A happy reunion

Far removed from the violent slums of Sadr City in Iraq, where a militant's bullet broke his upper left arm five weeks ago, Army Capt. Nick Countouriotis plans to spend a tranquil Mother's Day at a family reunion in Petaluma.

The brunch with his mother, father, brother and sister will be calm enough, but then the three Countouriotis men will hit the road on shiny, rumbling Harley-Davidsons.

"Riding's pretty big in our family," said Nick's brother, Marine Staff Sgt. Demetrius Countouriotis.

Motorcycles and military service run in the family, which hasn't been together for a Mother's Day since 1999 because of wartime deployments.

"It's good to finally be able to relax and not worry about anything," Nick, 25, said on the living-room couch Saturday. The cast came off his arm last week, and he expects to recover fully, except for some numbness in his arm, and return to Iraq in June.

"I'm ready to get back over there so I can help the team out," he said. "I know they're hurting pretty bad."

On April 7, two days after Nick was wounded and evacuated, a roadside bomb blew up under their Humvee, fatally injuring the team commander and seriously wounding three other soldiers.

Nick serves on a military transition team, or MiTT, advising an Iraqi army battalion engaged in the crackdown begun in late March on the Mahdi Army, a militia controlled by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

From its stronghold in Sadr City, a sprawling slum of 2.5 million people, the Mahdi forces are firing rockets and mortar shells into Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, where Iraqi government offices and the U.S. Embassy are housed.

One shelling in early April killed two U.S. troops and wounded 17. As many as 1,000 Iraqis have died and thousands of Iraqi families have fled Sadr City since the violence erupted.

Nick was in a Sadr City building on April 5 when militants attacked with small-arms fire. An Iraqi soldier fell outside, and Nick, telling his men to remain secure in their Humvee, ventured out under fire to help the man.

"We were with these people every day," he said. "That's as close as you can come to brotherhood, as soldiers."

The man was not seriously hurt, and as Nick headed back to the building he was flattened by the force of a bullet, which went through his arm, breaking the bone. Back inside, another Iraqi soldier helped him secure a tourniquet, halting the bleeding from his arm.

Nick's father, Army Lt. Col. Steve Countouriotis, 56, answered the phone on the morning of April 5. He quickly relayed the message to his wife, Debbie, 52: "Nick's been shot, but he's OK."

Debbie, a Marin County teacher, said she knew it couldn't be too bad. A knock on the door means your loved one is dead or gravely wounded. A phone call means no one's life is in danger.

Her husband, both sons and her daughter, Army Reserve Capt. Alethea Bordwell, all have served in Iraq since 2003. Steve has served two tours in Afghanistan and two in Iraq since 1991.

Nick and Demetrius were both in Iraq until April.

"It's very unsettling to go day-by-day just worrying," Debbie said. "It's something you just have to live with. You can't change it."

Demetrius, 29, who was based at Haditha with a Marine infantry unit, said he was frustrated the day his brother was shot.

"I never felt so helpless in my life," Demetrius said. "I was only 200 miles away, and there was nothing I could do."

The brothers grew up together, both graduating from Terra Linda High School, and always "taking care of each other," Demetrius said.

He is the family's lone Marine and just completed his second tour in Iraq. He soon will return to his base in Houston. He signed up right after high school in 1997 and will serve nine more years, likely returning to Iraq.

Nick has about 11 months left on his second Iraq tour.

For now, Debbie Countouriotis said she sleeps better at night, at least as well as a mother can.

"Now, I worry about them driving around at home," she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.