Curious Parents Parenting Resources

Feature

A Familiar Face In Place Where Many Aren’t So Friendly
By Cpl. Brian Reimers

Part Three

In Their Own Words: News From Americans Fighting On the Frontlines
In this third part of the series, we take a look at two brothers who met up ever so briefly in Iraq. One brother is leaving to head back to America, while the other is unpacking and getting ready to patrol in Fallujah, the city of mosques that was once the heart of the Iraqi insurgency.

The Torrey brothers didn’t exactly choose the same exotic, foreign location to catch up on old times. The Marine Corps took care of all that when the two siblings met up in Iraq. The two Marines, Lance Cpl. Justin D. Torrey, 23, assigned to 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment arrived to take over for his younger brother, Lance Cpl. James M. Torrey, 19, assigned to 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment.

The two battalions are swapping out duties in Fallujah with Regimental Combat Team 5. It was the first time the two have seen each other in more than seven months.

“I heard a while ago that his battalion might be coming out here to replace us,” said James. “I didn’t believe it until I saw a few friends of his who confirmed it.”

The two found one another in the middle of the night and greeted each other with a hug and smiles. Past stories were immediately recalled by one as the other added details. It was as if the two young men never missed a moment apart.

“It seems like they were right back together in the states,” Lance Cpl. Carl L. Alves said, a good friend of Justin. “It was great to see them finally together. Justin has been talking about hoping to see his brother for a long time now.”

Justin has seemed to keep himself right behind his brother’s schedule throughout their Marine Corps careers. The younger James enlisted first, paving the way for his older brother to follow.

“It’s funny how ironic it is that my brother is falling into my footsteps again because this isn’t the first time,” James said. “He has been right behind me since I got out of boot camp.”

With a little help from his younger brother, Justin decided to become a Marine.

“I had always wanted to be in the military, but I did not want to stop doing my job at home right away,” Justin explained. “I joined the Marine Corps Reserves after my brother came home from boot camp and helped convince me to do it.”

The two share a lot of common history, albeit separated by a few months. They share the same recruit training company. At the School of Infantry, one was trailing the other by class dates. Both brothers agreed there was a bit of luck involved with still getting to see each other, even while they are both deployed.

“The Marine Corps has actually allowed us to see each other more often than we would usually,” James said. “Seeing each other has worked out pretty well.”

Marines who serve with Justin are enjoying his brother’s company as they prepare to swap places.

“It has helped out the Marines here being able to talk to James about what has happened during his time here,” Alves said. “It has been a ‘reality-check’ for us to listen to his brother tell us how things are going out here.”

The connection is more than just Marines swapping stories, though. The time together here, although short, gave James a perspective into the times and hardships his brother endured while deployed.

“It’s been kind of nice to hear all the stories and see pictures of my brother with all his friends here,” James added. “It keeps me posted on what he has been up to since the last time we saw each other.”

Still, their time is short. At one end of the camp, James packed to redeploy to Camp Lejeune, N.C. At the other, Justin prepared for his first missions outside the safety of the base camp.

Girl Scouts give Marines a Taste of Home

Camp Baharia, Iraq: Things that remind Marines of home are sometimes hard to come by out here. But with the help of a few hard working Girl Scouts and patriotic citizens, Marines are enjoying a familiar stateside treat: Girl Scout cookies. A group of Girl Scouts recently donated more than 1,600 boxes of their famous cookies to 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5.

“We wanted to give the Marines something special,” said 6-year-old Megan L. Landro, daughter of Lt. Col. Christopher A. Landro, battalion commander. The scouts adopted the commander to be their “Hometown Hero” and set a goal to sell enough cookies so that every Marine in the battalion would have a box. They reached their goal and then some.

“I was thrilled to hear that they had reached their goal and I immediately promised to get them out to the Marines as quickly as possible,” said Landro, from Kennesaw, Ga.

Troop 2923 went door-to-door with a poster of their hometown hero and his Marines, asking people if they would like to buy cookies for the troops operating in Fallujah.

“Everybody wanted to buy them for my dad and his troops,” Megan said, a first grade student at Walker School in Marietta.

“I know that my family is going through a very tough time without me, as is every family,” said 46-year-old Landro. “But this shows that they will do anything they can to express their love and support so that we can go on with our mission.”

The expression of gratitude wasn’t lost on the Marines.

“One way or another, the people back home are always finding ways to support us,” said Lance Cpl. Cody W. Hill, Headquarters Platoon, Weapons Company. Company commanders spent a part of their afternoon loading boxes and boxes of cookies into their Humvees to take back to their Marines throughout the battalion’s area of operation.

“It was awesome to see hundreds of boxes of Girl Scout cookies show up to our door,” said Hill, 22. “I have never seen so many cookies in my life. I now know of every type of Girl Scout cookie that there is.”

Megan made sure that her dad would get plenty of cookies that they both enjoy the most. “My daddy loves the thin mint ones,” Megan excitedly said. “I sent him some extra ones.”

Each company of Marines here received enough cookies to eat them for three meals a day and spoil many dinners.

“I have more Girl Scout cookies here than I know what to do with,” Hill said. “I am pretty sure that we will not need a re-supply for quite a while. Thanks so much to the girls that made this happen.”

Cpl. Brian Reimers is a U.S. Marine and is stationed in Fallujah, Iraq.