| Stuart James (left) and Dave Taylor (right) take some time to relax and show some pride for their alma mater. |  |
They once attended classes at West Virginia
University, went to Mountaineer football games, and hung out
at Cheat Lake. However, Captain Dave Taylor and Captain Stuart
James have been spending a lot of time abroad lately. In fact,
they spent quite a bit of time in Iraq due to active roles in
Operation Iraqi Freedom. Through a series of e-mails, these two
alumni share glimpses into their personal lives and their experiences
in Iraq. Their eyewitness accounts describe why they enlisted,
130-degree temperatures, and how a WVU flag made it to Baghdad.
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| Captain Dave Taylor |
| May 24, 2003 |
You graduated from WVU in 1996 with a degree in physical education, right?
That is correct. I graduated in 1996 with a BS in physical education. I was in the athletic training program, an absolutely great program with an outstanding staff. The staff there I credit for making me the person I am today. I still keep in touch with many of them.
Where's your hometown?
Annapolis, Maryland.
Do you know how long you'll be in Baghdad?
I can't really say, other than not much longer.
What are your duties there?
I am the assistant operations officer for the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. I am responsible for assisting in the planning of future operations, assisting in the running of current (combat) operations, and assisting in the command and control of the brigade.
How do you spend your free time (if there is any), and do you have any interaction with locals?
There's not a whole bunch of free time
around here. When we do have downtime it consists of playing
cards, listening to music, reading magazines sent from home,
hanging out with our friends, or just plain going to sleep. There
is more free time now than during the actual war. During the
actual combat portion of the war there was just about no downtime.
Whether it was a 15-minute catnap or an hour's worth of sleep,
you got it when you could. Your adrenaline kept you going, but
it does wear you out. You literally lose track of what day it
is, and after awhile they all run together and you have no idea
if it is Monday or Friday. I do know that there are those who
made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our way of life and values
as Americans. I really have no idea how to say what I experienced.
I am not sure it has even caught up with me yet. Every once in
a while I just think to myself "I am in Baghdad." I'm
not sure it will truly hit me until I get home.
We are now currently conducting SASO (support and stability operations),
which involves restoring stability to the country so they can
stand up their own government.
There is a lot of interaction with the local population. You
get to see how the people really feel about you being here. About
90 percent of the population is very happy we are here and tell
us so by giving us the "thumbs up," saying "USA,"
etc. I think the one that will always stick with me was when
we were driving through downtown and a father and his two sons
walked by us and said, "thank you for Mr. Bush."
We heard media reports that did not resemble anything we were
seeing. As I am writing this, much of the media is reporting
about how this place (Baghdad) is out of control and like the
Wild, Wild West. I can tell you that if you took this city and
compared it to any in the United States with a population of
five million, this place would stand up fairly well.
It is an unbelievable experience to see freedom taking place
right in front of your eyes. You can see the difference you are
making as it happens. I was involved in trying to help get the
school system started back up in a portion of the city in which
our brigade is responsible. Many of the schools did not have
chalk, chalkboards, books, paper, or pencils. The curriculum
is littered with Saddam rhetoric, and his face is in just about
every book, on every wall, and around every street corner.
Of course we are all proud to have served our country. There
is no greater honor in my opinion than [to] serve your country
when called upon in time of war. I am proud, honored, and humbled
to have served this great country.
LET'S GO MOUNTAINEERS!
June 5, 2003
Why (and when) did you enlist?
I enlisted in January of 1992 and went
to basic training and advanced individual training at Fort McClellan,
Alabama, which at the time was the home of the military police.
I enlisted into the reserves because I still wanted to go to
college but wanted to get the experience of being enlisted. It
completely changed my outlook on things (life). You get an appreciation
for what you take for granted at home, with family, etc. It also
gave me focus when I got to WVU. I was able to handle the responsibility
better of being at college. If I liked the military I would try
for Officer Candidate School (OCS) after college. As it turned
out, I joined ROTC at WVU. Actually, I was putting in an OCS
packet when one of the professors of military science, then-Captain
Douglas Flohr (now Lieutenant Colonel), approached me about ROTC
and the rest is history. I was commissioned in 1997 as a second
lieutenant of infantry.
