Coast Guard reservist back on native shoreBy BEN FINLEY
PhillyBurbs.com
6/17/2008 6:52:42 AM
MIDDLETOWN - Jennifer Piechoski spent nine months watching over American interests in the Persian Gulf.
Open windows.
They'll be plenty of them now that Jennifer Piechoski is back home in Middletown's Cobalt Ridge.
After being stationed in Kuwait for nine months, she could now open a window without dust swallowing the room.
“I will love the rain,” she added Monday night as dark clouds gathered above, her desert fatigues contrasting with the lush lawn of her childhood home.
The Coast Guard reservist's homecoming marked one accomplishment of many for the 27-year-old.
Since graduating from Neshaminy High School, Piechoski earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from York College and a master's degree in counseling from Rider University. She interned at Pennsbury High School's Twilight Program and counseled at risk youth at Penndel Mental Health.
She completed an 18-month stint of active duty in New York City in 2005. Her unit oversaw security throughout the city's complex system of ports and waterways, keeping an eye on anything from kayakers to the Staten Island Ferry to oil barges.
She completed officer school before heading off to the Persian Gulf.
There, the coast guard lieutenant served with the Naval Coastal Warfare Squadron 21. The squad watched over parts of the gulf, with its oil platforms and ships carrying American military supplies and who knows what else.
Piechoski said they sometimes boarded other ships.
What kind of ships?
“Don't worry about that,” she said.
Basically, they made sure “the USS Cole [which was bombed in Yemen by terrorists in 2000] didn't happen again.”
And it didn't.
The long hours were punctuated by care packages from her parents, Melinda and Joe Piechoski. A swarm of soldiers would surround the Levittown native as she shared the coffee creamers, Tastykakes, homemade brownies and alfredo sauce.
Joe and Melinda said they knew their daughter was much safer than soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. But on Monday they were considerably relieved, anyway.
The stress of having Jennifer in the Middle East has disappeared, leaving pride — not just for this achievement but for all of them.
“She sets goals for herself and then crosses them off a list,” her mom said. “That is what she's done all her life.”
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