thedrifter
08-25-03, 09:37 AM
August 23. 2003 6:01AM
Through soldiers' eyes
By BOB ARNDORFER
Sun staff writer
he yellow ribbons slowly are starting to come down.
In dribs and drabs, young men, combat veterans now, are coming back from Iraq. They're returning to North Central Florida, an area that saw more than its share of casualties: four killed and at least one wounded.
Of those now coming home, some are putting away their dusty togs and picking up interrupted lives. Others are relaxing before heading to another, less dangerous, duty station.
As they arrive to welcoming arms and familiar surroundings, some local soldiers and Marines are being asked a question asked of every generation of warriors returning from Over There: What was it like?
What it was like tends to come out in the details, not in the overviews of their missions.
"You slept on or inside the vehicle," said Will Pothier of Gainesville, a U.S. Marine Corps Reserve lance corporal who turned 21 Jan. 23, about a week before his B Company, 4th Amphibious Assault Battalion left for Kuwait. "I slept on top because they told us to watch out for snakes and poisonous insects."
He was crew chief on a 26-ton armored behemoth designed to carry in its belly nearly two dozen "grunts," or Marine infantrymen, to their objectives. Pothier's job was to keep the tank-like vehicle, sometimes called a "track," running.
Among the memories brought home in early July by Drew Neilson of Gainesville, a Marine reservist in Pothier's unit who also turned 21 just before the shooting started, was tossing Skittles to Iraqi children.
"Skittles, Charms and M&Ms were part of our MREs (meals ready to eat)," said Neilson, a lance corporal who drove an amphibious assault vehicle 1,606 miles during his three months in Iraq.
Pfc. Andrew Moore of Williston, 26, is in the U.S. Army's D Company, 10th Engineering Battalion. He came home Friday for a month's furlough, after returning from Iraq to Fort Stewart, Ga., about two weeks ago.
"We took over some houses at an amusement park in Baghdad, and that's where we stayed for most of the time," said Moore, a combat engineer who helped clear mines and blow up weapons caches for tank and infantry units.
"One of my buddies became friends with some Iraqis and they'd invite us to come over and eat with them," he said. "We told them we didn't want to take their food, but they were very generous. We taught them a little English and they taught us a little Arabic."
Lance Cpl. Andy Batie of Gainesville, an infantryman with Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Division, arrived home last Monday. He didn't have enough leave time accrued, but his unit arranged for him to work as an assistant in the Marine recruiting station in Butler Plaza during his monthlong visit before going back to Camp Pendleton in California.
His job in Iraq, he said, "basically was shooting and getting shot at." About half a mile into Iraq from the Kuwait border on the first day of the war, his unit came under attack.
"I wasn't expecting that 15 minutes after we crossed the border enemy artillery would be dropped on us," said Batie, who turns 20 on Sept. 19.
Reality of war
The reality of war quickly set in.
"For the first split second you can't believe someone is shooting at you," Batie said. "Initially it was a huge shock to realize you're not training back at Camp Pendleton. People are actually returning fire.
"I felt confident because of our training, but I was still nervous," he said. "You're scared you might not come back. But after a while you do get used to it."
The others, too, came under fire. All managed to escape injury, and all shared a similar philosophy on war's life and death realities.
" 'How does it feel to kill somebody?' That's a question I was asked a lot," said Moore, who knows he killed at least one Iraqi soldier and was told by a squad leader that his bullets likely hit four others. "There really wasn't any feeling because it's your job. If you hesitate, you could be the one receiving the bullet.
"I guess it hasn't really hit me that I was over there fighting," said Moore, who is married and has a 3-year-old son. "You come back and you feel like a regular person. It doesn't feel like I went to war, and I wonder why that is."
Neilson said he "put some rounds down" from the turret of his vehicle, but doesn't know if they hit anyone.
"I'm not a warmonger, and it's not like I'm stone and don't feel anything," he said. "But I was doing my job and they were doing theirs."
Pothier said his unit first encountered some resistance in Nasiriya, the southern Iraqi city that saw some of the most intense fighting of the war. He sometimes manned a large machine gun atop his vehicle.
"Mine was mostly suppressive fire, just in (the enemy's) general direction," said Pothier, who plans to attend Santa Fe Community College and study computer networking. "It was a real rush of adrenaline, but you almost felt bad for the people you were shooting at.
"I saw more bodies than I care to count," Pothier said. "A couple of times it was upsetting. But you become numb to it."
Batie said he tries to politely fend off questions about some of the things he saw in combat.
"Seeing the reality and truth of war, you just don't want to talk about it," he said. "It's not to the point where I have nightmares or look around when I hear a car backfire. I just say I'm home now and I just want positive things in my life."
During down time
As in all wars, diversions were found.