Why did I join
the army? You know, sometimes I think I always knew that is what
I wanted to do. My mother said I started talking about it when
I was ten. Growing up, I always had an interest in the military,
and I read a lot about the Vietnam War. I admired my grandfather
a lot and would love to hear all his stories about WWII, Korea,
and his experiences in Vietnam. I guess in a sense I wanted to
be like my grandfather, except I wanted to be in the army.
During the Persian Gulf War in 1991 I was still in high school
and felt horrible that I could not take part. That feeling stuck
with me and I told myself I did not ever want to be in a position
in which I could not serve my country. I think Senator John McCain
said it best when he said to serve is "to serve a cause
greater than one's self." I always admired veterans, who
to me were and still are true "heroes" of America and
my heroes. To me, anyone who was willing to give up their life
for our country was a hero.
I have favorite athletes now, and did when I was growing up.
Calling them heroes is just a part of our culture. But the true
heroes emerged in 2001. The police, firemen, teachers, etc.,
are the ones who are true heroes. Unfortunately, our country
gained appreciation of that the hard way. To me, saying I serve
in the military makes me proud, and I would not trade it for
anything.
What do you miss the most from home?
This one is easy: my family. The hardest
thing for me is not seeing my wife and daughter. My little girl,
Allison, is 16 months old, and I have been gone for nine months
of her life. You always fear that when they are that young they
will not remember who you are when you get home. There is no
greater joy than being a dad, in my opinion. Seeing your little
one grow up and knowing that you and your wife will have every
influence on them is amazing. The hard part is when you get home
you have to relearn everything. Your wife has changed, daughter
has changed, and you have to figure out the "routine"
in the house again.
I always just miss the good old USA. I have been to Botswana,
Germany, Kuwait, and now Iraq. Each place has its own uniqueness,
but you realize that there is no place better than our country-
you realize how much freedom we have and how lucky we really
are as a country.
Are you married? Do you have kids?
As you know, yes: my wife is Susan, and daughter, Allison. We are expecting our second child at the end of August. I met my wife at WVU, as a matter of fact. She is originally from Murrysville, Pennsylvania. I am the luckiest man alive to be married to Susan. Military wives by far have it harder than the soldiers. Susan has to take care of Allison, the bills, house; you name it, she has to do it. And, during the war, my wife never knew when I was in danger or when I was safe. My wife is truly an incredible woman. I could not do this job without such a strong wife.
Who brought over the WVU flag, and why?
Ah, the flag. This actually goes back to
our deployment in Kuwait last year. I had two flags with me.
One was the American flag and the other was a Tony Stewart (NASCAR
driver) flag. When I got home I told my wife I wished I had a
WVU flag. I obviously love WVU and the state. I had a great experience
there, and most people think I am from West Virginia because
I talk about it more than I do Maryland. I never argue with them
because I would have no problem saying I am from West Virginia.
When I knew we were coming back over here I desperately wanted
a WVU flag to show off my pride of the school. However, you don't
see WVU apparel sold in Georgia too often. Luckily, my mother-in-law
got me one, and it arrived shortly before I departed back over
here. Stu [Stuart James] and I finally saw each other in Baghdad,
and we made it a point to take a picture.
June 6, 2003
We still have our embedded media reporter
with us. He has been with us since about four weeks before the
war started. He has lived through everything we have, slept in
the dirt, and come under fire. His reporting has a different
look on things than the media who arrived after the fall of Baghdad.
The difference is that a journalist who arrives later and hears
gunshots may think the place is out of control whereas the embedded
journalist does not think twice about it because it is a minor
incident compared to the big picture.
I actually got to talk to my wife last night. Only the second
time since March 15. My little girl is getting in and out of
her own bed now. I put her in her crib the night before I left.
How quickly things change.
June 18, 2003
I am now in Kuwait, but still no word on when we will get home.
June 26, 2003
It is very boring these days. We are literally
just waiting to get our orders to go home. Very frustrating.
The temperature averages about 120 degrees each day and [it is]
always sunny. I have not seen rain since December.
