Tribal soldier injured in Iraq

By Sam Sandoval

LCPL Jessie Courville

ST. IGNATIUS — J.C. Courville is fiercely proud of his son. "He's a military man, through-and-though." J.C. is talking about Lance Corporal Jessie Courville, now stationed in Haqlahnia, Iraq. "You worry. You don't want to see that Marine sedan coming up the driveway with the bad news. But he's where he needs to be," says J.C. On April 22, LCPL Courville was injured by an improvised explosive device while on contact patrol.

"The sun was beating down on us particularly strongly today and by 11 a.m., the temp was damn near 100," narrates LCPL Courville in an open letter. In full combat gear, the temperature felt even hotter. On this morning, LCPL Courville's troop formation was patrolling their area of operation, with the intent of drawing out the enemy. The contact patrol, like the fifteen before, had been uneventful minus the dispersal of too many Iraqis riding in a truck.

"As I walked passed an intersection, a child who had to be no more than 10 years-old looked up at me and from the middle of the road and, with a sly grin on his face, began arrogantly waving at me and simply said, 'Goodbye mister. Goodbye,'" LCPL Courville continues. He didn't think much of it; that happens all the time. As they continued, he noticed a pile of rocks 15 meters away to his right.

BOOM!

An explosion showered rocks and dust a hundred meters into the air; LCPL Courville felt as if the left side of his body had been hit with a lead pipe. "They got me!" he said. He leg had gone numb and his body began to tingle. After five steps, he collapsed. Then came the gunfire.

"An unknown number of tangos opened fire on our squad," he writes, with AK-47s and RPKs. The sudden ambush drove him to action and momentarily forgetting his injury, LCPL Courville grabbed his M-249 SAW, dusted off the belt and prepared to start fighting back, when, after what seemed like an eternal four seconds, the gunfire stopped and the insurgents vanished.

No one was killed in the ambush. Of about a dozen soldiers, LCPL Courville was the only one injured.

According to his father, the military took LCPL Courville off contact patrols and assigned him temporary light-duty until he recovers, which may take a couple of weeks.

LCPL Courville stands fully loaded in Iraq. (courtesy photo)

"He's always had military life in his blood," J.C. recounts. "When he was young, he'd dress up as a soldier for Halloween, with the painted face and everything. He loves army movies and quotes them all the time."

J.C. is no stranger to military life and understands the job asked of anyone in military service. He spent twenty years with the Air Force and Air National Guard, from 1980 to 2000. J.C. says military life rubbed off on Jessie.

Jessie joined the military when he was 17, but didn't complete basic training until he was 19. "He had to get his high school diploma first," J.C. explains. When Jessie graduated from basic training at Camp Pendleton in San Diego, Calif., J.C. and his girlfriend drove down to attend the ceremony.

After a break, Jessie was sent to the Hawaii Military Corp Base (MCB) in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

Since then, Jessie has become close friends with Navy Fleet Marine Force medic Matt "Doc" Olberg. "He's become like a second son," J.C. says of Olberg.

From Hawaii, LCPL Jessie Courville was sent to Iraq as a Marine Infantryman for the 1st Battalion 3rd Marines. His job: machine gunner. "He likes being on the frontlines," J.C. says. "He's right there when something's going to happen."

Despite the political upheaval in Washington, D.C. over the direction and conclusion of the Iraq occupation, LCPL Courville doesn't think about it. "People wonder why (the soldiers) do it. We do it because it's our job," he writes. "I really don't care who doesn't understand or who doesn't agree with what we do. The only thing that matters is that when this god awful ****** mess is over, I go home and spend the rest of my life in peace with my wife and children, knowing that while I was alive, I made a difference for somebody. And even if I didn't, at least I tried, which is a lot more than you can say for some people. "I love my country and I go where she tells me to go."

Despite escaping major injuries and death from the attack, LCPL Courville wants to get back out on the frontlines once he's relieved of temporary light-duty following his recovery. His reason is simple and at the core of being a Marine: "I will be back on the streets, doing the same thing that almost got me killed because the guy next to me needs me to watch his back."