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Published on Monday, April 5, 2004
in the Ocala Star Banner
OCALA - For hundreds of thousands of men and women who have lived in deplorable, dangerous conditions in Iraq, coming home is a relief.
And, in the case of one local rescue worker, it meant finally getting a chance to get married.
Nick Cordle, a Marion County Fire-Rescue EMT/firefighter, and his fiancee Emily, were scheduled to marry in November 2002. But, when his unit was activated, they decided to postpone the wedding.
Cordle was deployed the following month, and spent 11 months and 24 days in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Balad, Iraq, where he guarded Patriot missiles and an airfield. He flew home in mid-February and they tied the knot on March 13.
"I was excited to get back to start my new life," Cordle said.
An EMT/firefighter for little more than 18 months, Cordle is glad to come home to his new bride, work and his normal routine. The hardest thing he had to face overseas, he said, was not knowing when he would come home.
"I just wanted to pick up where I left off," Cordle said.
Though his wife was concerned about him, Cordle said he reassured her every time they talked.
"She worried about what I was doing, where I was and if everything was all right with me," he said.
An infantry man with Company A of the Florida National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 124th Infantry Regiment, Cordle guarded bases and surrounding villages.
"It's a whole different world over there. They pray five times a day, the clothes they wear are different, their culture is different," he said.
Cordle enlisted in the Florida National Guard at the age of 17 for college tuition and adventure. With only eight months left on his current contract, Cordle says its time to move on.
"The deployments are too long," he said. Cordle's shift leader, EMT/firefighter Scott Ramage, said Cordle is a hard worker who enjoys his training.
He is not the only Ocala area man who is glad to be back home.
For 10 months, Cpl. Erik C. Gonzalez, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, was among the hundreds of thousands of men and women fighting the war in Iraq. But, unlike many fighting men and women, Gonzalez's job came with a twist.
He was a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves, specifically involved in criminal investigations with the 307th Military Police Detachment. His group was in charge of investigating fraud, murder and suicide, including all combat related deaths in and around Iraq.
The 20 agents under his command also investigated and took pictures of multiple graves and grave sites for possible trials that may come up against those who supported the previous Iraqi regime.
"Most of the information I cannot talk about because it's classified, but in some cases, you had 300 bodies in one mass grave, and in some, you had only two," he said.
In some cases, Gonzalez's agents were told how Saddam's henchmen would kill a family member in front of everyone and bury them right there, as a reminder of what would happen to them if they spoke up against the Iraqi leader.
"Once the regime was overthrown, some of them would dig up their loved ones' graves, so they could give them a proper burial. However, we had to ask them to allow us to document the scene first, before giving their loved ones a proper funeral," he said.
Some of the suicides his team dealt with were a combination of family problems, financial woes or loved ones seeing someone else.
"Most of the ones who committed suicides shot themselves," he said. "The majority of my people are law enforcement personnel, and most of them are in the 30s, so we did not have that kind of problem in our unit.
"Everyone rallied around each other whenever one of us was having a bad time," he said.
Though he was stationed in Kuwait, Gonzalez's area spanned the south edge of Baghdad to Saudi Arabia. Temperature in the desert was very hot, reaching as high as 140 degrees to 160 degrees in the daytime. In the winter, Gonzalez said the temperature was much cooler, sometimes dipping into the 40s.
On major holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, Gonzalez said the military "went all out," he said with a smile. During those lonely days of missing his wife and 11-year-old son, he sent many e-mails back home.
Later this month, FHP Trooper Thomas J. McCullough, a sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserves assigned to combat support for the 320th Military Police Company, is scheduled to return to his Highway Patrol duties.
Activated in January 2003, McCullough was awarded an Army Commendation Medal with a V for valor by Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski of the 800th Military Police Brigade, according to Capt. Jeffrey Succi, district commander for Marion County's FHP station.
McCullough received the medal for shooting two Iraqis while putting down a riot. Succi said the Iraqis were throwing large stones and firing shots at American troops. One of the stones hit McCullough's gunner in the forehead, severely injuring him. McCullough returned fire, killing the two Iraqis.
McCullough's command was able to quell the riot, which saved the lives of both American soldiers and Iraqi citizens, Succi said.
"The Florida Highway Patrol motto is 'courtesy, service and protection,' and our members are taking this motto to new heights by serving their country with honor and protecting the lives of every American and Iraq citizen," Succi said.