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Just doing my job
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“It was strange going from names such as Gare-Bear and Quarterback to Saw Gunner Anderson or Army Soldier”.The Saw Gunner explained, “Everything is so much more serious compared to home (Stansbury, Utah). Kinda made me grow up, I guess.” Instead of leading his football team to victory, he is now helping his platoon clear out areas called blocking positions, so the innocent people of Afghanistan can have a place to live without fear. Instead of sleeping in his cozy bed at home, not worrying about anything except homework, he has the joy of snoozing in a makeshift trailer, about as big as a mobile home, accompanied by 19 fellow soldiers and the fear of an attack.
The 11 months Gareth spent in the Charkh District of Afghanistan were not all filled with gunfire and fear. Gareth was able to reveal the devious side of himself, which he expressed so vividly when in high school, to his platoon members. Pranking each other became a common pastime, with Specialist Anderson often being a primary instigator.. “When you are with the same people day in and day out, doing the job that we do, you have to become as close as you can with them otherwise, you might die.” Telling about his Army peers. “You have to get so close to them that you find out details you didn’t want to know, because if you don’t, they might be your enemy.” When a zone was cleared out and the blocking positions were established, the Platoon set up procedures referred to as SLE’s (Senior Leader Engagement) that is, they would talk to the elders of the community to make sure everything was still safe. The soldiers of Charlie Company (Gareth’s Platoon) were on their way to one of these SLE’s when they got caught in a fire fight. As bullets were flying all over the place, Gareth noticed that one of the Elders that they were on their way to talk to (a doctor), and had been talking to for months, was on the side they were shooting at. After the fire fight they found the doctor. A gunshot was discovered in his leg and they were told it came from the enemy, even though the bullet was the same caliber as the doctor’s own gun and at such an angle that the doctor was the only one capable of making that shot. “It just goes to show you can’t trust even some of the people who have gotten very close to you,” shrugs Anderson.
A couple months after the doctor had been shot, fire fights had become a normality, but aside from this, nothing out of the ordinary was going on. Supplies were running very low, as were spirits. “This was the last Clip Screen we had to go on before we went back home.” Gareth described a Clip Screen as the process to receive more supplies. The platoon has to meet a supply truck at the end of their zone and walk in front of it back to the base. That sounds pretty easy, except that it is a 26-hour operation with little rest or sleep. Gareth’s team was chosen to complete this final, treacherous task. “The Clip Screens were the most nerve racking. It is when we are most exposed,” he said. The mischievous Gareth does not exist on the Clip Screens. Instead the focused, stern soldier replaces him and he is present until the end of the operation. The 26 hours had finally passed and the team arrived at camp tired and starved, but they still had to unload the truck. “Specialist Stewart started unloading the truck and told me to go eat and I wasn’t going to argue with him,” recalls Anderson.
“I’m pretty sure that was the best sandwich that had been made in the history of ever.” A simple peanut butter and jelly, nothing special about it, but when you have been walking for a little over an entire day, a dirty old shoe would probably taste like strawberry cheesecake. He was almost done with his feast and was going to go back to the supply truck to help Stewart unload the rest of it when an unfamiliar sound drifted to his ears. “It was a mortar strike and I knew it, but I was willing it not to be true.” He threw the insignificant sandwich away and sprinted towards the supply truck. Seconds later the mortars hit and he knew they had hit the supplies and, more importantly, Specialist Stewart. When he reached the Specialist, he was still breathing but injured badly. The mortar attack was over and a life flight helicopter had already been sent for but when it got there the HLZ (Helicopter Landing Zone) was filled with trucks, so, they had to find another HLZ, which is not a big deal but the time spent doing it was. Stewart was finally loaded into the helicopter and flown to the nearest hospital. “It sucked so bad to see him like that. And we only had two months before we were going home.” Specialist Stewart survived but is now limited in walking because of the shrapnel that was laid throughout his body and neck. One fourth of his brain was also blown away.
