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Gunnery Sgt. Brian LaPointe, right, a native of El Paso, Texas,
serves as the motor transportation company first sergeant for Marine
Wing Support Squadron 371 at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan.
LaPointe's son, Lance Cpl. Hugh Cuturia, is also deployed to
Afghanistan as an infantryman with 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine
Regiment. Courtesy Photo, Oct. 22, 2011
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CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan -- Sept. 11, 2001, was Hugh Cuturia's
8th birthday.
“I think that's when it actually struck,” said
his father, Brian LaPointe, a Marine Corps gunnery sergeant deployed
to Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. “He was up, looking around for his
presents. He came and got me and said something's wrong. I think it
brought him to want to join the Marine Corps.”
Cuturia is
now 18, a Marine lance corporal serving on the front lines in
Helmand province, Afghanistan, with 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine
Regiment.
“This is his very first time away from the family
over the holidays,” said LaPointe, a native of El Paso, Texas. “But
in a way it's not, because he's got me out here.”
Separated
by just a stretch of Afghan desert, the father and son have been
able to visit a couple of times since LaPointe arrived in theater in
September. |
“It's a lot of fun seeing him,” LaPointe said. “I
can see him
wondering, ‘Do I say dad or gunny?'”
“I'll settle for anything,” LaPointe added, “I love the
kid to death.”
As an infantryman,
Cuturia patrols a region that includes Afghanistan's Marjah
district. Once a hotbed of insurgent violence, Marjah and
the outlaying areas in southwestern Afghanistan have
recently shown signs of tremendous progress.
“I
don't like the job he's doing now, but a year ago it would
have been a lot worse,” said LaPointe, the motor
transportation company first sergeant for Marine Wing
Support Squadron 371.
�
Marine Wing Support Squadron
371 provides aviation ground support for coalition aircraft
in southwestern Afghanistan, so much of LaPointe's work
focuses on supporting frontline infantrymen like his son.
“We'll do convoys out to him and his guys,” LaPointe
said. “Everything that needs to get moved, everything that
needs to be transported from site to site, we take care of
it all.”
LaPointe said having his son enter “the
family business” has done great things for his character.
“As soon as he finished boot camp, he started talking
like a man,” LaPointe said. “The Marine Corps gave him that
boost, it was what he needed to grow up.”
Now father
and son are together in Afghanistan, working as part of a
coalition of NATO and Afghan forces determined to bring
peace to the region.
“It's kind of weird seeing
him,” said LaPointe. “A couple of years ago, he was scared,
driving a little Pontiac Fiero I bought him for his
birthday. Now he's driving the lead vehicle on convoys.”
By USMC Cpl. Brian Adam Jones
2nd Marine Aircraft Wing
(Forward)
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2011
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