thedrifter
09-22-08, 11:38 AM
Marine in Afghanistan dreams of home
Michael Risinit
The Journal News
Sweetums is one of the more obscure Muppets, a towering, shaggy character whose threatening appearance is offset by his friendly disposition.
It's also the nickname of a 6-foot-4-inch Marine from Lake Carmel, who has spent the last six months in Afghanistan chasing the Taliban, withstanding sandstorms and longing for (in this order) his girlfriend, a steak, a beer and a Mustang.
"One of the sergeants thought I had an uncanny resemblance to the Muppets character. It stuck from there," Lance Cpl. Patrick Stanborough said last week.
Part of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Stanborough spoke last week via cell phone from the Kandahar Air Field in southern Afghanistan. The sprawling NATO base houses 13,000 troops from different nations.
Stanborough later clarified that the nickname was about his height, not a woolly appearance. In a photo, the 2005 Carmel High School graduate is clean-shaven, tan and dusty with an intense gaze.
Shortly before dinner on Tuesday, Stanborough described his experiences as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. He sat in his tent's living area on a "fine, military-issued green cot," plywood floor beneath his feet.
Stoic in his account of life among the dust, the heat and the bullets, the 21-year-old spoke of intense fighting and of visiting village elders to solve everyday problems, such as malfunctioning mosque speakers. His unit arrived in Afghanistan in March.
"You have to be extremely careful. Sometimes everything seems normal and OK. In this kind of job, everything can change in a heartbeat," he said.
As the seventh anniversary of the start of military action in Afghanistan approaches (Oct. 7), Stanborough and the rest of the 24th are preparing for a fall homecoming back to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
Wiping the grit of those many weeks from their weapons and body armor was the duty of the day recently. The 24th MEU on Sept. 8 handed over control of Garmser, a former Taliban stronghold, to British and Afghan forces.
"All I've ever wanted to do was be in the military. Once you get the Marine Corps mind-set, that's what you want," said Stanborough, who also served in Iraq from September 2006 to February 2007.
On Sept. 11, 2001, he was a freshman inside the high school on Fair Street. In February 2005, he signed up with a Marine recruiter in Peekskill. Three weeks after graduation, he reported for basic training at Parris Island, S.C.
"Patrick was always G.I. Joe," said his aunt, Michelle Austin of Lake Carmel. "He always wore fatigue T-shirts. He always had a crewcut. He always said he was going to be in the military."
Austin helped raise her nephew. Her 24-year-old son, Joshua Adrian, who is with the 26th MEU, has served in Iraq and is now deployed aboard the USS Iwo Jima in support of the war on terror.
Stanborough's father died when he was young. His mother, Tammy Thomas, died on Mother's Day last year, bringing Stanborough home on emergency leave from Iraq. His stepfather, Michael Thomas, lives in Kent.
Since October 2001, according to a recent study by Rand Corp., about 1.6 million U.S. troops have deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. Most local veterans groups don't have data on how many residents have served in those operations. Rockland Veterans Service Agency Director Jerry Donnellan said 854 Rockland residents have served in Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The 24th MEU's original mission was to clear a road through the Garmser City District, a mission expected to take up to a week. But the Marines met strong resistance in the Taliban-held area and ended up battling insurgents for 35 days.
"We did our thing," Stanborough said of his duty in the Helmand province. "If anything, we were the first ones on the deck."
Published reports said the Marines killed more than 400 militants intent on defending Garmser because it was part of a main transportation route for fighters, weapons and drugs. The Marines' success allowed the Afghan government to return to the area for the first time in years and for a medical clinic and civic center to open.
Katie Cray of Cortlandt, Stanborough's girlfriend of almost three years, said she watched television news every day during his Iraq deployment. She now limits herself to online news stories and keeps her cell phone by her side.
"Now I can't even turn on the TV. I don't need to see that," said Cray, 20, a Northeastern University journalism student. "Of course I'm proud of him. I just can't wait for him to get home."
Always by Stanborough's side is his medium machine gun. Along with body armor, ammunition and water, he lugged some 70 pounds on patrol. With temperatures sounding like a recipe rather than weather (120-degree heat), Stanborough said he could easily down more than a gallon of water during a patrol.
Afghanistan, he said, is a place of mud homes, wells and limited electricity. Residents climb on a donkey or tractor to go somewhere. Any cars, he said, seem to be Toyota Corollas.
"I always made the joke that if you were to take the Bible and add cars and radios, you would have Garmser," Stanborough said.
His enlistment is up next summer. He then hopes to become a police officer. Security patrols and conversations with village elders may be over, but Stanborough remains "mission-oriented" as his unit heads back to the States.
