It’s the kind of heat that winds up and slams you in the gut. Sweating becomes like breathing; it’s just something you do all the time. Giff Foley, a senior at Colgate, knows heat.
As a U.S. Marine reservist, he spent last summer in the Persian Gulf, providing security on board a huge ship that transported tanks, humvees and other assets for U.S. forces taking part in Operation Enduring Freedom.
Going on board the vessel for the first time, Foley said the temperature had reached 120 degrees and the humidity was extreme.
‘The first day that I got out there, I almost passed out. It was horrendous,’ he said.
Foley would spend about three months on the transport ship as it plied the waters of the gulf, traveling to ports in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
Foley and other members of his unit would watch carefully as small boats called dhows crisscrossed the Persian Gulf, sometimes venturing near his ship. He said he knows of one instance in which suspected al-Qaida terrorists were pulled off a dhow by another Marine unit during a security operation.
During periods of heightened alert, Foley would be on duty for 18 straight hours, with six hours off. The normal routine called for 12 hours on and 12 hours off. The English major would fill his free time by reading an ‘incredible number of books’ and by using the weight room.
He also spent a fair amount of time talking, or more precisely, listening to the seasoned merchant marines who worked on the ship, which was privately owned but under contract to the U.S. Navy.
‘These guys have been sailing the seas for years, and they’d talk your ear off. It was a lot of ‘sailor’ sort of stuff,’ Foley said with a laugh.
It was a far cry from the types of conversations he’d normally be having in the dining halls and classrooms at Colgate. Foley had signed a four-year contract with the Marines, and after his freshman year he used the next six months to go through boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., and attend the School of Infantry at Camp Geiger, N.C.
He was then put on reserve status and assigned to Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, which is based in Plainville, Conn. While he was then able to return to Colgate, he had to spend one weekend a month and two weeks each summer with his regiment. His Colgate professors, Foley said, understood his situation.
Then, on a lazy Sunday in January 2003, Foley got the call: He had about nine days to get to Camp Lejeune, N.C. He was now going on active duty.
It turns out, though, that for six months, active duty didn’t mean action per se, but more training.
‘We didn’t know what we’d be doing. We had moved into our barracks, and these other units would come in, have a keg party, and then be out of there. They were sent to the gulf. We were left wondering when we’d go.’
His company was finally called upon and sent first to Okinawa, Japan, and then to Bahrain, an island just east of Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf, where they would get their assignment for providing security on the transport ship.
After the security detail, Foley, a corporal, was able to spend more time in Bahrain, which he said is known as the Las Vegas of the Middle East, and in Greece. So, it wasn’t all sweat and security work for the South Salem, N.Y., native.
He returned to the United States in time for the Christmas holidays. It was a warm welcome for him and the other Marines traveling back to their base in Connecticut.
‘It was a great bus ride. State troopers met us at the (state) border; we got all the pomp and circumstance. Every other town, the town cops would tag along, too. It brought chills,’ said Foley.
His family, though, is still playing a role in shaping Iraq’s future. His mother, April H. Foley, is first vice president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, based in Washington, D.C. She has spent quite a bit of time in Baghdad, helping businesses that are involved in reconstruction efforts.
Tom Foley, his uncle, works with the Coalition Provisional Authority, the temporary governing body in Iraq. His role is to help privative many of the companies in Iraq that were under the control of Saddam Hussein’s government.
Foley’s father, also named Gifford, was a Marine who served two years in Vietnam. He died while Foley was still a youngster, but Foley said he grew up with a respect for Marines and what they represented.
‘I constantly found myself in admiration of these guys, and questioning whether that was something I could do,’ said Foley. ‘I did my research, talked to a recruiter, and a few Marines.’
He joked that there were some moments on the transport ship, when he was drenched in sweat and on his 16th straight hour of duty, that he might not have talked so positively about enlisting.
But Foley is now certain that his stint as a Marine was beneficial and a solid character-building period of his life.
‘The experience was absolutely wonderful, and something that I’ll be able to look back on for the rest of my life. A lot of people admire me for this, and I’m constantly getting appreciation from different people. But my personal growth, all the things I’ve learned, has been most important.’
He said the United States is making strides in Iraq. ‘There are a lot of intelligent people making good things happen over there. But it’s going to be a slow process.’
Foley is now gearing up for graduation and says that as a sixth-year senior, he is ready to move on. He is in the process of exploring careers with financial firms.
What was it like being a Marine while a student on a college campus’ Just fine, said Foley. He and his friends would debate Bush’s policies, but he never sensed any ill will or had any problems with students who might have disagreed with the war.
‘People have the right to express what they want. That’s why I was over there,’ he said, to help secure similar freedoms for the Iraqi people.
Tim O’Keeffe
Office of Communications and Public Relations
315.228.6634