Vietnam Veteran Mentors Soldiers in Iraq
(June 7, 2010) |
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Spc. Willie Yarbrough, a
Vietnam Veteran, now a logistics specialist with
the 812th Quartermaster Company, 373rd Combat
Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Sustainment
Brigade, 13th Sustainment Command
(Expeditionary), and a Beaumont, Texas, native,
works at the Camp Liberty Oasis water treatment
facility to ensure that Soldiers get purified
drinking water, May 18, 2010 at Victory Base
Complex, Iraq. |
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VICTORY BASE COMPLEX, Iraq
(June 4, 2010) — As a point man during the
Vietnam War, Marine Pfc. Willie Yarbrough guided
his platoon through rugged jungles and fierce
guerilla warfare near the Ben Hai river. He
learned a lot about the North Vietnamese
soldiers, developed a knack to sniff out an
ambush and a capacity to stay focused on the
moment.
As a radio operator in Vietnam, another highly
targeted position, he became a skilled
communicator under pressure and did what was
necessary to stay alive.
Later in the war, as a Marine corporal and squad
leader, Yarbrough made battlefield decisions and
managed men in his squad.
During his 16-year tenure in the U.S. Marine
Corps, Yarbrough served as a platoon sergeant,
drill instructor, career counselor and a school
instructor. |
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After a 22-year break in service, Spc. Yarbrough, a
logistics specialist for the 812th Quartermaster Company,
373rd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Sustainment
Brigade, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), and a
Beaumont, Texas, native, now works in the Camp Liberty Oasis
water treatment facility at Victory Base Complex, Iraq, to
make sure Soldiers receive purified drinking water.
Forty years removed from Vietnam, the 59-year-old Yarbrough
volunteered to deploy with the 812th, leaving his home unit,
the 1002nd Quartermaster Company, out of Beaumont, Texas,
which he joined three years earlier.
"A recruiter asked me did I ever think about going back in,"
Yarbrough said. "I told him, man, at my age, you must be out
of your mind. He said, no, you could do it."
He's done it, and he's made an impact along the way,
mentoring Soldiers.
"Having a Vietnam Vet in the unit gives us a tremendous
advantage in terms of experience," said Lt. Guadalupe
Solano, an operations officer for the 373rd, Yarbrough's
former platoon leader, and a McAllen, Texas, native.
"He has personally mentored me on being resilient," he said.
"He is someone I can sit down and have an intellectual and
mature conversation with, and talk for hours and hours
without getting bored."
"People are not afraid to come talk to me," Yarbrough said,
"because I just talk to them like a father. I don't try to
judge anybody."
Cpl. Andrew Garcia, operations noncommissioned officer for
the 812th and a Goliad, Texas, native, said Yarbrough has
given him advice on leadership styles.
"He has a good impact on the junior enlisted," Garcia said.
"He's got positive things to say. He's definitely had an
impact on me. It's awesome to be able to serve alongside
somebody that served in the Vietnam War."
Yarbrough, who grew up in a Marine Corps Family, said he's
glad to be here working for the Army.
"I've been in the military all my life," he said. "Any
knowledge that I have that anybody wants, I'm always glad to
pass it on."
Yarbrough qualified as an expert rifleman during his last
qualification and still considers himself a Marine Corps
infantryman.
"After 16 years, you never get it out of your system,"
Yarbrough said.
It's different in the Army, he said.
"The Army has a mission to occupy and control; the Marines
are a straight line, hit, take care of business and pull
out," Yarbrough said.
Yarbrough said he rarely worked around the Army in Vietnam,
"but they had good stuff, so we'd go pillage," he said. "We
didn't throw away nothing. Anything we could get a hold of
to make life comfortable, we snatched it up. When we got to
some Army guys, and they had that stuff, it was on."
Yarbrough said the combat gear that the Army has now is good
compared to what he had in Vietnam, but that the weight is
about the same.
"A basic infantryman load back then was six canteens of
water, 27 magazines, machine gun ammo, mortar rounds, a
light anti-tank weapon and claymore," Yarbrough said. "Once
you went to the field, you were self-sufficient. You had no
resupplies, so if you engaged with the enemy, you had to
hold your ground."
Yarbrough compared the roadside bombs of today to booby
traps in Vietnam.
"You still have to worry about ambushes," he said.
However, most ambushes that occurred during the Vietnam War
happened on foot, he said.
"We didn't ride, we walked," Yarbrough said. "If we had to
go somewhere, we were dropped in by helicopter."
Today, Yarbrough, whose expression is all-business, works
out of an office. He loads trucks with water, makes sure
paperwork is in order and that the trucks are going to the
correct place.
"That's my job here," Yarbrough said, "but if they say,
let's go on a convoy and ... suit up, I'll say let's rock n'
roll."
Soldiers with the 812th describe him as "a hard dude."
The gray-haired Yarbrough agrees with this immediately.
"I am," he said.
"He's a hard old man," Garcia said. "He's old school. He
came through in a different time."
Yarbrough is not afraid to take corrective action on
Soldiers as needed, regardless of rank.
"I like to see things run right," he said, "if not, I have a
tendency to say what I feel about it, regardless of who it
is. If you speak tactfully, you can get your point across to
anybody."
"Every individual that you deal with is unique," Yarbrough
said. "So what I do is, I'll watch you, I'll observe you.
I'll find your strong points and your weak points. Where
you're strong at, I'll use those strengths; where you're
weak, I'll build you up."
Solano said Yarbrough's "demeanor is that of a Soldier who
has experienced life in multiple variations of encounters,
and knows what it takes to get through difficult ones."
"My guess is that's why he's a cool, calm and collected
individual," he said. "Through him I have learned that those
three are extremely important leadership attributes. The
fact is he is a direct leader and not one who is reactive
nor aggressive. He is one whom Soldiers can go to and seek
advice, and he will willingly give it any time, any place.
Many of our young Warriors can look up to him as a mentor
and benefit from his skills, experience and, above all,
demeanor."
Yarbrough is an example for young Soldiers to emulate, said
Sgt. Tim Smith, night shift noncommissioned
officer-in-charge of the Oasis, and a Corpus Christi, Texas,
native.
"I went in his room one day and opened his wall locker,"
Smith said. "Everything's on hangers three inches apart.
Everything's folded and stacked, just as neat as could be.
It was beautiful."
"He's got discipline," he said. "He sees something that
needs to be done; he gets up and does it."
Yarbrough said his strength and discipline were forged as a
young adult in the Vietnam War.
"There were a couple times back in Vietnam," he said, "where
I was extremely afraid for my life, but it made me strong
and I learned from it."
Yarbrough said he talks to Soldiers about what to expect
when they go off base and how to be ready to react.
"I tell them what it would feel like to have a close friend
killed, and you have to carry his body," he said. "If you
get into situations where you have to think, you have to
react at the same time, because sometimes you can over think
and get yourself in a lot of trouble. Focus on the moment
and never let your guard down, things could change quickly."
Yarbrough plans to retire from the military next year, but
doesn't expect his life to change much. He's had a good run,
he said.
"I'm going to still work with kids," he said, "with the
community and even work with recruiters. I'll probably do
what I normally do and find some kids to mentor; maybe go
work at the youth prison again. I can still handle them.
They ain't that tough." |
Article and photo Army Sgt. Chad Menegay
103rd Public Affairs Detachment
Copyright 2010 | |
Provided
through DVIDS
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