US soldiers returning from Iraq are in high spirits, unlike those going the other way. Some of the thousands of troops passing through Shannon Airport talk to Tom Clonan.
As Atlantic storm-force winds and rain whip across Shannon Airport's runways and terminal buildings, Christmas trees and ribbons of festive lights sway crazily in the maelstrom. Despite the atrocious December weather, all of the American military flights due at Shannon are on schedule for today.
Since March 2003 - and the invasion of Iraq by US and British forces - approximately half a million US soldiers have travelled through Shannon airport.
"An average of 3,000 US personnel pass through here on a weekly basis. At busy times, like Christmas, that average goes up to 5,000 soldiers per week," says US army Maj Chris Sabatini, who is based full-time at Shannon airport. He is the liaison officer between the US military's European Command (EUCOM) based in Stuttgart, Germany and the Shannon Airport authorities.
Most of the soldiers are bound for service in Iraq and Afghanistan. An occasional aircraft brings US troops to Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
In the duty-free area today, approximately 200 troops, in distinctive, well-worn desert fatigues, are browsing the many souvenir stands and perfume counters in the main foyer. These soldiers are mostly from the US 82nd Airborne Division, returning home after a tour of duty in Iraq. They arrived on an ATA flight from Kuwait City this morning and are due to fly to McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey.
The returning soldiers are visibly relaxed, with a large number queuing for drinks at the Sheridan Bar in the open-plan duty free area. The first soldier I approach - at random - is Staff Sgt Debbie Ochsner (40) who has been serving with the 82nd Airborne Division in Baghdad. Deployed to Iraq in April of this year, Ochsner says she is returning to her home town Fayetteville, North Carolina to be with her two sons, aged eight and 14.
She has bought Irish souvenir T-shirts for the boys and she has also bought a "worry stone" in the duty-free area.
"I'm carrying the worry stone as a reminder of my husband, Robert. He's still in Iraq, serving with the 82nd Airborne," she says. She is being sent home early to the US on compassionate grounds following the death of her husband's younger brother, James, aged 36, who was recently killed in action in Afghanistan.
Ochsner then shows me a silver bracelet she is wearing with her brother-in-law's name engraved on it, along with the date, time and location of his death.
"We've all got them," she says, "to commemorate family members we've lost in the war." She adds that she was unable to see her husband during her tour of duty in Iraq, even though they were both serving "in-country" at the same time.
"It's part of the sacrifice military families have to make," she says. She plans to spend Christmas with her mother, who has been minding their two sons since she was sent to Baghdad eight months ago.
The next soldier I meet in the Sheridan Bar is Staff Sgt Fran Smith (44), who was serving in Baghdad with the 263rd Air Missile Defence Unit. She says she has been in Iraq since October 2005. Her daughter, Vicky (24), has just given birth to a baby girl.
Arriving in Shannon is "surreal", says Smith. "After all that time in the heat and dust of Baghdad, to see the green, green grass of Ireland is so strange to me.
"It's also strange to go home as a grandmother," she adds with a laugh, "and not to have to carry a weapon - for now."
Also in the Sheridan Bar are Sgt Maj James McDowell (45) and Sgt First Class Steven Edmondson (34) from Brooklyn, New York. They both claim Irish ancestry. Both are finishing a one-year tour of duty in Iraq with the newly configured Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organisation (JIEDDO) based in Baghdad.
"So many of our guys and gals are getting taken out with IEDs [improvised explosive devices] in Iraq that we've started a whole programme to wise them up to the threat," says McDowell. "We start stateside by briefing them in our training centres in Louisiana and California about the IED threat. Then we tell 'em again in Kuwait just before they deploy to Iraq, but they don't really pay attention until they're in-country in Iraq.
"Then they see IEDs rolled up in foam rubber and dipped in cement to make the bombs look like rocks - then they pay attention real fast, because its life or death. We've also come across hollowed-out kerbstones or dead dogs and cats stuffed with high explosives and detonated by remote control when our troops come by."
All of the troops agree that the ubiquitous Humvee - the standard US military transport vehicle in Iraq - is especially vulnerable to IEDs.
One soldier refers to them candidly as "death traps". Before he heads for the departure gate, McDowell points out that new medical advances being developed in the field in Iraq, such as powerful powdered coagulants designed to stem arterial bleeding, are saving lives among US troops badly injured by IEDs.
An ATA announcement calls the US troops to board their return flight to New Jersey. Within minutes, the duty-free area empties of US troops. They file silently towards their departure gate, many carrying hastily wrapped gifts, soft toys, dolls and teddy bears for children they have not seen for more than a year.
The photographer and I follow them to the departure gate. However, The Irish Times is not allowed to go on board the ATA flight. We are informed apologetically by an ATA employee that "there are weapons and dogs on the flight and it isn't very photogenic". When I inquire about the "weapons" and "dogs", I am informed that the troops sometimes carry their personal weapons, "minus the ammunition" on board for ease of transport back to their home installations.
