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Saturday, April 17, 2004
Local reservist returns from Iraq
By RAY WEISS | News-Journal Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH — Erik Jacobs stared at the 1 1/2-year-old boy who was racing around the living room with a balloon in one hand and a bottle in another.
“You’re a funny little guy,” Jacobs said with a proud grin, watching his son, Erik Jr. “He’s sure grown a lot.”
Duffel bags packed with his camouflage wardrobe of the last 14 months were off in a corner. Several family members gathered in the room had welcomed Jacobs, a 26-year-old Daytona Beach police officer, and 101 other Army reservists from the 196th Transportation Company back from Iraq on Friday.
After a nearly six-hour bus ride to Orlando from Fort Stewart, Ga., and a quick and emotional ceremony, the soldiers were reunited with their families before heading home.
But the reunion almost didn’t happen for Jacobs. The recent widespread violence almost kept him there, as it did 20,000 other American soldiers. He avoided orders to remain in Iraq by only three days.
“It’s like winning the lottery that we got him home,” said Maureen Jacobs of her husband of almost six years. “I can’t believe he’s here. I can’t believe today happened.”
Jacobs, a sergeant, drove large supply trucks on the front lines from Baghdad to Mosul and everywhere in between, bringing food, ammunition and mail to the troops in stifling heat and bone-chilling cold.
Remarkably, none of the 111 soldiers deployed from Jacobs’ company were killed, said Staff Sgt. Ward Gros, a spokesman for the 196th.
“They got the supplies through that were necessary for fighting during the initial and toughest stages,” he said. “They really faced war.”
Jacobs, who expects to return to work in about a month, said he believes Iraqis will live in freedom with an American military presence as assurance, at least for the near future. He said Iraqi support for the troops varied from city to city. Joy or anger was reflected in the faces of the people.
“Bhaji was the worst to me, the most uncomfortable atmosphere,” he said. “Instead of people waving and smiling, they stared and threw rocks. But I think people in general there want a free Iraq.”
Jacobs supports the policies of President Bush, “although a lot of soldiers have animosity.”
He said Iraq could not survive if troops left now.
Jacobs spent 368 days in the Middle East. All but two weeks were in Iraq.
Early on, he said he feared the worst – chemical warfare. But instead, as the convoys headed north from Kuwait toward and past Baghdad, the trucks and troops faced regular attacks by small-arms fire, rockets and mortars.
“That was enough for me for one lifetime,” said a grinning Jacobs, a reservist for 7 1/2 years. “The closest mortar landed 30 to 50 meters from where we were working.”
Jacobs does not know if and when he will be sent back to Iraq. Maybe six months. Maybe a year.
“There was definite talk we could go back,” he said.
But Jacobs said he will leave the reserves when his commitment ends. Whether that’s late 2004 or 2005, he is unsure.
For now, he is looking forward to spending a lot of time with his wife and son, watching him grow. He will relish seeing green grass, trees and the ocean again, and sleeping in a bed instead of a cot.
“I want to be here with my family. It’s more important than constantly being deployed,” he said. “I feel like I’ve done my duty.”
But Jacobs said he is a different man, more mature since surviving a war.
“I think I grew a lot. I have a deeper respect for what goes on in other places than here,” he said, staring at his young son. “Most Americans don’t know what they really have unless they go through something like that. I have more appreciation of what I have here.”