half of the marines in this company are from connecticut

once again, the courant presents another GREAT story about our service people. also, please remember IF you'd like to support a deployed service person (you don't get to choose who or where they're from), please join soldiers' angels organization. they'll hook you up with someone. all you have to do is write to your soldier (or sailor or marine, or airman/woman) and send a care package once in a while. i can tell you from personal experience what this means to those deployed. i can also tell you, i've almost had to THREATEN my soldiers/airmen to get them to admit exactly WHAT they want in their care packages (meaning they do NOT ask for anything and when they do, it's usually something they can share with others). join, it makes YOU feel good!


FOR CONNECTICUT MARINES, THE ENEMY IS EVERYWHERE
Story By JESSE HAMILTON l Photos By Tom Brown l The Hartford Courant May 28 2006 FALLUJAH, Iraq --

The Marines are filthy and tired and act hard, like they've been here two years instead of two months.Charlie Company's 200 or so infantrymen - half from Connecticut - are reservists, pulled from civilian life for the unit's first trip into the war. They will spend seven months running patrols, guarding posts, raiding suspect houses and manning checkpoints in one of Iraq's most dangerous cities.The men from Enfield, Colchester, Middletown and East Windsor are fighting in Fallujah to keep things from getting worse. They fight to buy time for the training of Iraqi replacements. They fight for an unknown future under yet-to-emerge Iraqi leaders. And, at the most basic level, the corporals and privates first class fight to keep themselves and their friends from getting killed.They rehash their battle stories sometimes before they've returned to safety, writing their own characters into the war movies they gravitate to. They court death in their spare time, watching violent movies and some playing video games of war. Under it all, they are young and far from home."We're trying to keep Fallujah stable and get out of here," said Cpl. Parke Stearns, 26, of Lebanon, Ct. The Marines here are fighting a war. But it's not always clear whose war...............