The heat of the desert sun, demolished buildings smoldering from bombings and sounds of enemy fire still linger in the memories of some Ohio University student veterans.
Adam Frump, a 31-year-old senior studying communication sciences and disorders and a member of the OU Combat Veterans Club, served three tours overseas in Baghdad, Iraq. His first tour began in May 2003 and lasted six months. He served as a gunner.
“Initially there was a little bit of culture shock,” Frump said. “We tried to scan for threats in everyday Iraqi life. We were not there to cause harm but to maintain safety and order.”
Frump said he did not experience fear for the majority of his service but encountered hostility on his third tour between 2006–07, when he felt the increase in tension with insurgents in northern Baghdad.
“There were bombs getting thrown at us,” he said. “I never felt scared until there were growing casualties.”
When 25-year-old Eric Burke, a junior studying history, was deployed in 2006 to the al-Anbar Province in Iraq, he said he was immediately thrown into combat.
“As a 19-year-old private, I honestly didn’t know what I was doing,” he said. “There were so many casualties, and I felt the fear of trying to stay alive.”
Burke said he dealt with death almost every day but became numb to his own fear of it.
“It was very difficult to focus with the thought that you might die,” he said. “You begin to accept the fact you might die, and you stay focused on the task at hand.”
Devon Aey, a 25-year-old senior studying business management and president of the OU Combat Veterans Club, said that during his tour in Iraq during 2007–08, he felt eager to go overseas.
“I was excited to serve my country, and I was going to do just that,” Aey said.
Aey said his first few weeks on campus were hard because of the difference in perspectives with traditional students.
“The big thing was maturity level and age,” Aey said. “In combat, you see everything, things that these kids would never see. From age differences to life experiences, it’s a whole different spectrum of thoughts running through your head.”
Frump said during his transition onto campus, he felt alarmed that OU students were desensitized to ongoing conflicts in other parts of the world.
“It scares me that people don’t pay much attention to the news; there’s so much going on,” he said. “They assume everything will be okay forever and (that they) don’t have anything to worry about.”
Aey said that though many students might not be able to share some of the experiences of military combat, he hopes they will do one task on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War.
“Our job is done,” he said. “If you see somebody in uniform, thank them. Thank them for their service.”
hy135010@ohiou.edu
For a story on the local perspective on the Iraq War, click here.
