Devildogg4ever
08-27-03, 03:56 AM
March 02, 2003
FREEDOM ENC
BCAMP FOX, Kuwait — Hanmish Taplin saw the lightning of Operation Desert Storm for himself. Sometimes, when he closes his eyes, he can still see it.
During the allied war with Iraq in 1991, he was a corpsman and part of the Marine Corps offensive designed to seize the Kuwaiti airport from occupying Iraqi troops.
Now, with 19 years in the Navy, he’s a hospitalman 1, almost ready to retire and facing Iraqi troops again. This time, he’s serving at Camp Fox with other members of 2nd Force Service Support Group from Camp Lejeune.
“I was a field medical corpsman back then,” he said. “I was one of the guys up front with the infantry units, First Battalion, 3rd Marines, out of Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. We were Task Force Ripper back then, so I know what they are going through up at the front now. Our mission was to seize the airfield and part of the city.”
Marines then and now are “cocky,” he said. He admits he might have been a little cocky, too, in the Gulf War.
“There are some of us coming back (from Desert Storm), but many of us have gotten out. There is a lot of fresh breed out here, fresh blood, and they are looking to get something under their belt. They are probably a lot like me the first time. I didn’t realize how real it was until the night the sky lit up.
“Then you realize that this is really happening,” he said. “This isn’t a routine deployment, this is not a routine field operation — this is really happening.
“For me it was the night the sky lit up, but I think it will take something like that to let them know that there is life and death involved out here.”
That education sometimes seems slow, and Taplin hopes Marines catch on quickly that this isn’t a game, even if 2nd FSSG isn’t near the front.
“It’s amazing the difference. If you take two 19-year-olds, and put one in the rear and one in the front, when it’s over the one in the front is going to be 26 years old and the one in the back is still going to be 19. It’s a whole different development, with whole different situations. You have to endure them and grow from it. When you get through it, it changes you. There is nothing that can stop that.
“I grew up watching World War II movies, but when things started happening in Desert Storm, it was different.
Taplin remains optimistic that if war with Iraq comes, it will be just as quick as the last one and few Americans will be hurt.
“I personally feel the attitude is about the same as it was back then. I think our military forces feel that it will be over in a short period of time, and I think they believe we can carry the same momentum.”
While it’s all work at Camp Fox, he has time to think of his family back in Jacksonville and his life outside the Navy. He and wife Valerie have three children, ages 16, 14 and 10.
“I’ve done medical work and clinical work and I’ve been with the Marines off and on now for 10 full years. The Marine Corps is a different organization, and you get to do a lot more as a corpsman. For us, it means getting the most hands-on experience.”
Taplin said he plans to stay in Jacksonville when he retires and remain in the health care field.
“(Jacksonville) is low key. For me, that’s nice,” Taplin said. “We’ve lived in the big cities, my wife and I, and we’re not looking for that. Valerie is a school teacher at Stone Street Elementary and my kids like Jacksonville, so I want to stay.”
Some of the Marines and sailors at Camp Fox are only slightly older than his oldest child.
He hopes that the wake-up call for the young Marines and sailors comes without the loss of life.
“It’s going to take something dramatic, maybe when the war actually happens there could be a false alarm that jolts them so they realize that I could have been real,” Taplin said
http://www.jdnews.com/dispatches/Details.cfm?StoryID=10796
FREEDOM ENC
BCAMP FOX, Kuwait — Hanmish Taplin saw the lightning of Operation Desert Storm for himself. Sometimes, when he closes his eyes, he can still see it.
During the allied war with Iraq in 1991, he was a corpsman and part of the Marine Corps offensive designed to seize the Kuwaiti airport from occupying Iraqi troops.
Now, with 19 years in the Navy, he’s a hospitalman 1, almost ready to retire and facing Iraqi troops again. This time, he’s serving at Camp Fox with other members of 2nd Force Service Support Group from Camp Lejeune.
“I was a field medical corpsman back then,” he said. “I was one of the guys up front with the infantry units, First Battalion, 3rd Marines, out of Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. We were Task Force Ripper back then, so I know what they are going through up at the front now. Our mission was to seize the airfield and part of the city.”
Marines then and now are “cocky,” he said. He admits he might have been a little cocky, too, in the Gulf War.
“There are some of us coming back (from Desert Storm), but many of us have gotten out. There is a lot of fresh breed out here, fresh blood, and they are looking to get something under their belt. They are probably a lot like me the first time. I didn’t realize how real it was until the night the sky lit up.
“Then you realize that this is really happening,” he said. “This isn’t a routine deployment, this is not a routine field operation — this is really happening.
“For me it was the night the sky lit up, but I think it will take something like that to let them know that there is life and death involved out here.”
That education sometimes seems slow, and Taplin hopes Marines catch on quickly that this isn’t a game, even if 2nd FSSG isn’t near the front.
“It’s amazing the difference. If you take two 19-year-olds, and put one in the rear and one in the front, when it’s over the one in the front is going to be 26 years old and the one in the back is still going to be 19. It’s a whole different development, with whole different situations. You have to endure them and grow from it. When you get through it, it changes you. There is nothing that can stop that.
“I grew up watching World War II movies, but when things started happening in Desert Storm, it was different.
Taplin remains optimistic that if war with Iraq comes, it will be just as quick as the last one and few Americans will be hurt.
“I personally feel the attitude is about the same as it was back then. I think our military forces feel that it will be over in a short period of time, and I think they believe we can carry the same momentum.”
While it’s all work at Camp Fox, he has time to think of his family back in Jacksonville and his life outside the Navy. He and wife Valerie have three children, ages 16, 14 and 10.
“I’ve done medical work and clinical work and I’ve been with the Marines off and on now for 10 full years. The Marine Corps is a different organization, and you get to do a lot more as a corpsman. For us, it means getting the most hands-on experience.”
Taplin said he plans to stay in Jacksonville when he retires and remain in the health care field.
“(Jacksonville) is low key. For me, that’s nice,” Taplin said. “We’ve lived in the big cities, my wife and I, and we’re not looking for that. Valerie is a school teacher at Stone Street Elementary and my kids like Jacksonville, so I want to stay.”
Some of the Marines and sailors at Camp Fox are only slightly older than his oldest child.
He hopes that the wake-up call for the young Marines and sailors comes without the loss of life.
“It’s going to take something dramatic, maybe when the war actually happens there could be a false alarm that jolts them so they realize that I could have been real,” Taplin said
http://www.jdnews.com/dispatches/Details.cfm?StoryID=10796