I am getting ready to take command of a company on July 5. A
company is made up of approximately 150 soldiers. I am looking
forward to it.
June 26, 2003
What are you doing to pass time?
After the first week in Baghdad we did
not really have a mission so we have been waiting for awhile.
There are pros and cons to both. If we were in Baghdad and had
a mission that would be one thing. Then again being here and
for the most part being out of harm's way is not a bad thing
either. We are all just tired of sitting.
To pass the time, I write e-mails, read books, and lately I have
been playing Risk on the computer. Our highlight is walking to
"chow," which is about 3/4 miles away. We no longer
have to eat MREs (meals ready to eat). During the war that is
all we ate. We now get three hot meals a day, which is nice.
When you are hungry they [MREs] are not too bad.
July 15, 2003
I am no longer hanging out . . . O.K.,
well I am, but it is at HOME. I got home early Sunday morning
and it sure is nice to see the family, green grass, trees, rain,
etc.
It (the waiting) was painful. We were told we were going home
one day and the next day we would be told we were not. Just glad
it is over and I am home.
August 15, 2003
We had a baby boy last Saturday morning. Michael weighed seven pounds, eight ounces and is 20.5 inches long. He is great.
| |
| Captain Stuart James |
| June 26, 2003 |
As far as WVU, I received a master of arts
in educational leadership in 1996.
I just wanted to give you a quick account of my role in Operation
Iraqi Freedom. I returned home to Fort Benning, Georgia, in late
May. For the past 22 months I have been in command of A Company,
2nd Battalion, 69th Armor, the lead task force (battalion) for
the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division. I led the task force
and the brigade during every attack during the 25-day war. The
company I commanded, Company A (Team Assassin), is an armor team.
If you saw CNN during the start of the war they had their team
of reporters with the 3-7 CAV, or as they referred to it, the
7th Cavalry. They were well behind us on March 20 when we crossed
the border into Iraq. At one point we were 50 kilometers in front
of any friendly forces. It was an awesome feeling being that
far out front with the rest of the army and Marine Corps behind
me.
My company initiated
the attack on An Nasiriyah and seized the bridge to allow follow-on
forces (the marines) to continue the attack north. We were engaged
in fairly heavy fighting around Nasiriyah, but we easily destroyed
the threat. Once we seized the bridge we handed it off to another
unit and started our movement to the west.
Once again my company led the brigade to An Najaf, where we stopped
for about 24 hours and then received orders to relieve 3-7 CAV
east of An Najaf. We attacked [going] 35 kilometers at night
during the worst sandstorm I have ever seen. We had fairly heavy
contact; I think we surprised the Iraqis, who did not think anyone
would attack through the sandstorm. We fought east of An Najaf
for the next three days and eliminated the threat. What surprised
me was the fact that the Iraqi soldiers were all Republican Guard
and drove armed pickup trucks at our tanks. Needless to say,
they lost.
The highlight for my soldiers was the seizure of the Kufa soda
plant, which was full of all sorts of soft drinks and bottled
water. The soda we drank; the water we gave to the civilians.
This is what my company did during the pause (this what the press
called it) short of the Karbala Gap. As you can tell, we were
pretty busy.
My company then led the attack into Karbala. Once again it was
a night attack, but no sandstorm, so it was too easy. We did
have heavy contact. Our vehicles took an amazing amount of hits,
but they were not damaged. The pickups came at us again, and
again, they lost. We then cut the highway from Karbala to Baghdad
and remained there until April 5, about four days. While patrolling
the area we found and destroyed a battalion of enemy BMP 1s (armored
personnel carriers) fully armed and fueled, but their soldiers
had just walked away from the equipment.
We then moved north
toward Baghdad. After moving about 50 kilometers we stopped for
what was supposed to be at least 24 hours. We got the order to
move six hours later, and we began the attack on Baghdad at 0400
that morning. We had minimal time to plan the attack. I led my
company, the lead company again for the brigade, on a 160-kilometer
attack, and cleared three objectives, finally seizing a bridge
in North Baghdad. During the attack we destroyed at least a brigade's
worth of enemy tanks, artillery, and personnel carriers.
