Families cherish reunions in wartime
About 300 Marines and sailors arrived home Saturday from Iraq, just a few hours after another 300 left for their fourth tour of duty.
Though many families had done it before, it hadn't gotten any easier.
Michelle Mitchell
The Desert Sun
January 28, 2007
"It gets harder. It's getting worse over there," Janice Blanks, 43, said as her son Lance Cpl. Aaron Thompson, 20, checked over his gear.
"I'm surprised I'm not crying yet," she said.
Many people looked like they were holding back tears in the hours before the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines left.
From a distance, the gathering at the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center resembled a somber tailgate.
Families sat in the backs of trucks and SUVs, laughing around coolers of cold drinks.
"You're always thinking about it, but you just don't always show it," said Lance Cpl. Travis Wilkerson, 19. "Marines have a funny way of dealing with things."
Wilkerson and his twin brother, Tyler, were leaving.
"I don't think it's going to set in until I'm in an airplane going across the Atlantic Ocean," Tyler Wilkerson said as his niece climbed in his arms.
Their deployment came as the country is talking about President Bush's recent decision to increase the number of troops in Iraq.
The families of troops had opinions as varied as the rest of America, but two things were consistent.
The Marines believed in their duty and their loved ones believed in them.
"You can't help but be proud of all these young men," said Nadine Taylor, 74.
Just a few hundred yards away, Tammy George was preparing for her husband to see their 1-year-old daughter, Courtney.
Staff Sgt. Chris George, hadn't seen the baby since before she could walk. He was returning with the 7th Marine Regiment from a year-long tour Saturday evening.
"Now he gets to chase her around," George said, holding her squirming daughter as her two sons hovered nearby. "These two were fine, but she runs everywhere."
Despite the anticipation of a happy homecoming, veteran Marine Miguel Pineda, 66, still got choked up remembering the day he saw his son, Cpl. Serjio Pineda off last January.
"I was full of tears," Pineda said, despite his own training to be a "tough Marine.
"That's what being a father does to you," he said.
When the Marines finally marched onto the field Saturday evening, the only tears were of happiness.
"I'm going to enjoy this," said Kim Kiefer of Belleville, Mich., not leaving her son's side.