10/30/08 Marine Welcomed Home From Afghanistan - Greenwich Citizen

Riverside resident Debbie Schiano and her son, U.S. Marine Joseph Schiano, share a welcome-home embrace.

(Contributed Photo)

After returning from an overseas stay last week, 20-year-old Riverside resident Joseph Schiano enjoyed some catching up time with friends over dinner at Glory Days Diner. Chatting about the time away was pretty exciting, because he is not your average college kid doing a semester abroad. He's a U.S. Marine who just returned on home leave from a tour of active combat duty in Afghanistan.

The deployment began with arrival at Kandahar Airbase in Afghanistan, some weeks of local training and then the mission, which was called "Operation Avada Wosa," according to Schiano.

The details of the mission are classified, but Schiano was able to tell the Greenwich Citizen that it lasted 139 days and took place in the southern Helm and ....

....And they weren't able to do that with the Taliban there."

When Schiano's Marine unit left the region, one of the most satisfying views in the rearview mirror was the miles and miles of farmland bulging with corn, wheat, vegetables and other crops - not the poppy fields that had been there when they arrived.

The road to Afghanistan began Feb. 12, 2006 with 13 weeks of boot camp in Parris Island, S.C. Schiano says boot camp is a lot like what you see in the movies - the drill instructors yelling out orders, doing obstacles courses, etc.

"It's kind of like where they take you and break you down from your civilian mentality and turn you into a Marine. You learn all of your core values and basically just learn how to be a Marine... It's a lot nicer leaving (boot camp) than coming in."

Schiano graduated May 12 and after a 10-day rest back home in Riverside, began Infantry School in Camp Geiger.....

.....His mother on the other hand, had a different reaction. "I wanted to kill him. I wanted to strangle him," said Debbie Schiano, when she learned her son wanted to enlist. "Because I was afraid... It's a bad time, the war is going on and the media always talks about the bad and you don't want your kids to (be in harm's way). But then I realized that it's his life, it's his decision to make. Now, I feel that it's the best decision he ever made. It gave him direction where he didn't have direction. It's matured him. He's grown up."

Three years ago, Schiano admits he was an unfocused, hard-partying 17-year-old with little vision of his own future. Now, after enlisting, successfully completing boot camp and infantry training and a tour in Afghanistan, he says his life has changed. "This is one of the best things I've ever done," said Schiano of making the decision in 2006 to enlist. "Before, I was definitely really, really immature. I think for me, I've grown up. I've decided who I am and who I want to be."

While he was overseas, his mother, sister Nicole, 18, and brother Tyler, 15, communicated with Schiano via CARE packages, letters, some e-mail and phone calls. They updated his Facebook page so friends like Phil Ayache could check it and post notes on the wall for Joe. Ayache, who has known Schiano since sixth grade, says he sees his friend happier than ever.

"He's stopped doing things that aren't going to get you anywhere. He's motivated He knows what he wants to do."

While home, he enjoys his passion of working on high performance cars - and hopes some day to open a business doing this. Schiano will be returning to Afghanistan in January and will be discharged in 2011.

"Joe really matured while he was over there," said Ayache. "I see him happier than ever."

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