Four years after the invasion of Iraq, debate continues over U.S. involvement and over President George Bush’s plan to send additional troops.
One thing remains unquestioned: the dedication of thousands of Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen who sacrificed time away from home and family – and in some cases much more – to serve in the war on terror.
The Sun Chronicle recently revisited returned servicemen to find out how they are getting on in their lives, what their time in Iraq and Afghanistan meant to them and whether recent policy moves have affected their perception of the mission.
Brian Andrade
For Maj. Brian Andrade, brigade personnel officer for the Massachusetts National Guard’s 79th Troop Command, the ongoing debate over the conduct of the Iraq war is a policy issue, and not a soldier’s business to pursue.
“As far as the politics are concerned, it’s not something I get involved with,” said the Attleboro resident who served with the Rehoboth-based 42nd Division Artillery during an 18-month activation that included several months in Kuwait and Iraq.
Andrade, who returned home with more than 100 members of the 42nd in October 2005, continues to work full time for the Guard. The unit he deployed with has since been deactivated, but many of the soldiers in his command have been absorbed by the 79th.
Andrade, who’s happy to be back again with his wife, Chris, and daughter, Nicole, nonetheless harbors many positive memories of his time in Iraq.
“People don’t understand when I tell them there are things about it I miss,” said Andrade, who spoke of a tight bond with fellow soldiers deployed just outside Tikrit. “A lot of it was that things were very structured, more focused.”
Andrade, with 25 years in the service, expects to come up for promotion soon, and plans to continue his career in the Guard. Now that he’s spending more time at home, the Attleboro officer is enjoying his 6-year-old daughter, and says they’re both trying to learn to play the guitar given to her at a concert by members of the Trans Siberian Orchestra.
What seems clear to Andrade is that whether the United States ultimately succeeds in Iraq depends not only on American forces, but how Iraqi civilians and military respond to the challenge of rebuilding and governing their country.
He’s also somewhat skeptical of media coverage that continues to stress terror and disorder which, he said, doesn’t match his experiences in Iraq.
“I wonder what the picture will look like six months from now,” he said.
Paul Couturier
Paul Couturier came home from Iraq with a sense of accomplishment – and pique over anti-war protests.
The North Attleboro resident, a captain in the Massachusetts National Guard, returned from Iraq three years ago after helping repair water facilities there.
Couturier was in Iraq during the capture of former dictator Saddam Hussein, and arrived home with a sense of pride that allied forces had opened the way for democracy.
But after returning home, Couturier said he was angered by persistent criticism of U.S. policy, and was disgusted at voter turnouts of less than 30 percent at local elections back home. Iraqis, he remembered, had literally risked their lives to participate en masse in the first free elections after the fall of Hussein.
“I thought, this is what I spent a year in Iraq for?” he said.
Couturier also remains a vocal critic of the mainstream media, which he said has scarcely reported on anything more positive than an exploding roadside bomb in connection with the Iraq war. In reality, he said schools were rebuilt, water lines repaired and security upgraded.
“The average Iraqi was very grateful for what we did,” he said. “I think I left Iraq a better place.”
Couturier remains a member of the Guard and has become active in politics, working with State Sen. Scott Brown, R-Wrentham, to introduce legislation authorizing an Operation Iraqi Freedom decal on Massachusetts license plates issued to Iraq veterans.
A field engineer for an Uxbridge technology company, Couturier spends much of his time working throughout the Midwest.
Jim Miller
Jim Miller of Attleboro, a full-time staff sergeant with the Army National Guard’s Reading-based 272nd Chemical Company, was based near Bayjii, Iraq, during 2004 and 2005.
His remains in the military, but his life has changed considerably since he returned home.
Miller recently became engaged, and he’s readying his Water Street condo for sale because he and his future wife plan to make their home in Uxbridge. He’s also thinking of leaving the full-time Guard.
Miller says his time in Iraq has made a permanent impact on the way he sees the world.
“I don’t take as much for granted as I used to,” said Miller.
