| A tribute to a friend |
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| Written by Steven Fisher | |
| Monday, 25 June 2007 | |
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I first met Ryan back in October of 2002 just after I had completed basic training at MCRD (Marine Corps Recruit Depot) in San Diego. Even though we were both in the same Company back in boot camp, I really didn't get to know him until we were both at SOI. Mainly because we he was in a different platoon. You don't really get to sit and bullshit around with everyone in boot camp. You're always running around doing stupid shit screaming at the top of your lungs. The guys you get to know are the guys in your platoon. They are the ones who are next to you 24/7. You will know about their entire family, and every major event in that family's history before you even meet them on Visitor's Thursday / Graduation Day.
So finally, Graduation Day comes and goes and we find ourselves back in the real world after being stuck in a distant foggy haze of idiocy and brain washing. We're able to go home for ten days of leave before we embark on our next journey to the wonderful place called School of Infantry. This is where you really hate life. Mainly because all you're thinking is, "I'm such an idiot; I can't believe I signed up for four years of my life for this". Life sucked ass in SOI. Especially in Alpha Company. Those fellow Marines out there that went through Alpha with me know exactly what the hell I'm talking about. The NO TOBACCO policy The 0330 reveille's just to wait OUTSIDE the armory in the cold rain to wait for the armorer that won't even show up until 0600. RANGE RUNS THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA HILLS i.e. Big f!@ing mountains that never seem to end when you're either running up them for PT or hiking up them with a pack. THAT 15K HIKE WHEN IT RAINED - You remember BARTCHER - "You know how I got promoted to PFC?" Do ya?!? VIVIER - I'm not going to say too much here. If you forgot who this is it has to do with our SOI Instructor finding a picture of him during a routine wall locker inspection. Wow... WAITING OUTSIDE OF THE CHOW HALL AT 0430 AT THE POA (POSITION OF ATTENTION) FOR AN HOUR WHILE FLEET MARINES DROVE BY ON BASILONE ROAD SCREAMING AT US, "WELCOME TO HELL BITCHES" THE NIGHT BEFORE GRADUATION WHEN WE HAD TO FIELD DAY (clean) ALL NIGHT JUST TO GET AN HOUR OF SLEEP BEFORE GRADUATING SHORTLY AFTER GRADUATION ARRIVING AT CAMP HORNO JUST TO FIELD DAY (clean) OUR SHITTY NEW 3 MAN ROOMS ALPHA SHELF AT EASE ALPHA!!! REALLY DEPRESSING SUNDAY NIGHTS REALLY DEPRESSING EVERTHING UNIFORM INSPECTIONS DISS AND ASS OF THE M-16's, M249's, and M9's. BARTCHER So we are now standing at parade rest for our new battalion SgtMaj. on 1/1's parade deck (looks like a big parking lot but without the light poles...and no painted parking spots either). And I remember standing there, eager to here what the hell he was going to say to us. And finally... He spoke. After about five minutes, he dismissed us and we were on our way back to our rooms. As everyone marched back we we're all silent. Then finally, someone asked "Did anyone understand one fucking word that guy said?" All I got out of what he was saying is he was trying to compare us newly arrived Marines to expensive race cars, or something. I'm sure he knew what he was talking about but during those five minutes of confusion but the rest of us couldn't stop laughing. A lot of us were in wonderment too. We couldn't believe a man that had limited English speaking skills could attain the rank of Sergeant Major. Which is the highest enlisted rank next to the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps. In the Marine Corps, anything is possible. I think most of us lost our ability to be shocked or surprised whenever we heard crazy stories or bad news because after three deployments and four years of bullshit, you tend to become skeptic, yet apathetic at the same time. At least I did anyway. I'm a completely different person from when I was 18. I'm not talking about my maturity level, my morals, or personal responsibilities. I'm talking about my personality. Everyone acquires new responsibilities after turning 18. (Most of us anyways) After the days of "Always Awake Alpha" came a new era. A totally unknown one as well. Now we were Fleet Marines. The real deal. We weren't in SOI anymore. And boot camp was months behind us. We we're finally doing what we signed up to do. Ryan and I had both been sent to a boat company. Bravo Company. But we weren't in the same platoon. Ryan and Casey Cornelius had been sent to 2nd platoon. The rest of us in Bravo went to either 1st or 3rd platoon. Except for Guti and Grant Beran. They got the shit end of the stick as well. Here's how it is... The more junior Marines in your platoon, the better. If you were like Guti, Grant, Ryan, or Casey then you had more senior Marines do deal with. Which meant more PT. And also meant more hazing.. Yay hazing! I'll never forget the stories Ryan and Casey would tell me about their adventures as new Marines in 2nd platoon. With Ssgt Lett. That guy was fucking insane. I felt so bad for Ryan and Casey because they got fucked with all of the time. And for no reason at all too. But that's just how the circle works as we find out a couple years later.. When we become the senior Marines, and we are the ones having younger devil dogs