thedrifter
11-13-07, 03:45 PM
Veterans cite war effects
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
By NANCY H. GONTER
ngonter@repub.com
EASTHAMPTON - When returning from a war zone, veterans appreciate the smallest things.
"I got to go to the Dunkin' Donuts this morning and no one shot at me," Capt. Michael W. Lynch, a Longmeadow resident and 1996 graduate of the Williston Northampton School told the school's 550 students yesterday.
"Running water, especially hot water, is really, really good. Try using a Porta-Potty or less for a month," Colonel Stephen P. White of Springfield, whose daughter Taylor, 13, attended Williston for seventh and eighth grade, told the students.
Lynch, White, former Marine Tyler E. Boudreau of Leeds, and White's wife, Gayle L. White, told students about how war has affected their lives in a presentation arranged by Williston middle school teacher and Vietnam veteran Paul Sonerson and the Veterans Education Project.
Boudreau, who was an Army captain, said when he went to Iraq, the Marine general was telling troops they needed to develop a relationship with the Iraqi people to show them the Marines' humanity. The general told Marines to smile and wave when they saw Iraqis.
"When I first got there, I had a rifle in one hand and I was smiling and waving with the other hand. I think we looked kind of foolish," Boudreau said.
Then he noticed Army personnel leaving were not waving. Three days later when one of his fellow soldiers was killed by a roadside bomb, he stopped too.
"I never saw a Marine waving after that," Boudreau said.
He himself quit when he found that while he loved the troops he commanded, he no longer believed in the mission enough to send them out to be killed for it.
Gayle White, whose husband, Stephen, is a 1977 Williston graduate who has spent four of the last seven years on active duty, said the loneliness and isolation she feels when he is gone is pervasive.
Sometimes it seems like everything goes wrong when he is gone, like the heat going out during a Christmas Day blizzard, the house alarm going off in the middle of the night and the snowblower getting stolen from the garage.
But a Christmas present her husband sent home to her and her daughter helped her understand why it is necessary for him to serve. He sent each of them a burkha, the head-to-toe covering clothing women in some Islamic traditions must wear.
"I tried that on and after about 30 seconds, I was literally going to lose my mind. I'm not claustrophobic, but the claustrophobia was horrific," White said.
Ellie
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
By NANCY H. GONTER
ngonter@repub.com
EASTHAMPTON - When returning from a war zone, veterans appreciate the smallest things.
"I got to go to the Dunkin' Donuts this morning and no one shot at me," Capt. Michael W. Lynch, a Longmeadow resident and 1996 graduate of the Williston Northampton School told the school's 550 students yesterday.
"Running water, especially hot water, is really, really good. Try using a Porta-Potty or less for a month," Colonel Stephen P. White of Springfield, whose daughter Taylor, 13, attended Williston for seventh and eighth grade, told the students.
Lynch, White, former Marine Tyler E. Boudreau of Leeds, and White's wife, Gayle L. White, told students about how war has affected their lives in a presentation arranged by Williston middle school teacher and Vietnam veteran Paul Sonerson and the Veterans Education Project.
Boudreau, who was an Army captain, said when he went to Iraq, the Marine general was telling troops they needed to develop a relationship with the Iraqi people to show them the Marines' humanity. The general told Marines to smile and wave when they saw Iraqis.
"When I first got there, I had a rifle in one hand and I was smiling and waving with the other hand. I think we looked kind of foolish," Boudreau said.
Then he noticed Army personnel leaving were not waving. Three days later when one of his fellow soldiers was killed by a roadside bomb, he stopped too.
"I never saw a Marine waving after that," Boudreau said.
He himself quit when he found that while he loved the troops he commanded, he no longer believed in the mission enough to send them out to be killed for it.
Gayle White, whose husband, Stephen, is a 1977 Williston graduate who has spent four of the last seven years on active duty, said the loneliness and isolation she feels when he is gone is pervasive.
Sometimes it seems like everything goes wrong when he is gone, like the heat going out during a Christmas Day blizzard, the house alarm going off in the middle of the night and the snowblower getting stolen from the garage.
But a Christmas present her husband sent home to her and her daughter helped her understand why it is necessary for him to serve. He sent each of them a burkha, the head-to-toe covering clothing women in some Islamic traditions must wear.
"I tried that on and after about 30 seconds, I was literally going to lose my mind. I'm not claustrophobic, but the claustrophobia was horrific," White said.
Ellie