The Star-Ledger April 3, 2003
The ride they were waiting for
BY WAYNE WOOLLEY Star-Ledger Staff
REPAIR AND REPLENISHMENT POINT 24, Central Iraq -- An agonizing 10 days of waiting for a ride to get to the war ended yesterday for more than 100 Marines.
These front-line ground troops, part of the 1st Marine Division, left bases in California two weeks ago only to have to wait first in Kuwait for space on a northbound transportation convoy.
When a ride became available yesterday, it marked the end of being stuck watching the ground war on television from a base in northern Kuwait.
"Guys were going crazy watching a war going on 300 miles away and knowing there was nothing we could do about it," Sgt. Kevin Pirtle, 26, of Memphis, Tenn., said as the convoy pulled out of Camp Viper in southern Iraq.
"Christmas is finally here."
The Marines who left for the front are infantry and tank troops from the 5th and 7th Regimental Combat Teams.
The Marines did not arrive in the first wave because they were either rotating to new units or waiting medical clearance.
Cpl. Eric Curtis, 23, of Arlington, Texas, wasn't in the first wave because he was still in college, where he enrolled after four years of active duty that ended in January.
Curtis, who is a chemical weapons specialist, said his old commander tracked him down at the University of Texas to ask him to come back for a short-term tour of duty.
"I was hesitant at first," Curtis said, "I had really adjusted to civilian life." In part he adjusted by letting his hair grow long and dying it blue.
But yesterday he was on a northbound convoy with his blond hair cut "high-and-tight," clutching an M-16 rifle.
"I felt like if my old unit needed me, I had to come back," he said. "I feel better about it, the closer I get to the action."
In all, more than 1,000 combat Marines in the 1st Division who didn't deploy with their units are now riding convoys to the front.
Pirtle, the sergeant from Memphis, said he knows the manpower is needed desperately.
"All the guys who are waiting in the chute are going to be needed when we hit Baghdad," he said. "That's when things will get ugly."
U.S. military leaders are sending more than 100,000 reinforcements and additional heavy armor to Iraq.
The new arrivals, including some Marines who were scheduled to head home from Afghanistan, will bring U.S. troop strength in the Persian Gulf region to more than 400,000.
At the moment, there are about 71,000 U.S. ground troops in Iraq, according to an analysis by the defense policy think tank GlobalSecurity.org of Alexandria, Va.
Iraqi troop strength is estimated at 350,000.
© Copyright 2003 NJ.com
