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Hyrum vet reflects on his year
in Iraq
By Jake Ipson
February 1, 2008 | HYRUM -- Jerry Bench is an E-6 in
the Army National Guard. He now lives safely in Hyrum,
Utah, but life wasn't always that way for him. There
was a time when he was scared to walk in crowds from
fear of being shot. Things that normal people would
not even think twice about, such as driving a car down
the road and seeing a plastic bag on the side of the
road, but to Jerry, that brought fear and unforgettable
memories.
There is nothing really different about Jerry; he
grew up with a wonderful but typical American family.
He drives a semi-truck for Sysco for a living when he
is not out playing war games. Except for one thing,
he wasn't in war games, he was really in a war and little
things such as a plastic bag on the side of the road
would trigger those memories best forgotten.
Jerry spent 12 months fighting over in Iraq. He has
been home for about two years now and said there was
no greater feeling then actually coming home from Iraq.
Jerry experienced five near-death experiences while
in Iraq. One time his truck stopped in a nearby town
and he was standing just outside the truck door. A round
was fired and smashed right into the windshield of the
truck. That was as close to death as he came, and he
has a piece of the round to remind him how lucky he
really is.
Call it luck or superstition, but after that Jerry
never changed a thing on his uniform including never
washing his armor or helmet. Jerry said, "I wasn't going
to change a thing till something bad happened." Luckily
nothing truly bad ever really happened.
There were 100 men that left for Iraq from Utah in
Jerry's unit and they were able to return with 99 of
them. But some may consider Jerry to be a hero. One
day Jerry and his men were scheduled to go out on a
patrol and he went and told his Lieutenant that he had
a bad feeling about going out that day. The Lieutenant
finally agreed and sent another truck out instead. Well
the Iraqis were waiting for the truck that day and a
soldier that day ended up losing his feet from a device
the Iraqis had set up. After that Jerry says that they
would change their patrolling times every day after
and would sometimes even change such things as which
gate they would exit the base and return to as well.
When asked whether or not we were doing any good over
in Iraq, Jerry felt as though things were not that good.
He was concerned that money being provided to such things
as the schools would not make it all the way to the
schools. If that was the case, Jerry said, he felt bad,
because it was the kids that had to suffer when such
incidents would happen. He also thought that some of
that money being sent over to help Iraq would be useful
at home as well.
He went on to say that when it came to Saddam Hussein,
that even though we may have thought that their living
conditions were not as great, he said they did not mind
because it was their way of life. He then showed me
pictures of Iraqi streets that had dead people covering
the streets and I asked him again, after seeing this
you don't feel like we are doing any good over there?
He reiterated to me that it was their way of life.
Jerry was there through for the first and second elections
held by the Iraqis and said this was a pretty neat experience.
He had heard that there was a higher percentage of Iraqis
that showed up to vote then percentage of Americans
who vote. It gave the people a sense of pride to be
able to say they elected their president instead of
having a self-appointed one.
As for the upcoming elections here in America, Jerry
said he would like to have a president that would get
the troops out of Iraq. When asked if he had a favorite
candidate, he couldn't decide between Hilary Clinton
and Barack Obama, but he liked both their stands on
the war in Iraq.
Life was not entirely bad for Jerry, he found a love
for their Kebabs, a local dish that had meat, vegetables,
and fat on a stick. He met locals that loved to see
the Americans come into their store just to eat their
kebabs and would even close down their restaurants just
to feed Jerry and some of his men. On one trip to the
border Jerry was able to introduce some Iraqis to omlettes,
although they were modified just a bit, they would sometimes
have to use pita bread. He even got to sit down and
watch TV with some local leaders and even though he
could not understand what was going on in the shows
he really enjoyed meeting new people. And he got to
experience being in the city while the Iraqis celebrated
Ramadan. He said that this was a very crazy time because
that was the only time locals were allowed to be out
at night. During this time, they are not allowed to
eat during daylight hours so they all go out at night
to get something to eat.
When Jerry returned home, it took him a little time
to adjust just like any soldier in a war would need,
but he feels that he has now returned to his good old
self. Once he got over the fear of crowds and plastic
bags on the side of the road. He felt though that going
back to his normal job of driving a Sysco truck was
not that hard of an adjustment, because he patrolled
so much in a truck while over in Iraq.
Jerry only has six more months before he can retire
from a job that he has been doing since he was 17 years
old. He considers his greatest reward from the experience
was being able to come home. Jerry hopes that one day
tourists will be able to visit Iraq and he would love
to be able to take his boys over there to see where
their dad worked and lived for those 12 months.
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