INTERVIEW WITH GAIL PARKER-MARSHALL
Gail and her husband are parents to three children, two daughters and a son, Alex, 24, who joined the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit three years ago. Alex is a new father. Meet Brettney.
Gail: There� something that I just totally respect about these kids that make a commitment like this so that we can be safe, so that these things aren� happening in our country. Alex emailed me a letter that, essentially, said, �ou go and enjoy this time. I� here to make sure you�e safe.�I respect these kids so much.
My husband and I pray a lot and he� into the logistics, looking at maps, strategies, what they�e doing, and so on.
I have to say that the military probably saved Alex� life; he was into all kinds of thingswho knows what? and military discipline saved him from that. In fact, he� debating whether to re-enlist. In October he�l have been in for four years. I suspect he might re-enlist. He has a baby on the way, due April 04 �he ships out in March -- and that might change things but he says, � like the military. I like the discipline.�And he needs it.
One of the first times he called home, before Iraq, from somewhere in the Mediterranean, he said, �om, you know this is not the Marines the brochure depicts.�But he� excited about the opportunity to go to school later because, now, he realizes that� the way to go. Now, he� looking at the big picture. We would have given him money to go to school before he joined if he� wanted it and been willing to work at college.
I� very interested in seeing the baby as his girlfriend is New England blonde, blue eyed and Alex is dark, curly haired, dark eyed �he� Mexican, we adopted him when he was nine years old. Their baby is an interesting mix. His girlfriend doesn� like that he� going to Iraq; she cries a lot about him leaving and something happening to him. Which is what bothers me, too; I hope he lives to meet his baby.
Talking about babies, some of these soldiers look so young; I outweigh some of them. I wonder how they�e big enough to be shooting up things, and carrying those huge back packs.
Our family went down to San Diego for Alex� graduation and I felt quite intimidated by all the ranking and so on. I asked Alex how he knew who to salute? Turns out he knows exactly where to look on their collars that signify rank and he keeps his eye on everything. It� a whole different world.
Alex is the youngest of a family of eight children and his brothers and sisters are in Mexico. His biological mother brought him illegally across the boarder when he was about seven years old. She died approximately 2 months before we formally adopted Alex when he was nine years old.
When he was older, he mentioned how little respect he� had for border patrols �he called them �reen Beans�because they wore green uniforms �so I was surprised that he went in for the Marines, uniforms and all.
He was the cutest little thing when we adopted him. He was always into something, caught onto English immediately, and really wanted to be part of our family. He� a great kid and now that the military has knocked him into shape he knows he� loved. He knows that he can go through icky stuff, be adopted, go through tough teenage years, and we still love him and are concerned about him.
I wear lapel pins with Alex� face on them and now the people at the grocery store worry about him too. People ask about him all the time. When I talk to former Marines, they all seem to get a bit taller and prouder because he� one of them. One woman cries every time I see her. She� never met him so when he came home to visit I took him to meet her and his other supporters.
Its really important that people support the troops, not the war necessarily, but the troops. I get a lot of anti-war email that I scan. If its hurtful to me because of where my son is then I delete it. I don� need to read it.
When Alex goes back to Iraq in March he says he�l be on a peace-keeping mission. I� not sure what they means when there are so many car bombs and suicide bombers. Initially Alex said he was going back to fight the insurgency because, he said, �he Marines know how to take care of the Insurgents�but now that has changed. I feel a lot better about peace keeping.
My younger daughter and Alex are very close and she asked him to help her with a paper she was writing for high school. She asked thoughtful questions and he answered, as follows:
Q: How did you feel when you found out you were going into Iraq?
A: At first, fear. No matter the training, no one can train enough to react well to bullets coming at you. After thinking about it, I realized that what we do in this lifetime echoes forever in eternity; if the things we saw in Iraq were not meant to happen, God would not have allowed them to happen. By the time I got off the LCU (Landing Craft Utility Boat) at KNB (Kuwaiti Naval Base), I was prepared to do the job I� been trained for.
Q: What was the worst part about being there?
A: Not knowing what was going to happen the next day. Our schedules often fell through because of new intel (intelligence) or lack of communication. A breakdown in communication is known as a combat stress, likely to occur when encountering the enemy.
Q: What was the scariest part?
