A proper welcome home for Iraq vets

01/10/2006

MARK YOST
Pioneer Press
Published: January 10, 2006

CAMP RIPLEY, Minn.

There were a million other things that the 160 Minnesota National Guardsmen wanted to do in their first few days back from Iraq.

Spend time with loved ones.

Get that cheeseburger they’d been craving.

Sleep in their own beds.

But because the reunions would be bittersweet, the cheeseburgers wouldn’t taste quite as good, and their own beds wouldn’t be as comforting as they’d imagined — all part of the heightened expectations soldiers have after a year in Iraq — the Minnesota National Guard ordered them to spend two days in a drafty drill hall at Camp Ripley, learning about the challenges they and their families would face in the coming months.

“This is tougher than what you did in Iraq,” said Sgt. Keith Huff, a no-nonsense platoon sergeant who led a small unit of combat engineers during his own one-year tour of Iraq.

Over the next few months this column will look at how these Minnesota Guardsmen and their families are adjusting to life back home. Most of them will do just fine. They are far from the post-traumatic-stress time bombs that they are so often — and erroneously — portrayed to be. But transitioning from an adrenaline-fueled life in a war zone to relatively sedate lives in Minnesota does take time and effort.

Smoothing that transition is the goal of “Reintegration: Beyond Reunion,” a one-of-a-kind program developed by Maj. John Morris, an active duty Army chaplain with the Minnesota National Guard. While Morris gets — and deserves — much of the credit, he couldn’t have done it without strong support from Guard Adjutant Gen. Larry Shellito, a Vietnam vet who has vowed that his soldiers won’t be treated as he was when he came home. Gov. Tim Pawlenty has supported the program as well, recently proposing to increase funding for the State Soldiers Assistance Program from $3 million to $4.4 million.

The Camp Ripley session began with some frank words from Huff, who told the returning vets about the issues he faced when he came back from Iraq in January 2005. While he patrolled Iraqi highways for roadside bombs, terrorists would often try to lob grenades from highway overpasses into Huff’s Humvee. Today when he drives on the interstate, his heart rate still goes up a tick or two as he approaches an overpass.

“I don’t speed up or swerve as I go under it,” Huff told the soldiers and their families, who sat in rapt silence. “But the fact that I’m aware of it helps me keep it in control.”

That was the clear theme that ran through the Camp Ripley sessions and others given around the state to the 1,000 Minnesota Guardsmen just back from Iraq. Recognize that you might have issues — no matter how small or seemingly inconsequential — and deal with them. Huff’s sobering candor also told these combat-hardened veterans that they’re not alone and shouldn’t feel ashamed or embarrassed when they feel out of place in the civilian world or have brief moments of anxiety.

Morris, in terms just as stark, told the families who stayed behind what to expect from the returning soldiers.

“The military is great at taking your mild-mannered Minnesota men and turning them into steely-eyed killers for a year,” he said. “What it hasn’t been good at is helping them reintegrate into civilian life.”

That sad reality is what motivated Morris to create this unique program, which is garnering interest from Guard units across the country.

He told the Guardsmen that if they’re going to have problems adjusting, they won’t surface for about 10 days, after the initial euphoria of being back home wears off. They’ll also start to crave the unique camaraderie that they only feel with their fellow soldiers.

“Keep in touch with your ‘battle buddies,’ “ Maj. Morris said. “They were your support network in Iraq and they can be now — if you let them.”

Most important, he told the group, they have to figure out who they’ll be out of uniform.

“Will you be stuck in Iraq forever?” he asks. “Or will you make peace with yourselves and others?”

Those are pertinent questions that will not end with the homecoming of this latest wave of Guardsmen. In a few months about 2,400 Minnesota National Guard troops, the largest deployment since World War II, will go to Iraq. They, too, will come home a year later and need the same helping hand. Thanks to Morris and his staff, they’ll get it.