New York Voices; 611; Veteran Stories Composite

Were the first plane we took from. From Iraq to Kuwait. You know like while I don't have to carry a weapon anymore I don't have to you know wonder what's from our brains just going home. First feelings of feeling the joy because now we're out this hellhole. But yet. You know we didn't leave with everybody we came with. A lot of us want to be a new infantry. Some wanted to be pilots. You know dealt with the two different parts of. It in a service would tell you yes you want to be but you're not going to be they just want us to do labor work. New York. One voice. Million are.

Priceless. New York Voices is made possible by the members of 13 additional funding by Michael t Martin the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Elise JAFFE And Jeffrey Brown. Welcome to New York Voices of rough AOP Romani. You know more than 5000 Army National Guardsmen from New York State have served in the Iraqi war. And 22 of them have died in combat. On this Memorial Day weekend we explore some of the issues surrounding the war in Iraq and honor the men and women who have served this country in battle. Later in the program we'll hear from college students on both sides of the recruitment debate. We'll look through the eyes of one veteran learning to live with his wounds. And we'll go back in history with a group of men who fought for our country abroad and for equality at home. But we begin with the soldiers of the 69 infantry and National Guard unit based here in New York City. The Sixty ninth return home this past September after serving a year long tour of duty in Iraq. They were based at Camp Liberty near Baghdad where they patrolled for weapons provided support to local

villages and trained Iraqi soldiers. Nineteen of the men who fought with the 69 were killed in action. I met with three members of the unit. Specialist Elvis was a sergeant Pedro Mohican and Lieutenant Sean to Banken. How was it getting on board that plane that would ultimately bring you back home. How did that feel. So I saw the first plane we took from. From right to this giant C-5 Air Force aircraft that is the most comforting feeling you could ever get. You're like wow I don't have to carry a weapon anymore I don't have to you know wonder what's from our brains. I'm going home and you can explain it or use our. Minds it was. Kind of bittersweet. You know at the first families are feeling the joy because now we're out this hellhole. But yet. You know we didn't leave with everybody we came with. You know we believe in

tat. The guys that out went on this journey would only come back with So. You know as you come in to LaGuardia where we landed and you look down you know you just like. I don't know it's like you feel somewhat of. A guilt like how can I face the families you know. Because you know I felt responsible I'm pretty sure. All my other guys on our team you know like. Maybe if we don't one step beto some more you know. So it's pretty bittersweet for me. Unfortunately three of those guys on the wall were in my platoon and very close. Staffs on is a really nice guy. When I came to the guard he welcomed me with open arms always vouch for me as a knucklehead back then. So limp sometimes but you know that's how it is. And he was the guys. Just convert his whole life around like 360 instantly. He has specialist

Ali very knowledgeable guy. He's a Muslim very quiet guy. We lived together for like almost a year and a half. So we grew really close. And then the youngest one was when. He's Burmese background his mother works United Nations beautiful family beautiful family. Both of those guys. When. And Ali unfortunately I was actually dead that I had extract those guys out the vehicle. Lieutenant I didn't see anyone that you knew special. He was in my platoon. I wasn't with him the day of the incident he was assigned to a different tune and as a team leader it's kind of like a mom or dad you're not supposed to have favorites. But he was he was one of my favorites. He's African and before he had changed his name because I mean the Gration problems his name was ocal will be. So we used to call him Obi-Wan Kenobi. And but he had never seen Star Wars so he didn't know what we were talking about and you know I just I just remember him for like his it his always wanting to learn like our culture even even something is

you know stupid as like the Star Wars movies and stuff like that. But. And special So what we are is new and special talk and thought he was a great guy. How easy or how difficult was the transition process back into civilian life. Well you know it wasn't that hard but it was times that you had to catch yourself. Because the aggression you know Baghdad is a very aggressive place. You know it is very aggressive people out there you know to protect yourself and your men you have to be aggressive. So nature to beat come back home. Especially with cab drivers cut you off. Yeah I did sometimes got a pull over and really take a breath. I just want to rip these guys up but. That's about it. Cab drivers and everybody else family was you know you step back in. This. You look at his time say you like well I'm in this situation made it back safely got my family around me. I had a I had a new son my son was four five months I was like you know I got a beautiful

family. And he like I should feel happy but it's like you stand outside the box you know but it's not as a big of a shadow as it was when I came back especially as many difficulties in the transition back to civilian life a little bit for actually driving. I was going through red lights and I actually got pulled over I first got here an officer I thought I was doing. He just he just told me to slow down. And I understand he was a veteran as well so I understand he's what he said thank you. One of the things that I thought was great was after we were released from active duty we still got paid for about another six weeks. So it wasn't as if you know like I was your story about the Vietnam guys that one day they're in combat the next day they were home the next day hey go find a job. You know we had like six weeks I was able to just sit on my couch and do nothing and play X-Box and just decompress for quite a while so you know there's somewhat of a big transition to go from owning the street to