A: A night time raid on an airfield. While moving to our objective, we were ordered to wear gas masks due to a �ysterious�odor. Twenty minutes later we got the all clear and we unmasked. I still don� know what the odor was. Q: Did you see statues fall? A: No but one fulfilling thing was �isfiguring�Saddam Hussein� propaganda while the townspeople danced, cheered, and frolicked with great joy. Most important was not whether we saw statues fall, but that a regime crumbled.
Q: Did you see palaces?
A: No, the closest we were to Baghdad, where most of the palaces are, was 20 miles. But our sister company raided one palace.
Q: Where did you go to the bathroom?
A: Each Marine is issued an E-Tool: a one foot shovel with a six inch head to dig our �athrooms�of 24 inches deep and 18 inches wide. Company size determines how many �athrooms�with one hole sufficient for 10-15 Marines. Our company has 44 Marines and Headquarters element has another 22 Marines.
Q: Could you brush your teeth?
A: Yes. We got off the ship with a packing list, which included extra cammies, shirts, underwear, and hygiene gear. Cleanliness in the field is important as it lowers the possibility of infections and illness; shaving is important, especially in an NBC (nuclear, biological or chemical) environment as a clean shave allows an air tight seal on a gas mask, the best protection against gases.
Q: Was it hot?
A: That� an understatement. Temperatures were in the low 100s and high 90�and constant moving, heavy packs, flak jackets (bullet proof vests) made life miserable.
Q: What did you eat?
A: We had a wide variety of MRE� (Meal, Ready to Eat): spaghetti, meatloaf and gravy, chili macaroni and beef patty. Just add water to the heater container, put in the bag of food and you have breakfast, lunch or dinner!
Q: Did you have to wear the protective chemical stuff?
A: Yes, a protective chemical suit was important in the beginning. Not knowing whether Saddam Hussein would use chemicals was scary. We put on chemical suits 20 miles from the Iraq border.
A: How and where did you sleep?
A: On the ground in four foot deep holes dug �with e-tools -- for protection against incoming enemy fire.
Q: Did you know that we were praying for you?
A: Yes. Before I left the ship, mom and dad wrote that they� pray for our safety and that they had troop names on prayer boards all over town. I prayed too. As the saying goes, �here are no atheists in a fox hole.�p> Q: How many people rode in each truck/tank, etc.?
A: We rode in trucks, planes, helicopters, AAV�, buses and humvees.Trucks hold 20 Marines with all their gear, technically, but, no matter how many in a truck, there� always room for one more. The C-130 military plane holds a Company (180). A CH 53 (Chinook) helicopter holds 20 fully loaded Marines, while a CH 46 only holds 12. A humvee holds 8 Marines, but we�e fit in 15. The situation dictates every case.
Q: Did you talk to nice Iraqi people?
A: Many people were very happy to see us. As we were left one town, the entire community said goodbye. They were sad to see us leave, as we were helping them restore order by providing military security from uprising government officials.
Q: What were the people like?
A: Most were very friendly, but we had the occasional person who thought it smart to shoot at us; we taught them different.
Q: How does it feel to be coming home?
A: I� very excited. After 9 months I� ready for a steak dinner!
Q: What is the first thing you did when you got back aboard ship?
A: Took a shower; twenty-three days without a shower is too long! The next thing I did was e-mail my ever-worrying mother!
Q: How has Iraq changed you?
A: Its opened my eyes to everything Americans have and allowed me to appreciate running water, electricity, a nice car, a soccer field to play ball. And, in the U.S. we don� worry about freedom of speech.
Q: Will you stay in the Marines?
Q: Undecided. I love the military lifestyle. It is a demanding job, but I love a challenge. If I stay, it�l be as officer, not enlisted. Or the Air Force with the possibility of being stationed in Germany or other European country.
Q: What will you do when you get back to the USA?
A: I miss driving and road trips. In Charlotte (NC) I�l visit friends, see the �eal�world, and spend about 22 days in California with my family for my sister� wedding.
A: Did you kill anyone?
A: Our job in Iraq was not peaceful. It was depicted in the news as a quick resolve with low casualties but the news never reports everything. Taking human life changes someone forever. I�l answer like this: I did my job and I� do it again to protect the freedoms you so freely enjoy.
For those that don� agree with what Marines do, I ask you to consider this: we live in a world of invisible walls that must be guarded with guns to protect those you love. Who� going to do it? The school teacher who disagrees with war? The country music singer who makes more money in a day than I make in a year? Make what you want of my answer. Bragging about taking someone� life isn� something I will do.