October 2005: I remember being half-standing in the seat behind the driver, my left leg numb from countless hours of flying, my right leg tapping the floor nervously as we coasted down the streets of Cleveland’s West Side. The sidewalks were packed with local Clevelanders holding signs, waving flags, and shouting encouraging words all along our route. “Look at them all!” a Marine exclaimed, followed by several “wows” as the driver slowly brought us to the much-anticipated reunion with our families after 9 months apart.
Amidst the parade-like atmosphere and smiling faces outside the window, the atmosphere inside the buses was quiet and contemplative. If you looked around that bus you saw men staring at their boots or looking off into the distance, searching their minds for the impossible words they could possibly string together for the families of the fallen to express their shame and regret for having come home without their sons. We had continued with combat operations while several of these families had made funeral arrangements for and buried their sons. I feel like I can speak for the rest of us in saying we didn’t want this bus ride to end.
As 3rd Battalion 25th Marines OIF veterans prepare to meet together on June 20th in Newbury, Ohio, it’s astounding to think that that day, almost 20 years ago, was the last time most of us saw each other. We arrived at the assembly point and stepped off the bus, hugged and cried with the families of our fallen, and then we all got into cars and left. Some cars carried their returning Marines. Some didn’t. The very next morning, instead of waking up with your platoon on the dirt beside your gun truck as the Iraqi sun crests the horizon, you awoke to the sound of gently rolling thunder and the pitter-patter of rain. You shut the window in your bedroom as you shiver from the chilly fall air of Ohio, now an alien feeling. You feel a sense of loneliness and confusion. You wonder how the guys are doing, but you don’t reach out. You once again think about the families, like the Montgomerys. The Marzanos. The Keelings. You’ve just pushed through 7 months of fighting a fanat