"..well Scooter,when ya get back to your Unit, ya might wanna leave this reporter conversation on the back burner"
Posted on 01/15/2008 3:54:16 PM PST by got_moab?
Albert Jordan, 21, isn’t one to hold back, especially when he describes what it’s like being a soldier in Iraq.
“It sucks…It’s definitely an experience, but it sucks being in Iraq,” said Jordan, a U.S. Army Specialist, during an interview with the Beacon, a day after returning home from his first tour of duty.
“At first it’s kind of exciting because you’re doing different things. You’re doing what you see in video games, but then a couple of IED’s [improvised explosive devices] go off or a couple of bullets go by your head and you go, ‘Whoa, what is this I got myself into?’ And then you start thinking too much.”
The 21-year-old 2004 Pilgrim graduate who lives on Parkview Avenue joined the Army in May of 2005, and was sent to Baghdad, the world’s most dangerous city, in 2006. He spent both his 20th and 21st birthday in Baghdad.
To illustrate the extreme danger soldiers face on a daily basis, Jordan told a story.
One afternoon in Baghdad, Jordan and his comrades were on patrol. They noticed a mound of fresh dirt in the yard of a residence—a telltale sign of a hidden weapons cache. After affirming their suspicions and finding barrels full of weapons, the group followed protocol and checked the lot next door.
Jordan, a staff sergeant and an interpreter approached an Iraqi man in the next house and began to question him.
“We were just kind of standing around, and then we heard a single crack and the wall, just a few feet away from my face, exploded. It went Ka-boom,” said Jordan.
He was the target of a sniper.
“We didn’t know where it was coming from, but someone’s not just going to shoot randomly…We got out of there and I was like ‘Wow, I almost got shot in the face,’” he said.
The story isn’t an isolated incident. It’s one of many that Jordan chose randomly.
That’s the reality of being an Army Specialist in Baghdad. The threat of a sniper’s bullet, an explosion of an improvised bomb or even a drive-by shooting, is as pervasive as the sand during a windstorm.
“You go out and you say to yourself, ‘Is this going to be the last day that I woke up,’” said Jordan.
How does one deal with the reality that death could realistically come at any given second?
“You just don’t think about it. You try not to as hard as you can,” said Jordan.
As time passed, Jordan began to question the purpose of the mission.
“Every day someone is getting killed, and we’d ask ourselves, ‘What is this for,’” Jordan said.
Jordan granted that while he doesn’t like being in a war zone, it does come with the territory. What makes the Iraq war an even harder pill for him to swallow is the fact that he doesn’t understand the rationale for it. After all, Iraq never attacked America, he notes.
Some will argue that America is establishing democracy in the Middle East, but Jordan counters that democracy is something that must come from within, it can’t be imposed.
Most troubling, he said, is the fact that since the invasion, the military has acted less and less like a military and more like police.
“We’re not police officers. We’re trained to go and kill people in battles, not keep them in line,” said Jordan.
Like many in the private sector, while he doesn’t agree with the mission set up by his superiors, he follows orders dutifully.
Jordan said he believes the surge has been successful in reducing violence over the last year, but notes that it also increases the likelihood of soldiers being killed because with more American troops comes more targets for the Iraqi insurgents.
And although he doesn’t agree with the war, he rejects the notion of setting timetables for withdrawals, as some prominent Democrats have suggested. It wouldn’t be wise, Jordan said, to tell an enemy when you plan on retreating.
He believes the U.S. will treat Iraq like South Korea, Japan and Germany and remain there indefinitely.
Jordan joined the Army for a number of reasons.
First and foremost, he comes from a military family. His sister, Shannon Wyatt, is also a member of the Army. His older brother, Don Moyer, a Warwick lawyer, was also in the military before becoming a lawyer.
As a child, Jordan always wanted to become a career military man. But he didn’t get around to joining the Army until a couple years after graduating from Pilgrim. He lacked direction, and decided to do his country a favor by enlisting in the Army.
After completing his first stint in Iraq, Jordan said he has no intention of becoming a career military man.
