SQUADRON HEADS TO IRAQ MARINES RETURN FOR HELICOPTER DUTY TO AID IN NATION'S RECONSTRUCTION.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - More than 180 Marines in a reserve helicopter squadron are on their way back to Iraq, where they spent seven months last year transporting troops and supplies and even Iraqi officials and Marine paratroopers.

Half reservists and half regular Marines, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 764 is expected to spend more time this deployment carrying supplies and equipment for Iraqi reconstruction efforts in the follow-up to the country's election.

``It's still a very dangerous place to work,'' Marine Lt. Col. Drew Crane said as Marines assembled Wednesday in a cavernous hangar at Edwards Air Force Base. ``We'll probably continue operating mostly at night, when it's safer.''

The squadron made it through its previous Iraqi deployment without a Marine wounded or a helicopter damaged.

``We're hoping and praying for the same thing this time,'' Crane said.

Their M-16 rifles slung over their shoulders, the squadron's some 180 men and six women filed Wednesday night onto a chartered jetliner for a 14-hour flight to Kuwait. A bus trip across Kuwait, then a flight into Iraq aboard C-130 transports will join them up with the helicopters they left behind last September.

Watching them board were wives, children, parents and friends.

``It's not any easier this time,'' said Desiree Ewers of Lancaster, who gave her husband, Gary, a pilot, a final goodbye kiss on the concrete flight line beside the jetliner. ``This is the hardest day. Saying goodbye is the hardest thing to do.''

Capt. Gary Ewers is a third-generation Marine. His mother, Sharon, recalled the pre-dawn departure of her Marine pilot husband some 34 years ago, which she watched with her toddler son.

``I know how she feels,'' Sharon Ewers said of her daughter-in-law. ``I walked Gary out and said, Wave to Daddy.''

Gary Ewers' father, Dick, is now a NASA research pilot at Dryden Flight Research Center.

``I'm proud of him,'' Dick Ewers said. ``I'm happy to see him committing and being a part of it.''

Some of the Marines are expecting duty similar to what they had last February through September.

With maintenance crews working in daytime temperatures that sometimes reached 125 or 130 degrees, the squadron's 12 twin-rotor CH-46 helicopters' crews flew mostly at night, spending 3,100 hours in the air and carrying more than 9,000 Marines and 300 tons of cargo.

``We had rocket attacks but they were very rare. It was pretty quiet. A lot of work getting done and a lot of flying,'' said Gunnery Sgt. Jeff Kerr, the squadron's maintenance control chief.

Others don't know what to expect.

``I'll find out when I get there. I've been avoiding the news,'' Cpl. Tony Negron said after a tearful kiss goodbye from his wife, Janete, at the squadron compound's main gate.

Jessica Garcia's husband, Joshua, volunteered for deployment to Iraq after spending seven months last year in Afghanistan with HMM-764's sister squadron, Heavy Marine Helicopter Squadron 769.

``It's stressful at times. We understand what he's doing and support him 100 percent,'' said Jessica Garcia, watching with her mother-in-law and children Joshua II, 4, Jessica, 3, and year-old twins Jasmine and Josefine.

Joshua Garcia, now a lance corporal, joined the Marines after the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

``He had always wanted to be in the Marines and that pushed him to go in,'' his wife said.

Gloria Kerr watched with daughters Ashley, 11, Cecilia, 7, and McKenna, 3, all in red Marine T-shirts, as her husband, Jeff, departed. She said the family is used to his deployments; this is his sixth.

``We keep everybody active and busy,'' she said.

Two of the squadron's veterans aren't going. Chief Warrant Officer Andy Anderson and Master Sgt. Ralph Gonzalez are staying behind because both must retire after 30 years as Marines.

``It's very hard,'' Anderson, 55, said of watching the squadron leave without him. A Livermore police officer in civilian life, he'll be going back to work there.

The Marines feel they helped bring about the Iraqi election, which happened in February as they were preparing for the new deployment, Anderson said. Their duties include flying Iraqi government officials and generals, as well as carrying Marine paratroopers on the Marines' first nighttime combat paratroop drop since the Vietnam War.

``It's a beautiful country over there. There's lots of things to see. It's not all desert,'' Anderson said. ``It could be a very rich country in more ways than one.''

Charles F. Bostwick, [phone]

chuck.bostwick(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Members of the Marine helicopter squadron, which is half reservists, board a plane bound for Kuwait on Wednesday at Edwards Air Force Base.

(2 -- color) Cpl. Tony Negron of Rosamond says goodbye to his wife, Janete, on Wednesday before boarding the jetliner.

(3 -- color) The redeployed helicopter squadron's members line up as they wait to board the flight to Kuwait from Edwards Air Force Base.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer