thedrifter
03-24-09, 07:44 AM
Marin Marine's birthday present: A second tour in Iraq
Brent Ainsworth
Posted: 03/23/2009 04:00:45 PM PDT
On March 19, the sixth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Marine Corps Sgt. Fred Calonico was at a Terra Linda restaurant enjoying pizza, beer-mug toasts and hugs with close friends.
Tuesday, he ships out again for his second tour. He was part of the first wave of American troops in Iraq, and now he'll be part of the last. He's shipping out on his 29th birthday.
"Yeah, happy birthday," he said with a slight laugh.
Calonico, a 1998 Terra Linda High School graduate, was part of the invasion force that rolled through Kuwait and eventually brought down the regime of Saddam Hussein. In May 2003, Calonico's harrowing account of a lethal ambush and ensuing firefight just north of al-Nasiriyah two months earlier was published in the
Independent Journal. It took place on his 23rd birthday, which was nearly his last.
He was a lance corporal with the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines, the only reserve battalion to see combat in the Iraq war until that time. About 900 reservists were called to active service and, because of stellar performances in training, were installed as front-line troops. His unit made a bull-rush for Baghdad and Calonico's right index finger was on the trigger of a fully automatic rifle that shot 200 rounds a minute. The tour was only about four months "because we got so banged up," he said.
His second tour with the same battalion is expected to run six months and will be much different. President Barack Obama has said he plans to withdraw roughly 100,000 troops from Iraq by summer 2010, including pullouts of major cities as early as this summer. The last of the U.S. troops are to leave the country by the end of 2011, which is in accord with a deal Iraqis signed with President George W. Bush.
"What I really wanted, therapy-wise, was to finish what I started," said Calonico, who worked as a firefighter and mortgage broker as a reservist before re-enlisting full-time last summer. "I want to see what has progressed from start to finish."
Last week, Calonico finished five weeks of maneuvers in the Mojave Desert near Twentynine Palms. With Hollywood-style props and actors who speak the dialects heard in Iraq, troops went through as realistic training as the military can provide.
"They even had makeup artists, mosques, Iraqi police, sheiks, blown-up vehicles, garbage on the streets - everything we're going to see over there," he said. "They even had real-life trauma, like former military guys who are now amputees with all the blood and gore."
On this tour, Calonico will command a four-person vehicle team on a 22-troop personal security detail for high-ranking officers such as the battalion commander. "It's like he's our president and we're his secret service," Calonico said.
As of Sunday, at least 4,260 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war over those six years, including at least 3,425 dying as a result of hostile action including roadside improvised explosive devices. Calonico said he's "more worried about getting blown up by an IED than getting shot at."
Santa Rosa resident Danielle Bricker, Calonico's girlfriend, said her preoccupation with work and school will help her get through the tour of duty, which could take her boyfriend into Afghanistan. They hope to correspond by e-mail and telephone, as will Calonico with his father, Fred Calonico Jr. of Fairfax, and mother, Natalia Pedigo of Washington state. Josh Pedigo, Calonico's stepbrother, is a Novato High graduate who completed two tours in Iraq with the U.S. Army.
"I just want him to come back safe," Bricker said. "He has tons of family and friends who will be thinking about him."
Calonico said therapy has helped him with post-traumatic stress disorder that followed his first tour; it mostly bothered him while trying to sleep. He remembers not only the bloody battles but poor kids fighting over a single piece of Skittles candy. A return to active duty has been the best therapy, he said.
"When I'm around my guys and we know we're doing something positive, it goes away. It's weird," he said. "It's comforting in some sort of way. We've had guys in our unit get out, get married, start families. But we're tight, and your thinking is that you can't let one guy go - we all have to go."
Read more San Rafael stories at the IJ's San Rafael section.
Contact Brent Ainsworth via e-mail at bainsworth@marinij.com; the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ellie
Brent Ainsworth
Posted: 03/23/2009 04:00:45 PM PDT
On March 19, the sixth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Marine Corps Sgt. Fred Calonico was at a Terra Linda restaurant enjoying pizza, beer-mug toasts and hugs with close friends.
Tuesday, he ships out again for his second tour. He was part of the first wave of American troops in Iraq, and now he'll be part of the last. He's shipping out on his 29th birthday.
"Yeah, happy birthday," he said with a slight laugh.
Calonico, a 1998 Terra Linda High School graduate, was part of the invasion force that rolled through Kuwait and eventually brought down the regime of Saddam Hussein. In May 2003, Calonico's harrowing account of a lethal ambush and ensuing firefight just north of al-Nasiriyah two months earlier was published in the
Independent Journal. It took place on his 23rd birthday, which was nearly his last.
He was a lance corporal with the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines, the only reserve battalion to see combat in the Iraq war until that time. About 900 reservists were called to active service and, because of stellar performances in training, were installed as front-line troops. His unit made a bull-rush for Baghdad and Calonico's right index finger was on the trigger of a fully automatic rifle that shot 200 rounds a minute. The tour was only about four months "because we got so banged up," he said.
His second tour with the same battalion is expected to run six months and will be much different. President Barack Obama has said he plans to withdraw roughly 100,000 troops from Iraq by summer 2010, including pullouts of major cities as early as this summer. The last of the U.S. troops are to leave the country by the end of 2011, which is in accord with a deal Iraqis signed with President George W. Bush.
"What I really wanted, therapy-wise, was to finish what I started," said Calonico, who worked as a firefighter and mortgage broker as a reservist before re-enlisting full-time last summer. "I want to see what has progressed from start to finish."
Last week, Calonico finished five weeks of maneuvers in the Mojave Desert near Twentynine Palms. With Hollywood-style props and actors who speak the dialects heard in Iraq, troops went through as realistic training as the military can provide.
"They even had makeup artists, mosques, Iraqi police, sheiks, blown-up vehicles, garbage on the streets - everything we're going to see over there," he said. "They even had real-life trauma, like former military guys who are now amputees with all the blood and gore."
On this tour, Calonico will command a four-person vehicle team on a 22-troop personal security detail for high-ranking officers such as the battalion commander. "It's like he's our president and we're his secret service," Calonico said.
As of Sunday, at least 4,260 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war over those six years, including at least 3,425 dying as a result of hostile action including roadside improvised explosive devices. Calonico said he's "more worried about getting blown up by an IED than getting shot at."
Santa Rosa resident Danielle Bricker, Calonico's girlfriend, said her preoccupation with work and school will help her get through the tour of duty, which could take her boyfriend into Afghanistan. They hope to correspond by e-mail and telephone, as will Calonico with his father, Fred Calonico Jr. of Fairfax, and mother, Natalia Pedigo of Washington state. Josh Pedigo, Calonico's stepbrother, is a Novato High graduate who completed two tours in Iraq with the U.S. Army.
"I just want him to come back safe," Bricker said. "He has tons of family and friends who will be thinking about him."
Calonico said therapy has helped him with post-traumatic stress disorder that followed his first tour; it mostly bothered him while trying to sleep. He remembers not only the bloody battles but poor kids fighting over a single piece of Skittles candy. A return to active duty has been the best therapy, he said.
"When I'm around my guys and we know we're doing something positive, it goes away. It's weird," he said. "It's comforting in some sort of way. We've had guys in our unit get out, get married, start families. But we're tight, and your thinking is that you can't let one guy go - we all have to go."
Read more San Rafael stories at the IJ's San Rafael section.
Contact Brent Ainsworth via e-mail at bainsworth@marinij.com; the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ellie