thedrifter
10-20-06, 07:17 AM
One of the lucky ones: Marine returns home safely from Iraq
By ANDREW SKERRITT
Published October 20, 2006
The images on the television screen gave a much more mundane view of life in a war zone.
Young Marines operated a trench digger and laid fiber optic wires in the heat and dust of Iraq. You could see Marine Cpl. Rick Wolf III and his fellow Marines from the 1st Marine Logistics Group practicing on the firing range with pistols, M-16s and heavy weapons.
Later you see them in the mess hall breaking bread. Marines love to challenge each other; there's nothing like daring your buddy to drink a cup of Texas Pete hot sauce or a cup of mustard just for the pleasure of watching them puke their guts out minutes later.
The amateur DVD, Wire Dawgs in Iraq, is a snapshot of our young men and women trying to fix a broken nation, trying to laugh and trying to keep their sanity in the crazy place with a four-letter name.
When he came home on vacation, Rick Wolf brought the DVD home for his dad, Rick Jr., an employee in the Times' Port Richey office, and mom, Lynn, to watch.
Talk about timing. October has been one of the deadliest months for the American military in Iraq; September was no cakewalk. All that, just a month after Rick had completed in August a seven-month stint at Camp Taqaddum, a base in the hornet's nest west of Baghdad.
But for the 25-year-old, war is a long way off. Now on vacation, Wolf is staying out late with his old friends and checking in with his former co-workers at Sun Toyota, where he used to work before he enlisted in the Marines two years ago.
Even though he's on leave, his face is clean; his hair, cropped close. When he returns to Okinawa, Japan, where he's stationed, he won't have any trouble remembering he'll need a fresh haircut every Monday.
Meanwhile, this is time for him and his relieved parents to put distance between the images and the sounds of a combat tour in Iraq.
We've written more than our share of stories about Marines and soldiers who never made it home. Of late, though, we seem to have lost interest in the ones who went to Iraq and returned home in one piece. We shouldn't. We can't take their good fortune for granted. They don't.
Rick is among those lucky ones; he bears no injuries, no visible scars from his time in combat. And it wasn't that he stayed out of trouble.
Three times the Humvee in which he was riding got rattled by roadside bombs. Three times he walked away with nothing but ringing in his ears. All the extra armor and reinforced glass on his vehicle was the difference between a war story well told and an early morning visit from a Marine Corps chaplain to his parents home in New Port Richey.
Two friends, a roommate and a co-worker, weren't so blessed. They were 21 and 20, younger than he is, but their lives got cut short in combat.
All this is information, he shares reluctantly. Rick is a quiet warrior. He doesn't like to talk about the seven months of heat, dust and danger. But being a Marine is clearly what he always wanted to be.
It's why he joined the Marines in a time of war; why he looked forward to going to Iraq even though it made his parents anxious.
He's a third-generation leatherneck. His father did a four-year stint in the Marines in the '70s; his grandfather, the original Rick, was among "the Few, the Proud." Yes, he was definitely born with the warrior gene.
Andrew Skerritt can be reached at 813 909-4602 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 4602. His e-mail address is askerritt@sptimes.com.
Ellie
By ANDREW SKERRITT
Published October 20, 2006
The images on the television screen gave a much more mundane view of life in a war zone.
Young Marines operated a trench digger and laid fiber optic wires in the heat and dust of Iraq. You could see Marine Cpl. Rick Wolf III and his fellow Marines from the 1st Marine Logistics Group practicing on the firing range with pistols, M-16s and heavy weapons.
Later you see them in the mess hall breaking bread. Marines love to challenge each other; there's nothing like daring your buddy to drink a cup of Texas Pete hot sauce or a cup of mustard just for the pleasure of watching them puke their guts out minutes later.
The amateur DVD, Wire Dawgs in Iraq, is a snapshot of our young men and women trying to fix a broken nation, trying to laugh and trying to keep their sanity in the crazy place with a four-letter name.
When he came home on vacation, Rick Wolf brought the DVD home for his dad, Rick Jr., an employee in the Times' Port Richey office, and mom, Lynn, to watch.
Talk about timing. October has been one of the deadliest months for the American military in Iraq; September was no cakewalk. All that, just a month after Rick had completed in August a seven-month stint at Camp Taqaddum, a base in the hornet's nest west of Baghdad.
But for the 25-year-old, war is a long way off. Now on vacation, Wolf is staying out late with his old friends and checking in with his former co-workers at Sun Toyota, where he used to work before he enlisted in the Marines two years ago.
Even though he's on leave, his face is clean; his hair, cropped close. When he returns to Okinawa, Japan, where he's stationed, he won't have any trouble remembering he'll need a fresh haircut every Monday.
Meanwhile, this is time for him and his relieved parents to put distance between the images and the sounds of a combat tour in Iraq.
We've written more than our share of stories about Marines and soldiers who never made it home. Of late, though, we seem to have lost interest in the ones who went to Iraq and returned home in one piece. We shouldn't. We can't take their good fortune for granted. They don't.
Rick is among those lucky ones; he bears no injuries, no visible scars from his time in combat. And it wasn't that he stayed out of trouble.
Three times the Humvee in which he was riding got rattled by roadside bombs. Three times he walked away with nothing but ringing in his ears. All the extra armor and reinforced glass on his vehicle was the difference between a war story well told and an early morning visit from a Marine Corps chaplain to his parents home in New Port Richey.
Two friends, a roommate and a co-worker, weren't so blessed. They were 21 and 20, younger than he is, but their lives got cut short in combat.
All this is information, he shares reluctantly. Rick is a quiet warrior. He doesn't like to talk about the seven months of heat, dust and danger. But being a Marine is clearly what he always wanted to be.
It's why he joined the Marines in a time of war; why he looked forward to going to Iraq even though it made his parents anxious.
He's a third-generation leatherneck. His father did a four-year stint in the Marines in the '70s; his grandfather, the original Rick, was among "the Few, the Proud." Yes, he was definitely born with the warrior gene.
Andrew Skerritt can be reached at 813 909-4602 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 4602. His e-mail address is askerritt@sptimes.com.
Ellie