Gilroy
– It isn’t necessary to ask if they’re best friends. They finish
each others’ sentences. They litter their conversation with curse
words and share the same bawdy soldier’s sense of humor. They’ve
fought the same insurgents and guarded the perimeter of the same
shell-shocked city in Iraq. And they
hold the same stark view of the country and its prospects for a
peaceful future.
Gilroy – It isn’t necessary to ask if they’re best friends. They finish each others’ sentences. They litter their conversation with curse words and share the same bawdy soldier’s sense of humor. They’ve fought the same insurgents and guarded the perimeter of the same shell-shocked city in Iraq. And they hold the same stark view of the country and its prospects for a peaceful future.
Noah Martin, a 22-year old whose family lives in Gilroy, and his friend Dave Twichell, 21, returned from Iraq last month and are settling back into life in America. The young men hope to be discharged from the Marine Corps by fall, following two tours of duty in Iraq.
“No training could have prepared us for what happened out there,” said Martin, the close shave of a military cut still visible under his cap.
While acknowledging many American’s opposition to the war, both Marines hoped the country could unite behind the troops this Veterans Day as others continue fighting overseas.
“It’s discouraging to see people protesting us,” Martin said. “I understand why they’re protesting. But support the troops.”
Both men took part in the initial invasion of Iraq during their first tour of duty, from March to July 2003. They were stationed in Fallujah for the last seven months, during their second tour. Martin served as a machine gunner, a front-line soldier responsible for guarding the city limits. Twichell served in the weapons company, which provides mortar and heavy munitions backup to the platoons encircling the city.
“What we trained for was going out and finding people, but what we really ended up doing was sitting in defense and waiting for them to come to us,” Martin said.
“The Army is meant to occupy an area,” Twichell explained. “The Marines are meant to take it over.”
The defensive posture was nerve-wracking, according to Martin, who said they often could not tell who they were fighting. Sometimes they knew all too well.
“We set up a boot camp for Iraqi soldiers,” Twichell said. “Most of the applicants were legitimately devoted to fighting insurgents. But a lot of them would take our weapons, take our food, and then go out and shoot at us. We got into a lot of fights with guys that we trained … The resistance is getting more organized, a lot smarter. These guys are hell-bent on dying for their country.”
Martin was stationed in Fallujah during one of the first dark incidents of an insurgency that eventually spread across the country – when rioters burned and hung six U.S. contractors from a bridge in the southeast part of the city. The Baghdad suburb is populated by Sunni Muslims, a religious minority that dominated the country under the rule of deposed leader Saddam Hussein. The city, a center of violence since the occupation began, has seen its most intense fighting this week as Iraqi and U.S. troops battle to reclaim city streets from insurgents in anticipation of January elections. News channels have been broadcasting images of the fighting throughout the week.
Among those soldiers is the son of local Vietnam veteran Camillo De La Cueva, 56.
Camillo Jr., 28, joined the Marine Corps 11 years ago. He took part in the war in Afghanistan following the Sept. 11 attacks, returning home for three months before heading out in early 2003 for the Iraq invasion.
De La Cueva, who served in Vietnam from 1968 to 1970, said his own experiences in battle shaped how he relates to his son about war.
“When he came home the first time, I just waited ’til he asked me,” De La Cueva said. “I don’t ask him anything about it. Only when he comes to me to ask me about my experiences, or what I thought about being over there.”
De La Cueva expects his son to return from his current tour sometime in January.
“I couldn’t tell other people what I did,” De La Cueva recalled. “It’s just something that you keep to yourself. The only people that you really do talk to is other people that have been over there … When I came back I felt like a lot of people here didn’t understand what the guys had gone through. It’s like one day I’m in the battlefield, the next day I’m here and there’s nothing happening. That’s the same thing I feel like for my son.”
An older generation sees big differences between their war and the one in Iraq.
“We knew who the enemy was,” said Richard Stewart, 85, a World War II veteran who fought in Europe. “We were in combat with uniformed soldiers.”
Recalling his post-war experience, Stewart said there was probably a lot more solidarity back then than there is now.
“When I got back in ’46 my wife was living in a small town in Iowa,” he said. “The attitudes and things were probably a little different in middle America than the cities – I think they were probably more patriotic. I never heard anybody say anything bad about World War II. I personally think that was a war that was necessary. I’m not so sure about Iraq.”
Elmer Palmer, 86, was one of 17 men in his company of 210 that survived the campaign to take Iwo Jima.
“Iraq to me is a losing proposition,” Palmer said. “I’m glad I’m not over there. It’s their land and they’re going to protect it.”
Martin and Twichell share a grim view of the country’s prospects.
“We were on a lot of humanitarian aid missions,” Martin said. “We’d go on patrols stopping at five or six different schools in different places and we’d give them [Iraqis] thousands and thousands of dollars. But … it was never enough.”
“People over here don’t realize,” Twichell interrupted. “They don’t want to be helped. They want something for free.”
They blamed the mentality on what they see as a fatalism natural to Islam, an acceptance that “what happens is the will of God.”
Martin also considered the chaos in a post-Saddam world as a source of distrust and profiteering. Of the Iraqis who offered no help or played both sides of the field to their advantage, he said: “Most of them, I think they’re that way because they’re afraid. We had contractors that would come into our base and fix our air conditioners and generators. Those people were getting shot at daily.”
In the end, they believe the Iraqis hold the key to their own future.
“They need to empower,” Martin said. “They need to help themselves.”
Although they still have several months before discharge, Martin and Twichell are already preparing for their lives outside the military. They spent last week making arrangements to enter firefighter training academy in San Jose. It was an obvious path for Martin, whose father, brother, uncle and grandfather all chose careers in firefighting.
In the meantime, they will finish their service at Camp Pendleton in Southern California. They say they can cope with their time in battle, but they don’t necessarily like the attention that accompanies Veterans Day.
“Honestly, I don’t even like to talk about this stuff,” said Martin, who met Twichell in boot camp two and a half years ago (what he refers to as a “long time ago”).
“It’s throwing salt in the wound,” Twichell agreed. “It’s one thing for us to talk about it – We were there. We speak the language. ”
Veterans Day
Open
Gilroy Outlets, 10am to 9 pm
Wells Fargo Bank, inside Nob Hill Foods, 777 1st St., 9am to 3pm
Closed
Visitor’s Bureau, 7780 Monterey St.
All DMV offices
Chamber of Commerce 7471 Monterey St.
Gilroy Library, 7387 Rosanna St.
Post Office, 100 Fourth St.
Bank of West, 7865 Monterey St.
Community Bank, 761 1st St.
Heritage Bank S. Valley, 737 1st St.
South Valley National Bank, 8000 Santa Teresa Blvd.
Union Bank, 805 1st St.
Wells Fargo, 273 E 10th St.
San Benito Bank, 301 Third St.
City Hall, 7351 Rosanna St.
Economic Development Corp., 7471 Monterey St.
Veterans Day events
• A groundbreaking for a flagpole honoring veterans at the Ranch Site near Christmas Hill Park at 10am.
Donations to help complete the flagpole project can be mailed to Gilroy Veterans Flagpole Fund, P.O. Box 1588, Gilroy 95020. Details: Wayne A. Cegelske at 842-4903.
• A second ceremony will be held at 11am at the Veterans Memorial Building, 74 West 6th St.
