Ben O’Rourke had a special reason to enjoy Clarkston’s celebration of Independence Day last weekend. The 1990 graduate of Clarkston High School was home for a weekend visit on the heels of fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
After spending six years of duty in the Marine Corps, and working in the corporate world in California, O’Rourke was called back into active duty in January of 2002.
‘I was brought back for rapid response for the support of homeland security,? ‘O’Rourke said.
After a year of heavy training, the 1994 Notre Dame graduate was deployed to Kuwait on Feb. 1, 2003.
‘I kind of expected it since early in the summer of 2002 I had a 99 percent chance of being deployed to Iraq. There was a mixture of excitement about being able to get called back for an important mission and apprehension to have my life uprooted,? O’Rourke said.
O’Rourke is the Weapons Platoon Commander for G Co, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.
In his first month in the Middle East, O’Rourke and his unit were responsible for providing security for Marine headquarters at Camp Commando.
On March 19, the unit made their way towards the Iraq border.
‘We spent the day hitting the deck as SCUDS were fired. We had our chemical suits and gas masks,? O’Rourke said. ‘When you hear the explosions you realize this is for real and not training. Luckily none hit our area. That night we loaded the trucks and took off towards al-Nasiriyah.?
O’Rourke and his unit were responsible for pushing through straight north up route seven. During their push, the group encountered various resistance.
‘Our job was to make sure it looked liked we were the entire division,? O’Rourke said. ‘We were responsible for securing the towns.?
The unit finally arrived in Fajr where they rested for five days. They raided Baath Party headquarters and captured a large amount of weapons.
The unit moved across the Tigris River and moved on to Baghdad. They arrived in Baghdad on April 18.
‘We went further into Baghdad than any other unit. We took the Republican Guard compound and secured it for the night. It culminated in securing the United Nations headquarters,? O’Rourke said.
After their action in Baghdad, the unit moved on to Tikrit where the war ended.
‘We met some resistance in Tikrit which is Saddam’s hometown. There was a fire fight but we were able to secure Saddam’s Palaces,? O’Rourke said. ‘It was a pretty impressive place. It was a subdivision of about 40 palaces.?
After his job was done, O’Rourke was headed back to California where he was welcomed back by his parents.
O’Rourke was not surprised the war went so fast.
‘All the calculations we saw said the majority of the Iraqi soldiers did not want to fight. We were very concerned about chemical weapons but there was a vigorous campaign to convince the people on the ground not to do it. The way I looked at it was it could go really fast or get really bad.?
O’Rourke survived on four to six hours a sleep a night and one meal a day when he was in Iraq. However, the experience of liberating the Iraqi people is something he will never forget.
‘It was pretty incredible. As we were driving down the road people we running and yelling, ‘Good, Good, USA,? and ‘Yes, Bush, no Saddam.? A teacher came up to me and said that he wanted Iraq to become the 51st state,? O’Rourke said.
The Clarkston native tells a story about an old man from the village saying he wanted to join the Marines on their way to Baghdad so he could slit the throat of Saddam and drink his blood out of a glass in retribution for Hussein killing members of his family.
The biggest sense of satisfaction O’Rourke received was by getting all 66 members of his unit to return to the United States safely. O’Rourke said that was the biggest challenge and number one goal as the unit went through training.
O’Rourke had another important message for the citizens of the United States.
‘It is very important that we don’t forget the people still over there who are still at risk,? O’Rourke said. ‘We also must remember that some families of loved ones are not having the welcome home celebration that I did because their loved one was lost in the war. We need to remember them during all this.?
Ben is the son of Pat and Jane O’Rourke on Townview Drive.