Persian Gulf Puts Sprinter’s World on Hold

Tim Martin dreams of the perfect track season. He mows lawns. He goes bowling.

Anything to escape the worries of approaching war.

Martin’s father, George, is a chief warrant officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, based at Camp Pendleton. George Martin lives with Tim, a senior track standout at San Clemente High, in a three-bedroom house on the base in San Onofre.

The base is quiet these days. The atmosphere is eerie. Most of the military personnel has already shipped out to the Persian Gulf and families wait anxiously for their return.

George Martin has already packed his bags--toothbrush and gas mask. He waits for his call to go. Tim tries not to think about it, busying himself with school, sports, chores.

As the county’s top sprinter, Tim has many goals for the upcoming track and field season. He wants to win the state 100-meter title. He wants to set records. But most of all, hewants his father to be beside him after each race. Especially the first one.

Tim will defend his title in the boys’ 50 meters at the Sunkist Invitational Jan. 18 in the Sports Arena. He says he hopes to repeat his Sunkist performance of last year, but most of all, he wants his father to be there.

The Sunkist meet is important, Tim says, because Jan. 18 is his father’s 46th birthday. More important, it’s three days after the United Nations-imposed deadline for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to withdraw from Kuwait.

Tim figures if his father can go to the Sunkist meet, he probably won’t be going to the Persian Gulf. A simple equation for complex times.

Tim will turn 18 Thursday. On Friday, he will escort his girlfriend, Chasity Washington, to the school’s Winter Formal. He will wear a black-and-white tux with a polka-dot cummerbund, to match Chasity’s gown.

This should be a happy time for a high school senior who grew up a mere jog down the beach from Trestles, one of California’s most coveted surfing spots. But since the Persian Gulf crisis began, Tim has heard responsibility calling.

Chasity’s father has been stationed in the Persian Gulf for the past two months. Tim helps Chasity’s mother around the house, running errands, mowing the lawn, giving children haircuts.

“It’s real quiet around here,” Tim says. “Fathers aren’t out mowing their lawns anymore.”

Tim lives with his father. They cook for each other, watch sports on TV together and attend church.

Tim says when his father goes abroad, he will probably live with his mother (in Oceanside) or with his 22-year-old sister. His sister could use the help. Her husband, a Marine sergeant, shipped out last weekend for the Middle East, leaving her behind with the couple’s 7-month-old son.

“Right now, I’m just really worried,” Tim says. “I don’t want my dad to go, but I know he’ll probably have to. It just drives me crazy.

“Sometimes I wish they’d just drop a big bomb on the Middle East and get it over with. Then everyone could come home and families could get back together again . . .”

Tim watches the news at night--”Every hour, every channel,” he says--to learn as much as he can about what’s going on.

“I want to see what’s going through George Bush’s mind,” he says.

Lately, his grades have dropped from a B to a C average. He says he doesn’t think it has anything to do with the Gulf crisis. Still, he’s working on keeping them up so he’ll be able to get into a four-year college after high school.

“If my dad goes, he’d want me to continue on like I would if he was here,” Tim says. “So I concentrate on school and track. I haven’t told him this yet, but I’m dedicating my season to him this year. I really want to win the state meet--and Sunkist, too--for him.”

One hopes George Martin will be there to witness the occasion.

Barbie Ludovise’s column appears Wednesday and Sunday.