American Veteran: Keep It Close

Sometimes the connections you make in war follow you back home. Air Force Staff Sergeant Amjad Kirrish made a special connection with orphaned puppy Harley, who was found near a Bedouin camp in Syria. Kirrish credits the puppy with providing comfort and helping him stay emotionally grounded during deployment, and made it his mission to reunite with Harley after returning to the U.S.

When renowned Oklahoma artist Harvey Pratt (Cheyenne-Arapaho) served in the Marine Corps in Vietnam, he carried a small, smooth pebble with him. His grandfather had taught him that a small stone in the mouth would help stave off thirst, and though his canteen was always full of water, Pratt feared sharing this trick with his platoon, thinking they might make fun of him -- but he shared his water.

In the Army, Clara Driscoll served in many combat zones. In Kosovo, she met a young Albanian woman. The two communicated with hand signals and few words, and the woman gave Driscoll a vial of lip gloss. In Afghanistan, she wore abaya, a traditional garment that made her feel more approachable. She treasures both as reminders of how to connect despite different backgrounds and circumstances.

Jeff Barillaro’s fellow Army soldiers coped with the stresses of deployment by working out. But Barillaro, who goes by “Soldier Hard,” wrote and recorded music, mostly rap. Finding it difficult to readjust to civilian life, Barillaro began writing again, songs with brutally honest lyrics about his thoughts. His goal now is to use music to help others and to reduce suicide rates among veterans.

Yolanda Mayo was a newlywed when she deployed to Iraq with her USMC unit. A stuffed bunny, sent by her husband, became a source of joy for her and her tentmates. After deployment, the bunny went home and became a much-loved toy for her children. As she prepared to deploy again a decade later, she packed the bunny. He stands, says Mayo, “for love. He stands for why we serve. He stands for home.”

In the Army Special Forces in the 1970s and 80s, Captain Wade Ishimoto was Delta Force’s intelligence Officer for the failed attempt to free 52 hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. One of his jobs was preparing maps for the forces going out on the mission. He could see the plans were incomplete, but when the President of the United States tells you to go, "you salute smartly, and you go.”

Lt. Colonel Andrea Peters remembers the struggles she had early in her Army career with regulations for hair styles that overlooked the needs of Black women. Walking the tightrope between conforming to rules and expressing her individuality, Peters constantly worried whether she would be reprimanded for not following regulations or whether her professionalism would be questioned.

Patricia Harris recalls her time in the Army as a combination of horror, madness, and resilience. While stationed in Germany, she experienced sexual harassment on active duty and domestic violence at home. The one place she found solace was in her red 1967 VW Beetle. The car came to symbolize freedom and peace for her. Today she has a VW bug in every room in her home, a constant reminder of hope.

Saul Monroy joined the USMC straight out of high school, and he noticed that everyone around him had the same “cool” watch. He received the same watch when he completed his training. After an explosion while deployed in Afghanistan, Monroy woke up in the hospital, disoriented and in despair. To his amazement, his watch was still ticking -- a sign that he had to keep going, too.

Being a veteran of the USMC is a big part of Janessa Goldbeck’s identity. When she signed up, she had just spent seven years as a human rights activist, and to her joining the military enabled her to “continue to protect people.” But there was one issue: signing up meant lying. Goldbeck was an out, queer woman and military policy was still officially “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”