by Mike Schnitzel
"He called me from Iraq 20 minutes before I had her," said Cathy. "He was informed right away, and they sent him e-mail pictures immediately."
Joe, a commander in the United States Navy, said that the communications set up at Camp Fallujah were first rate, and that he was able to e-mail his wife every day, and was in phone contact with her every other day. Although once Joe got on the phone, it wasn't the easiest thing in the world to hang up.
"When you get off the phone you realize that you're out in the desert with sand blowing in your face and patients coming in all the time," said Joe.
A family medical doctor, Joe spent his days in Iraq surrounded by the 15-foot cinderblock walls, topped with wire and adorned with guard towers, of Camp Fallujah, taking care of injured troops. Joe was on a team of 12 doctors who took care of about 2,200 patients during the seven months that he served in Iraq. Joe said that many patients he treated toward the beginning were U.S. soldiers injured by roadside bombs or in surprise attacks, but towards the end of his tour of duty he treated mostly Iraqi support forces.
"It was very meaningful work we did over there and the camaraderie was unbelievable," said Joe.
He said that the biggest marker of U.S. troop success in Iraq was the huge reduction in time for convoys to reach Camp Fallujah from al-Tuqaddam, about 15 miles from Fallujah in a town called Habaniya.
"When I first arrived it took four hours for the convoys to make the trip because of bombs and attacks," said Joe. "By the time I had left, they cut [the time of the trip] to half an hour."
While in Iraq, Joe experienced the generosity of friends and family back home. Family friend Jerry Twomey, a priest from Our Lady of Fatima in Manor Haven, had heard that Joe and his team of doctors were short on socks, so he sprung into action.
According to Joe, Twomey got his parishioners to send over 1,000 pairs of socks.
"He was very good to us, so [my wife and I] asked him to baptize our baby," said Joe.
Joe returned home on September 17, in time for the christening of his third child. Isabella was christened on October 2 at St. Raymondís in East Rockaway by Father Twomey. Family and friends attended the christening, and the party afterwards at Joe's sister's East Rockaway home.
"It was good to have him home," said Joes mother Carthene, a long-time East Rockaway resident who is active in St. Raymond's parish.
Joe has since returned to Florida with his family, where he is stationed at the Naval Hospital in Jacksonville. He serves as the associate program director for family practice residency, teaching new doctors in medical school how to become family physicians.
"He's back at work now, and it's like he's never been gone,"said Cathy.
