Veterans share stories that matter; just listen

Robert Kodosky

is an assistant professor of diplomatic and military history at West Chester University

An estimated 100,000 U.S. veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are taking advantage of the new G.I. Bill and attending school this fall. No two are the same. Each has a different voice, a story that matters. Just listen.

Right now, through an oral history initiative at West Chester University, students are recording those stories, engaging veterans who are enrolled here as graduate students and undergraduates in conversation. (The videos are posted in their entirety at www.soldierstoscholars.com.) Here is some of what the students are learning.

Reasons for joining the military vary.

Stephen McGinnis, 26, of Delaware County, was a corporal in the 24th Marine Regiment. His decision to enlist was influenced by his father's service as a Marine in Vietnam (1969-70). McGinnis "admired the camaraderie" his father had, "the love he had for the Marine Corps. It was such a big challenge, but one of the most important things he ever did. I wanted that challenge."

The decision of Philly native Bret Robinson, 27, to join the National Guard just "sort of came up one day." While a student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, he remembers "looking at this banner that said: 'Army National Guard, One Hundred Percent Tuition Paid Here.' I got to thinking about my parents. They had been talking about when to retire. I thought to myself, if they can pay for school, how often does the National Guard get sent anywhere?"

Just as their enlistment stories vary, so too do their soldiering experiences.

Robinson was deployed with the Second Marine Division to Iraq's Sunni Triangle in 2005, which involved "coming across IEDs [improvised explosive devices] almost every day by accident." It also meant observing Iraqi elections close up. Robinson recalls, "It was really impressive seeing everybody take part in the democratic system."

Lawrence Davidson, 29, of Lafayette, N.Y., was a sergeant with the Army's 19th Engineer Battalion, working with Iraqis to rebuild the country. He remembers his counterparts as "a group of very talented guys open to us being there."

Kevin Cianfrani, 23, of Philadelphia, received a different reception. During his first patrol with the 25th Infantry Division in Horijab, the former Army specialist remembers a little girl telling him, "You shouldn't be here."

Former Marine Liam Larkin, 28, who grew up in Philly, first deployed to Afghanistan in the fall of 2002.

"At that point," Larkin recalls, "Afghanistan was on the back burner. Main combat operations were kind of over in Afghanistan. It wasn't what I expected.. . . It was boring."

The boredom ended when Larkin and his fellow Marines deployed to Fallujah, Iraq, to provide combat air support as part of Operation Phantom Fury in late 2004.

Aboard a CH-53 helicopter filled with Marines his unit had just extracted from the street below, Larkin spotted "about 20 insurgents" on top of a roof a short distance away. Half of them, armed with rocket-propelled grenades, aimed their weapons and "let them rip." A "screaming sound" engulfed the aircraft as the rockets whizzed by, Larkin remembers.

"I was like, 'This is it.' I thought it was going to hit us," he says. "To this day I think it went between the blades."

"That," he adds, "was a moment."

McGinnis had a moment of a different kind when he visited a surgical hospital at Camp Fallujah during his second tour of Iraq in 2008 as a Marine combat correspondent. From his first visit in 2006, McGinnis recalled "long lines of guys missing limbs, bullet holes, it was insane to go in there." By '08, he says, he saw a sign that read "No blood needed" in what he described as a "hallway that was empty." It was not the story he expected to write.

Brandon Traister, 28, of Mount Holly, had his moment while leading foot patrols in northern Ramadi. He describes his time as a National Guard staff sergeant on night patrols with Navy SEALs as "awesome." He and his soldiers were sent to search a farmhouse full of hay, which turned up a "bunch of sniper rifles. I just remember we couldn't breathe . . . the hay was so thick, but we looked pretty good for the SEALS that day."

Coming home requires unique adjustments for all involved.

Traister observes, "People ask, 'So you were in Iraq, how was that?' Y'know, sum up your whole military career in a sentence."

McGinnis remembers that at first, "I just didn't want to deal with people. I didn't want to answer questions. I just didn't want to have to bring my heart rate back down from where it was for seven straight months."

National Guard Sgt. Ryan Kimmel, 24, of Harrisburg, said it was "rough" coming back to school, like "readjusting all over again."

There are also rewards.

Bucks County's Karen Wertz, 29, who left the Navy as a petty officer third class, credits her military experience for her success so far in graduate school. She says, "If I went to a university right out of high school, I probably would have been a very mediocre student. I had very low self-esteem in high school and that really affected my grades. The Navy really built up a lot of confidence in me."

Regaining confidence was also part of coming home for Kimmel and McGinnis.

Kimmel felt more sure about school after receiving a professor's "e-mail on the side" for his participation in a discussion during a Philosophy of Nonviolence class.

For McGinnis, a long car ride with his dad did the trick.

"We went down to the Marine Corps Museum," McGinnis says, "the whole ride down [to Virginia] he talked about stuff that I never heard before. We could both kind of understand each other."

Among veterans, whatever their particular experience, that understanding is essential, because, as Kimmel says, they have "put their hearts and souls" into their service.

With this project, we hope we can help our students and others understand as well.