Veteran's Reflections:
Joining Up to Do His Part
(December 4, 2010) |
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Then-Spc. Ryan Berkshire on guard duty in Iraq, 2003. Photo courtesy of Ryan Berkshire |
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WASHINGTON, Nov. 29, 2010 – The
military can be a lot of things to people
looking to enlist. It can be a demonstration of
patriotism, a college payment plan, or just a
way to get out of town and start adulthood.
For Ryan Berkshire, it was all three.
In January 2003, one semester before graduating
from high school and two months prior to the
start of the war in Iraq, Berkshire signed up
with the Montana Army National Guard. The Guard
gave him the long-term opportunity to pay for
college, where he could study music, and the
short-term opportunity to leave his hometown of
Billings, Mont., for a while.
“The entire time you're in high school in
Billings, you talk about getting out,” Berkshire
said. The National Guard and the Montgomery GI
Bill, added, were the best options he had.
“It was really more my need for money for
college, and I kind of felt like I needed to
earn my right to live in this country,” he said.
“There are so many people that say they're going
to do big things, and I just wanted to be one
who could say it and back it up.” |
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Shortly after receiving his high school diploma, Berkshire
shipped off to boot camp and advanced training. He would end
up serving the in the Guard for six years, followed by two
years in the inactive ready reserve. He'll finish his
service completely in January as a sergeant.
By November 2003, Berkshire was leaving for Iraq as a cook
with the 639th Quartermaster Company, a petroleum and basic
supply company made up of soldiers from different Montana
National Guard units who soon would become some of his
closest friends.
“For as much as you have to put up with, there are a lot of
good times in the Guard, too,” he said.
Talil Air Base, near Nasiriyah, was his home and his work
for the next 12 months in Iraq. He worked in a cycle of
eight 12-hour days followed by a day off, supervising
kitchen contractors brought in from India, Pakistan and
Nepal, ensuring they were following military sanitation and
food preparation standards.
“Alongside my duties in the dining facility, I did some
guard duty,” he said. “I had to escort kitchen employees to
the nearby Korean hospital for medical checkups and a lot of
escorting food from the gate to the dining facility and
back.”
It was during the trips to the nearby civilian hospital,
operated by South Korean forces for local Iraqis and
contracted civilians on base, that gave Berkshire increased
pride about the American mission in Iraq, he said. He spoke
with local families who were appreciative of the U.S. and
coalition military presence, he recalled, and they were
getting medical services and humanitarian aid they hadn't
received in years under Saddam Hussein.
“To see these kids and their parents who were so
appreciative of us being there, that was it for me. It
really meant a lot,” he said. “It gave me purpose for the
rest of the time I was there.”
Berkshire said he felt frustrated for a long time by a
widening gap between public opinion and his own experience
in Iraq. Though he “wasn't in the worst situation” –- his
base was mortared only a few times a week and received
direct missile fire only a handful of times during his tour
-– he heard conflicting reports of conditions in the country
when he turned on the news.
“It wasn't like Baghdad, where there was constant fire,” he
said. “I had a pretty easy time compared to other
servicemembers who had more high-intensity [jobs]. I
consider myself pretty lucky.”
Berkshire experienced difficulty when he returned to the
United States and attended college, he said, where he was
surrounded by opinionated people, for and against the war,
who never would have dreamed of experiencing the war
first-hand.
“There are a lot of people in America that hear things, but
unless you actually experience it, you don't really have
anything to say,” he said. “I'm one of the few people who
saw how it actually is over there.”
Berkshire said both sides of the argument were right and
wrong about certain things. It was a difficult time, he
acknowledged, but he added that he felt the military did a
lot to mitigate the stresses of combat. The morale, welfare
and recreation facilities on base, he said, helped the
troops “keep their heads on their shoulders.”
“They had a Burger King trailer and a Pizza Hut trailer,
they had welfare centers where we could watch movies and
play video games,” he said. “They had a lot set up so it
didn't have to be such a difficult or dark place.”
Berkshire said it took a while after he returned from Iraq
to come to terms with the fact that most people around him
hadn't served, and would never serve. He said he felt as if
he was part of a minority because he believed he needed to
give something back to his country.
“When I came back from Iraq, I had the same problem trying
to figure out who I was,” he said. “For a while, I felt like
I had a superiority complex, because I was one of only a
handful of individuals that actually went out and did
something for this country. I really feel like I'm an
American citizen, because I served.”
In the end, Berkshire said, he served in the military
because he wanted to. Soldiering isn't a job that's
performed for the glory, he said, and it doesn't make you a
better or worse person whether you'd served in the military
or not.
“I've had people buy me food, buy dinners and drinks,
because I'm a veteran,” he said. “I don't want praise for
it. That's not what I'm looking for. I just want to be able
to say I did my part at the end of the day. It's the small
things that matter to me.” |
By Ian Graham
Emerging Media, Defense Media Activity
American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2010 |
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