Posted on: Friday, May 2, 2003
Marines awaiting return to Hawai'i
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
It wasn't a nine-course meal at a French restaurant, but for Gunnery Sgt. Gerald Rohn and other Hawai'i Marines, the Home of the Whopper and some "freedom" fries were probably just as good.
After more than a month of plastic-bagged "Meals Ready to Eat" in Iraq, the Burger King meal back in Kuwait hit the spot.
"He said it was really good," said Lucy Rohn, who recently heard from her 35-year-old husband. "He'll probably get an upset stomach, but he doesn't care."
The Marines of 4th Force Reconnaissance Company out of Kane'ohe Bay — many sporting new mustaches and one having adopted a small dog — returned to Camp Commando as part of an exodus of U.S. troops leaving Iraq.
"It's a relief," said Lucy Rohn, who is the "key volunteer" here for wives of the special operations Marines, most of whom are reservists.
Staff Sgt. Patrick Sterling, a Honolulu police officer, adopted a puppy he named "Dagger" that he brought back to Kuwait from Iraq. Back home, Sterling has a new baby, born on Friday.
However, Kathy Hashimoto, whose husband, Maj. Mark Hashimoto, is one of about 40 4th Force Marines in the Gulf, said she just got word that the Marines received orders to head back into Iraq for 30 to 45 days.
As ships, bombers and some troops leave the Persian Gulf, the key question on everyone's mind is: When is their husband or wife coming home?
In the case of the 4th Force Marines, "around June, that's all I know," said Lucy Rohn. "It could be earlier, but as of now, they're looking at June. That's not bad... It's better than the nine months the submarine (Cheyenne) was out for."
President Bush yesterday said "major combat operations in Iraq have ended," while aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which recently called in Honolulu after a nine-month deployment. The Paul Hamilton, a destroyer; frigate Reuben James; and attack submarine Cheyenne just returned as part of the same mission.
Some 1,200 soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division also had begun heading back to Kuwait along with Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Lejeune, N.C., but many U.S. troops will have to remain in Iraq for reconstruction.
Julie Aycock has received many e-mails from family members in Hawai'i wondering when the approximately 250 Marines of the 1st Radio Battalion sent to Kuwait and Iraq are coming home.
Her husband, Lt. Col. Mark Aycock, commands the unit whose mission includes providing communications support for Corps intelligence organizations and conducting electronic warfare.
"Basically, the (Hawai'i) Marines have been all over the place," Julie Aycock said. "I know that we've had Marines in Baghdad. They've been in the North. They've been in the South. Because they go out in small groups, they'll have like nine Marines with this group, and seven Marines with that group."
Mark Aycock said to expect that he'll be deployed for another three months, because when the Marines left Feb. 9 — the same time as 4th Force recon — there was the expectation of a six-month mission.
The 1st Radio Battalion Marines were augmented by more than 40 others from the 2nd Radio Battalion from Camp Lejeune. Half of the Marines headed north in support of the ground attack in Iraq.
In a letter to families e-mailed Wednesday, Mark Aycock said "every 1st Radio Battalion Marine and sailor is doing well. Many of our operational requirements have been met and those that are deployed in Iraq are beginning to get some well-deserved rest and showers."
Some Marines will return home for a month or two and then have to get back on a ship or plane for another deployment, he said.
"As we await transportation home, I know that we are not the only units trying to get home," he said. "We are one small unit of the many that make up the 80,000 or so Marines and sailors that are trying to get to their loved ones."
Aycock, who is in Kuwait, said he has heard many stories of how Radio Battalion Marines have supported Marines on the front lines.
Two Hawai'i Marines who are Arabic linguists, Cpl. Anthony Waylonis and Lance Cpl. Anna Kalkbrenner, put their language skills to use in an unusual way while assigned to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit in late March.
A frantic Iraqi family approached a Marine checkpoint, and Waylonis and Kalkbrenner determined a pregnant woman named Jamila was about to give birth.
The Marine linguists translated a U.S. doctor's instructions, and a baby girl, Rogina, was delivered 20 minutes later, Aycock said.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
