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Saturday, March 19, 2005
Deltona soldier recalls beauty, fear, friendship
By JEANNINE GAGE | News-Journal Staff Writer
DELTONA — Army Specialist Jason Marquis said he was struck by one thing when he rode into Tikrit, Iraq, for the first time more than a year ago.
“It was beautiful,” he said Wednesday from his parents’ home. “The architecture, and there were palaces everywhere. I couldn’t believe it.”
Before his one-year tour of duty was up, Marquis would have many different impressions of the war-torn country, but none of them, he said, were nearly as bad as the impression we have here at home.
“It’s not as bad as the media portray it,” the 26-year-old said. “No one ever hears about the good things.”
Marquis enlisted in the Army in December 2000, four years after graduating from Deltona High School. He had tried college, worked some dead-end jobs, but just couldn’t find a direction for his life. By September 2001, he was in advanced training for computer work. On Sept. 11, an instructor informed his class that two planes had hit the World Trade Center.
“We knew we were under some sort of attack. It got real quiet in there,” Marquis said. “Then it went crazy. We all knew at that point we’d be in some sort of war.”
It would be more than two years before Marquis got his orders to go to Iraq. After three weeks in Kuwait for training in firearms and culture, his unit was sent to Tikrit. His base would be in one of those beautiful palaces he first saw, formerly owned by Saddam’s family. He was assigned to communications, but soon got tired of laying cables and other “meaningless” jobs. He volunteered to become a gunner on convoys that would leave the base to pick up or deliver supplies.
“I was a little nervous about it,” he said, “but I wanted to contribute, to get out there.”
Of 150 convoys, Marquis said, only a few scared him. One time three bullets whizzed past him, but he couldn’t assess where they came from because when Iraqis shoot once, he said, they don’t usually hang around to shoot more.
“They’re scared. They shoot and run. I think they’re just trying to make a statement,” he said. “Sometimes it is a deadly statement.”
What scared him most, Marquis said, were Improvised Explosive Devices, or IEDs, as soldiers call them. These are the bombs that insurgents place in potholes or other hiding places alongside roads.
Frequently, Marquis said, the driver of his Humvee would drive along one side of the road and they would pass within feet of a bomb on the other side of the road.
“You could see the antenna sticking up out of the road when we drove by,” he said.
His favorite trips out of the base were to a local girls’ school. He and other soldiers took them school supplies and rebuilt their playground.
“They were always happy to see us,” he said.
Marquis said he realizes he was lucky to keep out of harm’s way so frequently. Only one member of his 1,000-member battalion was killed while he was there.
“It’s the Marines and the infantry guys that are really out there,” he said. “But that’s their job; they knew that when they signed up.”
In between convoys, Marquis said, he and the friends he made in his battalion had some good times. He has pictures of smiling soldiers, in full combat gear, hamming it up for the camera. They had televisions, computers, video games and other entertainment. The food was good, with buffets sometimes including steak and lobster.
He and his best friend, Stephen Bowen, who is visiting Deltona with him, passed most of their time by playing guitars and writing songs — usually funny songs.
“We won the comedy show two times,” Marquis said.
On the other side of the world, Marquis’ mother and father, Dulce and Danny, who both work at Deltona Middle School, had their own battle on their hands while he was gone — with three hurricanes that caused $43,000 worth of damage to their uninsured home.
“At first I was telling him about all the problems,” Dulce said, “then I thought, ‘what am I doing, he’s in a war.’ So I stopped telling him.”
Marquis said it was tough hearing the bad news because there was nothing he could do to help.
“All I could do was send money,” he said.
Not only did he send money, but other members of his battalion took up a collection and sent it to his parents.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Dulce said, “Here they were sending us money.”
Marquis is home for one month before he goes to his new station in Germany. He re-enlisted for six more years at the end of his year in Iraq.
“I love the Army,” he said. “You create bonds you never forget for your whole life.”
Even the possibility of being sent back to Iraq or another war zone doesn’t bother Marquis.
“People die every day, from stuff like suicide or drunk driving,” he said. “I’d rather die protecting my country.”