Charlie, Delta companies returning to frontline
By KEYON K. JEFF

From the day members the Louisiana National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 156th Infantry Brigade returned from Iraq in 2005, they knew there was a chance they would have to go back.

Over 120 local soldiers from the Houma-based Charlie Company and Thibodaux-based Delta Company will make their second tour to the Middle East, beginning either in January or February 2010.

Last Monday, they took their first steps back to the combat zone. They left for two weeks of training at Camp Beauregard in Pineville and Fort Polk Joint Readiness Training Center in Leesville.

There the infantry brigade will qualify with their weapons and practice different tactical maneuvers similar to the task they will perfom in Iraq.

In January, the brigade heads to the Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center in Hattiesburg, Miss., where they will do additional training before their deployment to Iraq.

"The better prepared leaders and soldiers are the easier it's going to be to hit the ground running," said Charlie Company commander 1st Lt. Nicholas Acosta.

He oversees everything Charlie Company does from logistics to the tactical mission they receive.

The 1996 Thibodaux High School graduate enlisted in the regular Army in July of that year before joining the National Guard in January 2000.

The citizen soldiers are interested to see how things have improved in Iraq since their first tour.

"The time we were there in 2004 and 2005 were some of the most unstable in Iraq," said Staff Sgt. Jarod Martin, 32, 2nd Battalion assistant operations officer in headquarters company.

"I don't expect it to be totally different. It's still clearly a very dangerous place with threats to soldiers and Iraqi civilians," he added. "There's still a lot to be done, but I do anticipate the changes and I'm curious to see what's changed."

Martin devises the plans of operations for the entire six-company battalion.

A Bayou Blue native, Martin enlisted into Charlie Company in 1994 and is currently the assistant principal at Evergreen Junior High School. He is the son of Terrebonne Parish School Superintendent Philip Martin.

"As a father, I have a mixture of pride and anxiety about him going back to Iraq," the elder Martin said. "It's a unique position. He's an employee who happens to be my son. As the CEO of an organization, I am proud of our employees who elect to serve their country."

Most of the citizen soldiers were put on alert of a possible deployment in May and got their orders in July. Acosta knew since May 2008 the battalion would go back to Iraq.

"I was in Thailand for Operation Cobra Gold (a six-week joint exercise with the Royal Thai Armed Forces). The battalion commander told me it was more than likely we'd be heading back," he said.

The most difficult part is being separated from their family for an entire year. Luckily for Acosta and Martin - both of whom are married for seven years and father of two children - they have supportive wives. Kristy Acosta and Denise Martin understand this is part of their duty.

"Denise is taking it as well can be expected. We go into this eyes wide open, knowing this is part of being in the National Guard," Martin said. "My kids (twins Audrey and William) are only a month old, so they're too young to know what going on."

"Kristy was concerned, but is very supportive because it's for a good cause," Acosta said. "My youngest daughter (Sophia, 2) has no clue. She just knows daddy is 'going bye-bye.' Gabriela (8) was around for my first tour. She's a little upset by it. She doesn't understand exactly why I have to leave."

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have seen the highest ever participation of the National Guard in a war zone

During the unit's 18-month first tour, the National Guard comprised almost half the active U.S. troops there, according to the Department of Defense. Today, that figure is down to about 27 percent.

Since the battalion has not been given its assignments, Acosta and Martin don't know what their mission will be yet.

Both men performed street patrols on their first tour. Acosta was in Taji when he first arrived and then, toward the end of his tour, patrolled Route Irish, a 7.5-mile stretch of highway linking the heavily fortified Green Zone in the center of Baghdad to the Baghdad International Airport. Martin was an executive officer at the headquarters company.

"I worked on the logistics side able to witness the first free elections in Iraq, which was a rewarding experience," he said. "It was both very challenging and very fulfilling."

Although that time frame featured some of the fiercest fighting between Iraqi insurgents and U.S. troops, Acosta and Martin said they were lucky enough not to be involved in too many direct encounters with the enemy, except to contain them.

Unfortunately, other members of the brigade were not as lucky.

The unit lost seven members when a roadside bomb blew up their Bradley fighting vehicle on Jan. 6, 2005. Four of them were from the Tri-parish area: Sgt. 1st Class Kurt J. Comeaux, 34 of Raceland; Sgt. Christopher J. Babin, 27, of Houma; Spc. Bradley J. Bergeron, 25 of Chauvin; and Pfc. Armand L. Frickley, 21, of Houma.

"It was tough for the first several days," Acosta admitted. "Most of the guys in the company grew up together. Some went to school together or came up in the ranks together. It's like losing a brother and that's never easy.

"At the end of the day, when it happened, we realized we have to continue the mission in order to get back what they took from us," he continued. "After that we regained focus and started patrolling again. I can't say we didn't miss a beat, but we were definitely more focused after that happened."

Despite that harrowing loss and the constant images of bombings in the American press, Acosta insisted the situation was never as bad as portrayed.

"The crime there is similar to some of the crime you see in the States," he said. "In fact, some of the cities in the States are worse than they have."

Besides the election, Martin's favorate memory of Iraq was visiting the schools. At the time, he was a seventh grade American history teacher at Houma Junior High School.

"It was a surreal feeling to go into the Iraqi school classrooms and recognize how much they're like ours, and how similar the Iraqi people are to us," he said. "When you're in a school setting, you see students at their desks paying attention to the teacher. It just becomes very real."

For Acosta, it was his first trip to Iraq, a three-day convey from Kuwait with him as commander.

"I was a little nervous, but it was definitely memorable," he said. "The history in Iraq is amazing."

When Martin and Acosta talk with their military buddies who have served in Iraq since 2005, there is a consensus that the situation has calmed down tremendously. Attacks are fewer and further between.

Still, they have no illusions. Whatever mission they are given will be a tough one that they plan to carry out successfully.

However, this time they will enter Iraq with new perspective, and they hope Americans have a different perception of its people than they did five years ago.

"I think now, more than four or five years ago, people recognize the Iraqi people are just searching to be free and not all of them are the enemy," Martin said. "This is not a traditional war like our grandfathers fought. What people should know about Iraq is that idea of a democratic government is very new to them. They are going to have stumblings and challenges just as this nation did when we started our democracy."

"It's turning more into a support operation - more of a peacekeeping mission rather than trying to find insurgents," Acosta said. "We're doing some good out there and people should be proud of the soldiers, especially from the Terrebonne, Lafourche and Assumption area, protecting what people take for granted."