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Issue date: 10/10/08 Section: Life

The War on Terror often seems so far away to many here in Joplin. One student this year, however, traveled to the war zone many only see on television. Now pursuing his degree at Missouri Southern, this soldier walks the tightrope of readjustment on campus every day.

"There's kind of a stigma that goes with being someone who's returned from the war," he said. "When people know that about you they have a lot of questions they want to ask. They kind of expect you to be really weird or psycho. I don't want people to take that into account when they meet me, but I also don't want to use it and be like, 'I'm a veteran! I deserve special treatment!' I just want to get my degree."

After spending a year in Afghanistan, he finds it difficult to open up about his time in the Middle East.

"I've noticed that people can't relate to my experience," he said. "It is pretty frustrating to hear students complain about how difficult their lives are. That makes it difficult to talk to people. Most days it is just easier to not tell anyone about it. I hate the question, 'What was it like over there?'"

Now, with everyone he meets, he elects not to talk about being in the war. Even with people who knew him previously, he feels misunderstood.

"I get the 'you just got back from Iraq right?' which reinforces the idea that they don't know what's going on and don't really know me," he said.

Even though the public's attitude toward the War on Terror shifted negatively during the last 7 years, he said it seems like most people are supportive of soldiers in spite of not supporting the war. He noticed the media focusing on other topics since his return.

"People seem a lot more concerned with the economy now than with the war, which is fine with me, because people around here talking about the war doesn't have any effect on it," he said with a laugh.

After five months of training in New Jersey, he shipped out to Afghanistan as a Sergeant in the Bravo Battery 1st of the 129th Field Artillery. He and his company stayed mostly in Kabul, the country's capital, from March 2007 - March 2008. Their responsibility was to safely transport a two-star General from meeting to meeting and to secure each location. Fortunately, this team managed to stay out of conflict - sometimes not by much.

"The first week I was there I was driving a mission, and 10 minutes after I arrived at the destination I got a phone call that there was an explosion on the road that we had just driven on," he said. "A convoy of American contractors had been hit by a suicide car-bomber. He filled his car with explosives and drove himself into their vehicle. That really helped the reality of it all to set in."

Continued...

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