Tradition

missing his daughter’s birthdays. “This is life in the military, and my wife and I knew what we were getting into
when we joined. We knew what we were getting into when we got married. We all want to do our job.”
Dante met Robin, 37, while both were living
in Albany, New York in the mid-1990s and
married in 2001. Best Man was Mark
Hoprich (82) and Groomsman was John
Kaminski (82). Ryan Downey (2009), Emily
Downey, (2011) and Dan Downey, children
and husband of Dawn Laba Downey (85)
were also in the wedding. Married for almost
6 years, Dante has been away from his family
for most of that time. He is expected to
return home in June 2007.
Yet Dante focuses on the positive, sharing
fascinating stories and some amazing photos
of the places he’s been, including pictures of
Saddam Hussein’s former palace, ancient and
historic sites, such as the Hanging Gardens
of Babylon, the Egyptian Pyramids, and the
ancient city of Ur, the Biblical birthplace of Abraham. While he marvels at some of the impressive monuments he’s
seen, Dante is quick to point out that other villages and towns are in ruins, many never even rebuilt from the first
Gulf War.
His favorite duty in Iraq is accompanying medical personnel to orphanages. “One of my favorite parts of a
deployment is interacting with the children. They are not much different than the children in the United States.
Kids are kids. And many are so cute. I visited the orphanages in 2003. I haven’t had the opportunity to do that
now,” he said. “I personally did not give medical aid to the children. I just played with them for a couple of hours.”
“I still support what we do. I still believe this is a
war on terror. We need to see this through.”
While Dante can joke about his Army-issued eyeglasses, he chokes up remembering a party for Italian soldiers who
were due to go home in two days. The next morning, they were killed by a suicide bomber. Friends now gone
before the film from his camera was even used up, picturing the revelry from the night before. “There are some
great, tough, and tragic experiences from my deployments, especially from 2003 to 2004. Fortunately, the good
outweighed the bad,” he says matter-of-factly.
A third generation military man, Dante has represented his unit as a Liaison Officer with the Multi-National Division
- Central South, a coalition of Eastern European Armies led by the Polish Army. Stationed in Babylon, Dante
worked with the Polish Army in their transition to take over an area for logistical support as the Marines were
redeploying back to the U.S. During that time, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld paid a visit, and the
accompanying photo of Rumsfeld and Dante ran on Yahoo. “I had my 15 minutes of fame,” he jokes. Currently a
member of a Military Transition Team, Dante is embedded with an Iraqi infantry battalion, where he serves as a
11.Tradition.Winter07