BY MICHAELA MARX WHEATLEY
South Whidbey Record
Like most Americans, Nick Smith, Robert Zimmerman and John Coulter have followed the Iraq war since its beginning. And just like most Americans, they have their own views on Iraq and the war.
What distinguishes these Whidbey Island men is that they have a unique insight that only a select few share.
They’ve been there.
Navy Lt. Smith, Senior Chief Petty Officer Zimmerman and Chief Petty Officer Coulter deployed to Iraq with the Navy’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 11. The unit is based at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.
On multiple combat tours, they have put their expertise to work disarming roadside bombs and other explosive devices — saving the lives of countless troops and civilians.
Still, the men aren’t the types to highlight themselves over others. They speak plainly and in a “just the facts” kind of way about their role in the war.
“Personally, it was a great experience to go over and use our training. Test our systems. Test our technology,” said Coulter, a former Marine.
Zimmerman echoed Coulter’s words.
Zimmerman deployed to Iraq for seven months, came home briefly for five months, and returned to Iraq for another eight.
But you won’t hear complaints. Zimmerman and his fellow sailors trained for years and were proud to put their training to work.
“Going over there twice gave me a feeling of accomplishment,” he said.
The explosive disposal unit is in the business of saving lives.
“We protect personnel and property. To be good at that I am narrowly focused on the mission,” said Smith, who was a operations officer in Iraq in 2006.
Stateside, he is the squadron’s readiness training officer.
While Smith was in charge of EODMU-11’s operations in Iraq, there were no casualties on his watch due to explosive devices.
“We took no losses and saved a lot of lives,” he said.
His commanding officer underscores this statement.
In 5,000 calls, no casualties occurred, Cmdr. Martin Beck said.
“He’s the guy responsible for that,” Beck said pointing to Smith.
To Iraq and back
While the average American reads about roadside bombs and insurgents in newspapers, the men and women of EODMU-11 know the real Iraq.
They know of sandstorms that blow over the terrain fast and viciously, covering everything in a brown, pinkish cloud. They know what it is like not being able to breathe, or see through the sand.
They know of pesky flies that hover in swarms of thousands over the sailors, crawling in their eyes and their helmets while they focus on their work.
They’ve seen cultural differences and language barriers as coalition forces coexist with Iraqis.
But most importantly, they have been eye to eye with the reality of war. Two years ago this month, Coulter was shot while on a mission. He later received a Purple Heart.
His team was unloading their vehicle when they were ambushed and, amidst the flying bullets, he got hit in the knee.
“Justin (Jewett, an operations specialist and 2nd class petty officer) came through the gunfire and pulled me behind the truck,” Coulter said. “His actions were a bit more heroic than mine.”
Tasked with disarming the devices designed to kill coalition forces and civilians, the sailors saw the aggression and violence still present in Iraq on a daily basis.
Yet some encounters with locals showed them that their work is worthwhile.
“Children are a specific indicator for what’s going on in a community,” Zimmerman said. “Children are always the pulse of the community.”
When coming through a town children are naturally curious about the Americans. He recalled parents allowing their children to engage and interact with the Americans.
“I was amazed to see the level of trust within the people,” Zimmerman said.
Coulter said the Iraqis that he met were dedicated to restoring peace and order in their country.
“They seemed very proactive. The wanted to take control of their country,” he said.
On the home front
Extended deployments to Iraq are a strain on family life.
“We’ve never gotten used to separation, but you learn to cope,” said Smith, who lives in Langley with his wife and 11- and 14-year-old sons.
During deployments sailors have only limited communication with home; an e-mail now and then or a phone call. No matter what age his children were, they always sensed that their dad had a dangerous job.
Coming home is a relief for everybody – the most experienced sailors, the toughest Navy spouses and their kids.
“The reunion is overwhelming. It’s a overwhelming sense of relief,” Smith said.
But with kids being old enough to get their share of information through the media, more questions arise.
Zimmerman who has three children himself knows that firsthand.
His boys ask about his experiences, he said. They want to know about what they hear on the news and they want to know about the people in Iraq.
“They want the truth about what’s happening,” he said.
As the public support of the war and the president’s policies dwindles, the sailors said they haven’t experienced any criticism and they’ve gotten nothing but appreciation and encouragement from their friends and families.
Watching the protesters speak out against the war is a mixed bag for those who have risked their lives in Iraq.
Smith said it brings him no pleasure to watch the Saturday protesters at Bayview Corner, for instance, but people are entitled to their opinions.
Zimmerman said he has no harsh feelings.
“I think it’s great they have the freedom to do that,” he said. “That’s why we do what we do.”
The road ahead
As many Americans speculate on the future of U.S. troops in Iraq, the sailors of EODMU-11 are ready to go back to Iraq if they are called, or do their job on Whidbey Island or elsewhere with the same dedication.
Coulter said each deployment brings more experience.
“Some things aren’t as stressful,” he said.
Smith said despite more than 25 years in the military, duty in a combat zone is always unsettling.
There are casualties, but he has learned to stay focused on his job.
“I believe in the mission,” he said.
The most valuable experience from his trips to Iraq, Zimmerman said, is that peace at home is taken for granted.
“It gives me a huge appreciation driving down the road and feeling safe. I am thankful for the security that we have here,” he said.
Opposition to war started early, stays strong
With the beginning of the war in Iraq, the memories of Vietnam crept back into Butch Doty’s sub-conscience.
