FROM THE 278TH : Iraq’s young are reason for being here
Ryan Seals - Tennessee National Guard
EDITORS’ NOTE: Ryan Seals is with the 278th Regimental Combat Team’s 190th
Engineer Company. The Times Free Press runs an occasional column from Spc.
Seals.
As our engineer attachment convoyed from the northern Iraqi town of
Kirkuk to its base east of there at Camp Bernstein, I couldn’t help but feel
sorry for the people in this country who have suffered through decades of
war and suppression. Children dodged piles of trash along the side of the
road as our 5-ton truck made its way through. They waved, cheered and smiled
at us as we passed. The 14 soldiers in the back of the truck, myself
included, took our hands off the grips of our rifles long enough to wave
back but quickly returned our aim toward the horizon, wary of being attacked
at any moment.
Iraqi adults stared from their roadside shops and from gas lines as they
waited to refuel their cars. Some looked at us with a smile and watched
their children cheer for us. Others just stared blankly, making us wonder
how we would be received in this mostly Kurdish region.
Most of the buildings are poorly built. They are what many would consider
slums in America. Many have partially destroyed walls that look as though
they could fall at any moment. Outside are gutted vehicles and piles of
garbage. Behind the homes are large open fields where a male member of the
household herds the sheep and goats he hopes to sell for his family’s
monthly income.
My heart couldn’t help but ache for the children who don’t know a way of
life any better than this. Most of them probably are too young to remember
the years of dictatorship under Saddam Hussein and the savage attack he
launched on many of the Kurdish people. They only know life in Iraq today,
the fight of the coalition forces against terrorism.
Throughout this deployment, I have struggled to find reasoning in why we
are truly here fighting so far away from home for people who have little
affect on us back in America. I have disagreed with many of the decisions
our military has made in this war, and I still do today. Despite all of
this, the convoy made me realize that no matter how much I personally
disagree with some of things going on, I have found my true reason for being
here — the children.
If we can allow these children to have a better life, I believe we are
here for one of the right reasons. These kids, like those in America,
deserve to be able to live in a country where they don’t have to be afraid
of being blown up by a terrorist on their way to school. They deserve an
opportunity to achieve any goal they set for themselves without their
government telling them no.
The adults have a choice, either to cooperate in a new democratic
sovereign country and make a better life, or side with the terrorists or the
mujahedeen holy fighters who favor corruption and oppression similar to that
of Hussein.
But there are some who fall in the middle in a country with a nearly 50
percent unemployment rate. Some will side with a terrorist and shoot a
rocket propelled grenade or target American soldiers with an improvised
explosive device in order to make money to feed his family.
If I were in the same situation, I couldn’t say I’d blame him. He would
be fighting for the same cause many of our men are — the children of Iraq.
E-mail Spc. Ryan Seals at news@timesfreepress.com
This story was received Sunday, December 26, 2004
From: Chattanooga Times Free Press Link
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