From Haiti returns Spiro, Malverne's own local hero

    Spiro Colaitis, Malverne's own citizen soldier, finally returned home two weeks ago from a three-month tour in Haiti. And he's as happy to be back as his family and the school district, where he works as supervisor for facilities and support personnel, are to have him back.
    The Navy reservist, who joined the Malverne school district in 2007, was called for service at the end of January. He was part of a construction battalion with the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps that joined U.S. Southern Command on mission Operation Unified Response. His job was to rebuild and repair.
    The 49-year-old father of two, who enlisted in the Navy in 1984, spent the majority of his time in Haiti managing a unit that repaired airports, seaports and roads throughout the country. They also worked to build 500,000 shelters to house displaced earthquake victims, which meant daily interaction as they helped the locals get set up.
    Colaitis and his unit lived with the locals in these temporary camps. There was no fresh water or electricity. There were no modern conveniences, such as laundry services. Even a shower was difficult to come by. "It really gave me an appreciation of how tough life is there," Colaitis said.
    The former Navy captain has been on other missions all over the world — the Middle East, the Philippines and, most recently, Iraq. But his experience in Haiti was unlike the others as it was his first earthquake recovery mission in a country that had little to begin with.    
    In Iraq, where Colaitis spent eight months in 2008, the work primarily involved rebuilding and creating jobs. "The Iraqis had infrastructure, they just needed guidance," Colaitis noted, explaining that U.S. projects there were aimed to get the economy going. In Haiti, it's starting from scratch.