Posted on 07/26/2004 5:28:35 PM PDT by BenLurkin
PASO ROBLES - In classic mythology and the histories of the Greek warriors, the fighters were told to come home with their shields, or on them. For the 1498th Transportation Company of the California National Guard, the ceremonies that honored them through the weekend celebrated the merciful fact that these soldiers - many of them from the Antelope Valley - came home with their shields.
The unit's more than 250 soldiers all survived a year in Iraq, and many of them, men, women, young soldiers and old soldiers, served with distinction.
The unit had three Vietnam veterans in its ranks, and the average age was 38, meaning some soldiers were old enough to be the grandparents of young troopers they served with in the ranks, like Sgt. 1st Class Henry Rice and Spc. Robert Bennett from Lancaster, Rice on the big 5-0 break, and Bennett just about of legal drinking age.
They all braved desert heat in excess of 150 degrees, faced ambushes, firefights and roadside bombs, and never turned down a mission.
"I have been through the fire," said Staff Sgt. Anthony Arrington, one of 10 soldiers awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received as part of the company's mission in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
"I have experienced unbelievable pain. I can talk about it now. Doctors told me I am young and strong, but I still have experienced unbelievable pain."
Arrington's arms were badly burned July 20, 2003, as he exited a giant heavy-equipment transporter truck that caught fire from the explosion of an improvised explosive device.
During a weekend of award ceremonies, four of the unit's 10 Purple Heart awards were bestowed on Guard soldiers. On Sunday, Purple Hearts were awarded to Sgt. Michael Montgomery, Sgt. Michael Thomas, Spc. Kristofer Hotvedt and Spc. Steven Newell.
"These soldiers are awarded the nation's oldest medal," said Brig. Gen. James P. Combs, commander of the California National Guard, and a 1st Infantry Division veteran of Vietnam.
"These medals have the image of George Washington, the great general and father of our country, and they are awarded to those who go into harm's way and are wounded in the line of duty."
Also in the weekend's honors were a half dozen awards of the Bronze Star. They went to Capt. Brian Holste, newly promoted Capt. Timothy McHugh, Master Sgt. Moses Gutierrez, Staff Sgt. Sean Kent, Spc. Francis Austria and Spc. Vaughn Cerrato.
The awards and honors swirled around the unit's 200-plus soldiers from all across California as the picture-book town of Paso Robles played host to a parade of the "Big Awesome Truck Company" soldiers.
Rank on rank, following the drum cadence of a high-school band and an American Legion honor guard, the soldiers marched onto the town's main drag of Spring Street, and crowds of friends, relatives, well-wishers and townspeople filled the sidewalks and shady lanes, shouting, "We love you!" and "Thank you!"
The troops, composed of Guard companies from Lancaster, Riverside and Sacramento, marched in their desert camouflage utility uniforms and their sand-colored boots. They wore coffee-tan patrol caps, many of which were embroidered with their names stitched in Arabic lettering.
"I told these guys to let me read them," said Sgt. Abdul Sughayar, an Arab-American decorated with one of the unit's 114 commendation medals. "I wanted to make sure they said the right thing in Arabic."
Rounding the corner of Spring Street and Eighth Avenue, the troops on parade Saturday circled a block and marched smartly into the emerald glade of Paso Robles City Park, a Andy and Judge Hardy kind of park with abundant shade, a bandstand with bunting, and a 1940s-style big band waiting for them, along with the mayors and dignitaries.
And the march into that cool and green glen off the heat of the summer's day was another chapter from mythology.
The odyssey of the 1498th carried them from towns and cities of California to the most dangerous place on Earth: Iraq after the end of "major combat."
The unit was activated 19 months ago, with many soldiers leaving from Lancaster City Hall on Valentine's Day, 2003, not to return to the safety of homes and families until mid-May 2004.
Their mission was to haul armor, arms and supplies to the battlefield - only it turned out that about half of the countryside was a battlefield.
