Iraq war: One year later
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
A year ago, as Navy Tomahawk cruise missiles rained on Baghdad, the U.S. invasion of Iraq seemed a long way from Hawai'i.
Even with sailors from Pearl Harbor and a few hundred Marines and soldiers playing a role as the invasion continued, their numbers were lost in a sea of U.S. forces moving swiftly to victory. It was live on TV but much of it felt distant, a war waged by strangers.
But not today, as Americans mark the first anniversary of the fighting.
With about 4,500 men and women from Schofield Barracks deployed for a year in northern Iraq, 150 Kane'ohe Marines already on their way and 600 Hawai'i Army reservists and Army National Guard personnel mobilized for a 12-month deployment, the war can feel as close as your neighborhood.
From residents who now listen more intently to news reports from Iraq to the steady deployment of Hawai'i-based troops, the personal, social and economic effects ripple through communities statewide. But it's in the troops who have served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and returned home safely where reflection finds a voice.
For some of those who served in the region last year during the invasion and the U.S.-led occupation that followed, the experience was inspirational. Others view it simply as a job that had to be done.
Weighing value of life
Capt. Debra Gomez, a member of the 3rd Radio Battalion from Marine Corps Base, Hawai'i at Kane'ohe, takes nothing for granted anymore. She spent four months in Kuwait, before and after the invasion.
It was life as few here can relate to: Warnings for incoming missiles several times a day, showers once or twice a week (a luxury compared to the infantry, whose personnel went without bathing for weeks), walking through communities with a loaded handgun strapped to her leg.
The experience has brought the Gomez, 26, closer to her family. And nine months after her June 9 return — almost to the day, she said with a laugh — Gomez gave birth to her first child.
Now she can look into her daughter's eyes, even when the infant is crying at 2 a.m., and feel at peace.
"You realize the value of what you have," she said. "I came back all in one piece able to make this beautiful child with my husband. It doesn't get any better than that."
Marine Maj. John Claucherty spent six months in Iraq, returning home about a week ago. He served as an operations officer for L. Paul Bremer, the country's U.S. administrator.
Claucherty, a 41-year-old Marine on the brink of retirement, wanted to serve in Iraq before his career was over.
The world will be better because of this, he said, noting how U.S. troops are helping Iraq build schools, roads, communication systems and electric power plants.
"As a result of what's going on in Iraq, five years from now, Iraq is going to be a very stable, wealthy nation. It's almost exciting how well it is going."
Claucherty doesn't mention that he survived a bomb blast in October that killed people standing around him. A scar on his left cheek the size of a quarter reminds him of what happened. It will always be there, yet he dismisses it.
"I think that professionally as an American, as a man and as a Marine officer, that whole trip was the greatest thing I have done in my life," Claucherty said. "Having been wounded is such a minor part of the trip."
Worrying about friends
The invasion last year was a source of pride along the Pearl Harbor waterfront because many of the first shots fired came from the four ships and four submarines that called Hawai'i home.
But changes in attitude are difficult to chart. In Navy circles, officers often note that the only difference between a deployment and combat is that someone actually pulls the trigger.
Submarine skipper Cmdr. Michael Jabaley, 41-year-old commander of the USS Louisville, said his crew was proud of the job it did during the first weeks of the war. Today, at his regular pier-side meeting with the entire crew, he will remind them of how well they performed.
But beyond doing what many sailors never get to do, he feels his crew is unchanged a year later.
What they did doesn't compare with what Hawai'i-based ground troops are doing now, he said.
"It's a different mission, a different phase of the war and I have a tremendous amount of respect for what the guys from Schofield are doing now," Jabaley said. "What we did was important in its own right but it is impossible to compare."
As the first missiles found their targets, Capt. Pat Allen, the 52-year-old commander of the cruiser USS Port Royal, was in Pearl Harbor preparing his crew and his ship for deployment to the Persian Gulf.
Each day of the war underscored the need to be thoroughly prepared. Those efforts were guided by the knowledge that Pearl Harbor friends were already there. Motivation came easily, Allen said.
"The Navy becomes a fairly small family at that point when you have friends in harm's way," Allen said.
The Port Royal deployed in September and returned to port last week. The crew spent a lot of time providing security in the gulf, intercepting smuggled oil shipments and guarding an offshore oil terminal.
The pressure to stay alert was unrelenting, Allen said, and they coped well.
"They can all feel a lot of personal fulfillment in doing something so difficult so well," Allen said.
But the crew has moved on.
"I don't hear sailors dwelling too much on the larger scheme of things," Allen said. "We have a pretty narrow focus here on what we can do and what we need to be prepared to do."
Bearing stripes of service
That sense of purpose is felt keenly at Hickam Air Force Base, where anywhere from 100 to 400 personnel are deployed to and near Iraq at any given time, said Gen. William J. Begert, commander of Pacific Air Forces and who oversees the base and several others around the Pacific.
Air personnel and their families understand "that we are in the middle of war" and that their efforts are appreciated by the American public, Begert said.
Morale is high, he said.
"You can hardly wear a uniform off base without someone coming up to you and thanking you for your service," Begert said. "It doesn't matter if you are wearing stars. In fact it's better if you are wearing stripes. People come up to you and thank you for serving your country."
Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012.
