They survived the war; now comes the wait
By: DARRIN MORTENSON - Staff Writer | ∞
Marine Cpl. Gabriel Cudal, 27, from Virginia Beach, Va., watches a movie on a portable DVD player while others watch a movie on a laptop computer. The Marines, who are from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, stayed in tents at Al Asad air base in Iraq as they waited for their flight to Kuwait on Tuesday. The troops are headed home and are scheduled to arrive at Camp Pendleton by the end of the week.
Hayne Palmour IV
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AL ASAD, Iraq ---- A soldier's things in the Vietnam war often included a rabbit's foot, a picture of a girlfriend, or a deck of cards ---- the things they carried to remember home, cheat death or just pass the time.
In the war in Iraq, while a game of spades or a sneaked peek at a girlfriend's face are still as common as curse words, the troops' packing lists now often include 21st century toys such as personal DVD players, laptop computers and digital music devices such as iPods and MP-3 players.
"I'd be going really insane if I didn't have that," said Marine Cpl. Chad Clark, 20, of Sacramento, speaking about the laptop computer he carried for nine months while deployed to Iraq with the Camp Pendleton-based 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
Clark and about 1,500 other Marines from the unit, which was stationed southwest of Baghdad and has been at the Al Asad air base in western Iraq since late Sunday afternoon, were waiting for the flight that will finally take them out of Iraq to Kuwait.
They are expected to arrive at Camp Pendleton this weekend, commanders say.
But in the grueling time in between, while they sit with no mission in a set of tents near the flight line, all of the toys that got them through the downtime in recent months have been hooked up and running full time.
Within seconds of taking over their new tent at the air base Sunday, before some of the Marines had even claimed cots, troops were scrambling for the few available outlets to plug in their assortment of electronic gadgets.
It wasn't long before all available ports were filled with power strips, which were in turn filled with power adaptors running out in every direction like tentacles across the dusty wood floor toward bunks.
Since their arrival at the base, Marines have huddled around tiny DVD players showing movies or episodes of cable TV dramas.
Many were bootlegged copies of dubious quality and origin, bought for $3 a pop at kiosks set up at their former base in Najaf or purchased at similar shops in Al Asad since they arrived.
While troops laughed and hooted at the mini-matinees, others flopped on cots to play games on their computers.
Others tapped out football plays or did battle on hand-held Game Boys.
Still others read books or stared at the tent ceiling with their ears covered in the muffs of earphones connected by cables to CD players, digital music libraries or laptops.
Many said the gadgets made the long deployment bearable after an intense monthlong battle in August gave way to humanitarian operations that often left them with somewhat regular work hours. After the fighting stopped, the troops had lots of time to kill and nowhere to kill it except in their air-conditioned ---- or heated ---- tents.
"Everyone's got at least one thing," said Sgt. James Bautista, 22, of Los Angeles.
"I've got four," he added, saying his kit included a laptop and CD, personal DVD and MP-3 players.
Around Bautista in the tent Tuesday ---- under a blaring heater, in a stew of freshly removed boots, dust, Dorito breath and 3-day-old uniforms ---- everyone seemed to be in their own world.
In the space of an average American living room, 18 Marines played with, listened to or watched nine different devices.
Clark and five other Marines watched a season's worth of the Superman TV series "Smallville," yelling in teased frustration at the seductive cliffhanger endings to each show.
Nearby, Cpl. Matthew Herring, 23, of Plano, Texas, a self-described "computer geek," bragged that his laptop contained about 1,700 songs.
His buddy, Lance Cpl. Kevin Arnold, 22, of Olympia, Wash., one-upped him, boasting that his laptop had 2,600 and counting.
The two soon forgot about their playlists and looked at dozens of pictures of family and friends stored on hard drives before stripping their shirts to compare tattoos.
A few bunks down, Cpl. Leonard Yandle, 21, of Tulsa, Okla., sat alone on the edge of a green canvas and aluminum cot, silently thumbing a joystick that controlled a batter at the plate in a computer baseball game on a fellow Marine's laptop.
Switching to a combat game, he said the wait to get home was driving him a bit mad.
He said games like the ones he played Tuesday helped him and some of his comrades ---- who rarely got off their Spartan, gravel-covered base near Najaf ---- through the long months of the deployment.
Yandle said he and the nine other Marines who shared a tent since July all chipped in $80 to buy a satellite dish that allowed them to receive TV programs and games.
"That's all there is, really ---- that and cards," he said.
But enough with the video games, Yandle said. He said he just wanted to get home to see his parents, who are planning to meet him at Camp Pendleton this weekend.
The next game he wants to play, he said, is a real game of golf with his new set of clubs.
Contact staff writer Darrin Mortenson at dmortenson@nctimes.com.
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