pushing the ground. I wouldn't change a thing. Our first deployment comes around. And our battalion was chopped to the 13th MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit). We do our three work-ups (training on ship/boats off the coast of Southern California ) each lasting around two weeks, and we go home on pre-deployment leave for another two to three weeks. We arrive back to Camp Pendleton after spending time with our friends, and loved ones. We now find ourselves arriving and departing distant lands. Hawaii, Singapore, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Djibouti Africa, Guam and for Marines on different ships (but with the same MEU) went to UAE ( United Arab Emirates) and Darwin, Australia. In a liberty port in Bahrain. I went with some other Marines to an American restaurant. It was nice being able to order American food. Especially since MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat) and ship food are disgusting. During our first deployment I remember that for some reason everyone got me and Ryan mixed up. My 1stSgt would call me Cummings and call Cummings by my name. So one day we switched blouses (our camouflage tops) And not one person even noticed. Except for our friends. But all of the higher-ups didn't even notice. We always thought that was really funny. I still do. During my 1st Deployment I screwed up my knee pretty bad, so I left Bravo Company and didn't get to see Ryan that much. But we still hung out whenever we were on liberty at Horno, or when he was a boat tech. down at Del Mar. This last deployment (our 3rd one) our command told us. For those of you who are getting out of the Marine Corps after late May 06' still have to deploy even though you won't be there for the unit's entire duration. You could either choose to extend, and stay past your obligated four years. Or you could have them fly you back 30 days before your contract ends giving you time to find a job, enroll in school, find a place to live, move all of your shit from California to wherever you live, turn in ALL of your gear to CIF/Supply, check out with medical and dental, check out of your unit, and attend a mandatory week long class mandated by Congress to help you with the civilian transition. This is also after having mandatory classes instructing us not to beat our wives or kill our neighbors. Ya I know it sounds crazy, but we HAVE to attend these ridiculous classes. Anyways back to what I was saying... They gave us a choice. You could either extend, and stay past your four year mark. Or fly you back 30 days before your four year mark so you get out in time. Few Marines decided to stay in Iraq. Ryan was one of them. I sat with Ryan while we attended a memorial service for fellow fallen Marines and an Iraqi translator. A week earlier, on May 23rd 2006. An IED (Improvised Explosive Device) detonated and killed two Bravo Company Marines. Those Marines were Steven Freund and Robert Posivio. After the memorial service I went outside and joined the rest of the Marines taking a smoke break enjoying the sun in the 115 degree heat. I saw Ryan talking to Joey Ballard, who also went through SOI with us. I walked up to them and we started talking about all of the good times we had. The SOI stories, the hazing stories, the life on ship stories, war stories, and how we looked forward to coming home. Ryan and I rode the bus back from where they had the memorial service. For those of you who have had the pleasure of visiting Camp Fallujah, know that it is ginormous, and you have to ride a bus to get from one side to the other. After we got off the bus we walked back towards the area we we're staying at temporarily. Ryan had to get back to his platoon because they were heading back out that night, and I had to get my gear prepped to return to the states in 3 days. As we walked I asked him why he decided to extend and stay in Iraq. He told me it was because he loved his job. He thought being the turret gunner for Gunnery Sergeant Kevin Oxner was the most kick-ass thing. For those of you who know Gunny Oxner know exactly what I'm talking about. Everyone knows not to fuck with Gunny. He will kill you. Gunny Oxner was all about gettin' in the fight. And Ryan was always there with him as his gunner. We exchanged e-mail addresses and said our goodbye's. I told him I would be going through the Chicago area in the fall of 06' sometime visiting family and friends. We made plans to meet up then, as civilians. I never got that chance to meet up with Ryan as a civilian. He was killed the next day (June 3rd) by an IED (Improvised Explosive Device). Since moving back to Kansas from Camp Pendleton I recently found some pictures of Ryan. Most of the pictures on this blog are the ones I found. Except of course the Marine pictures of Ryan, Freund, Perez, and Posivio. I figured I should tell the world the story of how some of my friends became hero's. And share with the world some of our stories. I won't get into much about what happened in Iraq, because I want this blog to be a memorial for Ryan. As well as Waller, Martini, Glimpse, Perez, Posivio, Freund, Webb, White, Ssgt. Williams, and Higgins. All Marines assigned to 1st Battalion 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. RIP brothers, you are missed... |
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 08 November 2007 ) |
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