Moore said that after things settled down somewhat in Baghdad, he and others in his company found a shop that sold $3 hamburgers. In off time at their house in the amusement park - decorated with pinups from Maxim and other magazines - they played dominoes, card games and read books. Moore read Greg Iles' "Dead Sleep," a mystery about a war photographer trying to find her sister, and another whodunit, "Close to You" by Mary Jane Clark.
They also set up a basketball court and organized tournaments among the different companies. His D Company team made it to the finals in one tournament, Moore said, and the Final Four in another.
At some point in the war, someone in his unit got a DVD player and a TV. Some Iraqis gave the soldiers an electricity generator, Moore said, and they watched "The Ring," "Old School" and other movies.
Music was a popular way to get away from the war for a while when a player or CDs could be rounded up. Sometimes they were able to tune into a Kuwait station that played American music of every category.
Pothier said most of the men in his unit were into heavy-metal music. A popular disc, he said, was Metallica's "Kill 'Em All."
When not listening to Metallica, he did a little business selling American cigarettes to hard-up American smokers.
"People were paying $5 a pop for a cigarette," Pothier said.
Neilson said for some people, smoking was something to do when food became scarce or they tired of MREs.
"You'd be amazed at the amount of nutrients in a cigarette," he said.
Pothier said one of his unit's objectives was a cigarette factory in Nasiriya. After the factory was taken, Iraqi civilians showered the Americans with cartons of cigarettes looted from the factory.
"You could hardly give those away," he said. "They were bad."
Still, among Pothier's souvenirs from Operation Iraqi freedom is a blue carton of liberated "Sumer" smokes.
Neilson said he spent his off time fixing his vehicle or trying to catch up on sleep.
"There were days when you drove from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m.," he said. "I'd slap myself silly to stay awake."
Between naps, he said, they'd sometimes sit around "talking about the old days." The old days for a 21-year-old? "When you were home," he said.
Missives and packages from home were diversions that were a long time coming. Pothier's first letter came in early May, he said, and his first "care" package arrived the day he was leaving to go back to Kuwait.
Neilson speculated on the mail delays.
"They didn't want somebody getting a Dear John letter and being all depressed," he said.
http://imgsrv.gainesvillesun.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=GS&Date=20030823&Category=LOCAL&ArtNo=208230339&Ref=AR&Profile=1007&MaxW=245
LARA NEEL/The Gainesville Sun
Drew Neilson poses with his dog tags in his home at SW 16th Lane.
continued.........
Through soldiers' eyes
By BOB ARNDORFER
Sun staff writer
he yellow ribbons slowly are starting to come down.
In dribs and drabs, young men, combat veterans now, are coming back from Iraq. They're returning to North Central Florida, an area that saw more than its share of casualties: four killed and at least one wounded.
Of those now coming home, some are putting away their dusty togs and picking up interrupted lives. Others are relaxing before heading to another, less dangerous, duty station.
As they arrive to welcoming arms and familiar surroundings, some local soldiers and Marines are being asked a question asked of every generation of warriors returning from Over There: What was it like?
What it was like tends to come out in the details, not in the overviews of their missions.
"You slept on or inside the vehicle," said Will Pothier of Gainesville, a U.S. Marine Corps Reserve lance corporal who turned 21 Jan. 23, about a week before his B Company, 4th Amphibious Assault Battalion left for Kuwait. "I slept on top because they told us to watch out for snakes and poisonous insects."
He was crew chief on a 26-ton armored behemoth designed to carry in its belly nearly two dozen "grunts," or Marine infantrymen, to their objectives. Pothier's job was to keep the tank-like vehicle, sometimes called a "track," running.
Among the memories brought home in early July by Drew Neilson of Gainesville, a Marine reservist in Pothier's unit who also turned 21 just before the shooting started, was tossing Skittles to Iraqi children.
"Skittles, Charms and M&Ms were part of our MREs (meals ready to eat)," said Neilson, a lance corporal who drove an amphibious assault vehicle 1,606 miles during his three months in Iraq.
Pfc. Andrew Moore of Williston, 26, is in the U.S. Army's D Company, 10th Engineering Battalion. He came home Friday for a month's furlough, after returning from Iraq to Fort Stewart, Ga., about two weeks ago.
"We took over some houses at an amusement park in Baghdad, and that's where we stayed for most of the time," said Moore, a combat engineer who helped clear mines and blow up weapons caches for tank and infantry units.
"One of my buddies became friends with some Iraqis and they'd invite us to come over and eat with them," he said. "We told them we didn't want to take their food, but they were very generous. We taught them a little English and they taught us a little Arabic."
Lance Cpl. Andy Batie of Gainesville, an infantryman with Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Division, arrived home last Monday. He didn't have enough leave time accrued, but his unit arranged for him to work as an assistant in the Marine recruiting station in Butler Plaza during his monthlong visit before going back to Camp Pendleton in California.
