Gone soldiering: Parents wait for son’s return
Dorney among first to be deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom
By linda denicola
Staff Writer
FARRAH MAFFAI Mary Beth and John Dorney proudly display a photograph of their son, Capt. Michael Dorney, who served as a logistics officer in Pakistan and returned home safely.
This story has a happy ending even though it involves the kind of altruistic sacrifice that parents make when they send a child off to war.
Freehold Township residents Mary Beth and John Dorney are among the proud and patient parents who watched their child, a soldier, go off to the Middle East, not knowing where he was going to land, nor how close to the fighting he would be.
Fortunately, their son, U.S. Marines Capt. Michael J. Dorney came back unharmed and was honored by the Freehold Township Committee in July with a proclamation for "diligently and proudly" serving his country. Capt. Dorney was among the first Marines to serve in the Afghanistan theater during the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit involvement in Operation Enduring Freedom.
Michael’s stint with the Marine Corps is coming to a close. He is on termination leave now, and after Sept. 15, he will be on four years’ inactive duty. His mother worries that he will be called up again if the United States goes to war with Iraq.
But what could she have said to dissuade him from joining the Marines and volunteering for deployment to a war zone? Mary Beth was resigned when she asked rhetorically, "What should I have said, Let someone else do it?"
It was hard for both parents while Michael was away and communication was limited. They became CNN junkies, searching the news reports for anything related to their son and his unit.
Mary Beth said while he was gone, she tried not to dwell on it. "I kept busy and prayed a lot," she said.
She also did yoga, rising every morning at 5 a.m. for half an hour of stretches before getting ready for her job as school nurse at St. Rose of Lima in Freehold Borough.
John said what kept him going was knowing that it was Michael’s choice — that it was what he wanted to do. "He had volunteered to be deployed. He wanted to use his training at the front. He didn’t want to be in North Carolina."
Michael is a logistic officer responsible for seeing that troops and equipment arrive at their destination, John said. "Although he was not in a cave, he was moving all of the stuff so that the troops could be in a cave." His father added: "He knew one of the guys that was killed."
Michael was gone for seven months, but spent four months, from November until February, in the Arabian Sea. Although it was a difficult time for Mary Beth and John, they knew it was a difficult time for him, too.
John and Mary Beth moved to the tan Colonial on Stonehurst Boulevard in the large township 27 years ago when she was pregnant with her second son, Michael. Their first born, Keith, is married and about to present them with their first grandchild.
Michael attended Rutgers University, New Brunswick, and was in the Platoon Leader Corps. He entered the Marines in 1998, after he graduated from the university and entered basic training at Camp Lejeune, N.C. After basic training he went to Officers Candidate School (OCS) and was awarded the rank of second lieutenant. In 2000 he became a first lieutenant. Last June, his proud parents said he made captain.
The couple has fond memories of the day Michael was commissioned second lieutenant. The ceremony was held on the wooden deck at the back of their house. They have a photo album to show to anyone with an interest in seeing them, pictures of Michael in his uniform with his parents and fellow Marines at his side.
Mary Beth said he had a choice as to where he wanted to have the ceremony and chose to have it at home. "It meant a lot to him to have his bars pinned on at home with family and friends."
His father explained one of the aspects of the ceremony: "It’s a whole tradition, when you receive your first salute, the new officer gives the other officer a coin. In this case, Michael gave the coin to the sergeant who officiated at the ceremony.
"At that moment, he outranked her," John said, explaining that the officer keeps it in a safe place so that the new captain will be safe.
The couple said they knew he was going to the Mediterranean before 9/11, but they never expected him to be deployed to the Arabian Sea. He was on the USS Shreveport, one of three ships that were part of the Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). The other two ships were the Bataan and Whidby Island. The ships support the aircraft carriers, John said.
"There are always three of these MEUs: one is out there, one is ready to go, one is in training. We knew that Michael’s unit was ready to go before 9/11. He was scheduled to go to Spain and then to Egypt as part of Operation Bright Star, a training operation that included military from 20 countries. From Egypt, his unit was sent to offshore Albania. That’s when they got the order that Gen. Tommy Franks requested that the 26th MEU be transferred into his command in the Arabian Sea.
"It was something not anticipated. Nobody expected Marines to be called in. It was the longest air-lifted Marine invasion in history. It was right after Thanksgiving," John said.
Added Mary Beth: "We didn’t know where he was going. He wasn’t allowed to tell us, but we knew it could be Pakistan or Afghanistan. He just kept telling us that he was safe."
It was Pakistan.
Said John: "It wasn’t easy for him being in Pakistan. They didn’t have the best living conditions. For 12 weeks he lived under very primitive conditions. They started out sleeping in a hangar, but it was so hot that he chose to live in a two-man tent. Even that was very hot.
"He had his first shower, after 12 weeks, on the Bataan, but his clothes were on the Shreveport so he had to put his dirty clothes back on. Michael said that before they left Pakistan, they just threw everything away."
It was hard on Mary Beth and John while he was away because communication was sporadic. He kept in touch with his parents via e-mail, letters and an occasional phone call.
"There was a time lapse for mail delivery that didn’t allow for any kind of real communication," John said.
"We used to scan the news constantly for a glimpse of Michael or his unit," Mary Beth said.
Like mothers everywhere, Mary Beth likes to talk abut her son’s special qualities. "He puts his whole self into the things he likes. He has 100 percent concentration. … Now he’s ready for whatever this has prepared him for."
John talked about his son’s special skills. He said Michael is an expert in both the rifle and pistol. He also is an accomplished golfer who excelled in the sport in high school. In fact, both sons were on the golf team in high school.
Michael’s golf strategies served him well in some aspects of training, John said. "Every Marine is a rifleman. One of the skills they are supposed to acquire as Marines is firing a mortar. In order to hit the target, it’s important to be able to measure the distance. Mike used to judge the distance by what he learned playing golf," said his father, who is a golfer himself and encouraged both boys to take up the support when they were 6 or 7 years old.
John is also a retired school principal who worked in Monroe Township, Middlesex County. When Michael’s service is up on Sept. 15, he will be going into federal law enforcement as a special agent for the U.S. General Services Administration in Washington, D.C.
Mary Beth said she doesn’t like it. "He’ll be carrying a gun again. But it is his decision, and he’ll be close to home," she said.
Even as a child, she noted, Michael was interested in guns and rifles.
"I was one of those mothers who was not going to allow her son to play with guns," she recalled, "but there was nothing I could do about it. If he didn’t have a gun to play with, he would use a stick and pretend it was a gun."
Michael was married in a military ceremony on Oct. 28, 2000. He and Catherine haven’t been together for a full six months since they were married, his mother said.
"Catherine is a teacher," Mary Beth said. "She threw herself into her work while he was gone."
Mary Beth said they celebrated every holiday that he had missed when he came home on leave with Catherine in April. "We had Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and his birthday when he came home for 10 days.
"He wanted to see Ground Zero, so, of course, we went. Mike was in uniform. A police officer came over and asked if we wanted a better view. He took us into an area right on the edge. They were still going through the debris," Mary Beth said, her voice breaking from the painful memory.
John continued, "Mike got to see why he went over there."