The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Welcome Home Military personnel reflect on time spent overseas
By Tom Perkins, Special Writer
PUBLISHED: January 10, 2008
The September 11, 2001 attacks on America prompted Sgt. Gordon Wesley to join the military, and exactly six years later he found himself scrambling to save the lives of American soldiers in what was the most memorable day of his one year service in Iraq.
Advertisement
While working in the 11 71st Area Medical Support Company, which was about to return home to Ypsilanti in two weeks, indirect fire hit the Camp Victory compound in which he worked, and it was his unit's responsibility to care for the wounded.
During the following 24 hours, Wesley and his unit worked to save lives, and he discovered a close friend among the wounded. But most memorably, he witnessed his unit come together in a way they hadn't previously.
"It was the first time our unit came together - it seemed like for 24 hours we all really came together," Wesley recalled. "It felt great to be eyes on, hands on and knowing you did the best you could. It was like a conclusion to the whole time we were there."
The unit's efforts were varied in both operations and physical location, but they ultimately focused on helping the wounded. Staff Sgt. Stacia Roeth, also of the 11 71st, ran the clinic in the U.S. Embassy in the Green Zone.
"It was really kind of a unique assignment because it was a state department assignment augmented by the military, so I had to keep the two agencies working together," she said. "We saw patients whether there were attacks on the compound or it was a daily sick call."
Sgt. Wesley worked in a different environment - as a radiology sergeant he was often providing assistance and x-rays for medics and physicians, but his office was wherever he might be called.
But walking around in Camp Victory or the Green Zone was not without its risks.
Wesley recalls the scariest moment of his service came when he was working in the clinic and saw a rocket hit 30 feet from where he bunked. He knew his friend was inside.
"It was just like Russian roulette with the rockets and mortars that came," he recalled. "You tell yourself that 'I'm just doing what I can, and I can't control it' and you keep going."
Roeth expressed similar feelings, but chalked it up as part of the job.
"When the rockets land in your housing areas and you're jolted out of bed, you start to think 'Oh gosh, this isn't good,'" she said. "Despite the rockets coming in you knew what you were doing everyday had an impact and you were there for a reason, and I don't know that there was anything that's more important."
Outside stray rockets, Wesley said the hardest part of the service was missing his family, which was a stress that went both ways. When CNN found out about the compound being hit on Sept. 11 and reported it immediately, he had to call and calm his family.
"My mom was freaking out about it," he said.
On Sept. 25, 2007, the unit concluded their one year service in Iraq and returned to Ypsilanti Township, where each member of the unit enjoyed this holiday season at home.
Roeth described her last Christmas from her office at the Boll Family YMCA in downtown Detroit, where she works as associate executive director.
"They had a nice Christmas dinner for us and that was about it," she said. "It was just another day. You certainly think about your family and what they're doing and what you would be doing if you were there, but you know what you have to do right then and keep going."
Like everyone returning, Wesley and Roeth have had to make the transition from soldier to civilian, an effort that can prove difficult and stressful for some.
"I was kind of fortunate because I'm single and I hung out with my family right after I got back, so I got to mesh and figure things out about life," Roeth said. "I think my transition was about getting back to work and getting back into that swing, and it was a little harder than I thought it would be."
Wesley, a body-builder and student, wasted no time in his transition either. He immediately began working out and was in class within a week of arriving home.
"Most people come back and take it way too easy and lay around, but I went back to my normal routine," he said.
Another dimension of the transition is parting with friends with whom there is an uncommon yet firm bond.
"Some of the friendships that you make are everlasting," Wesley explained. "I look back now and miss the brotherhood. You are all in the same situation and known you have a sense of belonging to something bigger."
Despite the rewards of being of service to their country, Roeth and Wesley are hesitant to sign up for another year in Iraq.
Wesley recalled the moment the unit's bus pulled up in Ypsilanti and he stepped off to conclude the tour.
"You feel weightless," he said.
Tom Perkins is a freelance writer for the View/Courier. He can be reached at trperkins@gmail.com.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
TOP JOBS