His job in Iraq, he said, "basically was shooting and getting shot at." About half a mile into Iraq from the Kuwait border on the first day of the war, his unit came under attack.
"I wasn't expecting that 15 minutes after we crossed the border enemy artillery would be dropped on us," said Batie, who turns 20 on Sept. 19.
Reality of war
The reality of war quickly set in.
"For the first split second you can't believe someone is shooting at you," Batie said. "Initially it was a huge shock to realize you're not training back at Camp Pendleton. People are actually returning fire.
"I felt confident because of our training, but I was still nervous," he said. "You're scared you might not come back. But after a while you do get used to it."
The others, too, came under fire. All managed to escape injury, and all shared a similar philosophy on war's life and death realities.
" 'How does it feel to kill somebody?' That's a question I was asked a lot," said Moore, who knows he killed at least one Iraqi soldier and was told by a squad leader that his bullets likely hit four others. "There really wasn't any feeling because it's your job. If you hesitate, you could be the one receiving the bullet.
"I guess it hasn't really hit me that I was over there fighting," said Moore, who is married and has a 3-year-old son. "You come back and you feel like a regular person. It doesn't feel like I went to war, and I wonder why that is."
Neilson said he "put some rounds down" from the turret of his vehicle, but doesn't know if they hit anyone.
"I'm not a warmonger, and it's not like I'm stone and don't feel anything," he said. "But I was doing my job and they were doing theirs."
Pothier said his unit first encountered some resistance in Nasiriya, the southern Iraqi city that saw some of the most intense fighting of the war. He sometimes manned a large machine gun atop his vehicle.
"Mine was mostly suppressive fire, just in (the enemy's) general direction," said Pothier, who plans to attend Santa Fe Community College and study computer networking. "It was a real rush of adrenaline, but you almost felt bad for the people you were shooting at.
"I saw more bodies than I care to count," Pothier said. "A couple of times it was upsetting. But you become numb to it."
Batie said he tries to politely fend off questions about some of the things he saw in combat.
"Seeing the reality and truth of war, you just don't want to talk about it," he said. "It's not to the point where I have nightmares or look around when I hear a car backfire. I just say I'm home now and I just want positive things in my life."
During down time
As in all wars, diversions were found.
Moore said that after things settled down somewhat in Baghdad, he and others in his company found a shop that sold $3 hamburgers. In off time at their house in the amusement park - decorated with pinups from Maxim and other magazines - they played dominoes, card games and read books. Moore read Greg Iles' "Dead Sleep," a mystery about a war photographer trying to find her sister, and another whodunit, "Close to You" by Mary Jane Clark.
They also set up a basketball court and organized tournaments among the different companies. His D Company team made it to the finals in one tournament, Moore said, and the Final Four in another.
At some point in the war, someone in his unit got a DVD player and a TV. Some Iraqis gave the soldiers an electricity generator, Moore said, and they watched "The Ring," "Old School" and other movies.
Music was a popular way to get away from the war for a while when a player or CDs could be rounded up. Sometimes they were able to tune into a Kuwait station that played American music of every category.
Pothier said most of the men in his unit were into heavy-metal music. A popular disc, he said, was Metallica's "Kill 'Em All."
When not listening to Metallica, he did a little business selling American cigarettes to hard-up American smokers.
"People were paying $5 a pop for a cigarette," Pothier said.
Neilson said for some people, smoking was something to do when food became scarce or they tired of MREs.
"You'd be amazed at the amount of nutrients in a cigarette," he said.
Pothier said one of his unit's objectives was a cigarette factory in Nasiriya. After the factory was taken, Iraqi civilians showered the Americans with cartons of cigarettes looted from the factory.
"You could hardly give those away," he said. "They were bad."
Still, among Pothier's souvenirs from Operation Iraqi freedom is a blue carton of liberated "Sumer" smokes.
Neilson said he spent his off time fixing his vehicle or trying to catch up on sleep.
"There were days when you drove from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m.," he said. "I'd slap myself silly to stay awake."
Between naps, he said, they'd sometimes sit around "talking about the old days." The old days for a 21-year-old? "When you were home," he said.
Missives and packages from home were diversions that were a long time coming. Pothier's first letter came in early May, he said, and his first "care" package arrived the day he was leaving to go back to Kuwait.
Neilson speculated on the mail delays.
"They didn't want somebody getting a Dear John letter and being all depressed," he said.
http://imgsrv.gainesvillesun.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=GS&Date=20030823&Category=LOCAL&ArtNo=208230339&Ref=AR&Profile=1007&MaxW=245
LARA NEEL/The Gainesville Sun
Drew Neilson poses with his dog tags in his home at SW 16th Lane.
continued.........