Interview with Iraq Vet SSG Deandre Wilson

Staff Sergeant Deandre Wilson joined the Army Reserve in February of 2006 and became a Petroleum Supply Specialist. His job was to bring troops fuel via dangerious supply lines that would be continually attacked during the war. Seven months after he enlisted, SSG Wilson was watching what he thought was a movie in an Alabama A&M dorm room. What he later realized he was watching was an actual live report of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Soon after, he got the call he knew was coming from his unit. They were going to be activated, or in other words, made to serve on foreign soil. SSG Wilson was ready.

After the US invaded Iraq, Wilson's now active unit was about to be sent into the war zone."I had like three days notice" he told me. SSG Wilson already didn't believe we had any reason to be in Iraq. In his words "I felt our main focus should have been on Afghanistan [and] going after bin Laden". Despite his personal feeling, Wilson knew that orders were orders, so he boarded the plane that would take him to Iraq.

Army Reserve units, unlike Active Army units, only train twice a month and therefore rarely meet one another. Being in a Reserve unit during his first of two deployments to Iraq, he only knew a few his comrades. "Out of 160 the first time I only knew 9 people" he says. Eventually though, living in a war zone took its toll and the unit became a tight knit family. This is what SSG Wilson liked most about the war, the bonds that it made.

Of course the battlefield wasn't just a bonding ground. Danger was everywhere on foot patrol, vehicle patrol, or even on base. According to Wilson "You're always on guard.You could be sitting around at the [base] and hear the alarms go off, and the base would get mortared". Though Iraq was such a harsh environment, Wilson reenlisted in the Army and served with the elite 101st Airborne Division. He spent 26 months in Iraq on his second tour of duty.

When I asked SSG Wilson whether or not we had won the War in Iraq, he said no. In his opinion, the Coalition captured Saddam, but didn't find any Weapons of Mass Destruction. Also, while the Coalition did bring a democratic government to Iraq, he acknowledges that half the Iraqis don't even really want democracy and goes as far as to say it was forced on them. I can't say I disagree with his views on the new government.

When it comes to winning the war, that will always be a complicated answer. The US naturally will end up killing far more insurgents than troops of her own than have been sacrificed, but if there is one thing Vietnam taught us, it is that killing a guerrilla enemy doesn't mean victory. Victory comes when the people who we have fought for are safe and independent enough to care for themselves. Only time will tell in Iraq.