The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit advance team members arrive at Kadena Air Base early Sunday morning after spending from six months to a year in Iraq. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit advance team members arrive at Kadena Air Base early Sunday morning after spending from six months to a year in Iraq. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
Chief Warrant Officer Daniel Sierra hugs his wife, Tabitha, and his daughter, Elyse, at Kadena Air Base early Sunday morning. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
Capt. Burrell Parmer holds his daughter at Kadena Air Base early Sunday morning after returning from Iraq. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — Functioning on two hours of sleep, Christina Rooney waited anxiously Sunday morning with her two children for her husband, Capt. David Rooney, to return from Iraq.
It’s been weeks since she had a good night of shut-eye, she said, explaining it’s never easy to wait for a spouse to return from deployment.
“The last month out is the longest of your life,” Rooney said. “You never get used to it.”
By 6:20 a.m., the 130 Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, and 40 other Marines and sailors sent to Iraq to augment the force, emerged from their 12-hour flight from Kuwait and poured through the doors to welcoming tears and hugs.
The arrivals are part of an advance team that’s to prepare equipment and barracks on Okinawa for the rest of the 31st MEU’s 2,200 members, who are to return aboard the USS Essex group in April, said a Marine spokesman.
The 31st MEU patrolled the perilous western Iraqi province of Al Anbar, a 33,000-square-mile area roughly the size of South Carolina. Their patrol area included borders with Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia.
During the January elections, they provided security for 54 of Iraq’s polling stations. The unit paid a heavy price during its service: 50 Marines died, and 221 were injured.
Most servicemembers returning home Sunday had been deployed for six months to a year. They were greeted by generals and a full band, a welcome often reserved for larger contingents.
Some Marines received their first greetings from children they had never met. Sgt. Stephen Miles met his 4-month-old daughter, Skylar, for the first time after his seven-month deployment.
“I’m overwhelmed, at a loss for words,” Miles said. “This makes you realize what is important.”
Miles and others said they received frequent photos and updates on their families via the Internet. But that’s still only a substitute for human contact, as Lance Cpl. Michael Mortimer learned after being stationed in an intelligence role near the western Iraqi border.
“It was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be,” Mortimer said. “The separation from family and friends was worse than I expected.”
He said the hands-on intelligence work he did in the border areas was more intense than he imagined, far more so than the work he does on Okinawa.
The task at the Iraqi border is complex, requiring cooperation among four different nations, he said.
“We’ve been a lot more focused on strengthening relations between the bordering countries and helping the Iraqis form their own border forces to stop the insurgents,” he said.
With a two-day customs process and a 12-hour flight from Kuwait behind them, many of the servicemembers said they were looking forward to doing as little as possible before returning to work. After greeting his wife at the AMC terminal, for instance, Maj. Marty Butterworth said he was ready for some peace and quiet.
“I’m going to enjoy relaxing in my home without all of my best friends around,” Butterworth said.
