thedrifter
07-29-08, 08:00 AM
07/28/2008
Teacher studies U.S. history first-hand
By MIKE JAQUAYS , Contributing Writer
CAZENOVIA - Lt. Col. Kurt Wheeler recalled he decided to enlist in the Marine Corps right out of high school because he saw that branch of the American service as "a good fit for my personality and goals."
"I thought the Marines just had the best approach," he said of his choice. "I really liked the philosophy that they strive to do everything to the best of their abilities, as well as the sense of camaraderie between the Marines."
Wheeler said he was in his senior year with the Cazenovia High School Class of 1985 when he signed up for ROTC training. He planned to attend Harvard University to major in government, and even before his first semester started he was headed in mid-August for a 10-day boot camp to give the new ROTC students some quick background in the service traditions.
There, they learned about general protocols like the right way to wear a uniform and how to salute, and about the history of the American military.
He said that abbreviated boot camp still had the basic military formula of taking recruits and breaking them down, filling them up with knowledge, and building them back up.
"They really gave us an enormous amount of information in a short time," he said.
The ROTC program allowed Wheeler great flexibility in scheduling his courses; the only requirement they gave him was the need to enroll in a foreign language course, he said. Wheeler said his college days saw three days a week of physical training in the morning -- needing to get up by 6 a.m. to get calisthenics in and still make it to 9 a.m. classes on time -- and a couple of days a week spent in military classes learning about military-oriented subjects like ships and weaponry.
Once a month, he also had field training, where they left their classrooms for outdoor experience.
Wheeler said he traveled to nearby MIT for his military training, spending some five or six mornings a week there during his four years at Harvard.
They also trained for four to six weeks during the summer, he said.
"There only a few weeks out of the year that we weren't training," he explained.
He graduated and was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in June 1989.
"Both of those events were the product of a lot of hard work, but I think the most enduring personal memory will be of my Marine Corps commission because it has become more of what defined me," he said.
Four days later was stationed at Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia, for some additional basic Marine training -- noting the philosophy of the branch is "Every Marine a rifleman." He trained with communications, and knew he would soon go overseas when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in August 1990. Wheeler recalled his roommate was shipped out right away, and he followed in December during a "massive deployment" of American forces.
He said they were right on the forward edge of the Saudi Arabia-Kuwait border, and it was "very intense and very different from what I was expecting."
"It was very much a kinetic force-on-force military operation at that point," Wheeler recalled. "We had tanks going up against tanks and artillery suppression fire -- it was everything you'd see in a war movie, and no real cultural aspect at all. The only Iraqis I encountered then were prisoners of war."
That all changed on his deployment to Iraq more than a decade later, Wheeler said.
Wheeler was active through 1993, when he joined the Marine Corps Reserves where he has served for 15 years. He currently serves with the Marine Corps History Division, interviewing Marines and the people they come in contact with to record and preserve their actions for posterity.
He was mobilized for six months from November 2006 to March 2007, and found a significant difference between that duty and his time in Kuwait more than a decade earlier. Gone was the animosity and constant battles; now every single day Wheeler had interaction with the Iraqi people as Americans helped them rebuild their country.
One of his most memorable encounters in Iraq happened in an air terminal when he noticed an Iraqi three-star general nearby.
"That is something you don't see too often," he said of the high-ranking official.
Striking up a conversation through an interpreter, Wheeler explained he conducted interviews for the History Division, and the general was happy to share his stories. He learned the general was from the area the Marines were about to head out to, and Wheeler was invited by the locals to come out and join in with their celebration of one of their religious holidays.
When Wheeler arrived, however, he found quite a change in appearance for that general -- he now dressed in the traditional robes of a religious leader, and his family turned out to be the local community officials.
Even with all of the changes in Iraq as the American forces help the country attain a goal of democracy, the old traditions continue on, Wheeler said.
"You just can't separate the tribes and traditions of leadership there," Wheeler said. "that is one of the most important lessons the U.S. learned about their government."
He noted that the Iraqis often view the American Marines as the "most powerful tribe over there."
In his civilian life, Wheeler is a history teacher at Cazenovia High School. He and his wife, Becky, live in Cazenovia with daughters Grace, 11, Bella, 10, Clara, 6, and Faith, 3. Wheeler said he appreciates what his family has to go through every time he is sent away from home with the Marines.
"Like all service families, they sacrifice more when we get deployed overseas than anyone," Wheeler said.
Wheeler has recently returned from his annual two-week training, this time held in Washington D.C., and said his current plans call for finishing up his stint with the Marine History Division while staying in the Marine Corps for as long as possible.
"I love documenting what the Marines are doing and I'm proud to serve my country," Wheeler said. "I'm going to stay in as long as the Marines will have me."
