Last week, one of Hatteras Island?s own returned from a seven-month deployment as a machine gunner with Dog Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines in Afghanistan.
He is Marine Cpl. William Colin Barnett, 21, son of Charlie and Donna Barnett of Hatteras village and Denise and Michael Ziegler of Easton, Md.
Though he spent much of his youth in Easton with his mother and stepfather, Colin?s roots on Hatteras run deep and he is back here to see friends and family as often as he can be.
His grandparents are Lorraine Howard Burrus and the late Dale Burrus of Hatteras and Irene Barnett Basnett and Wayne Basnett of Frisco.
And his brother, who couldn?t attend the reunion, is Brett Barnett of Hatteras village, who is an EMT with Dare County Emergency Medical Services.
Colin returned to his base, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., last Saturday, Oct. 13.
Last week, Donna and Charlie and their 12-year-old daughter, Hannah, felt like little kids in the days before Christmas.
The excitement was building and they felt like The Day would never arrive.
On Friday, Oct. 12, they flew to California for a day that was every bit as special as Christmas morning.
Sending a son or daughter off to war these days is different than it was in days gone by.
Today, we have Internet communications that just were not possible, even when the U.S. action in Afghanistan, Operation Enduring Freedom, started in 2001.
Colin?s parents could keep up with him through Facebook and occasionally could talk with him by phone. Reading those Facebook postings and seeing the photos were a real comfort to them.
However, there is a downside to this instant communications. When the Facebook postings or phone calls stop for days or weeks, families know that their loved one is probably involved in operations putting him in harm?s way.
Then, it?s a matter of holding your breath until the next message or Facebook post.
Dog Company arrived back in the U.S. by plane, landing at a southern California Air Force base and then boarding two buses to Twentynine Palms.
Colin?s family waited patiently and kept up with his progress toward the homecoming with text messages.
When one bus broke down, all of the Marines piled onto the remaining one to finish their journey.
However, when they got to the base, there was more waiting for the families, while the Marines went to the armory to turn in their weapons.
Then, as a group, they marched in formation to where the eager friends and family members were waiting. They finally heard those words, ?At ease,? and scattered into the arms of loved ones.
Colin and his family spent the next four days, hanging out, relaxing with friends, and sightseeing in southern California before his parents had to return home and he had to report back to duty.
To say, it was a joyous reunion is an understatement.
Colin?s father used the words pride, joy, and elation to describe the homecoming.
?Other than the births of my three children,? he said, ?it?s the most awesome feeling a father could possibly have — knowing he was home safe when he has had several friends and Marine brothers killed or wounded.?
Colin received a combat meritorious promotion from lance corporal to corporal in June while he was deployed. Marines recommended for such promotion must have ?demonstrated outstanding leadership to a degree rarely attained by Marines of equal grade.?
In an e-mail, Cpl. Barnett wrote about some of his experiences during his deployment and his feelings about the U.S. role in Afghanistan.
His company left the U.S. on March 27 and arrived at their destination on April 1.
?Some of us were wishing it was an April Fool?s joke,? Colin said.
But then there was nothing funny about Forward Operating Base (FOB) Alcatraz, also know as FOB Tobac, in the Sangin River Valley in Afghanistan.
Their daily routine consisted of 8-hour day patrols, overnight patrols, security on the base, and sometimes more major and specific operations.
Colin said he got to work ?one-on-one? several times with members of the Afghanistan National Army and the Afghan National Police.
?To be honest with you,? he said, ?they have a lot of work still yet to do.?
?I can only speak on the behalf of the specific Afghan units I worked with,? he added. ?Some may be more qualified and trained than others. But many of them lacked a strong work ethic or even pride in fighting for their country, resulting in it being highly difficult to make them go out on our long-range patrols and overnight operations with us.?
The Marines had lots of interaction with local people, except for the women ? for cultural and religious reasons.
The locals, he said, were mostly poppy farmers. The Sangin River Valley has very fertile soil, making it the top region for opium and heroin produced in the country.
?The local nationals,? he said, ?were our main source of intelligence about the enemy, for they were the ones who saw and heard everything.
Cpl. Barnett said he thinks the U.S. goal of pulling out of the country by 2014 is a reasonable one, but he would go one step farther and leave before that. He says he thinks the U.S. has been in the country ?way too long? already.
?It may sound simple-minded,? he said, ?but in my opinion it is as simple as putting everyone and all the gear on a plane and heading back stateside. Afghanistan has been at war for thousands of years, and no opposing nation has ever been able to take Afghanistan.?
Therefore, he said, the Taliban are all seasoned fighters. They have been born into it and it?s all they know how to do.
?You either grow up to be a farmer or some other type of handyman or you join the Taliban. And since we aren?t at war with the country of Afghanistan, we are at war with a radical group, based on an idea or religion or whatever they believe in, there is no way to ever win. No side will ever win. As Eric L. Haney, author of ?Inside Delta Force,? said, ?In combat, there are no winners. The victors just happen to lose less than the vanquished.? You cannot and will not ever get rid of the idea or belief or terrorist acts.?
Dog Company saw its share of combat while in the Sangin River Valley, which Colin said is ?somewhat what I expected.?
?No matter how hard you train, what you are taught, everything is always situation dependent. It was somewhat what I expected, but way more of an adrenaline rush than you could ever imagine — although there is always a price to pay with that adrenaline rush, like losing the great men that we did while we were over there.?
He said the Marines mostly never stopped working, but during their down time, they would call or write home, work out with weights, or play cards.
Often times at night,? Colin said, ?we sat outside of our tent and brewed up some tea and coffee and just sat and talked for hours with the guys. We just became one big family.?
He says he really missed good, healthy food, especially steak. And on his first night back, his family and some of his buddies gathered to cook steaks and drink Pabst Blue Ribbon.
Cpl. Barnett says he hasn?t decided whether to make the Marines a career. He?s thought about perhaps trying out for Army Special Forces or the Navy Seals. His other options, he said, are getting out of the service and college and a law enforcement career, perhaps as a DEA agent or U.S. Marshal.
Colin said in his e-mail that he sends a big ?thank you to everyone for their prayers, support, and love throughout the deployment.?
He also can?t wait to see all of his family and friends when he is home for Christmas.
Welcome back, Cpl. Colin Barnett.
