With the close of the Iraqi War, many students who were called up for service are returning home to UNM.
Dean of Students Randy Boeglin said that while UNM does not track returning veterans, the University will treat students returning from Iraq just like all other students and will try to make the transition back to student life as easy as possible.
"We don't track students who return from military action," Boeglin said "We do help process students who have military withdrawals. We saw a significant increase after the Afghani operation started. With the Iraqi War, we also saw the number of military withdrawals significantly increase."
According to the Dean of Students Office about 50 students were called into active duty for the 2002 academic year. Boeglin said that during the Spring 2003 semester, when the Iraqi War began, 31 students took military withdrawals.
Colin Cogar, a sophomore political science major, and Isaac Brito, a sophomore history major, both Lance Cpls. in the United States Marines Delta Company, 4th Reconnaissance Battalion, served in Iraq and have returned home to pursue their academic careers.
Cogar and Brito left for Kuwait Feb. 14 and returned from action to the United States June 1. Upon arrival in Kuwait, Brito and Cogar said they waited about a month for the necessary equipment to arrive to carry out their mission.
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"Our whole mission was mounted patrolling in Humvees," Cogar said. "When we got there, there were no vehicles."
Once the necessary equipment arrived, Brito and Cogar said they began to carry out their missions, driving patrol, guarding log trains and supply lines for Army and Marine units marching toward Baghdad. They said they saw action in Buqubah, Nasiriyah and Baghdad.
"We saw the heaviest action in Buqubah," Brito said. "It was about a 72-hour engagement. The closest fighting was in small-arms range, about 100 to 200 yards. We also had close air support, calling in fighters and bombers for cover."
Cogar said the worst conditions his unit saw were sleeping in cow pastures, eating one prepackaged meal a day and being without a shower for over a month.
"But the locals, especially in the small towns, were ecstatic to see us because we treated them with respect," he said. "In the big cities they would ask for money and were kind of greedy, but they were all just generally happy to see us, which gave us some satisfaction."
Brito and Cogar said they heard the reports from home of protests but it had little effect on the morale of their unit.
"I didn't go hoping everybody would support us," Brito said. "Of course there are going to be protests, especially at UNM which is generally a liberal campus. What makes our country so great is that people have the freedom to say whatever they want and they won't be persecuted for it."
With the occupation force still struggling with stability in Iraq and the mounting possibility of military action in Liberia, Brito and Cogar both said they would be willing and ready to go into action again if needed.
"It's always a possibility," Cogar said. "Our unit is activated until February 2004, so if we're needed, we'll be ready."
Both students said they felt they served their country well and that the war in Iraq was necessary, but felt limited by higher-ranking officers to do their jobs as they were trained to do.
"The upper enlisted men and general officers were worried about their careers so it limited our movements," Cogar said. "It wasn't really like a war at all, it was more like a business; it was so micromanaged. We were totally limited in our ability to do our job."
Brito and Cogar both said they are looking forward to returning to UNM. Cogar has registered for classes for the Fall semester while Brito plans to return for the Spring 2004 semester, after completing additional military training.
Both students expressed pride in what they said was a successful and justified war.
"Those people definitely needed their freedom," Brito said.
Cogar agreed.
"In Iraq you're going to have a huge occupying force," he said. "It is going to have a huge economic impact. The whole Mideast is becoming more westernized, mostly because of economics, and the region is getting a lot of support. I think the war was justified and needed to stabilize the region."
