By KEITH GRANT
On Tuesday, Giancarlo Orozco relaxed on the balcony of his West Market Street home, talking on the phone with friends. It was a luxury he hadn't had for several months.
I'm glad to be back, said Orozco. A sailor with the USS Portland, he got home even earlier than he could have hoped. The Portland was the first vessel sent home from the Persian Gulf at the conclusion of major hostilities in Iraq. Orozco arrived at his family's doorstep last Friday to begin a two-week stay at home.
A 2000 graduate of Long Beach High School, Orozco has already completed three long deployments in his young Navy career. This one, obviously, was a bit more tense than the others. It was scary, he said. We were off the coast, but there was always the threat of a missile coming in.
Sailors on board kept their gas masks and protective gear handy, and often had to don the masks for drills. One [drill] we thought we real, but [it] turned out to be a false alarm, he said.
Since returning home, Orozco has celebrated with friends and family. At one party he attended, everyone applauded him.
A lot of people have been saying thank you, he said. I appreciate that.
It was no doubt a new experience for Orozco and thousands of other service members like him. But for Scott Castillo, it's beginning to become almost routine.
Well, maybe not quite routine. But the Long Beach man came home last week from his second war in his brief 20-month Army career. A U.S. Army Ranger, Castillo has served in combat in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
Castillo, a graduate of Long Beach Catholic School and Kellenberg, has always loved the military. But he was pushing 30 and was a couple of years removed from earning a degree at Texas A&M when he took the leap and raised his right hand for Uncle Sam. He was prepared to do it even before Sept. 11, 2001, but the attack Ñ a block from where had worked as a bartender Ñ was certainly a clincher. He signed his enlistment papers that Sept. 15.
Castillo went through basic training, Infantry training and Airborne school, then earned a shot at becoming an Army Ranger. In all, he spent the better part of his first year in training at Fort Benning, Ga.
I didn't say right away, ÔI want to be a Ranger,' Castillo said. But clearly, he had what it took. He was one of only 30 soldiers who made it through Ranger training out of 170 who started with him.
Castillo credits his family for helping him get as far as he has. My family, my mom, my brother ... you can't do it without that support, he said.
Castillo was with his Ranger battalion for just three weeks before they were shipped to Afghanistan to take part in Operation Enduring Freedom. He stayed in Afghanistan for four months, and came back to the States for only a few months before being sent overseas again, this time to Iraq.
It was a busy two months for the Rangers. There were missions almost daily, Castillo said. Many a bad guy was captured by Castillo's First Ranger Battalion. But they didn't always come away with just bad guys. Along with Navy SEALs, Castillo's unit stormed an Iraqi hospital at around 3 a.m. in the middle of one busy night in the desert, looking for a fellow American who was being held prisoner. They came away with PFC Jessica Lynch.
It was an experience, Castillo said of the raid. Honestly, that time I didn't think I was coming back. I was seeing tracers going by all around.
In the end, though, it proved to be a job like any other for the Rangers. You don't think about it as a big deal, Castillo said. It's just a job. Just something you have to do.
It's certainly not Hollywood, he said of life in the field. You're dead tired, thirsty. You just want to go home and go to sleep.
For four days this week, Castillo got to do just that. He visited with his mother, Magda, and his younger brother, Paolo, who now live in Atlantic Beach.
With new photos of his combat tour and his visit home to add to an already extensive display in her home, Castillo's mom couldn't have been happier to see her son. I am so proud of him, she said. He's done so well.
Brian Nadel
U.S. Navy
Brian Nadel turned 21 last week. To mark the occasion, the USS Harry Truman, on which Nadel is stationed, headed for home.
It's a big relief, said Brian's mother, Helen. He's called a couple of times. We're just looking forward to going down to meet the ship when it gets in.
The Truman will be returning to its home port in Virginia. It'll be a nice homecoming for the sailor, who has been in the Navy for just over a year. The military, Helen said, was something that was always close to her sons' hearts. Both were always interested in the military, she said.
Eric Nadel is now a member of the Long Beach Police Department. Brian, meanwhile, hopes he'll get to Long Beach in time for his sister Katie's Sacred Heart graduation next month. The time away was not easy for the family.
Christmas was hard, Helen said. I was at my brother's Christmas night, and the phone rang and it was [Brian]. He was in Paris!
Nadel has gotten to see quite a few places in his brief Naval career. Crete, Slovenia, Puerto Rico, where he went scuba diving. I know he misses home, Helen said, but I think he enjoys it.
The Long Beach Catholic School and Kellenberg graduate was prompted into service by the events of Sept. 11, his mother believes. By March 2002, he was off to basic training. He came home for Thanksgiving but was then shipped out to the Mediterranean for four months, and then to the Persian Gulf.
The family was able to communicate by e-mail during the deployment. The night before hostilities began in Iraq, Helen sent her son a quick e-mail because she thought the communication might get shut down once the war started.
He wrote back right away that he was fine, she said. I guess he felt he was OK and doing what he was supposed to be doing. He's had a strong sense after Sept. 11 that our country needs to be protected. He wanted to do his part.
Maj. Gregory Rhoden
U.S. Marine Corps
Kuwait is a nice country, the Marine writes, but it is very barren. We brave ... about four severe sand storms a week. It's all good, though. This is the life of a Marine.
Gregory Rhoden has written his family often from the deserts of Iraq and Kuwait. The family even received birthday and Mother's Day cards from the Marine major. The cards stopped only long enough for Rhoden and the Marine First Expeditionary Force to storm across Iraq to Baghdad.
While some troops have headed home, Rhoden remains in Iraq, doing the job of a Marine lifer who has risen quickly through the ranks.
Rhoden, 39, is a 1983 graduate of Long Beach High School. He attended the University of Arizona, joined the Marine Corps, and was sent almost immediately to Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Va. After earning his commission, he returned to Arizona to complete his master's before joining the Corps full-time as a communications specialist.
Rhoden was always interested in the military, according to his mother, Pearl. As he was growing up, his bedroom in his East Pine Street home was always decorated with model airplanes he'd hang from the ceiling. Later, he joined the Civil Air Patrol at Long Beach High School.
A veteran of both Gulf wars, Rhoden is pretty firmly entrenched in a career as a U.S. Marine. He said he feels it's a pleasure to be a part of what's going on and make a difference for the Iraqi people, said his sister, Lisa. His confidence in his job and his mission helped to calm some of his mother's fears early on.
I knew it was what he wanted to do, said Pearl, a former longtime employee of Long Beach Medical Center. I was only upset when the war started. He heard I was upset and he told me this is what he was in there for. The only thing you can do is hope and pray they go out and come back. But I'm proud of him.
Like the Nadels, the Rhoden family plans on being there when the ship pulls into San Diego harbor, to welcome Maj. Rhoden back home. When they pull in with the ship, Lisa said, We're going to be right there.
