08-19-2005

By: BILL JONES/Staff Writer
Source: The Greeneville Sun

Wearing a new uniform that he said he had brought home for Iraq for just such an occasion, Sgt. 1st Class Chester Garcia McAmis on Thursday told 45 Chuckey Elementary School fifth-graders about the eight-and-a-half months he has spent on duty in Iraq.

McAmis, a 55-year-old grandfather, told the students, including his grandson, Dustin Lawson, to be proud that they were Americans and to count their blessings.

Children in Iraq — where McAmis and other Guardsmen from the National Guard’s 2nd Squadron of the 278th Regimental Combat Team (2/278th RCT) have been serving since late last year — don’t have toys, school supplies or, sometimes, even food, he reminded the Chuckey students.

Earlier, McAmis with his wife, Frances, and daughter, Sheila Jackson, had joined grandson Dustin and his fifth-grade classmates for lunch in the school’s cafeteria.

While speaking to the students from the fifth-grade classes of teachers Jennifer Gunter and Lorrie Myers in the school's Readers' Theater, Sgt. 1st Class McAmis told the students they should be thankful for food of the quality they had just consumed.

"If you don’t like the food, come with me," he said, indicating that they likely would not enjoy the food he will be eating when he returns to Iraq next week after completing a two-week leave here with his family.

McAmis said he is scheduled to leave Monday to return to Iraq. He said that he hopes the rest of the area National Guardsmen serving there will be returning home "soon."

He also told the young students he wasn’t present to tell "horror stories." He said Americans are hearing a lot about the bad things that happen in Iraq, but little about the good things U.S. soldiers are doing there.

McAmis, who alternately perched on a stool beside his grandson and paced the floor in front of the assembled students, sometimes had difficulty hearing their questions.

Suffered Hearing Loss

He explained at one point that he had suffered some hearing loss as the result of an improvised explosive device (IED) roadside bomb explosion in Iraq.

"Yes, I have been injured," he said in response to one question, while noting that he did not wish to discuss the incident.

McAmis also said in an interview that he had known one of three National Guardsmen from Middle Tennessee who were killed in a roadside bomb attack near Tuz, Iraq, last Sunday.

"I knew Staff Sgt. (Asbury) Hawn," he said, while declining to discuss the matter further.

Hawn, 35, of Lebanon, Tenn., died along with Sgt. Shannon D. Taylor, 30, of Smithville; and Sgt. Gary L. Reese, 22, of Ashland City.

All three soldiers were members of the 3rd Squadron, 278th RCT, but assigned to Newport-based Troop E of the 2/278th in Iraq.

"Freedom is not free," McAmis told Chuckey School’s fifth-graders.

McAmis told the students that the soldiers of the 2/278th are serving in Iraq in the belief that by confronting terrorists there they can help prevent terrorists from striking inside the United States.

He also told the students that he and his fellow 2/278th soldiers love the children of both America and Iraq.

McAmis, who is the motor sergeant of the 2/278th’s Kingsport-based Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, noted that the men of his unit had purchased a bicycle for Iraqi children near their base and frequently distributed candy, chewing gum, pencils, ballpoint pens and other items to children.

McAmis also told the children that 2/278th soldiers work to protect Iraqi civilians from insurgents and also carry out humanitarian efforts that include such things as repairing the pumps of Iraqi water wells.

During the interview, McAmis said that as his unit’s motor sergeant, he supervises 21 soldiers who maintain and repair the HUMVEEs, wreckers, self-propelled artillery guns and other vehicles assigned to the 2/278th.

He said that he is the last member of the motor pool to take leave from Iraq. "I told them I didn’t want to go until all my men had gone," he said.

Misses Loved Ones

He acknowledged in his remarks to the students that separation from loved ones has been difficult for the National Guardsmen serving in Iraq.

McAmis said that he adopted a puppy that he found by an Iraqi roadside partially in an effort to deal with the pain of separation from loved ones.

He described the puppy, which has grown somewhat, as his "ferocious beast." He said he also has a pet cat that has had five kittens.

During the interview, McAmis said he grew up in Greeneville and now resides along the Kingsport Highway about six miles north of Greeneville.

In civilian life, he said, he is employed by the Donaldson Company, but previously spent 21 years with defense contractor Greeneville Industries Inc., a division of Newport News Shipbuilding.

Greeneville Industries has been closed for years.

McAmis noted that he is a Vietnam War veteran, having spent 1969 in Vietnam with the U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division. While speaking to the fifth-graders, McAmis pointed out that he still proudly wears the 1st Cavalry Division patch on the right shoulder of his desert camouflage uniform.

Students Ask Questions

At the end of his remarks to students on Thursday, McAmis fielded a host of questions from students. The questions ranged from why his uniform had so many pockets to whether he had ever been shot.

One student asked if it is hot in Iraq. McAmis replied that it had been 135 to 140 degrees there when he left to come home on leave, but noted that the humidity level is much lower than here.

Still, he said, Iraq's hot winds tended to feel like a blast from an electric hair dryer. Asked what weapons he carried, McAmis said he wore a 9 mm pistol while working on vehicles and carried an M-16 rifle while outside Forward Operating Base Bernstein in northeastern Iraq.

He said his unit was equipped with a variety of heavier weapons, including .50-caliber and 7.62 mm machine guns, 5.56 mm squad automatic weapons and even anti-tank missiles.

Asked if he wore armor, McAmis said that while on patrol, he wore body armor and a protective helmet.

He said the "cubicle" living quarters he shares with two other soldiers is located inside a former airplane hangar that is shielded from insurgent rocket attacks by a protective barrier.

He noted that while his sleeping quarters are air-conditioned, his work area is not.

Sun Photo by Phil Gentry - Sgt. 1st Class Chester Garcia McAmis, shown standing at right above, speaks to the fifth-grade students of Chuckey Elementary School teachers Lorrie Myers and Jennifer Gunter. McAmis is home on leave from Iraq, where he is serving with the 2nd Squadron of the Army National Guard’s 278th Regimental Combat Team. Seated in the background on the first row at far right are McAmis’ wife, Frances, second from right, and daughter, Sheila Jackson (red blouse). Seated immediately behind Jackson is McAmis’ grandson, Dustin Lawson (wearing gray T-shirt). Dustin is a Chuckey Elementary fifth-grader.

Story Copyright to Greeneville Sun