The unit's achievement, Brig. Gen. John S. Gong said, "was the greatest in the history of the California National Guard."
The general, a deputy commander of the 40th Infantry Division, was not laying it on thick. Like Combs, Gong believed this trucking company's survival and mission accomplishment was simply stupendous and paved the way for 4,500 California Guard soldiers now bound for Iraq and other missions abroad.
In medal award ceremonies on Sunday, Combs said, "This unit had every opportunity to fail, and in the early days I made it as hard as I could."
The soldiers braved months of training in damp and woodsy locales, both on the California central coast, and at Fort Lewis, Wash. That was training for the coming war in the deserts of the Middle East.
During that period, the nearby communities of Paso Robles and Atascadero took the Guard truckers into their hearts.
Before deployment, a caller to Joe Benson's KPRL-AM radio complained about seeing some GIs in uniform having a few cold beers. A tide of support from townspeople resulted in what has come to be known as "The Mother of All Barbecues." The "MOAB Day" was a show of support and affection for the troops, said Lisa Cooksey, a Camp Roberts spokeswoman.
That barbecue, shortly before the Guard truckers shipped over to Kuwait and Iraq, was the morale booster that showed the citizen soldiers that the citizens cared about them, said company 1st Sgt. James Earl Norris.
"These people prayed for you that whole year long that you spent in Iraq," Norris told the troopers. "They were scared for you. And when Paso Robles got hit by the earthquake in December, these people know that you prayed for them. So, when you see them at the park, they just want to talk to you, and say, 'Thank you,' and get to know you a little bit."
And that is just what happened Saturday. Frank Mecham and George Luna, the mayors of Paso Robles and Atascadero, made good on their promise to open the community up for an official "Welcome Home" for the 1498th.
It was radio host Joe Benson's day to shine. The troops that he rallied a community in support of stood before him in the shady glen that is dominated by the 19th-century-style bandstand. In the past week, to get the community rallied around the troops, Benson's efforts raised $5,300 in about 90 minutes. The cash got plowed into soft drinks, hot dogs, hamburgers and homemade cupcakes.
It was the way it is supposed to be for troops returning safe from the war, recalled Paso Robles Councilman Gary Nemeth, a Vietnam veteran who remembered his unheralded return from that war.
Camp Roberts' outgoing base commander, Col. William Hatch, a Gulf War veteran, told the soldiers in the shady glade that when the history books are written, they will be written up as the soldiers who followed the "Greatest Generation."
"You soldiers who have fought in Desert Storm, and Panama, and Iraq … you are going to be the next 'Greatest Generation' and that is the history that you are writing right now."
For Capt. Matthew R. Hook, who took command of the company on short notice just as the first rounds were being fired in Operation Iraqi Freedom, the weekend ceremonies were cause for sweet relief.
"I felt that if we just got everyone over and then managed to get everyone home alive, that everything would be OK," Hook said. "But then when we exceeded all our performance goals, that was the frosting on the cake."
The oversize company, with its 250-plus soldiers, was nearly the size of a battalion.
Hook said, "I don't think we got the supplies we needed at first, because I don't think anyone believed we were going to make it over there. Then when we did, they thought, 'The war is over.' Only it was just beginning."
The unit began operations in Iraq a few weeks after the fall of Baghdad and just as roadside ambushes and attacks were beginning in the infamous Sunni Triangle. For the course of a year, the soldiers drove through towns and cities with names that became notorious on the nightly news: Fallujah, Ramadi, Tikrit.
A large component of the company operated out of Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit and were running convoys from there when Saddam was captured in December. For that, the unit wears the right-shoulder combat patch of the 4th Infantry Division, the "regulars" of the "Ivy Division."
For 1st Sgt. Norris, the mission accomplishment was of taking "300 stray cats" and helping transform them into a unit that would earn itself a record of distinction.