As a young man he had served in Vietnam as a Navy bomber pilot. He dropped tons of explosives in 185 flights on targets.
In the months following March 19, 2003, Doty had trouble sleeping.
The Clinton resident recalled flying a mission more than 30 years earlier, dodging and returning into formation to see a plane manned by his buddy being hit and destroyed by a missile meant for him.
Flashbacks were haunting him.
“My way to deal with it was protesting,” Doty said.
“I started sleeping at night once I started standing there every Saturday.”
Doty joined the protesters of the Whidbey Peace and Reconciliation Network about 2 ½ years ago, a loose group of come-if-you-can islanders who were early critics of the war in Iraq.
Every Saturday the group gathers for one hour at the park-and-ride lot in Bayview. They stand by the side of the road with signs in hand, waving at the cars
rushing by, reminding those who pass by about the thousands of American casualties, and calling for an end to the war.
“I admired people standing there with the courage to be seen by the whole community,” he said.
Doty said the beginning was frustrating.
“Twenty percent of people would wave. Many would give us thumbs down. But the vast majority didn’t want to see us,” he recalled.
The attitude toward the war has changed since the start of the war four years ago.
While nearly 76 percent of Americans supported the war a week after its start in 2003, according to a CBS poll, only about one third of Americans say they support the war now four years later.
The trend is something Doty and his fellow protesters have witnessed themselves.
“Way more are waving now, supporting us. Much fewer are uncommitted,” Doty said.
Gloria Koll agreed. She went to her first protest a few months before the war began in 2003. She is a member of the Whidbey Peace and Reconciliation Network and Women in Black, a group of women who dress in black and standing in silent vigil to protest violence.
Koll said before the U.S. invaded Iraq she still had hope. Once the first soldiers were on the ground, she became discouraged.
“I’ve seen the beginning of Vietnam, the beginning of the first Gulf War and the beginning of this war. Everybody lines up behind the president. There is this surge. You better be part of it or you’re accused of being un-American,” she said.
“The memory of war is so short. People who remember are most against war,” she said.
For Koll, the motivation to stand-up against war and violence was born in the Vietnam era as well.
“My husband was still in the Navy and our pastor asked us to pick up a young man from the veterans’ hospital. He wanted to attend church,” Koll recalled.
“I always remember the picture when my husband emerged from the hospital with the soldier. He limped, his face was disfigured and he was blind. I found out he was only 19 years old,” Koll recalled. “I never could get that picture out of my mind.”
She often finds herself recalling that image when thinking of the new generation of Iraq veterans.
“Young lives are very precious. They should never be squandered in a needless war like this,” Koll said.
Talk for many isn’t about how the country got into the war, but how it will get out. Stay until the country is stabilized?
Pull troops out and let Iraq fend for itself? Put an expiration date on the war? Send more troops?
For many local protesters, bringing American troops home is the preferred strategy.
“I really think we should pull out,” Doty said. “In Vietnam our government knew for five years we were losing the war. They kept it hidden and countless lives were lost.”
Doty said he doesn’t believe in the notion that abandoning the war would dishonor those who paid the ultimate price.
The men and women fighting abroad are honorable and deserve unwavering support – both now and back then.
“We were honorable. The politicians weren’t,” he said.
Doty recalled being recruited straight out of high school, happy to have a chance to go to college.
“I was gung ho and proud to serve.”
With what he knows today about the war he fought, however, Doty has come to a staggering conclusion.
“I feel I was used,” he said.
Doty sees parallels to himself in many young soldiers today. And he worries about the damage that could be done to their lives.
While some may feel that those who speak out against the war are speaking out against the soldiers who are fighting and dying there, the protesters see it another way.
Doty and others said speaking out doesn’t mean disloyalty to the troops.
“When I was in Vietnam protest didn’t affect us one way or another,” he recalled.
“We feel we are the ones that truely care about their lives,” Koll said.
No matter how people may feel about the war, Koll added, it’s most important to be supportive of the veterans.
Nearly a third of U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan between 2001 and 2005 are being diagnosed with at least one mental health problem when seeking care at Veterans Administration hospitals, according to reports filed with the Archives of Internal Medicine. Those most affected by mental health conditions were between the ages 18 and 24.
And nearly one in five soldiers who leave the military after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan has been at least partly disabled as a result of service, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Koll said a large number of people who are now homeless or in need of psychological help turn out to be Vietnam veterans.
“And now we’ll have a whole new wave of broken minds and bodies,” she said. “Even the ones functioning well have scars of war.”
Though it’s the generation of the 18 to 35-year-olds who are serving in Iraq today, they are the ones conspicuously absent from both protests and recruitment centers.
In recent years, military recruitment has struggled. At the same time, the majority of protesters are 45 and older.
“It’s no accident that most people standing there have grey hair. We were here during the Vietnam war,” Doty said.
Both Doty and Koll said the reason for the absence of youth at protests against the war is the lack of a draft.
“If it gets personal, it’s different,” Doty said.
Koll believes that because the war takes place on another continent, and due to sanatized reporting and images, the war is not in the faces of the younger generation.
She once heard a soldier say, “We go to war, you go to the mall,” a statement Koll thinks is very true.
But Koll feels she is reaching the right people when a car goes by during the Saturday protests, and the kids in the back seat flash her a peace sign.
Doty himself wonders about what to teach his grandchildren and what to say when they want to play with toy guns and play war.
“I am very patriotic, but very disillusioned,” he said. “It just seems it was so wrong from the beginning. It was destined to be a failure.”
