Brook Park Marines may be home soon

Saturday, September 17, 2005
Grant Segall: Plain Dealer Reporter

A bloodied Marine battalion headquartered in Brook Park is supposed to come home from Iraq in a couple of weeks.

Their families are cautious, but hopeful.

"It'll feel a lot better to know he's out of there," said Lisa Stout, of Tallmadge, whose nephew Luke Riddle is one of about 900 Marine Corps reservists fighting with the 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment.

"You're not home until you're home, but he's making progress, that's the big thing," Ron Ickes, also of Tallmadge, said about his son, Nate.

The father heard that the battalion was moving this week from the Haditha Dam area -- where 20 Marines, including 14 Ohioans (13 from the 25th Regiment) were killed in early August -- to the relatively safer Al Asad air base. From there, they will travel to Kuwait, then on to the United States.

The Columbus Dispatch reported similar accounts Friday from families of other 3rd Battalion reservists.

Marine officials said it would be dangerous to reveal troop movements within Iraq. But Gunnery Sgt. Brad Lauer at battalion headquarters said the reservists are scheduled to reach Camp LeJeune, N.C., in early October and their home bases by the second week of the month.

The battalion's five companies -- based in Brook Park, Akron, Columbus, Buffalo and Moundsville, W.Va. -- are holding meetings for families to prepare for the troops' return. Lauer said the meetings' subjects would range from benefits to counseling.

Aaron Cohen, of Akron, said he will be glad to see his battalion buddies again.

"Whenever I do something I wasn't able to do in Iraq, I always think of them," said Cohen, who came home early with hobbled knees. "I was at an Ohio State game, and they should have been right in that seat next to me."

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