Families of Golf Company gather for annual picnic
Unit has 37 soldiers thatvolunteered to serve in Iraq after being recalled in 2003.
ROCKAWAY TWP. -- Pat and Ray Hollenstein's son, Eric, was deployed to Iraq on March 29 and is currently stationed outside of Fallujah. The Hollensteins do not watch the news for fear of what they may see.
http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060806/COMMUNITIES/608060359
BY BRIAN FREEDMAN
DAILY RECORD
But on Saturday, the Hollensteins and other families with soldiers in the Golf Company, a reserve infantry unit that trains at Picatinny Arsenal, were encouraged to toss their worries aside for a day to enjoy an annual picnic.
"We're always going somewhere and leaving the families,"said 1st Sgt. William Meisinger, who trains the reserves at Picatinny. "This is a chance to bring the families to us."
Members of the Marine Corps League, a support organization of Marine veterans, raised the money and found sponsors to coordinate the event. About 100 veterans were grilling hamburgers and serving food at Saturday's event. About 400 people attended.
"It's been a wonderful cooperation," said Joe Piazza, a commandant of a Marine Corps League unit based in Passaic County.
Piazza and his Morris County counterpart, Peter Gallo, are also involved in Marines for Marines, a program that organizes care packages to be sent to Iraq for the enlisted men. In addition, through the program, Gallo and Piazza visit wounded Marines at Bethesda Navy Hospital in Maryland, where the veterans swap Marine stories and offer advice.
"We show our appreciation the best we can," said Piazza, who served in the Korean War in 1951-1952.
Saturday's picnic replaced what would have been a routine training weekend. The Golf Company trains one weekend per month and one 2-week period in the year at the Picatinny Arsenal.
"Any other day they'd be screaming and yelling at us,"quipped Cpl. Gamill Haidara, who was deployed in March 2003 with the Golf Company to Iraq, where he served as an Arabic-English translator, among other duties.
Saturday, Haidara, who lives in Newark, was selling t-shirts and mugs to raise money for the annual Marine Corps ball at the Sheraton in Parsippany. If enough money is raised, the Marines pay half-price for their tickets.
Currently, there are 37 Golf Company soldiers in Iraq, all of whom volunteered to return after they had been recalled in 2003. The Golf Company is one of five units in the 2nd Battalion 25th Marines, which is headquartered in Garden City, N.Y. The company has served in the Gulf War, Korean War and World War II. Most recently, the unit was deployed to Iraq in March 2003 for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Families of the Marines in Iraq were told Saturday that the soldiers are expected to be sent home mid-October.
Eric Hollenstein, 22, is one of those soldiers. Pat Hollenstein sends her son and two other Marines care packages every week. She sends food cups, granola bars and microwave popcorn and other snacks not easily found in Iraq.
One of Eric Hollenstein's commanders sends the Hollensteins daily emails about their son's condition.
"Some days are better than others," said Pat Hollenstein, Eric's mother.
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