Brush with combat not limited to the front lines

[thedrifter]

Brush with combat not limited to the front lines

By Jeanette Steele
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

May 20, 2003

CAMP PENDLETON ? The Marines and sailors who returned from the war yesterday weren't expected to see front-line action, but some did have brushes with Iraqi soldiers, missiles and bullets.

The 350 members of the 1st Force Service Support Group were the first large contingent of ground troops to return from the war.

One of them was Cpl. Destiny Arredondo, 22, a food service Marine, who was stationed at Camp Viper in southern Iraq, about 60 miles north of Kuwait.

The base was thought to be well behind the action.

But one day, Arredondo found herself on a sand berm, M-16 rifle in hand, ready to defend the camp.

"They never came, but we were expecting them," said Arredondo, a Houston native, who was surprised to be so close to possible combat.

"I didn't think that (would happen.) They say (women aren't) going to be near the front line, but here we are."

Navy corpsman Aaron Nicholson was in a convoy that came under artillery fire. And during a sandstorm, the unit he was with ? the 6th Engineering Support Battalion ? nearly bypassed the front-line infantry by mistake.

It made everyone edgy, he said. "It was hard to tell incoming and outgoing (fire,)" said Nicholson, 23, of Ingleside, Tex.

And there was the matter of trying to sleep, no matter how tired the troops were. "When all you hear is bombs going off," he said, "you don't fall asleep too good. You keep one eye open."

Arredondo visited a U.S. medical unit that was treating enemy fighters, who she said seemed feeble. Some were quite old.

"They looked like they had no chance against us. They didn't look prepared for war," Arredondo said. They didn't look like volunteers, she said.

Nicholson treated injured Iraqi citizens, and was touched by their appreciation, he said.

The children spoke English as well as any American, he said, and an 8-year-old boy served as Nicholson's translator, in exchange for food and water.

"I would have him walk beside me, and he would tell me what's going on," the corpsman said. The boy, he said, learned to speak English by "reading books and listening to the radio."

The returning troops, members of the 7,000-strong 1st FSSG, were among the first to return here because they are due to leave the service or transfer to new units.

Nearly 3,000 San Diego-based Marines and sailors have returned from the Persian Gulf. Most of them belong to aircraft squadrons.

One unit, Marine Air Control Group 38 and 300 Marines, is scheduled to return to Miramar Marine Corps Air Station this afternoon.

The Marines talked with pride yesterday about their role in the war.

Sgt. Randy Jackson, a 28-year-old computer network administrator from Brooklyn, N.Y., was stationed in Kuwait where he helped make sure the Marines' high-tech gear worked.

He's overdue to complete his enlistment and looks forward to ending his tour of service. But Jackson said he was "glad I was there. I'm glad I went and got to contribute."



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Jeanette Steele: (760) 476-8244; jen.steele@uniontrib.com



Sempers,

Roger