being an ant in the end hill that is New York City right. Yeah well you know I've read reports about post-traumatic stress disorder among some Iraqi veterans. The symptoms are the serious depression and anxiety and acute boredom with the civilian life. I mean don't get me wrong I mean I have days where you know you sit and think about stuff. I don't think it's clinical depression but it's just probably normal rational reflection on the experience that you had then honestly coming back to drill is probably the best therapy. When we come you know come to drill once a month just to sit around and talk with the guys you know remember that time that is remember that you know just things like that and the other soldiers you know the soldiers to let them ride really ones. They can understand and it also it's less frustrating for us to talk to other soldiers because when we talk to non soldiers we have to stop and explain things. Well you know as the polls indicate more and more Americans are becoming less patient with this war. First of all let me ask you what you think about that. What do you think about

what appears to be a turning against this war. I think it's harder than they thought it was. But I also think that it's incredibly un-American to quit when it gets hard. I think the situation that exists now with the terrorists is are we the al Qaeda types. If we were pull out now would be absolutely disastrous. But Lieutenant you know we just today just before coming here another car bomb 50 Iraqis killed a hundred and 12 or something like that wounded three years into the war. That stuff still happening. You know Americans are say we're winning you know. Are things getting better or are there success stories there. Yes there is there there is. In my village the village of I was or I was detached from where these guys were patrolling over within about three or four months we identified the three. There were three separate terrorist cells active in that village. Through investigation police work meaning talking to people we figure out who they were identified them.

Conducted raids remove them once removed those three terrorist cells the enemy activity dropped off. But now they have a water treatment plant brought in Iraqi contractors to build three schools paved all the roads not we are contractors. The electricity instead of two hours a day is eight hours a day. But what happens when. When Americans leave is are the good stories and the successes. Sustainable without the American presence. Do you think. I believe so. It's up to the Iraqi person sees themselves do I want a better country or not do I want to live in freedom or do I want somebody to enjoy Shantel years and you know gold. Or do I want my family to have shoes or not live in a mud hut. Theoretically all of you can be called back whether you want to or not theoretically but unlikely unlikely. Well would you volunteer to go back. But just tell us. My guys and I think you going to see a domino effect if we do get activated again. Guys you say no now though look to the left. You know I

can't let that guy but wife self and I think that's. A large part to glue in a military man. Is that camaraderie. You know I know I know I can let my guys go out there. I can I can do it back here. And God forbid one of those guys a seam on the TV I'm like I broke bread with this guy and sit in my recliner and watched at what a con you know nothing oh my conscious it's kill myself man it is kill me. When you're over there you're training up to go over there and it's about the guy to your left and right. So if the guys around me were going of course I would have the goes well you know earlier this year the Supreme Court ruled that universities that receive federal money must allow the ROTC to recruit on campus. Nevertheless the issue continues to be debated by pro-ana anti-war students at universities across the country including Rutgers and Columbia. In the late 60s the anti-war movement spilled onto the streets of New York City and

students challenge the status quo. In 1968 students at Columbia University staged sit ins and protests against administration policies. Eventually they were able to get ROTC and military recruitment expelled from their campus. Military recruiters in ROTC were kept off many campuses. But last March almost 40 years later the Supreme Court ruled that colleges and universities that take federal money must allow equal access to military recruiters. Shawn Wilkes a Columbia senior an ROTC cadet had to take his military training off campus. I graduate this May and I commissioned directly after graduation just a few days after graduation. Again I attend as far as I get paid. Reality we want you to to want to have the program on campus. Or university. Really it's a great university and it has a long history of developing leaders in all areas of society business law government and even the military head of a burgeoning RTC

program on campus all the way for a number of decades. And now let's that's one particular area where it's lacking. In 2005 was when we first found out that they were trying to bring ROTC back to Columbia. A lot of us are really proud to go to a school that took a stance against military recruitment. We're pretty outraged to find out that students were trying to bring ROTC back especially in the context of a war going on in Iraq that most students are opposed to. We're certainly not against individual soldiers who are over in Iraq but it's about saying you know we don't want students to be involved in this war. We don't think they should have to fight in order to get money for school. When I joined the program and when I joined the military I knew that it was a possibility and that I probably would be deployed. And it's part of the job and I recognize that. And you know I'm I'm excited to be a part of it and I'm excited to serve my country in any way that I can and I think that's important. Before 9/11 I think it was it was a different world that we were creating.

