Service in Iraq bonds Marines forever

  • Published
  • By Amy Rollins
  • Skywrighter Staff
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio. --  Editor's note: Having the ability to recover from or adjust to misfortune or change is the definition of resilience, and that's something the Air Force wants all personnel to have as they deal with the stress that is part of their daily lives as they support the Air Force mission. Resilience training is incorporated into Professional Military Education, Airmen Leadership School (ALS) and Wingman Day, and presented to specific units and organizations.

The following profile features Marines who exemplify the training's identified resilience components: counting blessings; examining how one's brain reacts to an event; checking your playbook; balancing your thinking; instant-balancing your thinking; accomplishing goals; being mindful; drawing meaning from difficult situations; being spiritually resilient; being physically resilient; solving interpersonal problems; listening well; and responding in an active, constructive way.

Call John Fisher, Michael Logue or James Mc-Cauley heroes, and they'll instantly and unanimously correct you. They aren't heroes; their buddies were.

Five veterans of Lima Company, in 2005 part of the 1,000-strong   Third Battalion, 25th Marines, Fourth Marine Division supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom III, are now working at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, with another processing for a position. Twenty-three Marines from the activated Reserve company, one of the hardest hit combat units of the Iraq War, gave their lives during their seven-month deployment to Anbar Province. An A&E documentary, "Combat Diary: The Marines of Lima Company," outlines the unit's experiences.

The trio completed active reserve duty in 2008, but have taken various paths to full employment and full lives since their service ended, showing resilience along the way.

› Fisher, 31, was a sergeant in Weapons Platoon. Called by Logue "one of the smartest guys in our entire unit," he is a graduate of the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University and coaches Australian-rules football. He is a husband and a father of a 2-year-old son, living with his family in Dublin. He is a contract negotiator.

› Logue, 29, was a corporal in Weapons Platoon. He was attending Ohio University in 2004-2005 when his unit's status went from reserve to active duty. After the combat tour, he returned to OU to complete a bachelor of science degree, add a master of business administration and found OU's chapter of Student Veterans of America (SVA) in which he led a culture and policy change as a military advocate on campus. He currently lives south of Dayton with his sweetheart, Kristin. He has been on base since October 2013 as a contract   specialist. He gets teased for his abilities in finding base jobs for his comrades in arms.

"Logue's trying to move the whole company (to work on base)," Fisher said with a laugh.

› McCauley, 34, was a sergeant and rifleman in 1st Platoon. After his service, in 2008 he co-founded the national organization of Student Veterans of America. He served as a consultant when Wright State University's SVA chapter was started and was very involved in student government.

The only job he could find was as a bartender until he determined that wasn't the best environment for him. He is now completing his MBA at Wright State and is a Pathways intern in human resources for Contracting on base. He lives close to the base with his cat, Lejeune, named after Gen. John Lejeune.

Being physically resilient 

All three men are reluctant to discuss their health, but they look fit -- belying what they've been through. Fisher laughed as he said he was smart enough to not get hurt, then became serious as he said, "I got lucky."

The day Logue came off active duty, he experienced extreme back pain that lasted for weeks. X-rays revealed a well-healed fracture of some vertebrae. The injury probably was sustained one night, about a month into Lima Company's Iraq tour, when the open-bed Humvee the Marines were in overturned and they all jumped out to avoid a rollover. With their combat load and a rifle in hand, they had a 10-foot drop. The daily combat load the Marines carried in-country weighed from 80 to 160 pounds.

"During seven months, Lima Company was the main focus of effort on 11 battalion operations and 25 company operations in which we handled over 350 insurgents," Logue said. "Tempo was so high that adrenaline was just kicking in; back injuries and the like were not even known. The Marine mindset is about resilience and prioritizing to accomplish the mission."

Logue had compressed the disks in his spine into the vertebrae; two were fractured. Carrying his combat load day in and day out, he permanently deformed the vertebrae, bone marrow and disks.

