`COMING HOME WAS A DREAM'; YEAR LATER, AREA VETERANS REFLECT ON THE GULF WAR

When all was said and done, the best thing about it was coming home.

"Getting to come home was like a dream. It took awhile for it to sink in that I wouldn't be sleeping in a sleeping bag in the desert anymore," said Chris McNeely of Cape Girardeau, a Marine who spent seven months in the Middle East. Some of that time was spent as an artillery man on the front lines in Kuwait.

Though it will be a year ago this week since the Gulf War began, McNeely and other veterans say hostilities in the region remain.

"We did a very good job in what we set out to do," said McNeely. "But there are still lingerings of the Iraqi army, and Saddam Hussein is still in power. The destruction of his military power wasn't taken care of."

Harold Cobb of Chaffee, who has been in the Navy since 1979, said memories of his months in the Middle East are filled with images of black, oil-filled water and burning oil fields.

Cobb and his unit were sent to the region after the war had ended to help restore and rebuild it. His ship was used to escort other ships filled with food or troops through mine fields in the Persian Gulf.

"The water turns darker and darker blue, and once you get closer, it's black," Cobb said. "And you can see the fires burning from 40 miles away."

But in addition to the physical destruction caused by Saddam's army, there are also other scars.

"I don't think it is over yet," Cobb said. "There are still hard feelings over there between the Arabs and everybody else.

"I think our military did an outstanding job over there, but I think it will flare up again. It's still a hot spot."

Cobb isn't the only member of his family to serve in the Gulf War. His youngest brother Donnie, 20, was a member of Army's 101st Airborne Division and a medic in Kuwait City.

Last weekend was the first time in more than a year and since the war that the two brothers had seen each other. The eldest Cobb returns to his base in Hawaii this week, and Donnie Cobb has already returned to his base in Kentucky.

The two spent time last weekend talking about the war and Donnie's experiences.

"He faced death," Harold Cobb said of his youngest brother. "His unit took fire and some people who were standing beside him were killed. There are things he talked to me about that he said he can't talk to anyone else about."

Cobb said there were some differences in the way he and his brother feel about the war. As a career military man, participating in a war was something he had always been ready to do. But for his brother, a newlywed when he left for the Middle East, fighting a war was something unexpected.

"But," he said, "we both know it's something we had to do. With the Gulf War, the world stood up to Saddam Hussein and said `we're not going to take this anymore.'"

Randy Zimmerman of Scott City, a platoon leader in a the 358th Military Police Unit, says his experiences in the war changed his life.

Zimmerman worked with the civilian relief operation and with Iraqi soldiers who had been taken prisoner.

"It's given me a different perspective on life. I'm grateful for everything I have," he said.

Zimmerman said many of the civilians were devastated by the war, and most had only the clothes on their back.

"They were like the homeless. They wouldn't have had food or water without someone else's help. Even with the prisoners, it was hard not to have sympathy for them."

He said the problems in the Middle East were far from settled when the U.S. chose to end the war. "When I left it wasn't over. I feel we pulled out a little too soon, but that's only one person's opinion."

McNeely said that though the war changed the way he views life, it's only logical that one year later, Americans aren't talking about it much anymore. Worries about the economy have taken the place of a "war victory high," he said.

"I didn't expect everyone to stay hyped up forever. People didn't stay hyped up about World War II for long."

But he added his experiences in the Middle East are something he won't soon forget. "Being shot at really makes you cherish life more."

McNeely, whose wife Lisa is expecting the couple's first child in May, said they will return to their California base on Tuesday.

"I'm trying to carry on with my life just like before the war," he said. "But I know now how precious life is, and I know never to take it for granted."