NcDeuce
01-12-2004, 03:36 PM
As the 101st returns, others from Clarksville must leave
By CHANTAL ESCOTO
The Leaf-Chronicle; Associated Press
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As planeloads of 101st Airborne Division soldiers return from Iraq in the coming days, some Clarksvillians are just starting their deployment to the Middle East.
Local Marine Corps reservists recently received orders for the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Among them will be Shawnte Arthur and Matt Egbert, Clarence Charity III, and 19-year-old twin brothers Sven and Ivan Szczerbiak. Arthur is a corporal, and the rest are lance corporals
At their Marine Corps Reserve unit, Company I, 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment in Nashville, about 200 Marines are busily training and packing everything from baby wipes to gas masks for their upcoming trip abroad. It is unknown when the company will actually deploy.
For Charity, 23, a Fort Campbell High School graduate who has been a reservist for five years, it's a welcome surprise that brings mixed emotions.
"We always heard we were getting deployed, so, finally, on the last year of my contract, we get to go somewhere," said Charity, who admits to having some anxiety about going to a war zone. "Being from Clarksville, and with what the 101st Airborne is doing, we have a real bird's eye view of what's going on."
So what's it like for these Marines, who became part of the military other than through the Army after growing up around Fort Campbell?
Egbert, 21, said he has much respect for the 101st soldiers and their mission in Iraq, but he went with the Marines "because I wanted to go for the higher reputation," the Clarksville High School graduate said.
Charity said after spending years in an Army town and with both his parents having served in the Army, it was time for something different. But joining the Marines, just like the other services, holds a camaraderie that will forever bond them, they say.
Since Arthur and Charity, both 23, have been best friends since age 12, it seemed natural for the two to eventually be in the same military unit. "I kind of followed behind my brother's footsteps," Arthur said about Charity. "The deployment kind of makes us a little anxious."
The same can be said about the Szczerbiak brothers, who have an older brother assigned to the 502nd Infantry Regiment and is a recent returnee from Iraq.
"Our father is retired Army, and he didn't really care what we did as long as it made us happy," Ivan Szczerbiak said.
Sven Szczerbiak said he and his brother have grown up doing many of the same things and he looks forward to sharing the deployment with Ivan and learning from his hometown comrades -- the Screaming Eagles.
"They say there's a lot of animosity between the Army and Marines," Sven said, "but it will be easier (to get along) for us from Clarksville because we see what the soldiers here have done."
Talk about bad timing, my friend just enlisted in this Reserve unit from Nashville...I guess we won't be splitting an apartment this summer.
By CHANTAL ESCOTO
The Leaf-Chronicle; Associated Press
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As planeloads of 101st Airborne Division soldiers return from Iraq in the coming days, some Clarksvillians are just starting their deployment to the Middle East.
Local Marine Corps reservists recently received orders for the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Among them will be Shawnte Arthur and Matt Egbert, Clarence Charity III, and 19-year-old twin brothers Sven and Ivan Szczerbiak. Arthur is a corporal, and the rest are lance corporals
At their Marine Corps Reserve unit, Company I, 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment in Nashville, about 200 Marines are busily training and packing everything from baby wipes to gas masks for their upcoming trip abroad. It is unknown when the company will actually deploy.
For Charity, 23, a Fort Campbell High School graduate who has been a reservist for five years, it's a welcome surprise that brings mixed emotions.
"We always heard we were getting deployed, so, finally, on the last year of my contract, we get to go somewhere," said Charity, who admits to having some anxiety about going to a war zone. "Being from Clarksville, and with what the 101st Airborne is doing, we have a real bird's eye view of what's going on."
So what's it like for these Marines, who became part of the military other than through the Army after growing up around Fort Campbell?
Egbert, 21, said he has much respect for the 101st soldiers and their mission in Iraq, but he went with the Marines "because I wanted to go for the higher reputation," the Clarksville High School graduate said.
Charity said after spending years in an Army town and with both his parents having served in the Army, it was time for something different. But joining the Marines, just like the other services, holds a camaraderie that will forever bond them, they say.
Since Arthur and Charity, both 23, have been best friends since age 12, it seemed natural for the two to eventually be in the same military unit. "I kind of followed behind my brother's footsteps," Arthur said about Charity. "The deployment kind of makes us a little anxious."
The same can be said about the Szczerbiak brothers, who have an older brother assigned to the 502nd Infantry Regiment and is a recent returnee from Iraq.
"Our father is retired Army, and he didn't really care what we did as long as it made us happy," Ivan Szczerbiak said.
Sven Szczerbiak said he and his brother have grown up doing many of the same things and he looks forward to sharing the deployment with Ivan and learning from his hometown comrades -- the Screaming Eagles.
"They say there's a lot of animosity between the Army and Marines," Sven said, "but it will be easier (to get along) for us from Clarksville because we see what the soldiers here have done."
Talk about bad timing, my friend just enlisted in this Reserve unit from Nashville...I guess we won't be splitting an apartment this summer.