McCauley has been dealing with a herniated disk and other back issues for the last four years. He also separated his shoulder. He never realized that he was hurt in-country and needed to be checked out. He now is getting treatment for his back pain.

As wingmen, the men still look out for each other, with Logue reminding Fisher to be alert to any deferred pain he might experience. They joke a lot.

Dealing with stress

Everyone deals with stress in very different ways, Fisher said. He doesn't at all question Logue's and McCauley's pain but says he doesn't attribute his to his deployment.

He said he knows he is a "totally different person than I was before I went to Iraq," as he and his wife have discussed. "And she's a totally different person than she was before I went," he acknowledged. "On a day-to-day basis, I don't attribute any of that directly to being in Iraq. ... This is who I am now, so you deal with those things."

He realizes there are "short triggers" that keep him from being as kind or patient at times as he would like, he said, or he may realize he's irrationally upset by something, but he doesn't necessarily attribute that to Iraq unless he's thinking about it. 

Counting blessings and drawing meaning from difficult situations

Fisher says he now has a better perspective on life. He used to work at a large international law firm with longer hours and was away too much from his wife and 2-year-old son.

"I already know how precious this life is," Fisher said.

That's when he decided to seek other opportunities, leading him to work on base and giving him more time to appreciate the life and the family he has.

"Count those blessings and try to shape your life in a way that appreciates those blessings," Fisher advised.

Logue said he feels lucky, given that he was in an open-back Humvee in Iraq, not one of the aluminum assault amphibious vehicles (AAV) the Marines used, as their supply chain had not caught up to the demand for IED- (improvised explosive device) resistant vehicles. On May 9 and Aug. 3, 2005, Lima Company lost five Marines and another 13, respectively, when their AAV hit an IED. Fisher and Logue were a mere 30 seconds off the May 9 track when it suffered the catastrophic kill in Al An-bar, Iraq.

"After close calls with the IEDs, machine gun fire, unexploded rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and sniper fire, I view every day after Iraq as a bonus day," Logue said. "At 19 years old, I never thought I'd see today, now 10 years out. When I was in Iraq, as I learned during the first mission what was needed to do my job, an RPG went two feet by my head. To do   your job and do it day in and day out, you had to be OK accepting (your own) death. You're OK then to do your job. It's about resiliency, not worrying about what you can't control, and doing the things you can control to the best of your ability."

He said he tries to move forward each day.

"I try to live my life to honor basically those who have fallen, those who sacrificed more -- everything for us, everything for our country. In that essence, being a good citizen and a good role model, being a good member of society, that's the best you can do," Logue said. "I try to take on as much opportunity to live life as I can. I'm trying to do the living for our guys, those who died and no longer have the privilege to live today. Day in and day out, life is a privilege and not guaranteed or owed, so make the most of today.

"I'm not keeping myself stuck in the past," Logue continued. "Recognize that you are fortunate to have this life, even though at one point in your life you thought, 'Hey, I could die at any minute.' No one's guaranteed 90 years of living. That's why it's such a blessing to be where you are today."

Logue's work after Iraq with SVA and military members at OU, starting when he was 19, was an effort to take positive steps forward and respond in an active, constructive way. It's rewarding for him to see that veterans   are utilizing new programs, policies and weekly social activities as they pursue an education, he said.

Currently Logue is active in the USO Tribute Cincinnati, a 920-person dinner and 3,000-person concert that provides support for the warrior and family centers at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and Fort Belvoir Community Hospital.

McCauley said when he got back from Iraq, he dealt with his stress and memories in the way a lot of combat veterans do, by resorting to drinking heavily. He quickly realized there was a healthier way to live and sought counseling and stress management techniques through the VA. It made him aware of why he was acting the way he was and that he needed to be aware of his environment.

"For me, going to certain events, like a concert, is not as easy as it is for other people," he said. The number of people and loud noises affect him.