"The first thing I'm going to do is kiss my girl," he said.
Ellie
Michael Risinit
The Journal News
Sweetums is one of the more obscure Muppets, a towering, shaggy character whose threatening appearance is offset by his friendly disposition.
It's also the nickname of a 6-foot-4-inch Marine from Lake Carmel, who has spent the last six months in Afghanistan chasing the Taliban, withstanding sandstorms and longing for (in this order) his girlfriend, a steak, a beer and a Mustang.
"One of the sergeants thought I had an uncanny resemblance to the Muppets character. It stuck from there," Lance Cpl. Patrick Stanborough said last week.
Part of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Stanborough spoke last week via cell phone from the Kandahar Air Field in southern Afghanistan. The sprawling NATO base houses 13,000 troops from different nations.
Stanborough later clarified that the nickname was about his height, not a woolly appearance. In a photo, the 2005 Carmel High School graduate is clean-shaven, tan and dusty with an intense gaze.
Shortly before dinner on Tuesday, Stanborough described his experiences as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. He sat in his tent's living area on a "fine, military-issued green cot," plywood floor beneath his feet.
Stoic in his account of life among the dust, the heat and the bullets, the 21-year-old spoke of intense fighting and of visiting village elders to solve everyday problems, such as malfunctioning mosque speakers. His unit arrived in Afghanistan in March.
"You have to be extremely careful. Sometimes everything seems normal and OK. In this kind of job, everything can change in a heartbeat," he said.
As the seventh anniversary of the start of military action in Afghanistan approaches (Oct. 7), Stanborough and the rest of the 24th are preparing for a fall homecoming back to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
Wiping the grit of those many weeks from their weapons and body armor was the duty of the day recently. The 24th MEU on Sept. 8 handed over control of Garmser, a former Taliban stronghold, to British and Afghan forces.
"All I've ever wanted to do was be in the military. Once you get the Marine Corps mind-set, that's what you want," said Stanborough, who also served in Iraq from September 2006 to February 2007.
On Sept. 11, 2001, he was a freshman inside the high school on Fair Street. In February 2005, he signed up with a Marine recruiter in Peekskill. Three weeks after graduation, he reported for basic training at Parris Island, S.C.
"Patrick was always G.I. Joe," said his aunt, Michelle Austin of Lake Carmel. "He always wore fatigue T-shirts. He always had a crewcut. He always said he was going to be in the military."
Austin helped raise her nephew. Her 24-year-old son, Joshua Adrian, who is with the 26th MEU, has served in Iraq and is now deployed aboard the USS Iwo Jima in support of the war on terror.
Stanborough's father died when he was young. His mother, Tammy Thomas, died on Mother's Day last year, bringing Stanborough home on emergency leave from Iraq. His stepfather, Michael Thomas, lives in Kent.
Since October 2001, according to a recent study by Rand Corp., about 1.6 million U.S. troops have deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. Most local veterans groups don't have data on how many residents have served in those operations. Rockland Veterans Service Agency Director Jerry Donnellan said 854 Rockland residents have served in Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The 24th MEU's original mission was to clear a road through the Garmser City District, a mission expected to take up to a week. But the Marines met strong resistance in the Taliban-held area and ended up battling insurgents for 35 days.
"We did our thing," Stanborough said of his duty in the Helmand province. "If anything, we were the first ones on the deck."
Published reports said the Marines killed more than 400 militants intent on defending Garmser because it was part of a main transportation route for fighters, weapons and drugs. The Marines' success allowed the Afghan government to return to the area for the first time in years and for a medical clinic and civic center to open.
Katie Cray of Cortlandt, Stanborough's girlfriend of almost three years, said she watched television news every day during his Iraq deployment. She now limits herself to online news stories and keeps her cell phone by her side.
"Now I can't even turn on the TV. I don't need to see that," said Cray, 20, a Northeastern University journalism student. "Of course I'm proud of him. I just can't wait for him to get home."
Always by Stanborough's side is his medium machine gun. Along with body armor, ammunition and water, he lugged some 70 pounds on patrol. With temperatures sounding like a recipe rather than weather (120-degree heat), Stanborough said he could easily down more than a gallon of water during a patrol.
Afghanistan, he said, is a place of mud homes, wells and limited electricity. Residents climb on a donkey or tractor to go somewhere. Any cars, he said, seem to be Toyota Corollas.
"I always made the joke that if you were to take the Bible and add cars and radios, you would have Garmser," Stanborough said.
His enlistment is up next summer. He then hopes to become a police officer. Security patrols and conversations with village elders may be over, but Stanborough remains "mission-oriented" as his unit heads back to the States.
"The first thing I'm going to do is kiss my girl," he said.
Ellie