The reality of joining the military and doing our job was at the forefront of most people's minds. And you know that's going to war. Whereas now that's the first thing that you want to find out when you're talking to a young applicant are you want to do this. Because if you're not then you're probably not in the right place. You know I realize that not everybody supports what we do. Not everybody understands what we do so you know they have their own opinion and they're entitled to. And but that doesn't affect me doing my job well campus and trying to find. Young people who want to be Marine officers. It was in mid-December right before Christmas that we had a protest in front of our office that was. Coordinated by rockers against the war I believe. We had about 75 80 people to that event and we marched all the way down from Brower to George Street to the recruiting station and we had several speakers including someone from Peoples Organization for

progress and we had a Sunni leader who was a Gold Star mother her son went to rockers and died in Iraq. There's a large percentage of the student body in the community at large that's against what the actions of the recruiters are going or doing the way it was you know they are exercising their right to free speech and if they want to go out there and do that. Hey that's fine I respect that. Though rockers is a public institution the military's recruiting on campus does violate the basic human right of equality. Especially for homosexuals and women and other groups as well to try and get Marine recruiting officials or the ROTC off of campus is a ludicrous idea. If this was a private institution perhaps protesting that I think would would be more powerful. Well because were supported by the state. I don't think there is any way that you can possibly kick the people that defend our country off of our campus. I have always supported the war. The US has made some

mistakes like not sending enough troops to begin with not keeping enough troops there. But I feel that now that we're there we have to stay there. It's extremely hard to galvanize students to participate in the anti-war movement a lot of students are really apathetic and in part I think that stems from the fact that the right has done a really good job of demonizing the anti-war movement as being you know anyone that just because a hippie or is a radical We turn now to a profile of Robert Loria. Gloria was in Iraq working as a combat engineer for the Army when he was wounded by a roadside bomb on February 9th 2004. An organization called the Wounded Warrior Project stepped in to help. Join the military in September of 99. I think it was right around December of 0 2. So I finally got notified that we might be going into Iraq. As soon as we got there and you know. Everybody was on high alert. You know your head was constantly on a swivel. If you when you're out there in your pic and your fellow guys up off the road and you're trying to

get him into a vehicle to get him to the hospital you don't have time to think about anything else. You know it's save this guy get it done and you think about it later. Robert was wounded while trying to rescue a fellow soldier who was injured by a roadside bomb. I get 10 feet away from where we originally picked him up and another one went off. And I can remember that I remember everything which is actually kind of scary at times. I didn't hear it was so loud that it actually blocked out my hearing for a second. But I can feel it was almost like getting hit. With a mattress like a pillow. I was driving with my left hand in the ministry when I had my right hand on the shifter of the vehicle. And. At that particular time I thought OK we got him. We're going to the hospital this mission's over we're we're good. And as soon as that thing went off got thrown into the center of the vehicle. And as I came back I noticed that my hand was actually hanging to the side of my arm. We got to the hospital. And as I wasn't even there five minutes and they knocked me out I woke up a week later and Walter Reed

one severely injured soldiers arrive at a medical facility with only a hospital gown and no personal items or money to buy them as part of their return to civilian life. The Wounded Warrior Project gives each veteran a backpack filled with personal items to help them through these trying times. Many times the soldiers are still unconscious when one of our representative comes to the room and. Presents to a family member and says that you will be back in a couple of days when he's awake or she's awake. Yeah we came in had a book bag in his hand and he handed me the book bag and he said thank you shook my hand and we got to talk and say hey give me his card he goes if you need any one of us you know if you gave me in the card I say go if you need me give me a call. There have been reports that this is the highest wounded to dead ratio. In history of warfare for America. And that's true. There's a flip side to that though. That means that many of these severely injured individuals as little as 10 years ago would have passed away. Certainly in Vietnam a Korean war too but due to

the advances in battlefield medicine communications transportation. They're able to be saved. However. That means there's more severely injured individuals who are going to have to lead a productive life for the next 40 50 60 years. My wife was there when she was soon as I woke up she was there and she went over with me. You know this is what's wrong with your leg and this is what's on your arm and you've got this than the other thing and you know and at that point you know you I was like oh my life's over I was screwed for so my life I don't you get is nothing else I can do of them to sit home and get you know baby and watch the grass grow for the rest of my life and that's not what I want to do. Getting out of the hospital is only the first step for veterans moving on with their lives. But what does life hold for someone with permanent disability. According to the Wounded Warrior Project anything you want. Part of their mission is to instill a can do attitude whether in sports education or finding a new job.