Regretfully, a soldier in my company was killed by hostile fire.
He was Private Greg Huxley, 19 years old. The men bravely continued
to fight. It was a tremendously successful attack for us. We
were the unit that effectively closed the noose around Baghdad
for the coalition. On our final objective we were in a firefight
for about 60 hours against the Republican Guard. They counterattacked
us with a tank company that we destroyed, and they continued
to send dismounted infantry against us with the same results;
they lost. The Boston Globe carried the story on April 9. It
was an interesting interview, as we were still receiving enemy
artillery fire at the time.
On April 9 we attacked into the center of Baghdad to secure our
final objective of the war. The resistance was light by this
time; the enemy had melted away into the city. My company continued
to conduct combat patrols in the northern section of Baghdad
until the end of the war. Shortly after the end of hostilities,
we began peacekeeping operations. I then changed command on the
25th of April after 22 months of command, twelve of those deployed
to the Middle East.
Where is your hometown?
Wheeling, West Virginia.
Are you married? Have any children? If so, what did they think of your extended departure and your dangerous duties?
I am married with two kids. Whitney is five, and Kade is three. It was not the first long departure for them, but this one was much more difficult for my wife Kristin, because she knew I was way out front and in the middle of the fighting. She really had no way of knowing how I was. She, like all wives, lived in fear of "the knock on the door," with news of my death. Thankfully, that did not come to fruition.
Your degree is interesting. Do you intend on leaving the military to eventually pursue a job in education?
Yes, I do, but really I use my degree every day. If you think about it, I teach college- age students every day in the army. The course would be called Violence Management 101. I have trained college-age students to control—and the key is control—some of the most lethal weapons systems in the world. If they do not fully understand their mission or equipment, many civilians and even friendly troops would be killed, and the collateral damage would be much higher than what we are now used to. I must teach my officers how our mission fits into our country's foreign policy goals, as well as be knowledgeable enough to teach my officers the history of warfare and how we can apply that history to our advantage.
How do you attack the enemy in a sandstorm? How do you circumvent the damage the sand does to your equipment, and to your body?
How do you attack in a sandstorm? Bottom
line: we were a well-trained, well-disciplined unit. We had fought
through those conditions many times before in training. My company
had been working together for well over a year, through the toughest
training in the army.
Last summer we spent six months in the Kuwaiti desert honing
our skills and building our trust and confidence in each other.
During that summer we trained through some of the most extreme
weather conditions in the world. Temperatures reached 150 degrees
on the surface of our tanks and 130 degrees in the shade. We
trained through many sandstorms and adapted our formation and
standard operating procedures to deal with the extreme weather
conditions.
When we were given
the mission to attack in the sandstorm, it was not something
new. It was something everyone had done several times before.
The only difference was the enemy was using live ammunition.
To prevent damage to our equipment, once again it was training
and discipline that were key to our success. My soldiers knew
that in order to keep everything in working order, they had to
clean and service their equipment daily, at a minimum. Sometimes
this called for several cleanings during the day and night. My
soldiers had developed good habits through the training they
had received last summer, as well as from some absolutely superior
noncommissioned officers.
How does the sand affect your body?
You just get used to it. The sand gets everywhere; you really just live with it. You get used to eating your food with grit in it, but you are so hungry it doesn't matter. We really didn't have much time to do anything but shave and brush our teeth.
Did you have much contact with civilians in Iraq? If so, what was it like?
Yes, I did have contact with Iraqi civilians. It was for the most part very rewarding. Ninety-nine percent of them want us there and are very grateful we liberated them. I was given an Iraqi translator with whom I enjoyed discussing issues about Iraq and its people. Saddam was a second-rate thug and treated his people as subhuman. The Iraqi people truly feared him. It was fairly standard for people to disappear, never to be seen again. They lived in constant fear of Saddam and his secret police.
July 24, 2003
I have just been awarded the Silver Star
and the Bronze Star for my actions in Operation Iraqi Freedom,
specifically for leading the attack into north Baghdad.
We are grateful to Captain James and Captain Taylor for sharing their experiences with us.