Iraq veterans speak on war and peace

By Sharon Roznik

Growing numbers of Iraq war veterans had been joining the movement that supports redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq.

Other Iraq war veterans believe the United States needs to stay the course and support the good work being done there by the troops.

Several veterans were among the 200 people arrested during an anti-war demonstration (including the staging of a "die-in") held Sept. 15 at the U.S. Capitol that drew 10,000.

The Reporter asked four Iraq war veterans from Wisconsin, including two from the Fond du Lac area, to voice their thoughts about the war.

Some of the four are against U.S. involvement in the war and others are supportive of what the United States is doing in Iraq.

Don Hounsell Fond du Lac

A sergeant first class in the Army Reserve, Don Hounsell, 39, said the in-fighting taking place on political fronts in the United States is crippling to the country’s global image.

"It seems like our Congress is trying to alienate the president. Their recent vote made Turkey (a crucial U.S. ally just north of Iraq) very mad. They did it intentionally, and it hurt our reputation. That’s how I look at it," he said.

Hounsel refers to a House panel passing a resolution condemning the mass killing of Armenians at Turkish hands early in the 20th Century. According to the Christian Science Monitor, the heightened tensions, and the wave of anti-U.S. outrage it sparked, come as Turks debate how to handle a second issue: a recent increase in terrorist attacks carried out by Kurdish militants operating from inside Iraqi territory.

Now Turkey says it may take matters into its own hands and send its own troops into Iraq.

"There’s too much political strife, and both sides (Democrats and Republicans) are guilty of it," Hounsell said. "It definitely puts our soldiers in harm’s way."

The war, he believes, is going in the right direction and needs to continue.

"There are thousands of Iraqis fleeing their country, but there are people there from this side of the world trying to help them out. Our troops need a little more time to help stabilize the nation," Hounsell said. "Television is trying to spin it, even locally, but you just can’t do this stuff overnight. I live here on Rees Street, and my street is still tore up and it’s been that way since May. Things take time."

On Sept. 14, 2004, Hounsell left his job in waste treatment management to supervise transport as a sergeant first class in the Army Reserve (of which he is still a member). He served in Iraq for 15 months.

"It had its moments, some better than others," he said. "We hauled supplies back and forth a lot during night missions. I was in a convoy that did take fire, but I wasn’t in the fire fight."

Although not everyone in his unit wanted to be there, especially those who left behind young families or higher-paying jobs, Hounsell said every one of them pulled together.

"We were scared," he said. "We were going into an unknown to do a job in harm’s way, but we did our mission and we took our jobs seriously."

So far, the surge in Iraq has worked, Hounsel said, but he voices concern about the British pulling out of the southern part of Iraq.

"Who will be put in there? They say the Iraqi forces, but that’s our main line down there. We have to keep on training the Iraqis and hope the Iraqis understand what is at stake," he said.

Jason Moon Milwaukee

Iraq veteran and peace activist Jason Moon of Milwaukee said his service in Iraq from July 2003 until Aug. 2004 left him bitterly opposed to the war.

Moon supports a slow withdrawal of troops, the creation of an international peacekeeping team — not led by the United States — and the replacement of English-speaking troops with others who speak the language (like members of another Islamic nation).

"Nothing we do can change the way they (Iraqis) feel about us," Moon said. "If you want to liberate a country, you have to hold the people there higher than you hold yourself."

Now 33, Moon was 17 years old in 1993 when he signed up in Tomahawk with the Wisconsin Army National Guard, the 724th Engineer Battalion. During his eight years of service, he helped out during the Oakfield tornado and responded with his unit to a severely flooded area of Baraboo.

"It was great, and it jibed with my ideals," he said.

Then Sept. 11, 2001 happened. He re-enlisted because of what he calls a "solidification of patriotism."

"I wanted to protect our country and thought that we would be patrolling borders and airports, national monuments and bridges. Our country needed people, and I was willing," he said.

