Service in Iraq changes Tennessee National Guard soldiers
Maley, of Athens, Tenn., a corporal in the 278th Regimental Combat Team, was 19 and “just a kid” when he left for Iraq last November, his mother said.
What a difference a year makes. Miko said she could tell her son was growing up by reading his e-mails, which described life in Iraq. She said her son is different more thoughtful, and more appreciative of what he has, especially of being an American.
“His maturity level has risen tremendously,” said Miko, who moved from Chattanooga to Nebraska two years ago. “He’s not a kid, he’s an adult. I’ll cherish his e-mails my whole life.”
As with Maley, a year in Iraq left few of the soldiers in the 278th Regimental Combat Team unchanged. Most of the 4,000 members of the Knoxville-based unit were stationed at Forward Operating Base Caldwell, a desert military base, and 83 were stationed in Baghdad.
The 278th soldiers remaining in Iraq participated Saturday in a transfer of authority ceremony at Camp Caldwell. The departure ceremony marked the official end of the 278th’s deployment to Iraq.
The soldiers fought insurgents in northeastern Iraq, opened dozens of schools, dug wells, improved roads and helped set up electricity, water and sewer systems.
The soldiers also provided security during the January 2005 Iraqi elections and assisted the Iraqi Army during the recent vote on the Iraqi constitution.
Ten 278th guardsmen died in Iraq.
“I’d say all of us are a little bit different than what we were,” said Capt. Wiley Hammer.
Hammer, who served in Baghdad, said some of the changes are subtle. For example, he said he developed a macabre sense of humor that some outsiders would mistake for callousness. But it’s really a way to deal with the horrors he saw, such as the bodies of Iraqis and U.S. soldiers who had been killed by suicide or car bombs.
“It’s how you decompress from it. How do you cope with a person who’s in 2,000 pieces in front of you?” he said.
Some soldiers say they have a greater appreciation for things like health care and running water.
“It makes you realize what we take for granted every day here,” said Spc. Michelle Riden, of Athens.
Preparing for Iraq led to a noticeable change in Sgt. Raymond Gaskin. The Johnson City resident lost 60 pounds through “lots of PT (physical training) and getting ready to go to combat.”
“I’m representing my country, and I take a lot of pride in that,” he said. “I didn’t want to look trashy. I wanted to look like what an American soldier is supposed to.”
Staff Sgt. William Riffey, of Johnson City, said the war gave him a new outlook on the U.S. government.
“There’s just a lot of waste, a lot of Department of Defense waste,” said Staff Sgt. Riffey, who has served in military conflicts in Panama, Vietnam and Cambodia. “This is probably one of the worst-managed conflicts Ive been involved in.
“Everybody likes to paint a rosy picture of things, but it’s not too rosy,” he said.
Several soldiers said learning to drive U.S.-style and not in the center of the road watching for roadside bombs would be their biggest challenge in returning home.
Spc. Nicholas Deaton, 24, said he ran a red light after a truck backfired when he was on leave in the United States in August.
“It’s going to take getting used to driving again,” he said.
Sgt. Stephen Maddies said he didn’t realize how much his family meant to him until he went to Iraq.
“Before I left I was a couch potato,” he said. “Now I want to get home and play with my daughter.”
Many soldiers said that while they are different after the war, the changes will be slower to come to Iraq, where ethnic groups have long-standing conflicts and a culture in which women are considered subservient to men.
“You can’t change thousands of years in one year,” Spc. Rodger Mosier, of Clarksville, said.