Submitted by admin on Fri, 2005-10-07 02:00. ::
PENDLETON — Returning home from a battlefield means facing a multitude of conflicting emotions. One question that weighs heavily on many soldiers' minds is why some make it back while others don't.
Pendleton's Levi Hamby returned from Iraq this summer and feels blessed to be home. The bittersweet sense of gratitude is punctuated by the loss of two Pendleton Guardsmen and the severe injury of another local soldier.
The two hometown National Guardsmen died Sept. 25 in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. And earlier this week, Army Pfc. Zachery Knight of Pendleton, a 2003 Pendleton High School graduate, had his left leg amputated after his Humvee took a direct hit Sunday.
“It's hard knowing I was in Iraq in some of the worst places I could possibly be and made it back,” Hamby said, “and the people that should have come back just aren't going to.
Hamby's year in Iraq was dangerous and turbulent, but he doesn't duck the subject. He served as an infantry team leader with his Army unit in Ar Ramadi, a town located within a klick (kilometer) of the Euphrates River.
His unit was charged with maintaining order in a sector that included half the city of 420,000 people. He didn't often stray from his sector and never laid eyes on the castle owned by Saddam Hussein that was located in the other half of town.
Life was often unpredictable and violent. One day, a car bomb killed a few men in his unit, along with a couple dozen Iraqi soldiers. Hamby and his unit picked up the pieces.
He's proud of his unit, calling them “police with machine guns,” who spent so much time together they could practically read each other's minds. Together, they searched for caches of weapons and went on special missions to collar insurgents after receiving tips from Intelligence.
While much of Iraq is often described as desolate, Hamby said Ar Ramadi was an oasis in the center of the ravaged desert nation. But, oasis or not, the troops withstood temperatures of 130 degrees and drank salt water to combat dehydration.
The enemy frequently fired mortar shells at the camp that Hamby and his fellow soldiers called home. The small 60-mm shells caused little damage, at first.
As time passed, the shells started coming at more random times and began landing closer to the mess hall. Eventually, the soldiers started dining in another building.
When Hamby arrived home in July after four and a half years of service, he let everything settle for a time, not hurrying to seek new endeavors.
One focus is reconnecting with his wife and daughter. During his five-year marriage to Kristina, the couple has been together only half that time.
His wife Kristina is happy to have her husband back, though in light of recent local tragedy, she doesn't feel right celebrating too much. She is, however, able to watch the news again without feeling overwhelming anxiety.
When Hamby returned home, he reveled in home life. He also spent time looking through storage at possessions he hadn't laid eyes on for months. Suddenly, most of his personal items lacked importance.
The 1997 Pendleton High School graduate planned to lay low for a while. Then, Bruce Kauss, a distance education specialist at BMCC, told him he was eligible for a 50 percent cut in tuition for veterans and encouraged Hamby to enroll. Hamby, intrigued, decided to take a few classes.
Hamby had started in BMCC's criminal justice program after graduating from high school and is considering going back to major in the subject full time. For now, Hamby said laughing, his only “brain class” is a fisheries course. The other two classes are weight lifting and a golf class held at the Wildhorse Golf Course. He's grateful to the college.
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