The professional staff at the VA gave McCauley a lot of reading material.

"I learned a lot about myself and how to respond to the environment," he said.

It's taken years for Mc-Cauley to be where he is today, he acknowledged. One thing that is really helping him is working at Wright-Patterson AFB. It's stable, and his stress has dropped, he said. It's his first office job, and the suit he wears and his ramrod-straight posture reflect how seriously he takes it.

He also remembers how rushing Phi Sigma Phi fraternity at WSU during his undergraduate work helped him reintegrate into society.

"Coming back to Wright State, I didn't know anybody; my friends had already graduated. ... They (his fraternity brothers) did a lot for me." He became president of the fraternity and also worked for WSU's student government.

Spirituality

Logue said his spirituality has been challenged, especially when 18 of his Lima Company comrades were killed within a two-week timespan and another six killed battalion-wide.

"I think I shut the door after that," he said. "It's been difficult." But he recently began going to church with his sweetheart; she got him to start opening that door again.

Fisher is a youth leader at his church in Dublin and said his faith is the most important thing in his life. Mentoring the kids is a blast, he said -- when he's not trying to keep them out of trouble  -- and he appreciates how he can contribute to society in a positive way.

Where does resilience come from?

Through boot camp and the war, McCauley says he has grown as a man, due to the training the Marine Corps instilled in him. Fisher and Logue said they agree that the Marine Core Values help keep them resilient, too.

"I fall upon my fellow vets; they are my closest friends," Logue said. "They understand."

Helping out fellow veterans and fraternity brothers assisted McCauley with his resiliency.

"The best way to help yourself is to help other people. That's why I continue to volunteer," he said.  

He does so as a master scuba diver at the Newport Aquarium in Newport, Kentucky, feeding the aquatic animals and cleaning tanks monthly. Helping others helps you keep perspective, McCauley said.

Fisher says his faith and his family have helped him with his resilience.

"You go through something with a group of guys, and they're going to keep going, so you keep going. ... You have the tools that the Marines gave you, that your faith and your family have given you; you keep pressing. Life goes on. You have to be able to meet your obligations. You step up for your family. You step up for the people you are serving with."

Although he said he thinks it sounds trite, he advises people to consider the needs other people have and how to help them instead of wallowing in sad experiences.

"Everyone thinks that their own particular brand of sadness is particularly awful, but when you step back, if you can get inside someone else's head, that person is going through some sort of sadness and pain equal or greater probably to what you are going through," said Fisher, who stays in contact with the father of one of his comrades who was killed.

"Instead of internalizing and dwelling on that pain, think of others and try to help them. It's going to sound trite, but I really do believe that your internal struggles will get better by focusing on other people and how you can help them."

Any advice on how to develop resilience?

Fisher and McCauley laughed and teased Logue about his new catchphrase: "adversity advantaged," his own term for how to respond to dark times.

"If you asked me about my (Lima Company) experience, would I trade it?" Logue said. "No. Never. It's made me who I am. It's made me the solid person I feel I am today and given me a life experience that some people don't get in half a century of living.

"For moving forward for anybody in any situation, try to recognize the positive that comes out of it, tap into your strength and know what motivates you. Learn and understand yourself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, and how you can grow strong from it: adversity advantaged," Logue said.  
 
Life-size exhibit depicts Marines

The trio would like to see The Eyes of Freedom, the Lima Company Memorial exhibit, painted by Columbus-based artist Anita Miller, be underwritten financially and presented at Wright-Patterson AFB so military members, civilians and the public may see it. The exhibit depicts in life size the 23 Marines from Lima Company who gave their lives during their deployment to Iraq in 2005.

Fisher says the exhibit is a very cool thing and would help civilians working on the base connect what they do with the needs of warfighters.
 
Yes, this memorial is about Lima Company, but it's for all Americans," Logue finished. "It has a positive impact on everyone who sees it."