He recalls villages near his base in Iraq lacked running water and basic security for their citizens. U.S. forces brought in water and food.
The Attleboro resident says he views the United States as having suffered setbacks in Iraq since he was stationed there.
“It seems like we’ve taken a couple of steps backward,” he said.
Yet it’s hard to judge, Miller said, because the news media concentrate on bombings and the insurgency, rather than on improvements that were made because of the American presence.
Miller said schools and mosques were rebuilt and water lines were repaired while he was in Iraq.
Virtually all of Miller’s adult life has been spent in the military.
He joined the Army out of high school 14 years ago. With no money for college, he sought out the Guard as a way to achieve his dreams. He’s attended college classes while in the military, and is only a few credits away from a business degree.
Miller also met his girlfriend in the Guard.
The Attleboro sergeant says another deployment frankly isn’t something he’d look forward to, and is hoping to settle down.
He recently applied for a job with the Attleboro Police Department.
“At this point in my life, I’m looking for something with a little more permanence,” he said.
Todd Kobus
Fifteen months ago, National Guard intelligence specialist Todd Kobus stepped off a bus to pick up where he’d left off in his life and a stateside job in the computer industry.
After 18 months away from home, much of it in Iraq, incidental pleasures such as a cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and driving his own car took on special meaning.
“It took a little longer than I expected to settle back into the routine, but I’m happy the way my life is going now,” said Kobus, a senior software engineer at Watters Inc.
Kobus spent the better part of a year in Kuwait and Iraq with the Rehoboth-based 42nd Division Artillery, and became known locally for a military blog he authored, lostiniraq.com. The Web site, packed with photographs, videos and irreverent humor, was widely read among the military and their family members.
With the deactivation of the 42nd, Kobus is now assigned to the 26th Brigade Combat team at Fort Devens.
Kobus says he’s glad he went to Iraq, and called the time he spent together with his fellow soldiers “one of the best experiences I’ve had in my life.” He said he’s not anxious to be deployed again, only because it would take more time away from his civilian life and career.
The Attleboro resident recently spoke to students at Case High School in Swansea about his experiences.
Kobus recently received a promotion at work and bought a house in Attleboro. He frequently corresponds with his Iraq military buddies, several of whom attended his local New Year’s Eve party.
“We still feel like we’re part of a family,” he said.
With discussion of Iraq intensified because of President Bush’s policy moves, Kobus says it’s been a time for himself and other Americans to reflect. For the record, however, Kobus is keeping his opinions to himself.
“I debate with people all the time over whether we should or shouldn’t be there,” the Attleboro soldier said. “My only concern is that I don’t want it to be for nothing.
Paul Jacques
In Iraq, Attleboro firefighter Paul Jacques has filled the role of rescuer and hero for soldiers wounded in bombing attacks, and to military men who needed better protective equipment to keep them alive in a combat zone.
Now that he’s back, he’s more than content to play dad to his 3 -year-old son, Brodie. After months of responding to fires and car bombings and being subjected to insurgent attacks, time at home with his family seems ever more precious.
“It’s something that always was important to me,” the Air Force reservist said. “But when you come home it, makes you look at your priorities.”
Jacques, an Air Force firefighter based at Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod, returned home from a six-month deployment in October.
While in Iraq, he responded to more than 400 emergencies – often to extricate victims from blasted vehicles.
“They were all pretty intense,” Jacques said.
Jacques also won unsought recognition for his efforts to retrofit military helmets to minimize blast injuries. The Attleboro man sought and received the backing of firefighters’ groups back home for money to upgrade hundreds of helmets.
The resulting drive raised tens of thousands of dollars – and elicited a commendation from a three-star general.
Getting back in the daily routine after military service wasn’t hard, Jacques said, because he functions as a firefighter both in the Air Force and in his hometown. But loud noises, such as the fire alarm bell, sometimes startle him now.
Jacques said he feels a particularly close bond with other Air Force personnel with whom he served, as well as Iraqis and volunteers from other nations.
“There’s a lot of people I met with whom I’ll be friends forever,” he said.
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