Everyone has gone through or experienced something in their life that has changed them in some major way. It could be a dramatic experience such as losing someone close to them or a more positive one such as having a child or getting the promotion they’ve worked so hard for. For me it was my experience in the military or even more specific my 13 month tour in Iraq. During this experience I learned a lot about life in general, bonds that can be created during intense situations, and I also learned a descent amount about the Iraqi culture and their views towards American Troops. So I’d like to briefly talk about what made me decide to enlist in the military, the experiences that lead up to my deployment, my deployment to Iraq, and just how it over all affected me once it was all said and done.
1) To start off there are many parts to play when it came to my final decision to enlist in the US Army right out of high school.
a) Everyone really has different reasons to enlist. Some people did it for the money due to these rough economic times, others out of pure patriotism, some for the college fund, and for some being a soldier was just something that was in their blood. Now for me on the other hand I’d say it was a little bit of all of these reasons. First off I love this country for many reasons. I grew up taking advantage of my amazing lifestyle and various opportunities that I had at my disposal in which many people in this world don’t have. To a certain extend I always felt that it was important to put in my time and pay my dues to the country that has given me and my family so much. So being patriotic was one of the reasons I decided to join the military
b) It also felt like all of my buddies from high school had their lives planned out months before we were out of school and there I sat in the dust. Not sure what I wanted to do, whether it be go on to school or go right to finding a job. How would I pay for school if that was the direction I decided to pursue? So I talked to a recruiter and he told me about all the benefits of enlisting in the military and at the time it felt like the right path to follow.
c) Finally one of the most influential people in my life growing up would be my Grandpa Zeis. He was an infantryman in the US Army and served in the Korean War. He saw more things than he wanted to during his time in the military so therefore he was wary about me becoming an Infantryman during this time conflict. Although he tried to convince me not to enlist I could always tell he was proud of my decision. After my tour in Iraq he opened up and told me many stories about his time in Korea.
2) I feel that I can’t just tell talk about my experiences in Iraq without talking about my military experiences that led up to it.
a) First off there was the brutal experience that was basic training. When I was in the majority of all infantry was trained at Ft. Benning GA where in which I spent four consecutive months of my life training.
i) It was an eye opener that I could never have been ready for. Going from a great life with loving family and friends to a place where you know nobody was a big part of the harshness that was basic. And then there was the training. Four months of grueling training with no contact from the outside world other than using snail mail. So after the four months of being treated poorly with little sleep and hygiene we all got separated and thrown into our units that we would continue to train with up until our first deployment.
ii) I was stationed in Ft. Hood Texas and assigned to the Fourth Infantry Division which was mechanized. So over the next year and a half life was balanced with training and the occasional good time. Suffered through a lot of experiences with the same people for a very long time which made us all very close friends. Then our orders came down to deploy around March of 2008. During this time there were a lot of mixed feelings about the upcoming tour. For us newer soldiers at the time not knowing what to expect led to a lot of anxiety, but the only comforting thought was we were all going to face the upcoming challenges together.
iii) So eventually the time came to pack up and say good bye to our families/ wives/ children or whatever the case was. As you could imagine it wasn’t a good feeling. We ended up flying in to Kuwait where we would prepare our vehicles and equipment to go into Iraq where we would spend the next year running missions. Kuwait in its self was a shocker to me. It was a very hot country and was the very definition of a desert. One day when we were there we went out to a shooting range and there were wild camels roaming the country side. That was quite the sight for a small town Minnesota boy.
iv) Finally the day came for us to grab our gear and climb into the C-17 (I believe that was the plane anyways) that would take us to Baghdad Iraq. That was one uncomfortable but exhilarating flight to say the least. We ended up touching down in the green zone a few hours later where we would wait to be choppered in to the shit hole they called FOB (forward operation base) Rustimaya.
b) Once we got to our final destination it really hit home that we were in a worn torn country. Even though our initial experience wasn’t outside the wire everything was different from home. The smell, the climate, the people. It was still winter and it was 90 some degrees that first day we arrived and the smell was horrendous.
i) When we first got there we are kind of given a week or so to get settled in and during this time the Unit that is handing off their AO (Area of Operation) to us goes over all the details with our leadership. During this first week on FOB Rustimaya we were mortared continuously so our leadership had us fortify our areas with many sandbags. It felt like a solid week of bagging sand in the 100 plus degree temperatures.
ii) Then there was our first mission that we rolled outside of the wire into the unknown. It was just an eye opener seeing how the Iraqi people in that area lived. It was a poorer part of Iraq so it was just cluttered with garbage and wild dogs roaming the street. So with all of this clutter it was hard to look for one of the biggest killer of American troops during this time, EFPs and IEDs. Two types of roadside bombs that could be very devastating to our Humvees and MRAPS. So during this first experience outside the wire we take random small arms fire and an RPG attack. It was a very hostile time of the year so at this point we were all a little nervous about the next 11 months to come.
iii) Eventually during our tour we (the mortar platoon, roughly 26 people) was sent to a COP (Combat Outpost) which was basically a spaghetti factory that we occupied within the Iraqi population so we could respond to situations quicker. Here many of our amenities were limited including food and showers. We were stuck with eating meals in a bag (MRE’s)and showered once every couple of weeks. Which wasn’t very fun considering it hit 120 almost every day during the summer so as you could imagine we all smelled wonderfully. Not to mention we also had to burn out own fecal matter which was a real treat on those hot days.
iv) Despite all of the harsh conditions, getting blown up and shot at, it was interesting to move around in the country of Iraq. It would have been more interesting if we didn’t have to wear body armor and carry weapons but still something to see none the less.
v) When we were at the COP on occasions our interpreters would go out and get us some of the Iraqi bread which was delicious. I forgot what they called it exactly but it was a really delicious type of flat bread. We learned about the dos and don’ts of the Iraqi culture, how their families were set up, and about their religion. Obviously after living in the country for about a year you’re going to pick up on a few things.
vi) Overall I’d say 50 percent of Iraqis were welcoming and interested in us. Then you’d have the 45 percent of people who were indifferent about us being there or hated us but didn’t act on it. Then obviously you had the five percent that made the tour the nightmare that it was.
c) This was clearly an experience that will stick with me for the rest of my life. There are many ways in which my experiences in the military have changed my life.
i) After going through everything I went through there isn’t much these days that I get worked up about. I’m a lot happier about the little things I have in life versus focusing on the things I don’t have.
ii) I try and keep my family and friends close because you never know what life may throw at you.
iii) I have a shot at getting a good education thanks to the military. Even though I severely got out of the groove that is school I’m going to keep pushing myself through it.
Everyone during their lifetime will come upon experiences that will change them forever. I had mine at a younger age and I feel it has shaped me into the person that I am today. There is really no way I could sum up all of my military experiences in this paper but the main point I wanted to get across was it had a huge impact on me. I made many close friends during those four years and got experience life in ways many people never will. Although I wouldn’t want to repeat my tour in Iraq I really did learn a lot when I was there.
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