A SOLDIER'S STORY
Comrades in Arms
By
Franke Gracia
I wish every American could meet some of the soldiers I served alongside. I really do.
For example, I wish every American could meet Spc Berryhill. Handsome as the devil – but take my word for it, he’s no “pretty boy”. During our initial medical screening, he was classified as “non-deployable” because of his orthodontic braces.
Well, since the Army didn’t want to remove the braces, and since his dentist had issues with taking them off, Berryhill came up with his own solution. He grabbed a pair of pliers and one of those little screwdrivers for eyeglasses . . . and ripped out his dental work himself – so he could deploy and serve his country. Berryhill’s wife is expecting for the very first time. That kid is gonna be tough.
I wish every American could meet Lt Cavazos. Steady and sure. Never seen him get flustered. He’s already served a combat tour with a front-line unit that suffered casualties in Desert Storm. Cavazos had to delay some very important plans for this deployment. Did he complain? Try to get out of the deployment? Not a chance. Was he disappointed? Sure. But here he is, serving his country . . . again . . . in a combat zone . . . again . . . without complaint . . . again.
I wish every American could meet SFC Gibson. Mountain of a man. Loud booming voice. No doubt who’s in charge of our engineers, our “Super Yooper Boys” from up Michigan way. At our grog ceremony back at Fort Hood, he brought down the house with his toast to his “new brothers from Texas!” Gibson is giving himself, heart and soul, to his men in Afghanistan, leading by example, an inspiration to us all . . . while his son serves in one of the most dangerous parts of Iraq. I can’t even begin to imagine what he’s going through right now.
I wish every American could meet Cpt Pinzon. When he calls home and speaks to his wife over the phone, I have to immediately leave the area. You see, diabetes runs in my family, and Pinzon ends every sentence to his wife with the words “mi amor.” I just can’t take that much sugar all at once – it’s not healthy. “Como estas mi amor? Digame mi amor? Todo bien mi amor? En serio mi amor?” Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every husband spoke to his wife that way? Pinzon missed the first steps of his first-born son because he is serving in Afghanistan. He is the epitome of the devoted family man.
I wish every American could meet Lt Jameyson. Fine officer. An even finer person. Patience of Job. He was enjoying life in a cushy civilian job when 9/11 happened. He decided to enlist, then applied and was accepted to Officer Candidate School. Why did he volunteer for military service? Simple: he felt it was the right thing to do. So now, instead of a cushy civilian job, he’s in charge of force protection for a provincial reconstruction team in the wilderness of Afghanistan – because he’s one of those few who get involved while most just sit back and watch.
I wish every American, especially far right-wingers who rant about liberals ruining our country, could meet Cpl Ayala. He’s one of those flaming liberals, bent on ruining America by putting his doctoral dissertation on hold because he felt compelled to volunteer for this mission. Compelled by sense of duty and the tradition of military service in his family.
I wish every American, especially far left-wingers who think conservatives are ruining our country, could meet SFC Armentrout. He’s a staunch conservative, and he’s ruining our country by volunteering for another tour of duty in Afghanistan. Had Armentrout not volunteered, right now he’d be home with his wife and two lovely daughters (who he won’t quit bragging about), but as he told me, “Sir, there’s a war on. I’m a soldier. This is where I belong.”
Sometimes, late at night, after a long, hard, exhausting, stressful day, I wonder, “What the hell am I doing here? What the hell was I thinking? I actually volunteered for this.”
Then I remember I volunteered to serve because my country has been so good to me and my family, and as a bonus, I get the privilege and honor to serve alongside soldiers like Berryhill, Cavazos, Gibson, Pinzon, Jameyson, Ayala and Armentrout.
Then I lie down, take a deep breath, smile, slowly nod my head up and down, close my eyes, and get a really good night’s sleep.
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Franke Gracia lives in Temple, Texas and was deployed in Afghanistan with the National Guard from May 2005 to April 2006. He is a math professor at Temple College and is very close to his family that includes two brothers and two sisters. He earned a bronze star while he was deployed, which he gave to his mother. As to why he decided to write this series of articles he says, "I hope folks who read my scribbling will gain a greater appreciation of what a citizen-soldier goes through during a deployment."