Ellie
Teacher studies U.S. history first-hand
By MIKE JAQUAYS , Contributing Writer
CAZENOVIA - Lt. Col. Kurt Wheeler recalled he decided to enlist in the Marine Corps right out of high school because he saw that branch of the American service as "a good fit for my personality and goals."
"I thought the Marines just had the best approach," he said of his choice. "I really liked the philosophy that they strive to do everything to the best of their abilities, as well as the sense of camaraderie between the Marines."
Wheeler said he was in his senior year with the Cazenovia High School Class of 1985 when he signed up for ROTC training. He planned to attend Harvard University to major in government, and even before his first semester started he was headed in mid-August for a 10-day boot camp to give the new ROTC students some quick background in the service traditions.
There, they learned about general protocols like the right way to wear a uniform and how to salute, and about the history of the American military.
He said that abbreviated boot camp still had the basic military formula of taking recruits and breaking them down, filling them up with knowledge, and building them back up.
"They really gave us an enormous amount of information in a short time," he said.
The ROTC program allowed Wheeler great flexibility in scheduling his courses; the only requirement they gave him was the need to enroll in a foreign language course, he said. Wheeler said his college days saw three days a week of physical training in the morning -- needing to get up by 6 a.m. to get calisthenics in and still make it to 9 a.m. classes on time -- and a couple of days a week spent in military classes learning about military-oriented subjects like ships and weaponry.
Once a month, he also had field training, where they left their classrooms for outdoor experience.
Wheeler said he traveled to nearby MIT for his military training, spending some five or six mornings a week there during his four years at Harvard.
They also trained for four to six weeks during the summer, he said.
"There only a few weeks out of the year that we weren't training," he explained.
He graduated and was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in June 1989.
"Both of those events were the product of a lot of hard work, but I think the most enduring personal memory will be of my Marine Corps commission because it has become more of what defined me," he said.
Four days later was stationed at Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia, for some additional basic Marine training -- noting the philosophy of the branch is "Every Marine a rifleman." He trained with communications, and knew he would soon go overseas when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in August 1990. Wheeler recalled his roommate was shipped out right away, and he followed in December during a "massive deployment" of American forces.
He said they were right on the forward edge of the Saudi Arabia-Kuwait border, and it was "very intense and very different from what I was expecting."
"It was very much a kinetic force-on-force military operation at that point," Wheeler recalled. "We had tanks going up against tanks and artillery suppression fire -- it was everything you'd see in a war movie, and no real cultural aspect at all. The only Iraqis I encountered then were prisoners of war."
That all changed on his deployment to Iraq more than a decade later, Wheeler said.
Wheeler was active through 1993, when he joined the Marine Corps Reserves where he has served for 15 years. He currently serves with the Marine Corps History Division, interviewing Marines and the people they come in contact with to record and preserve their actions for posterity.
He was mobilized for six months from November 2006 to March 2007, and found a significant difference between that duty and his time in Kuwait more than a decade earlier. Gone was the animosity and constant battles; now every single day Wheeler had interaction with the Iraqi people as Americans helped them rebuild their country.
One of his most memorable encounters in Iraq happened in an air terminal when he noticed an Iraqi three-star general nearby.
"That is something you don't see too often," he said of the high-ranking official.
Striking up a conversation through an interpreter, Wheeler explained he conducted interviews for the History Division, and the general was happy to share his stories. He learned the general was from the area the Marines were about to head out to, and Wheeler was invited by the locals to come out and join in with their celebration of one of their religious holidays.
When Wheeler arrived, however, he found quite a change in appearance for that general -- he now dressed in the traditional robes of a religious leader, and his family turned out to be the local community officials.
Even with all of the changes in Iraq as the American forces help the country attain a goal of democracy, the old traditions continue on, Wheeler said.
"You just can't separate the tribes and traditions of leadership there," Wheeler said. "that is one of the most important lessons the U.S. learned about their government."
He noted that the Iraqis often view the American Marines as the "most powerful tribe over there."
In his civilian life, Wheeler is a history teacher at Cazenovia High School. He and his wife, Becky, live in Cazenovia with daughters Grace, 11, Bella, 10, Clara, 6, and Faith, 3. Wheeler said he appreciates what his family has to go through every time he is sent away from home with the Marines.
"Like all service families, they sacrifice more when we get deployed overseas than anyone," Wheeler said.
Wheeler has recently returned from his annual two-week training, this time held in Washington D.C., and said his current plans call for finishing up his stint with the Marine History Division while staying in the Marine Corps for as long as possible.
"I love documenting what the Marines are doing and I'm proud to serve my country," Wheeler said. "I'm going to stay in as long as the Marines will have me."
Ellie