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Two of ‘our own’ return from Iraq tour of duty


Jared Schwager on his Light Armor Vehicle (LAV) which he was trained to operate and use a 25 mm Bushmaster chain gun from the top.
By Gwen Stevenson
Staff Writer - There are yellow ribbons tied on each of the four trees in Robert and Teresa Schwager’s front yard. There is also a giant American flag on a huge upright pole with a red Marine Corps flag relaxing below it.
Full size American flags were lined up and down the street in front of their home, just blocks away from where their son Jared Schwager attended kindergarten. Jared has just returned from a first tour of duty in Iraq. His good buddy Tommy Bulahan has also come home.
Playing football for the Galt Chiefs where they met as young boys, Jared and Tommy probably never imagined, or planned, that ten years later they would be fighting in a war on foreign soil, and then returning home within a week of each other.
Jared Schwager, 20, was part of the first official kindergarten class at River Oaks Elementary School in Galt. He attended Greer Middle School, and graduated from Galt High School in 2005.
While overseas with the United States Marines Corps, Jared’s parents were able to hear from him only every three weeks or so. They couldn’t communicate often because he was ‘outside the wire’, meaning the soldiers were not always on a base. When it came time for Jared to come home, his parents flew down to San Diego to welcome him back.
“When I heard that he was coming home, the time couldn’t get here fast enough, and we couldn’t get down there fast enough,” said Teresa.
Teresa said that it was the longest seven months of her life, and she didn’t sleep too well during those months either.
“He’s my only son and my baby,” said Teresa. “When we saw him, I kind of jumped on him and didn’t want to let go of him. It was very emotional. I was kind of ‘velcro-ed’ to him for awhile; I wasn’t ready to share him with anybody.”
Teresa was thinking of taking down the ribbons, but she said she would wait until the boy’s two other Marine friends from their graduating class, Levi Belcher, who just returned from duty in Iraq and Richard Freeman still in Baghdad, return home.
Jared is reporting back to duty in San Diego on Nov. 12.
Following in the footsteps of grandfathers on both sides, Jared decided to join the Marines after desiring to go into law enforcement and a discussion with his brother in law who is on a SWAT team in Antioch, who suggested he start with the armed forces.
He went to boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego and then took the option of joining the infantry, attending the School of Infantry at Camp Pendleton, then on to Military Occupational Specialties training.
There was a need for Light Armor Vehicle (LAV) crewmen which took an extra two months, and in March of 2006, Jared found out he was going to Iraq.
He ended up in Hasa, Iraq on an Expeditionary Patrol Base. His duty was Light Armor Reconnaissance.
Jared described the conditions as pretty uncomfortable; no showers and having to take baby-wipe baths for the first two months, and living off MRE’s (meals ready to eat).
“It was pretty filthy, pretty gross,” said Schwager.
He was then sent to the Command Outpost in Rawah, Iraq, for four months.
He was at the 1st Expeditionary Patrol Base, where they patrolled the town of Hasa. Their main mission was to do sweeps of the desert to locate weapons caches, which are a large stockpile of weapons that have been hidden by the enemy.
Their company operation found and confiscated at least 12 weapon stashes.
The closest Jared ever got to injury was when his squad drove right over an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) while traveling in a convoy through the desert.
“Every vehicle drove right over it, following each other’s trail. Two vehicles behind me veered off the path and ran over it and it partially exploded,” said Jared. “It malfunctioned, luckily. There was minimal damage and no one got really hurt.”
Jared operates a 25mm Bushmaster chain gun on the LAV. Jared was involved in one particular fire fight, where they lost one Marine, two casualties went home and one stayed overseas in the hospital.
They spent their days in the desert, home to the indigenous ‘camel spiders’, which can get as large as a dinner plate and very hairy, with a nasty bite. For that very reason, Jared slept in his vehicle, though many soldiers sleep on the ground when they are ‘outside the wire’.
Even with experiencing giant Camel spiders and firefights, Jared’s father, Robert Schwager is extremely proud of Jared for answering his country’s call to arms against terrorism.
“My son is a patriot,” said Robert. “…however, not one day went by when Jared was overseas fighting that I did not worry and wish he was back home and out of harms way, along with all the other brave men and women in the armed services.”
Being in a third world country and at war changes a person’s outlook, and it’s made a huge difference in Jared.
“Being over there definitely makes you appreciate things here, like a shower and a nice warm bed,” said Jared. “It makes you stop taking it for granted.”
Thomas Charles Bulahan
Joining the Army National Guard right out of high school is what Tommy Bulahan, 20, chose to do, and it seemed that he was on the fast track.
Attending Boot Camp in Fort Benning, Georgia, coming home for one month, and then off to the Philippines, and then Guam, and then Hawaii. What a way to see the world.
Bulahan did his SRP (medical evaluation) in Bakersfield to see if he was ready for deployment. Less than a year after graduating from high school, Bulahan found himself on his way to Iraq. He was on the front lines, Infantry, because he chose to be. He wanted to be where the action is.
Attending elementary school in Thornton and also Oak View Elementary in Acampo, Bulahan graduated in the same class as Schwager, Galt High School class of 2005.
The son of Bobby Bulahan of Galt and Gail Irwin of Modesto, Bulahan has two sisters and five bothers between his parents. He married his wife, Lindsey, before he left and they have a baby girl, Alexia, born in June.
“I was there for nine months and I switched dates with someone, and was allowed to come home for two weeks to see my daughter born,” said Bulahan.
His mother, Gail Irwin said that ever since he was two, Thomas wanted to be either a soldier or a fireman. She fought against the idea of enlistment at first, but now is very proud of her soldier-son, and is very happy and relieved to have him home. While he was there, it was difficult to stay away from the newscasts, but she wanted to know what was going on.
“He would call once in awhile from Iraq, and I could hear mortar fire in the background, and he’d tell me, ‘mom, I’ve gotta go,’ ” said Irwin. “One time that happened and I didn’t hear from him for two weeks. He finally got to call on Mother’s Day.”
That was the best Mother’s Day present a mom could get.
Irwin said that her son is one of the few people that are actually doing what he set out to do as a young boy.
“He’s fulfilling his dream,” said Irwin. “He’s doing what he wants to do.”
What he was doing wasplenty: convoys across the desert outside ‘the wire’, (meaning outside the base), foot patrol, and guarding detainees in Camp Bucca, the second largest prison in the world.
During one of the convoys, they got hit by a roadside bomb.
“Three went home because of injuries, and we lost one guy in our platoon,” said Bulahan. “We were really good friends.”
Bulahan said that it has taken some adjustment to being back home.
“It’s definitely changed me, for sure,” said Bulahan. “I spent so much time there, it felt like home.”
After 14-months, it was time to come home to Galt. He’s signed up for eight years, four of them active duty. He plans on going back, but right now, he has a new baby daughter to get to know.
Bulahan’s mom said she heard someone say a quote that asks, ‘Who is braver, the soldier that goes to war or the mom who watches her son go to war?’
It sums up Irwin’s words now that her son is home, for awhile: “All I can say now is that I can finally breathe.”