By JEANINE GORE, Half Moon Bay Review
Scott Nolan was stationed in Kuwait when he heard about the fire that ravaged Cunha's Country Grocery store half a world away.
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Nolan, a 27-year-old U.S. National Guard specialist, didn't think there was much he could do to help.
After all, he had his orders, and
was about to embark with a two-day military convoy headed toward Baghdad.
Then, 80 miles into the war-torn country, he learned about the second tragedy to strike his family in less than a week.
Just days after the 100-year-old building burned to the ground, a commanding officer informed him that his mother-in-law, Sharon "Cherie" Cunha, had died abruptly of a heart attack.
The news hit Scott like a stomach punch, he said.
He knelt to collect his reeling thoughts, he added - mostly centering on his wife Rachelle, whom he imagined sitting home in Half Moon Bay, crying.
"I was very sad that my mother-in-law died. I mean, I loved her, too," he said.
"But my first priority was, I've got to get home to take care of my wife."
And with the funeral visitation scheduled less than a day away, he had to do it fast.
For four months, Scott had been working with the 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army to provide support in the form of water, fuel, supplies and maintenance to the legendary 101st Airborne Division.
Until the two tragedies struck, he had been somewhat enjoying the adventure and Spartan accommodations associated with military life in the field.
"Even when the conditions were terrible, it was kind of like one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences that nobody should pass up," he said.
"I've slept with an M-16. I can honestly say I've been shot at."
If anything, he said, witnessing
such a drastically different society,
one marked by poverty and children begging in the streets, made him
thankful for all the everyday luxuries in the United States - things such as cold running water, and ice. These are things that, before experiencing temperatures of 126 degrees in the shade, he'd taken for granted.
Scott was granted emergency leave and took a red-eye United Airlines Boeing 757 from Kuwait, where - after passing through 24 hours and 11 time zones - he made it to San Francisco International Airport.
He hopped in his mother's red Mazda Miata and sped to the wake, making it, thanks to an 11-hour time difference, with an hour to spare before Mass.
He hugged Rachelle like never before.
"It was really a conflicting set of emotions," Scott said.
"On one hand, it felt so good to be home. On the other hand, I wish it didn't have to be for this reason."
Rachelle agreed the reunion was bittersweet.
"It was really difficult because I was very excited he was home and anxious to see him," she said. "But at the same time I was so sad that my mother had just died and our business had just burned to the ground. So it was mixed feelings."
It has been about two weeks since the funeral, and still, Scott said, it feels a little strange to be home, especially when he catches himself reaching into the fridge for a bottle of water to wash his hands with.
But with each passing day, things are falling into place. He said Rachelle is still having a "pretty hard time" coping with the grief and because of that, he hopes the military will grant him permanent leave.
"You just see her sitting there, just staring off in the distance.
"She'll say 'I miss my mom,' and all I can say is, 'I miss her, too.'
"It's kind of like the Army has a special place in my heart," he said, "and so does my family.
"But right now my family needs me a lot more than the Army does."
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