As for the dogs, a departing US soldier explains: "We regularly get army dogs on the flights. Most of them are trained to sniff out bombs or drugs. They're not allowed off at Shannon to get air or exercise because of Irish Department of Agriculture rules about dogs. Which is a pity, because they get real excited in there when they smell the fresh Irish air and sometimes they pee on the carpet."
As he disappears into the air-bridge he quips, "Hey, make sure you tell your readers that it isn't just the troops that are enthusiastic about the Shannon stopover".
WITHIN 45 MINUTES of the departure of the ATA flight to New Jersey, another ATA flight from the US Marine Corp's Camp Lejeune in North Carolina lands at Shannon. On board are members of the US Marine Corps Regimental Combat Team 2, 2nd Marine Regiment, bound for deployment to Al Anbar Province, Iraq.
As the ATA Boeing 757 aircraft taxies to the arrival gate, The Irish Times is given permission to board the aircraft. With the aircraft door just opened, the sight inside the aircraft is a little unusual. There are no passengers crowding the aisles, reaching for hand-luggage in the overhead cabins, as is the norm among civilians prior to disembarking an aircraft.
Instead, stretching right back to the rear of the aircraft, there is row upon row of crew-cut marines in identical combat fatigues sitting in total silence. The ATA announcer on board the aircraft states, "Folks, good morning, welcome to Shannon. You're going to be on the ground here for 45 minutes. The bar and the duty free are available and there is a smoking section just straight across from the bar. All weapons must remain on board the aircraft, and that includes gun holsters. Thank you."
The marines leave the aircraft in near silence and head straight for the duty free area - and the Sheridan Bar. Their commanding officer, Lieut Col Andrew Smith (41), says the marines are on their way to Al Anbar province for a year-long deployment. Lieut Col Smith, whose family is Irish-American, explains that he brought his family to Ireland to stay in Adare Manor this summer, "as a last family vacation prior to my deployment to Iraq".
With a daughter named Shannon, Lieut Col Smith smiles as he describes the significance of the Shannon stopover to the US Marine Corps: "Shannon, for every US marine, is the highlight of any transit to Iraq. The people of Ireland are genuine and warm and it's always nice to land here. Plus, you get the benefit of a pint of Guinness," he says. "It's always special to touch down here as you go in harm's way. For marines in transit, if they know they're landing in Shannon, it's a very big deal for them."
These sentiments are echoed by Capt Conlon Carabine (34) of the 2nd Marine Regiment. "If you were to poll the US Marine Corps, 99 per cent of them would say that Shannon is the stopover of choice when passing to or from Iraq or Afghanistan." Capt Carabine describes how Shannon has entered the informal culture and vernacular of the US Marine Corps, with the airport becoming synonymous with service in Iraq for most US soldiers.
"I'll tell you this, leaving Kuwait, leaving Iraq to come back to the United States and you'll land in one of two places, either Hahn in Germany or Shannon in Ireland. Everybody, without exception, wants to land in Shannon and celebrate with a Guinness. It's not just the Guinness though. The Irish and the American populations are tied together at the hip. We're inextricably linked since the Famine, I guess. More than any other European country, especially since the 1840s."
The mood among the marines departing for Iraq is noticeably far more sombre than that of those returning to the US. When asked about leaving his young family of four children at Christmas, Lieut Col Smith is philosophical about the sacrifice his family has had to make for military service.
"Of the last four Christmases, I've spent one at home. I spent last Christmas in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. Sure, my kids are curious as to why their Dad leaves around the Christmas time-frame, but that's just how the cards play out. They're old enough to know the risk, and they do ask about Iraq and what's going on there."
Capt Carabine describes the ferocity of combat experienced by the 2nd Marine Regiment in Al Anbar province in their previous deployment, during which they sustained many losses in battles with insurgents in the city of Khaim, close to the border with Syria.
"These guys don't just stand and fight, some of them are prepared to stand and die in battle."
Capt Carabine, who was married in August, describes to The Irish Times the difficulty of leaving family behind in the US, especially at Christmas. "I'll tell you, I've been shot at multiple times and it takes more courage to say goodbye to loved ones going to a combat zone, going away to war."
Capt Carabine, who spent his summer holidays as a child with cousins in Foxford, Co Mayo, is philosophical about the risks in Iraq.
"Fear isn't an issue for me. I would say there is some anxiety with losing some of the troops under one's command. As far as myself is concerned, dying or getting hurt, I'm not afraid. To be honest, I do not fear death or getting hurt. There's anxiety, but not fear."
Capt Carabine and Lieut Col Smith barely have time to finish a pint of Guinness before they are called to departure Gate One and their departure to Kuwait City and Iraq. As a steady stream of young marines boards the Boeing for Iraq, their dun desert combats seem poignantly out of kilter with the howling wind, driving rain and green, green grass of Shannon.
Dr Tom Clonan is the Irish Times Security Analyst. He lectures in the School of Media, DIT