Soldiers share stories of war

Images of the war in Iraq often are filtered through the lenses of cameras and the words of media reports.

But five young military police officers offered a new perspective to students assembled in Manning Hall on Tuesday night at an event sponsored by Carolina Troop Supporters.

“CNN will give you one story. We give you another,” said Army Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey Gassaway of San Diego.

He said Operation Iraqi Freedom is necessary to restore order to the country because there were no courts and no justice system under the former dictator’s iron fist.

“You ask 90 percent of Iraqis, they want freedom,” he said. “That’s something that they didn’t have under Saddam (Hussein). … Back then, if you were a drug dealer, they took you out back with an AK47 and that was it.”

First Lt. Maurice McKinney said January’s free elections caused a lot of excitement.

“After the elections, the mood changed tremendously over there,” he said. “After the weekend, some of the guys we knew still had the blue ink on their fingers just to show us. They were so proud of themselves.”

McKinney said one of the main jobs of his group was to train the Iraqi military police.

“A lot of these guys have been (Iraqi policemen) for 18 years and were caught under Saddam’s rule,” he said. “We had to teach them ethics, first aid (and) weapon handling. Some guys came in who didn’t even know how to drive a car.”

There are many distractions provided for officers to occupy themselves with during their off time in Iraq, including video games, movies, books, workout facilities and even a beauty parlor.

“President Bush has spent a lot of money to make sure that when it came down to the wire, we had something else to think about,” Gassaway said.

He was adamant that Bush takes care of troops’ practical needs as well.

“You hear everything about ‘They don’t have any armor, they don’t have any armor,’” he said. “They’re shipping it over as fast as they can. The new armor that President Bush sent over has saved a lot of lives.”

Officers said they did not forget home and could call and e-mail when they were not working.

“I’m a pretty independent person, but your family gets you worrying because they’re worrying,” Spc. Waylon Cropper said.

The other soldiers also commented on the strain of being away from home.

“I had a daughter to be born in July, and that was my biggest concern over there,” Spc. Jonathan Devalle said.

“I missed my wife and son a lot in the last few months,” McKinney said. “When you’re about to go home, time just can’t go fast enough.”

McKinney said the camaraderie that builds up in combat is amazing.

“I was in a fraternity, and I love my frat brothers,” he said. “But you wouldn’t believe how close you’ll get when you’re getting shot at.”

Cropper expressed similar feelings. “If you believe in the guy to the left and right of you,” he said, “you’ll get through a fire fight.”

 

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.