Nothing of significance happened after that. Gareth’s deployment ended, and he was shipped back home. When asked if he was happy, he was in the military even after everything he experienced, he replied, “It’s the best job in the world. I love it.” And it is just that to him- a job. If someone comes up to him and thanks him, the compliment does not register personally with him. Even though he almost lost his good friend, his response is “Just doing my job. You get a paycheck the same as me. Mine is just with a different company.”
The 11 months Gareth spent in the Charkh District of Afghanistan were not all filled with gunfire and fear. Gareth was able to reveal the devious side of himself, which he expressed so vividly when in high school, to his platoon members. Pranking each other became a common pastime, with Specialist Anderson often being a primary instigator.. “When you are with the same people day in and day out, doing the job that we do, you have to become as close as you can with them otherwise, you might die.” Telling about his Army peers. “You have to get so close to them that you find out details you didn’t want to know, because if you don’t, they might be your enemy.” When a zone was cleared out and the blocking positions were established, the Platoon set up procedures referred to as SLE’s (Senior Leader Engagement) that is, they would talk to the elders of the community to make sure everything was still safe. The soldiers of Charlie Company (Gareth’s Platoon) were on their way to one of these SLE’s when they got caught in a fire fight. As bullets were flying all over the place, Gareth noticed that one of the Elders that they were on their way to talk to (a doctor), and had been talking to for months, was on the side they were shooting at. After the fire fight they found the doctor. A gunshot was discovered in his leg and they were told it came from the enemy, even though the bullet was the same caliber as the doctor’s own gun and at such an angle that the doctor was the only one capable of making that shot. “It just goes to show you can’t trust even some of the people who have gotten very close to you,” shrugs Anderson.
A couple months after the doctor had been shot, fire fights had become a normality, but aside from this, nothing out of the ordinary was going on. Supplies were running very low, as were spirits. “This was the last Clip Screen we had to go on before we went back home.” Gareth described a Clip Screen as the process to receive more supplies. The platoon has to meet a supply truck at the end of their zone and walk in front of it back to the base. That sounds pretty easy, except that it is a 26-hour operation with little rest or sleep. Gareth’s team was chosen to complete this final, treacherous task. “The Clip Screens were the most nerve racking. It is when we are most exposed,” he said. The mischievous Gareth does not exist on the Clip Screens. Instead the focused, stern soldier replaces him and he is present until the end of the operation. The 26 hours had finally passed and the team arrived at camp tired and starved, but they still had to unload the truck. “Specialist Stewart started unloading the truck and told me to go eat and I wasn’t going to argue with him,” recalls Anderson.
“I’m pretty sure that was the best sandwich that had been made in the history of ever.” A simple peanut butter and jelly, nothing special about it, but when you have been walking for a little over an entire day, a dirty old shoe would probably taste like strawberry cheesecake. He was almost done with his feast and was going to go back to the supply truck to help Stewart unload the rest of it when an unfamiliar sound drifted to his ears. “It was a mortar strike and I knew it, but I was willing it not to be true.” He threw the insignificant sandwich away and sprinted towards the supply truck. Seconds later the mortars hit and he knew they had hit the supplies and, more importantly, Specialist Stewart. When he reached the Specialist, he was still breathing but injured badly. The mortar attack was over and a life flight helicopter had already been sent for but when it got there the HLZ (Helicopter Landing Zone) was filled with trucks, so, they had to find another HLZ, which is not a big deal but the time spent doing it was. Stewart was finally loaded into the helicopter and flown to the nearest hospital. “It sucked so bad to see him like that. And we only had two months before we were going home.” Specialist Stewart survived but is now limited in walking because of the shrapnel that was laid throughout his body and neck. One fourth of his brain was also blown away.
Nothing of significance happened after that. Gareth’s deployment ended, and he was shipped back home. When asked if he was happy, he was in the military even after everything he experienced, he replied, “It’s the best job in the world. I love it.” And it is just that to him- a job. If someone comes up to him and thanks him, the compliment does not register personally with him. Even though he almost lost his good friend, his response is “Just doing my job. You get a paycheck the same as me. Mine is just with a different company.”