When you are severely injured you are like any other 18 19 20 23 24 year old. Who all of a sudden flash you missing both your legs. With your arms one arm one leg. You're blind. You have a traumatic brain injury so it's natural from being in your peak of your physical condition. It's natural for their for their beat some bouts of depression because of it. That's why one of the things we do with the Wounded Warrior Project we feel is so important as our sports program. We get it's water skiing snow skiing. We have an outrigger canoe team golf. Whitewater rafting. Rock climbing. We have the chairman I spoke about Heath Calhoun who lost both legs above the knee. Last year he rode 40 200 miles across the country on a hand cycle. When we got to Washington D.C. He rolled into Walter Reed to the bedside of some young men and women who had basically suffered the same injury. And you know my main feeling depressed about he said hey

look at me. I was in a bed a year ago. I just cycled across country with my hands. You know what. I've got a wife and three kids I got a job. Thanks to me that I'm never going to be fully recovered from the you know physical wounds to the mental. I'm never going to be fully recovered. But there is things like the Wounded Warrior Project in getting a job and going to school to be help. But regardless of how my day's going or what bad has been pushed in my direction. On top of what is already having I mean the past couple years the fact that I get to wake up in the morning and take a breath is all that I really need. The three hundred sixty nine veterans association was named after a Harlem based infantry unit that distinguished itself for its courage during World War One. Its members now include men from all branches of the military who fought in wars going back all the way to World War 2. Tonight some of these veterans talk about the battle for complete military desegregation and about their pride in marching under the unit's flag. A Memorial Day.

I was in the Philippines. In well what. I served in the Vietnam War when there's a Korean War when I was in the war we served in the South Pacific with the invasion force of the Philippine island. And then you served with Operation I'm a good man but these men have in common are these men the men of the three hundred sixty nine infantry during World War 1. They were trained to fight but were relegated to being laborers and stevedores and to support white troops. Under pressure Gen. John J Pershing loaned a three hundred sixty nine to fight under the French flag. There they distinguished themselves by spending more days in combat than any other American unit. They were the first Allied soldiers to reach the Rhine. And the first Americans to receive the quad together. They returned home to a massive parade that would be half a century before the military was fully integrated.

Today the three hundred sixty nine veterans association is comprised of members of all services but they never forget to lead the way. I had always dreamed of being a soldier. I joined the Air Force in 1952. I was going to college and I was called down to the draft. And and I was told I had six months to make up my mind what Frank the service I want to go into. But we did get into the services a lot of segregation in the service because Flossie's did not wish for us to be. Fighting men. They wanted us to be laborers. There was a difference. A lot of us want to be an infantry. Some wanted to be pilots. You know whatever was the two different parts of it. And then a service would tell you yes we want to be but you're not going to be they just want us to do the labor ward.

Says I was born and raised in the south. This is something that you would just expect. It was and. I didn't like it. But I was in a situation where I wouldn't use to. Of course the base was when you went into town you know you had to get on the back of the bus and in your military uniform you could not eat in a restaurant you could not go to the movies. You wanted to go to town. The whites would get into town for a comeback. So it was like you know learning each other. I didn't have any because I grew up in a white neighborhood. So to me dealing with whites was nothing. They used to be my playmates my friends.

I don't have a problem with it but it was touch and go but then after we got to know each other we came we became a pretty good group and I still see someone his guys to this white person. I'm a black person so I know what I went through in school. And I know what happened to me when I went into the service. But we all need each other and war is par for the course side didn't bother us that much at that time. We did resent it when we came back home and things still weren't any different. I was told by my s.o. who was trying to talk me into staying in that he said that the service was changing and it was going to be a new military and it was what he said has come to pass. But at that time. I had no idea that.

That the military would have changed as much as it did as much as it has. If you're going to get any place you have to be competitive and you have to qualify yourself. So sure I would surround myself with friends that had the same type idea that we used to sit in the second lieutenant and say who was going to be a general and we would discuss our career is how we're going to get ahead and what are we going to do when we beget get to the position like battery commander the executive officer or even then it was almost impossible to think that you would be a battalion commander. I look at the Air Force today. In fact not only the Air Force the Army the Navy the Marine Corps that I see all the senior black officers and I feel pretty good about that. I mean when you when you look and say I can say 50 years ago we had one you know one black gentleman the day we've lost. We may have we have maybe 75 80 generals and

admirals in the various branches of the military. But we're proud that we have served this country and we're proud of the things that we have done with module for the accomplishments of African-Americans in this country. Well we hope that some love kids can take take a little pride in seeing us old guys march up Fifth Avenue and I said well you know maybe it's something to that. The most important thing to me is that we as veterans though it seems as though we are a fading memory. So thank God today they remembered us. And that's it for this edition of New York Voices. For more on this or any other New York Voices program log onto our Web site at 13 dot org. I'm Rafael Yaman Thanks for watching. We'll see next week. New York Voices is made possible by the members of 13 additional

funding by Michael Timor the Rockefeller Brothers father and Elise JAFFE And Jeffrey Brown.