March 26, 2003
Carpinteria mom treasures piece of cardboard from Iraq By By NORA K. WALLACE On the day the United States went to war in Iraq, Jacob McIntyre turned 20. Instead of partying with his friends in Carpinteria, the Marine private first class sat in the Kuwaiti desert, awaiting his entry into combat. The Carpinteria High School graduate is a machine gunner in the infantry, serving in a weapons company with the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment. He was a reservist, but was activated to duty on Jan. 13. Although he'd been planning to enroll at Santa Barbara City College, he left for military duty. The last time his parents heard from him, Pfc. McIntyre was at Camp Coyote, in Kuwait. Late last week, his parents, Barbara and Biff, received an oversized postcard from their oldest son. It was written on a torn piece of cardboard, with Arabic writing on the reverse. "I'm still here in Camp Coyote," wrote Pfc. McIntyre, an Eagle Scout. "Still waiting. There's a storm just overhead after days of high winds that make the sand go all over the place. . . . We went out on patrol the other night in one of the worst sand storms. You couldn't see more than 100 feet in any direction. And we were on foot because our vehicles still haven't arrived." In his note, Pfc. McIntyre tells his parents he's reading the book "The Godfather." He also says he's taking training classes or is assigned to work teams. "We took a shower once a week at a nearby camp," he wrote. "But they canceled it this week. It feels weird. It feels like the setting for 'Dune.' &" Mrs. McIntyre said she was grateful to get the postcard. "Getting the letter, and looking at his handwriting, he sounds good," said Mrs. McIntyre, who also has a 14-year-old son, Joshua. "My biggest worry was he'd be overwhelmed with the enormity of the situation ... (The postcard) sounds like him. He's in good shape."
Some of the soldier's fears did surface in the letter, however. "Hopefully it starts raining a lot so they can't gas us," Pfc. McIntyre wrote. "You might hear from us on the news. We're the only reserve Marines actually in the fight. Otherwise it sucks out here ... But I'll be fine. Some guys who said they wanted to come here are spacing. But I've actually gotten pretty calm. I want to be home for July 4." Mrs. McIntyre is keeping a scrapbook for her son, filled with notes sent by friends. Friends have added the Marine to prayer circles. The family sends care packages of socks, food and magazines -- his requests, in order of preference. As a joke, they sent along a can of corned-beef hash -- a family staple on camping trips. Pfc. McIntyre joined the Marine Reserves just days before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He was unsure of what he wanted to do with his life, his mother said, and his parents were surprised by his decision. They respected it, and "fully support it," Mrs. McIntyre said. He planned to be in the reserves, go to college, and become an officer. She is not sure now, Mrs. McIntyre said, that her son will want to make the military a career. "Jacob's a very independent soul," Mrs. McIntyre explained. "He likes the military. He likes what he does. He was strategizing early, that he needed to be a grunt. He thought that would make him a better officer." Mrs. McIntyre said she's trying to limit how much war news she watches, both for her sake and for that of Jacob's younger brother. "It's like a car wreck," she admitted. "You're drawn to it, but it's not maybe the best thing to watch." |
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