Instead, Moon said that he was sent to Iraq and told to follow orders that were against his beliefs.

"I saw a culture being disrespected," he said. "It shattered my illusions of the human spirit."

Moon said the soldiers deployed in the summer of 2003 were ordered to run over children if they ran into the road, take the lives of civilians in terms he disagreed with and were ordered to not give food or water to civilians along the roadside.

"I told my superiors I wouldn’t kill anyone," Moon said. "I entertained the troops with singing and playing my guitar. I taught Korean soldiers English and did whatever I could to remain useful on base. They understood I wasn’t going to shoot anyone, so they gave me jobs. I tried to become a conscientious objector while I was over there, but they told me if I did that I would still be in Iraq after my unit came home."

After his return home, he received an honorable discharge from the National Guard.

Moon currently attends graduate school at Cardinal Stritch College in Milwaukee. He has a degree in religious studies with a minor in philosophy and plays his music at a variety of venues.

Steve Schlosser Fond du Lac

At age 18, Steve Schlosser joined the 961st U.S. Army Reserve Engineers in Pewaukee. He retired in August 2006 after 20 years of service.

"I don’t think the progress in Iraq is what the (government) had hoped for, and the Iraqi citizens are not contributing to it. They are fighting amongst each other instead of against the insurgents," Schlosser said. "We need the Iraqi people to pick up the pace, and they aren’t."

Calling it a frontless war (because the war is everywhere), Schlosser maintains the United States is trying its best and doing a great job. The next push, he said, needs to come from within.

"It starts with re-educating the children (who are taught to hate) at a very young age," he said.

Schlosser’s unit was deployed to Iraq with the 244th Engineers based out of Denver, Colo. He spent 14 months (2003-04) serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom as a sergeant first class. He recalls the desolation of the desert region and the green palatial areas surrounding the castles owned by Saddam Hussein.

"Saddam did nothing to repair the country," he said. "The country was sitting there with no water or power, except in Saddam’s palaces, which were actually small cities."

Stability in the region ripples throughout the entire Middle East, he said, and Americans can’t live without the oil that comes from that part of the world, at least not until alternative energy sources are developed.

"The United States has the greatest Army in the world; there’s no doubt," Schlosser said. "I get a tingle up my back when I think of all these kids from small towns across the country. Everyone should feel proud of these soldiers. They are doing what they have to do."

Schlosser is employed at Briggs & Stratton in Milwaukee.

Robin Eckstein Oshkosh

Robin Eckstein, 30, of Oshkosh, served as a truck driver in the Wisconsin National Guard and the U.S. Army.

She believes the United States should be engaging the international community in active participation when it comes to what is happening in Iraq.

"Terrorism is a world issue," she said. "We need to look at responsible redeployment. We need to help our veterans and support veterans’ issues."

Creating strained international relations, she said, does not "support our troops."

"It has the opposite effect. It endangers their lives even more when their own government turns countries against us," she said.

Eckstein joined the military in 1999 with thoughts of getting a free college education.

"Then I came back from basic training, and I realized how much I loved the military," she said. "I signed up for active duty with the 123rd MSB First-Armored Division and was stationed on a military base in Germany when 9/11 happened."

She recalls the German people crying and heaping mounds of flowers at the entrance to the base.

"They came and brought food for the guards and they cried for America," she said.

In July 2003, Eckstein was stationed at Baghdad International Airport, where she and fellow soldiers ran supply missions.

"We were the logistic relief point, and every day, we would deliver supplies to small bases all around the area," she said.

Her three-month tour in Iraq reflects Eckstein’s love of the military and her country and her pride in being a military veteran. She works with veterans groups to lobby for resources.

"The current administration," she said, "is creating 1,000 veterans a day but not allocating the money needed to support them all."

She calls war the saddest experience of her life.

"It’s something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy," she said.

Eckstein is studying global leadership at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.