'Triple volunteer' home from Afghanistan By Arlene Gross
January 28, 2009 Times Beacon Online
Three weeks after returning from Afghanistan, 1st Lt. Lou Delli-Pizzi was honored with a General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award by Islip Town Supervisor Phil Nolan at MacArthur Airport, though Delli-Pizzi downplayed his part in receiving the award.
"It really is to recognize the soldiers," he said before the Monday ceremony. "Those are the guys who really deserve any type of recognition. They're the ones who deserve this."
The same day, Legislator Steve Stern (D-Dix Hills), who chairs the county Veterans and Seniors Committee, asked Delli-Pizzi to address the Legislature on returning veterans's needs. It staggered him to learn of their struggle to find work.
"Nationally, the unemployment rate among returning veterans is at least twice as high as nonveterans," Stern said. "So government, working together with the private sector, needs to make sure that our returning veterans have the job training that they need and access and information about job opportunities here on Long Island."
Delli-Pizzi, who is in the National Guard's Fighting 69th infantry based out of Huntington and Bay Shore, said most of the 80 troops were back home, except "a few folks left on active duty, medical issues and things like that."
While it was previously reported that Long Island's Fighting 69th had no casualties, Delli-Pizzi corrected the record to acknowledge three : Spc. Jonathan Keller, of Wading River, was shot in the arm and shoulder, and died on Saturday in Fort Bragg, N.C.; Spc. Anthony Mangano, 36, of Greenlawn, was killed in June when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device and small arms fire; and Sgt. Michael Downing, from Massachusetts, lost both his legs in an improvised explosive device attack, Delli-Pizzi said.
This was Delli-Pizzi's second year-long tour; his first, in 2004-05, was spent in Iraq. "When they call me, I go," he said.
Now back in West Islip with his wife, Beth, and their children, Maggie, 10, and Jack, almost 5, the 42-year-old Delli-Pizzi said it was great to be home: "They [Maggie and Jack] grew and are doing all kinds of good stuff."
One thing that kept the soldiers' families going was community support, he said, because it is not just the soldiers who are deployed but their families as well.
"These guys don't have the benefit of living on an active duty base where there's all this support and social services for families, wives and kids. So these communities have to step up. And Huntington really did," he said.
Before this last deployment, Delli-Pizzi spent a year on active duty where his commanding officer tasked him with creating a family readiness group. Delli-Pizzi quickly turned to his wife to take over as its president.
Even though most of its battalion is back home, the readiness group's work continues, taking care of employment and medical issues, posttraumatic stress disorder and family care, the lieutenant said.
"We don't just forget these guys when the mission's over. The mission to them is to stay ready, keep training, take care of themselves. We'll take care of them and be ready for the next call — that hopefully won't come — but train and be ready," he added.
In this recent tour, he said about half the men did security missions for American bases and convoys. A second group did security missions and private security for combat advisors, fighting alongside the Afghan police. Several others engaged in special forces "to train the police and Afghan army soldiers to the point where they could fight the insurgency in their own country with little or no coalition support."
He continued, "The bottom line is that these [Fighting 69th] guys are infantry troops. They're true, forward-ground guys in close personal contact with the enemy. So we've got a number of bronze stars, Army commendations, combat infantry badges, and, unfortunately, also a number of Purple Hearts."
The military goes by a one-in-seven rule: seven support soldiers for every forward person on the ground engaging the enemy, he explained. "These guys are that one of the one in seven. All military people have an important role, but these guys are trained and intended to make contact with the enemy."
His battalion experienced the entire spectrum of living conditions in bases and in remote areas throughout the country.
"I was down in southern Afghanistan. I was a company person for an Afghan infantry company. … My job was to fight with them, mentor them and bring to them coalition support," he said.
Though there have been many news reports about a revitalized insurgency and resurgent Taliban, Delli-Pizzi struck an optimistic note: "Our forces are doing a great job. And doing even more than we are asking them to do. So they're exceeding our expectations."
The biggest challenge is getting the police and army there to the point they can work together and fight the insurgency without coalition or U.S. support, he said: "And they're getting closer. They're doing good things and progressing."
As for the new president and his plans, Delli-Pizzi was reticent, saying only, "The military is removed from the whole political process. We're soldiers and specialty officers. We follow orders and execute the orders. It's a good thing about our country."
Sgt. Eric Farina, of the Fighting 69th's Huntington base, said they were sad to see Delli-Pizzi leave his post as platoon leader of Company B: "We missed his leadership. We missed his dedication to the men."
Calling the returning Fighting 69th veterans "triple volunteers," Farina said, "They volunteered for the military; they volunteered for the infantry; and then they volunteered for a second combat deployment in three years, which is quite impressive to me, being a one-tour veteran myself."
Delli-Pizzi expects to return to his civilian job, as Detective Delli-Pizzi for the New York Police Department. His most recent assignment: apprehending firearms out of a Manhattan precinct.
His service with the Fighting 69th has left a lasting impression: "I'm very impressed with the soldiers in the 69th. They're really a true a snapshot of our society. They're from every single walk of life, especially from Long Island. … And a lot of folks, it cost them a lot of money to come and serve. They decided to stand up and do the right thing."
THANK YOU TO THE FIGHTING 69TH AND THEIR FAMILIES FOR THEIR SERVICE AND SACRIFICES IN AFGHANISTAN AND THEIR DEDICATION AT HOME!!!!