Corey Cole To Be Deployed to Bahrain; Family Waits
Coast Guard Boatswain Mate’s Sacrifice One of Many Made in The Fight Against Terrorism
By Ryan Schlehuber

Corey Cole, a member of the United States Coast Guard stationed in St. Ignace, will be deployed to Bahrain June 12 for a year’s service. He married Mariah Horn of Mackinac Island June 4 and is expecting a baby daughter in September.

Corey Cole made a decision to serve in the Persian Gulf a year ago and is off to his new assignment this weekend, even though it now means leaving a son, a new wife, and an unborn child behind. He sought the transfer for what he calls a retribution for American lives lost to terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Mr. Cole, 26, is a 2nd class boatswain mate with the U.S. Coast Guard at Station St. Ignace, where he has been stationed for the past five years. He served for two years at the Sault Ste. Marie station before that.

He and Mariah Horn of Mackinac Island and Trout Lake were married at Tahquamenon Falls Saturday, June 4. The couple is expecting a baby daughter September 12, which is Mr. Cole’s birthday and the day after the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Mr. Cole has a three-year-old son, Zachary, from another marriage, who lives with his mother in Sault Ste. Marie. He also helps care for Mariah’s son, three-and-a-half-year-old Joseph, from her first marriage.

He is to be deployed Sunday, June 12, to Bahrain, where he will be part of a 20-person crew on a 110-foot patrol boat, one of several Coast Guard boats that will provide security for nearby ports and waterways. The boats will dock only for supplies and fuel, he said.

Bahrain, an archipelago of 33 islands, is an independent state in the southern Persian Gulf between the Qatar Peninsula and Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Cole said he pondered whether going overseas now is the best decision but intends to keep the commitment he made before he met Mariah. It will be easier knowing both his new wife and their sons will be well taken care of by family members, he said. Still, his wife has reservations about him leaving.

“I just don’t want him to go,” she said.

She will continue to work with her parents, Joe and Linda Horn, at their landscaping and horse board and lease business.

To date, more than 1,650 soldiers have lost their lives since the war in Iraq began last year. More than 700 civilians have lost their lives since Iraq’s new government was announced in April.

“What I fear the most is having fear overcome me,” said Mr. Cole of his anticipated service in the Persian Gulf. “I’m not afraid of dying. I’m obviously concerned for Mariah, Zach, and my new daughter without me here.”

Mr. Cole said Zachary may miss his father somewhat but he has adjusted to not being able to see his father each day.

“I tried telling Zach what I’m doing and where I’m going, but he doesn’t understand just yet,” Mr. Cole said. “Some day I hope to be able to tell my kids that I served our country. I will be proud to call myself a veteran.”

Mr. Cole grew up in Pleasantville, Pennsylvania. His father, Richard, is a trucker and his mother, Sharon, a former nurse assistant. He was graduated from Chestnut Ridge High School in 1997 and worked on his grandparents’ farm until he enlisted in the Coast Guard in April 1998, quenching his youthful thirst to be part of a law enforcement program.

As a child, he reveled in war movies and police shows and longed to be a police officer. That passion for law enforcement is still with him, as he hopes to gain experience in law enforcement or become a boat captain after he returns from Bahrain and finishes his service in the Coast Guard.

Several relatives have served in the military. Uncle Larry Cole served as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam and cousin Bud Ellis lost both legs there while serving in the Army. Uncle Gerald Claycomb served in the Air Force for more than 20 years and Uncle Paul Cole served in the Air Force for three years.

The Coast Guard is the only armed service that falls under the Department of Homeland Security, moved there from the federal Department of Transportation after September 11, 2001. The Coast Guard has been involved in the Iraqi struggle since the beginning under the largest Coast Guard mobilization since World War II.

Today, 39,000 men and women serve on active duty, with 3,100 on selective reserve.