thedrifter
10-05-08, 07:17 AM
Navy medic returns from Iraq
Oakwood Hills man will go to Afghanistan next By JENN WIANT - jwiant@nwherald.com
OAKWOOD HILLS – When you've been working in a hot, sandy desert for eight months, doing nothing for a while is at the top of the priority list, said Scott Holmes of Oakwood Hills.
"It's definitely nice to relax for once," he said. "... I can actually get away from work because I lived in the barracks [in Iraq], so pretty much you're working 24/7."
Holmes, 20, a hospitalman and fleet Marine force warfare specialist (FMF), returned to Oakwood Hills just after midnight Saturday after an 8-month deployment to Iraq. When he drove up to his uncle's house on Greenview Road from his mother's house Saturday afternoon, he was surprised to find Patriot Guard Riders on motorcycles lining the street, waiting to greet him.
"I was totally shocked by this," Holmes said, describing the scene later. "We drove through them, and I got out and everyone was congratulating me and thanking me."
Friends, neighbors, and family members had joined the Patriot Guard Riders in a surprise welcome home open house for Holmes, organized by the uncle who helped raise him, Jerry Cuvala.
"It's nice to get him back," Cuvala said. "All you do is worry about him."
Holmes, a U.S. Navy medic known as Doc Holmes, worked with the U.S. Marine Corps in Iraq because Marines do not have their own medics, Holmes explained.
While he was in Iraq, Holmes moved around a lot. He helped patrol towns along the Euphrates River, ran a traffic checkpoint, trained Iraqi police and security guards, looked for weapons and ammunition hidden on islands in the river, and searched Iraqi homes as part of a census patrol, he said.
"We'd just knock on their doors, search their house, ask them what's going on, and keep moving through, just trying to find anything," he said.
Holmes survived a seven-day sandstorm that darkened even the noon sun, and he got used to 125-degree days while wearing gear that added 15 degrees, he said.
When he returned to his base at Twentynine Palms, Calif., Holmes wore a long-sleeved shirt on a 95 degree day and didn't break a sweat, he said.
"It's weird at first," he said. "When I first got off the plane, it felt weird [to be back]."
But now he is enjoying being home. Holmes will be in Oakwood Hills for about 2 1/2 weeks before making his way back to California, stopping to visit friends and family along the way, Cuvala said.
He is slated to go to Afghanistan in May, Cuvala said.
"He came back so well," Cuvala said. "He's ready to go back again."
Ellie
Oakwood Hills man will go to Afghanistan next By JENN WIANT - jwiant@nwherald.com
OAKWOOD HILLS – When you've been working in a hot, sandy desert for eight months, doing nothing for a while is at the top of the priority list, said Scott Holmes of Oakwood Hills.
"It's definitely nice to relax for once," he said. "... I can actually get away from work because I lived in the barracks [in Iraq], so pretty much you're working 24/7."
Holmes, 20, a hospitalman and fleet Marine force warfare specialist (FMF), returned to Oakwood Hills just after midnight Saturday after an 8-month deployment to Iraq. When he drove up to his uncle's house on Greenview Road from his mother's house Saturday afternoon, he was surprised to find Patriot Guard Riders on motorcycles lining the street, waiting to greet him.
"I was totally shocked by this," Holmes said, describing the scene later. "We drove through them, and I got out and everyone was congratulating me and thanking me."
Friends, neighbors, and family members had joined the Patriot Guard Riders in a surprise welcome home open house for Holmes, organized by the uncle who helped raise him, Jerry Cuvala.
"It's nice to get him back," Cuvala said. "All you do is worry about him."
Holmes, a U.S. Navy medic known as Doc Holmes, worked with the U.S. Marine Corps in Iraq because Marines do not have their own medics, Holmes explained.
While he was in Iraq, Holmes moved around a lot. He helped patrol towns along the Euphrates River, ran a traffic checkpoint, trained Iraqi police and security guards, looked for weapons and ammunition hidden on islands in the river, and searched Iraqi homes as part of a census patrol, he said.
"We'd just knock on their doors, search their house, ask them what's going on, and keep moving through, just trying to find anything," he said.
Holmes survived a seven-day sandstorm that darkened even the noon sun, and he got used to 125-degree days while wearing gear that added 15 degrees, he said.
When he returned to his base at Twentynine Palms, Calif., Holmes wore a long-sleeved shirt on a 95 degree day and didn't break a sweat, he said.
"It's weird at first," he said. "When I first got off the plane, it felt weird [to be back]."
But now he is enjoying being home. Holmes will be in Oakwood Hills for about 2 1/2 weeks before making his way back to California, stopping to visit friends and family along the way, Cuvala said.
He is slated to go to Afghanistan in May, Cuvala said.
"He came back so well," Cuvala said. "He's ready to go back again."
Ellie