagine."

Ellie