Some reactivated Marines still wait to return home

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

Ben Chapman was tending bar at Cha-Cha-Cha in Waikiki, had just moved into an apartment at Punchbowl with his girlfriend, and was planning to go to UH in the fall.

Ben Chapman, who was trained as an Arab linguist on active duty, was reactivated to serve in Iraq as a translator. Ben Chapman photo

The United States Marine Corps was reclaiming him.

Chapman, 25, had served out his five-year active-duty contract and was honorably discharged in 2001. But service members also have a follow-on Inactive Ready Reserve commitment during which they can be reactivated for war or national emergency.

War came. And Sgt. Chapman, who was recalled in February, went.

Trained as an Arab linguist while he was in the Corps, Chapman wound up in Iraq struggling to translate a language he hadn't touched since leaving the Marines.

Mostly, he provided security while Arab-American private contractors did the translating.

Now, he and other Marine "IRRs" — who should have been some of the first to leave — are among a growing number of troops waiting to get out.

Chapman, a McKinley High graduate, was scheduled to leave Kuwait June 7, but the night before, he was told he wouldn't be on the flight.

"They were saying that 'We can use you in other places in Iraq. We need more linguists out there,' " Chapman said by phone from Camp Commando in Kuwait. Now Chapman is scheduled for a return flight on Sunday. "I won't believe it till I'm out of here," he said.

About 148,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq. Gen. Tommy Franks, the former commander of U.S. Central Command, said at the House Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday on Operation Iraqi Freedom that since the height of U.S. involvement in the region, 141,000 troops — including 47,000 Marines — have deployed home.

Franks said the total there now represents "the desirable footprint for the near term."

In that footprint are troops like Chapman, who along with about a half-dozen other IRR linguists took their case to the deputy commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force as part of an administrative hearing called a mast.

Chapman said the general agreed the IRR Marines should have been sent home ahead of active duty counterparts, but they were stuck in Iraq regardless.

"They've been saying the whole time, 'Well, a little bit is better than nothing. You know some Arabic,' " Chapman said.

"Leaving the Marine Corps, I totally left it (Arabic) behind," Chapman said. "From the moment I got out till I got recalled, I didn't speak one word of Arabic."

When he was serving with the 1st Radio Battalion at Kane'ohe Bay several years ago, he was trained primarily to listen to taped Arabic that he could play back again and again.

Listening to a tape or reading a newspaper, he could catch maybe 80 percent.

"We were never trained to speak Arabic, really," Chapman said. "We got out here, and they were like, 'You are going to be translators,' and we said, 'Well, we've never done that before.' "

About 250 1st Radio Battalion Marines — including linguists — were deployed to Kuwait and Iraq in February. About 60 of the Marines who remain in the region may return home in late summer or early fall.

Of between 30 to 40 IRR Arab linguists sent to Iraq, Chapman said about 11 have gone home.

As a reactivated Marine, Chapman was not attached to the 1st Radio Battalion. He was sent to Baghdad following the city's occupation by U.S. forces, and also saw duty in Diwaniyah.

"I tried the best I could, and I got a couple of things done, but not to the extent that was needed," Chapman said. "Once they realized (that), I was pretty much an extra body on security."

Arab-American civilian linguists with a company called Titan did most of the translating.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.