Despite his distaste for the current war, Jordan deeply respects the military, and is thankful for the benefits of being a soldier. The tax-free pay he receives as a soldier is better than that he earned at his last job before enlisting—he worked at Ocean State Job Lot. Also, before he enlisted in the Army, he was in debt. Now he’s debt free.
When he completes his service, he hopes to either parlay his military experience into a position at a local police department, or attend college.
He fully expects to get sent back to Iraq sometime next year, but he isn’t looking forward to it.
“I’m not happy over there. I’m not happy,” said Jordan.
Don’t get me wrong, but ... He gets paid to do what he does and I am VERY grateful for EVERYTHING!
My boss requires me to produce results and not to complain.
This guy has a hidden agenda and it STINKS!
"..well Scooter,when ya get back to your Unit, ya might wanna leave this reporter conversation on the back burner"
“The 21-year-old 2004 Pilgrim graduate who lives on Parkview Avenue joined the Army in May of 2005....As time passed, Jordan began to question the purpose of the mission......What makes the Iraq war an even harder pill for him to swallow is the fact that he doesn’t understand the rationale for it. After all, Iraq never attacked America, he notes.....”
hate to say it...this is like a vegetarian going to McDonalds, ordering three Big Macs, then complaining about eating meat after digesting them all....
Not sure what he was thinking. Iraq wasn’t my first combat deployment...I knew it would suck going in...didn’t change my opinion of the importance of the mission or the job that needed to be done.
You, Sir, understand.
The “Iraq never attacked the US” quote is pure anti-war dogma. I suspect a “winter soldier” aspect to this story.
Thats when he became a liberal-appeaser.
"An appeaser is someone who wants to feed everyone else to the crocodile, hoping that he will be eaten last."-Winston Churchill.
F'n Cowherd.
STFU and walk the line.
This is one of those instances where I’d love to have the full power of Lexis/Nexis to find out how may thimes the NY Slimes has quoted this kid before.
I tend to agree with that, there’s no excuse for the enemedia aiding the enemy.
I don’t think the guys at Bastogne were happy either... Soldiers always gripe, it’s their right. It’s just now we have an anti-American vulture media.
I sure am glad that when I was a kid there wasn’t any reporters interested in anything I had to say!
Noone ever shot at me when I served, so this young man gets a free pass from me anytime. There was very little about the service I liked when I was in. Half the time I understood why they locked up our guns and seldom handed us ammo.
One thing you can bet: when he’s finished with his time, and prayerfully in one piece, he’ll be forever proud of his service. He’ll be looked up to by his friends and family. He’ll be able to look a lib and war protester in the eye, shake his hand, and wink at his gilrfriend, thinking, she’s going to bed with a pussy.
Here’s to you, kid!
...didn’t change my opinion of the importance of the mission or the job that needed to be done. and there it is...
I agree. I repsect his decision to serve his country and his opinions are certainly valid since he’s commenting on what he sees. I just wonder how many people did they have to interview till they finally found someone who would say what the MSM wanted to hear about Iraq. If I’m not mistaken there were no quotes from other people in Iraq in this story. If his opinion were a majority opinion they you would think there would be more quotes than just this one soldier. Either way I respect him for serving his country and following thru on his committment to serve country.
Well, as we know here at FR that's not quite true. There is compelling evidence that Saddam was behind the first World Trade Center bombing. Saddam supported al-queda and other islamic terrorist groups intent on harming America and those that had. He tried to assassinate 2 Presidents. Oil for food. We took out of Iraq everything that saddam needed to build a bomb. Saddam's own admission that he intended to restart the nuke program after sanctions were lifted. The zarqawi bomb plot for Jordan and the US Embassy.
It’s not easy, and I understand his feelings.
I’ve muttered the “This sucks” mantra a time or two while in the field.
Don’t be too hard on the kid. Pray for him and his comrades.
I hope they all come home safe and sound.
He says he wants a cop's job—like that's a walk in the park. :-\
Thank you.
Remember, he is from rhode island........the fairy state.
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