When the three companies from Riverside, Sacramento and Lancaster initially formed - or some might say collided - at Camp Roberts in winter 2003, the number of training officers who had high hopes of the soldiers distinguishing themselves in combat were few.
One of their trainers was Lt. Col. Patrick Frey, once a Marine and also an Airborne Ranger and Special Forces officer. He wondered aloud if "the knuckleheads" could make it or take it. On Saturday, he saluted those troops.
"You may not remember me," the Green Beret officer said. "But I remember you. I came to love the 1498th." Then he marched in review and saluted every soldier present.
Among those promoted over the weekend were Capt. McHugh, the unit operations officer; Capt. Hatem Abdine, executive officer; and Capt. Doug Petersen, third platoon commander, occasionally known as "Mother Petersen" for the soldier care he prided himself about.
At the start of combat training last year, Staff Sgt. Gary Whaley of Sacramento said, "I wanted to be with a unit that makes history." On Sunday, he was among those accepting medals, awards and thanks for making that history.
Along with the welcome home and the thanks, there were memories. For Sgt. Jeff Barkey, one of the unit's three Vietnam veterans, there was the memory of watching RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) zooming past the window of his truck cab.
For Sgt. Franklin Hinthorne, there was memory of the day an IED road bomb went off, blasting window glass out of his cab.
"To tell you the truth, it sounded like a tire blowing out."
Brig. Gen. Combs made an appeal to the soldiers for information in case they did not get full support from their employers on return from their combat tour. "Do not let us fail you," he said.
Along with Col. Keith Jones, commander of the 49th Combat Support Command, Combs saluted the families, the wives, children and, in a few cases, husbands of the soldiers who went so far away and faced such great danger.
"To the families who shared the risk, the anticipation, the danger, you have my undying respect," Col. Jones told a multitude of hundreds of relatives who saw "their soldier" decorated Sunday during honors in the Camp Roberts gymnasium.
The families sweated through summer heat in the 1941-vintage gym, but didn't seem to mind, and just kept standing and cheering as each soldier was recognized.
"My son is wonderful," said Roubini Giannopoulos , the mother of Sgt. Peter Mavrapoulos .
"He is a warrior," the sergeant's sister, Artemis Furman , agreed.
And they watched their warrior son and brother emerge with four decorations pinned on his pocket.
For 1st Sgt. Norris, "the medals are nice, but they'll probably go into a box somewhere. It's the memories that made those medals."
The satisfaction he felt was expressed in his respects to the troops. Norris, a tall son of Tennessee, referred to their challenges in training and war as "the stray cats jumping through ever smaller knotholes."
"Nineteen months ago, we said we would get together, that we would go over and do our job, and then that we would come home.
"We did our job, and we should be damn proud of that … Every one of you that walked into that park yesterday has a right to step a little higher, and stick out your chest a little bit prouder."
He paused and added, "We are done jumping through the knotholes."
"MARCHING HOME - At left, Capt. Matthew R. Hook leads the 1498th National Guard company into the shady dell of Paso Robles City Park. Paso Robles and Atascadero threw a "Welcome Home Troops" party for the soldiers, many from the Antelope Valley." California National Guard Staff Sgt. Tom Murotake
ping
This is the very same park I was talking about the other day and the photo was taken not very far from the BBQs.
Honorees of the 1498th Company
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Monday, July 26, 2004.
Great story, and yes, they should be damn proud of themselves, because we sure are!!
I am so sorry to have to say this, but according to McAuliffe and Kerry, serving in the National Guard is not service to one's country. So, reluctantly, I must ask that all accolades for these "men" be rescinded, per orders of John Kerry, war hero. /sarcasm
Isn't that pathetic? :)
God Bless all of our Men and Women in the Armed Forces, and a special thanks to President Bush for restoring faith in the future of our Country.
How did the BBQ go? Tri-tip beats goat-on-a-stick any day of the week.
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