This third deployment of ours is complete. As this homecoming has come and gone, I remember the months leading up to our reunion after Fallujah...
Of course, this deployment was nothing in comparison to our 2004-2005 Iraq deployment. Nothing. In fact, as horrible as it sounds, I am not sure how I feel about this reunion. I don't feel like I "earned" it. There was no struggle (aside from my obligations at our Family Readiness Coordinator). No sacrifice (except the distance and time apart), no scares, no combat, no combat injuries or casualties. Don't get me wrong, I am very, very grateful that our (hopefully) last deployment was so quiet and calm (God knows we spent nearly eleven months in absolute misery with our last), but I have to wonder -- am I so jaded that I cannot properly appreciate a "normal" deployment without strife and heartache? We "worked" so hard for our reunion in 2005. We had to motivate each other to keep it together, even when our husband's comrades were being killed left and right. We had to motivate each other to be positive and to pray and to hang in there. There was none of that this time around. No tearful prayers, no sleepless nights worried about what's happening...nothing except uncomfortable distance, and a few interesting medical situations, that were dealt with just fine in his absence.
The worst of this deployment was Marine drama and Marines lying to their families about what was really going on over there. You know the type: the ones who feel so insecure about what they haven't done while in the military they feel the need to inflate their past experiences. A Marine in this company claimed to have been in Fallujah in front of my husband and myself. Of course, the problems within the story were realized immediately. The only deployment this unit has made to the Global War on Terror (aside from the one just completed) was in Spring 2005, far after the battle of Fallujah had commenced, and said Marine has spent his Marine Corps career with this unit (save for training elsewhere). Considering the toll that battle took on us (actually, the entire deployment in general), it was like a knife to the chest. The wound went deep and burned strong. So many lives were irreparably changed during that time; most for the worst. And while my cost wasn't as much as some of my fellow 1/3 families suffered, the effects of a nearly one-year-long, extremely dangerous deployment were serious, severe, and long-term...this will be expounded further in my next entry. I am veering too far from where I had begun. It's like pulling on a string that never stops dropping. I pull out one memory and more and more, that I had tucked away, out of sight, locked away tight, come pouring out.
We had been jerked around about the homecoming date for months and months (since December) and had a hard time believing that it would actually come to fruition this time.
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1 December 2004 -- Department of Defense Announces Troop Extensions for Iraq
Today the Secretary of Defense approved a request by the Commander of Multi-National Forces-Iraq (MNF(I)) to extend two Army brigades and a Marine Expeditionary Unit operating in Iraq. The Secretary also approved the Commanders request for two additional infantry battalions to deploy to Iraq.
General George Casey, Commander, MNF-I, requested the extension of the units, as they are the most experienced and best-qualified forces to sustain the momentum of post-Fallujah operations and to provide for additional security for the upcoming elections, in conjunction with the Iraqi Security forces.
The United States Armys 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, the 2nd Brigade 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas and the United States Marine Corps 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, Okinawa, Japan, will be extended beyond their current rotation dates. This extension also includes the 66th Transportation Company, Kleber Kasern, Germany. The length of extension varies between the units. Two battalions from the 82nd Airborne Division will deploy to Iraq for an anticipated duration of approximately 120 days to support security efforts during the election period.
This approved request adds an additional 1,500 active duty soldiers, and extends approximately 10,400 active duty combat forces, which includes 2,300 Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit off of the ESSEX Expeditionary Strike Group. This extension is in conjunction with the current force rotation, and will increase the U. S. forces in theater from 17 to 20 brigades, increasing the force size in Iraq to approximately 150,000 personnel during the election period.
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When advance party came back, that was when my beloved friend Judy's husband came back to her. It was about three weeks before the main body of 1/3 returned. Joleene, Judy, and I had been comrades throughout the entire pump, so we were not going to miss her reunion with Ricky. Not for anything. ADVON coming home was what made it real for the rest of us, it was what reminded us our reunion would be there soon.
The planes for ADVON were scheduled to come into the Honolulu International Airport fairly early in the morning. Joleene and I had made plans to ride together. I hadn't been up that early since before the deployment began, back when Casey was regularly home and had to be at base by 0600. It reminded me of the days when things were simpler between him and I. It reminded me of the days when I would make him coffee and breakfast and we'd sit and watch the early morning news together over morning coffee. Then I'd take him to base and drop him off. The photo at the left is just off of Joleene's street on MCBH. We would meet at her place and then head off to do whatever the day had in store for us most days, but this day was really special.__________________________________
KANEOHE MARINES
RETURN FROM IRAQ
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Sgt. Juan Inzunza kissed his wife, Rosa, as he held his sons, Juan Jr. and Alonso, and daughter Samantha waited her turn. About 500 Marines returned home from Iraq yesterday, including 400 from the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment.
"This was the toughest and the longest," Olivares said of his three deployments. "It's good to be back and not worry about being shot at or dodging IEDs (improvised explosive devices)."Last July, more than 900 members of the 1st Battalion left the Windward Oahu base on what was supposed to be a routine seven-month deployment to Okinawa.
A month later, the Kaneohe unit was ordered to Iraq as the all-important ground combat element of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, and participated in the bloodiest campaigns of the current Iraqi war.
Patterson said the 1st Battalion will be given the next 30 days off, but "then the unit will return to its training cycle, and sometime in December they will be sent to Afghanistan."During the 1st Battalion's extended deployment, 250 of its Marines were injured in combat and accidents. The unit earned 157 Purple Heart medals and one of its Marines, Sgt. Rafael Peralta, could be awarded the Medal of Honor for using his body to shield his squad from a grenade during the Fallujah campaign.____________________________________________
AN EMOTIONAL REUNION AT KANEOHE
A "Welcome Home & Reunion" ceremony was held yesterday at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe for the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines who fought in Iraq. After the emotional ceremony, Nancy Byrd, whose son Lance Cpl. John Thomas Byrd II was killed in the war, visited with commanding officer Col. Jeffrey Patterson.Families join with
bonds of brothersA ceremony marks the tearful
and joyful return of Marines
