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A Soldier Reflects on Iraq
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Col. Mike Larsen accepts a flower from an Iraqi child at the
opening of the Al Harza School near An Nasiriyah. Larsen
was the
commander of the 171st Area Support Group,
which helped
rebuild the school. Also pictured are village
leader Sheik Hakim
and Larsen’s fellow soldiers. |
(Editors Note: Dr. Mike Larsen is a
professor of biological science at Campbell University who was
called to active duty by the Army Reserves last April to deploy to
Iraq. A full colonel, Larsen commanded the 171st Area Support
Group assigned to Tallil Air Base in Southern Iraq.)
When Army reservist and Campbell University biology
professor Mike Larsen speaks to elementary students about his
experiences in Iraq, he is often asked about the bracelet he wears with
the name of a soldier killed while pursuing insurgents. The soldier
wasn’t in Larsen’s unit, but Larsen lived alongside him and knew him as
a dedicated young man who died doing his duty and protecting his
comrades.
During his nearly 12 months in the country, Larsen also
came to know many Iraqi people to whom he refers with the same affection
and respect. Sometimes it is difficult for him to believe that the Iraq
of television news and the country in which he helped to rebuild schools
and orphanages are one and the same, but he’ll be the first to admit
that the multi-faceted conflict is difficult to understand.
Home since late March, Larsen is glad to see green grass
again, and little things like singing a familiar hymn with his family
hold new meaning for him. He has shifted his priorities and doesn’t
spend as much time worrying about unimportant matters, but a piece of
him still remains in Iraq with the people who, even at the poorest
level, he calls caring, hardworking, proud, and loyal.
“The good news is that what’s happening now in Fallujah
and Najaf still doesn’t diminish the good things that our soldiers and
the coalition have been able to do since we’ve been there,” Larsen said.
“The kinds of initiatives we started last year are still ongoing; the
bridges that we built are still there. That’s important to me because
sometimes I feel discouraged when I see the news and all of the bad
things that are happening.”
The 171st Area Support Group, which Larsen commanded,
consisted of 2,200 troops whose mission was to supply over 40,000
American and multi-national forces from the Kuwait border to Baghdad.
The unit also worked with the Iraqis to help rebuild schools and
infrastructure destroyed by the war. During his tour, Larsen’s unit
helped reconstruct 15 schools and three orphanages near An Nasiriyah and
facilitated supplies of medicines and materials from the states. Out of
that collaboration came many enduring friendships with the Iraqis.
“The Iraqis that I worked with were top-notch, they were
role models,” Larsen said. “Some were doctors, professors, and teachers.
They all had a positive, pro-coalition stance, and from the
communication that I’ve had, they don’t seem to have changed their
attitude since we left.”
Since Larsen has returned to the states, more violence
has erupted in Fallujah, Karbala, and Najaf, and fanatical Shi‘ite
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s militia has been staging dramatic uprisings
against coalition forces in several cities.
“Fallujah and the Sunni Triangle have always been a bad
neighborhood,” said Larsen, “and the increased violence really isn’t
that unexpected as we draw nearer to the June 30th deadline for
transition of authority to the Iraqi people. The situation with the
insurgents is almost like that of a cornered rat. The closer we get, the
closer they are to not having a part to play in Iraq’s future, and the
more violent they get.”
Incidents like the one at Abu Ghraib prison have also
caused the U.S. to lose credibility with some of the Iraqis who may have
been undecided about where their loyalties lie, but Larsen still doesn’t
believe the bad publicity negates all of the good done in Iraq.
“I don’t know how that (Abu Ghraib) happened, but if
that kind of abuse is going on, the senior leaders with operational
responsibility and oversight need to be on the ground seeing what’s
going on,” he said. “All I know with certainty is that our people have
done a super job, and things like the reconstruction of local schools
are just some of the examples of the real success story in Iraq.”
What is going to happen when the United States hands
over Iraq to the Iraqi people? Larsen doesn’t know and neither do the
Iraqi people, he says.
“After three and one-half decades of tyranny under
Saddam, freedom is just so foreign to them,” Larsen said. “The Iraqis I
worked with are pleased that Saddam’s totalitarian regime has been
overthrown, but what is next? Saddam gave them electricity, even if in
limited quantities. How will they provide that for themselves once the
coalition forces leave? Some local tribal leaders have begun to take
back their leadership roles, but they may or may not have a role to play
in the formal government-that all has to be tweaked. It’s a long
process.”
Meanwhile, Larsen, who will resume teaching at Campbell
in the fall, will never forget his Iraqi friends and what one of them
said to him before he left.
“He said, ‘If you want to see an honest man, look in the
mirror’. That’s not to brag, it’s only to say that there are a lot of
good people who have earned the trust of the Iraqi people. I think that
if we persist in supporting them in this transition, things will work
out according to God’s perfect plan.”
Bulletin 0167-
05/27/04 |
