Marine on leave from Iraq expresses support for U.S. role
The wish expressed on the giant yellow ribbon on top of Brooklyn Bagels has come true.
Marine Lance Cpl. Trent Dyer has returned safely from Iraq.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
By Steve Gunn
CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER
The wish expressed on the giant yellow ribbon on top of Brooklyn Bagels has come true.
Marine Lance Cpl. Trent Dyer has returned safely from Iraq.
Dyer's parents, Denny and Cookie Dyer of North Muskegon, had the ribbon erected on top of their Whitehall Road restaurant last winter, when they learned their son was shipping out to Iraq.
The words on the ribbon were simple but powerful: "Keep my son safe."
Dyer is not only safe, but he's been making the most of his time away from the stressful lifestyle of the war zone.
Almost as soon as he returned on leave, Dyer and his wife, Katie, headed for a 10-day vacation in the Dominican Republic. The two had been married less than a year when Dyer shipped out, so the vacation was extra special.
"I had to tell my family that I needed this time to reunite with my wife," said Dyer, 21, a 2003 graduate of Reeths-Puffer High School. "It's hard, because you become so dependent on each other, then all of a sudden you're gone for seven months.
"We had a great time. It was like a first date again."
But looming on the other end of the homecoming is the inevitable return to Iraq. Dyer is fully aware that he will be going back in February.
"It's hard," said Dyer, who will be-come a full corporal Saturday. "I don't necessarily want to go back. It's like life stops when you're there. But I know I have to go back, so all I can do is make the best of it."
It's not that Dyer doesn't like the military. On the contrary, he said he's found the experience rewarding.
He enlisted in the Marine Corps out of high school, and left for basic training a few months after graduation.
He was stationed in North Carolina, attached to a helicopter division. By February of this year he was in Iraq, stationed at a base in Al Asad, less than an hour's drive from Baghdad.
Dyer has not seen the worst of the violence in Iraq. Most of the time he stays on base, doing maintenance work on helicopters. He's also been training on board helicopters to become an aerial observer.
But there have been moments that severely tested his nerves.
"We don't see a lot of active combat, but we get mortared and rocketed a lot on base," Dyer said. "At times it gets scary. Anything can happen to you. You can be sleeping, and all of the sudden you hear a loud boom."
Dyer recalls taking part in a traveling military convoy that was attacked by insurgents.
"It's just random people, nothing organized, and they just pop out, start shooting, then run away," he said. "When it first happens, you just react. But when it's over with, and there's time to sit down and think about what just happened, it's crazy.
"It gives you some sleepless nights. And it gives you a new perspective on life, all the stuff you take for granted. You realize it all could end at any moment. You realize life is precious."
Dyer said he's strengthened by his faith in the American cause. He believes the U.S. invasion was necessary, and he's proud of the service the military provides the Iraqi people as they struggle to develop a democracy.
"I know a lot of people don't agree with us being there, but when you see what we're doing, and realize that the majority of Iraqis are happy we're there, it gives you a good feeling," Dyer said.
That aside, Dyer admits he had to force himself to stop counting the days until his leave began. When it finally arrived last month, he said it took too long to get back to the United States. There was a holdover in Kuwait, then a stop in Germany. That's too many stops for a homesick soldier, he said.
"They told us we'd be home in about two days, but when you're in the military, you know some things are too good to be true," Dyer said. "We finally got back about a week later. And the travel in between, the days went by so slow."
After several weeks with family and friends in Muskegon, Dyer and his wife returned to North Carolina. Dyer will spend the next four months on base, helping to maintain helicopters. Then in February it's back to Iraq, hopefully for the last time.
"We've heard that it will be going on for years. Then we heard that this might be the last time we go back," he said. "I guess you just don't know until the last minute."
In the meantime, Dyer would like people to remember his wife, both of their families, and all the other military families that wait and worry in obscurity.
"It's just as hard being here alone as it is being there alone," Dyer said. "I think people overlook that. Families should get the recognition they deserve. They go through a lot of mental pain."