|
COMBAT OUTPOST KOLK, Afghanistan (4/24/2012) – Pfc. Austin Schwab
woke up cold. He'd spent the majority of the previous day marching
through the thick marshes of southern Afghanistan.
|
Pvt. Austin Schwab, an infantryman with B Troop, 5th Battalion, 20th
Infantry Regiment, Fort Lewis, Wash., looks back for instructions
while pulling security duty during a combat mission in Didar,
southern Afghanistan, April 13, 2012. Of Rock Island, Ill., the
20-year-old is deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom
since January. Photo by Army Sgt. Marc Loi
|
|
Later that night, when the platoon in which he serves took over a
compound, Schwab spent the majority of the night sleeping on the
ground, his rifle next to his side. The early-rising Afghanistan sun
woke him. The soldier quickly threw on his protective gear and
equipment, and in a matter of seconds, climbed on a ladder toward
the compound's roof to provide security over-watch. He is just 20.
While his friends are busying themselves in college with
political and international theories about Afghanistan, the Rock
Island, Ill., native is living it. While others see Operation
Enduring Freedom through the tidbits of information on the evening
news, Schwab sees it through his own two eyes.
“I've always
wanted to be in the military,” said Schwab, who was in elementary
school when the first bombs dropped on the insurgents in
Afghanistan. “I wanted to join at |
|
18, but I was working and didn't join until I was 20.” |
War is different through the eyes of a 20-year-old, and
especially as an infantryman, Schwab is the prime example.
While others wrestle with philosophical questions about the
meanings of war and life, Schwab said he is just happy to be
in the infantry. What's more, his experiences, despite being
harsher than experiences others have endured, made him more
disciplined and allowed him to embrace, rather than push
away, the experience of war.
“People ask me what it's
like being over here, and I tell them that there are just no
words for it,” he said. “It's a lot more intense than it is
back home – being in the middle of a war zone is a lot
different than being home in America.”
One of those
differences, said Schwab, is the freedom and autonomy to do
whatever he would like. When stationed at a tiny combat
operating outpost without so much as indoor plumbing, hot
showers become a luxury for soldiers.
“Hygiene – not
being able to shower whenever you want, that's one of the
challenges,” he said. “And not being able to talk to my
family whenever I want. You could go to the MWR and find out
the Internet is down or something.”
Yet, the lack of
Internet service and hot showers are the least of his
worries. As an infantryman, Schwab is stationed in one of
Afghanistan's most “kinetic” areas – a term soldiers often
use to describe the amount of physical threats they face. On
any particular day, whether patrolling villages in combat
vehicles or on foot, it is unusual for Schwab and the
soldiers in his squad to not have contact with the
insurgents, he said.
Like many other firsts, Schwab
still remembers the first time his squad was shot at. They'd
just left the outpost, headed west, when bullets came
whizzing by, hitting the dirt around them.
“We just
saw dust clouds and heard the cracking of the bullets,” he
said, recalling the event. “It was our first and only
contact that day, but I remember it.”
Then, there was
the time he was involved in a firefight that lasted nearly
two hours.
“It was pretty intense,” he said. “It was
our first big firefight – I just went through my training,
scanned my sector and when they told me to shoot, I took
well-placed shots.”
In war, there is no time to
think, and it's no different for Schwab. In that firefight,
for example, he fought back based only on instinct; it was
only afterward when they were safely back in the protected
confines of the tiny outpost did he start to think about the
inherent danger of his actions, Schwab said.
“I just
went through my training,” he said. “It was only after the
firefight that I thought about it.
“My family,
they're scared for me,” he continued. “But they know I am
doing what I love and they think it's really good for me.”
The ability to do what he loves while still earning a
living from it, said Schwab, is what fuels his affinity for
the infantry.
“The money is nice, but I just enjoy
doing this,” he said. “The infantry is one of the tougher
jobs in the Army and when I joined, I told myself I wanted
to push myself to the limits. I plan on going to the Rangers
after I get back.”
Another added benefit to the
infantry, is the camaraderie he has experienced, Schwab
said.
“One of the things I've learned here is that
everyone has their ups and downs,” he said. “But in the
middle of a firefight, everyone's got your back –it's a
different kind of brotherhood.
“I love being in the
infantry,” he added. “It's exactly what I thought it would
be.”
By Army Sgt. Marc Loi
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2012
Comment on this article |
