Soldiers turned Pellissippi State students embrace academic stress

By Kathy Byrd

Students often cite the stressful nature of the college experience—the exams, the deadlines, the demanding professors, the reading. . . .

Pellissippi State students Jorge Zapata, David Tham and Will Lewellyn know stress of a completely different kind.

During the past year and a half, instead of fretting about the answer to test question 3, they were worrying about roadside bombs and red alerts in Iraq.

Zapata, a reservist in the Marine Corps, and Tham, a member of the National Guard, returned from Iraq in the fall of 2005. Lewellyn, a Marine who served two tours of duty early in the war, got back in October 2004. All are currently enrolled in classes at the Blount County Center.

“We were getting shot at and blown up every day,” said Lance Cpl. Zapata, a member of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines. The 22-year-old Zapata spent much of his seven-month tour in southern Fallujah, a city located in the Al Anbar Province, an area often referred to as the “triangle of death.”

As a company engineer, his duties involved detection and demolition of the improvised explosive devices used frequently by the insurgent forces. IEDS are responsible for the highest number of American casualties in the war.

Zapata said his company’s vehicles took a beating from the roadside bombs because the enemy was knowledgeable about the activities of U.S. forces.

“They knew the distances between our humvees,” he said. “But we were good. We would change our routes and the distances between vehicles.”

The Pentagon has come under fire for not providing enough armored vehicles for the troops, and while Zapata indicates the soldiers did put a lot of their own work into making their humvees safer, he does not join in the criticism.

“I liked doing it ourselves,” he said, “because we knew how protected we were that way.”

Zapata credits the troops’ evasive and protective maneuvers, along with their discovery of explosives hidden by the enemy, with “saving a lot of lives.”

In fact, his company found one of the largest weapons caches of the war in late April 2005, when they discovered 19,000 pounds of explosives and scores of weapons and rounds of ammunition.

Zapata’s individual efforts also helped to protect his fellow Marines. While on duty with his mine sweeper, he detected five mortar rounds surrounding an American base in southern Fallujah. Later, serving as a platoon guide at the main base, Zapata checked the cell phones of two Iraqi contractors attempting to enter. When he found videos of American humvees being blown up, the contractors were detained.

As a member of the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, Cpl. Will Lewellyn was among the first American troops involved in the March 2003 invasion. Because the unit’s job was reconnaissance, its members went ahead of most troops, deep into the country, near the Syrian border and into the town of Tikrit, to survey the situation and send back information.

Lewellyn’s first stint lasted six months, and when the Marines came back to the United States, they were originally informed they would not have to return.

But the insurgency was stronger than first expected, so a second tour was ordered in 2004. This time the unit was gone for more than 10 months.

The second trip was worse, according to Lewellyn, because “there were more casualties, and the insurgency was more rooted.”
David Tham, a 2004 graduate of Heritage High and a member of the National Guard’s 278th Army Calvary Regiment, did not have to face the degree of direct combat that Zapata and Lewellyn did. But as a member of the Quick Reaction Force, he knew the threat was always present.

Home for Tham’s eight months of deployment was an Iraqi military base in the city of Kirkuk, about 75 miles from the Iranian border.

“We were there to do two things—protect the base, and intimidate anyone who even considered trying to attack the base in any way,” Tham said.

“Because we were literally out in the middle of nowhere, some days we had incidents to respond to and others went by with no action. Sometimes we would be on red alert for a few days because of information that had come in.”

During their deployments, the Americans developed a concern for the plight of the Iraqi people

“The people are really poor,” Zapata said. “I guess when Saddam Hussein was in power, he made all the decisions for them. So now, anybody with the power of persuasion and the money can tell them something, like ‘strap this bomb on and paradise and 30 virgins will be waiting,’ and they believe it.

“They are good people. They just haven’t had the education or background to make decisions for themselves.”

Tham echoes Zapata’s assessment. “I feel the country is depressed because of Saddam’s rule. They are very nice people who want to better themselves. We helped them with electricity, food and water. They had very little running water and terrible sanitary conditions. People would go to the bathroom in the muddy streets, and then children would play there.”

The children of Iraq made a particular impact on the soldiers, especially Tham, who has a 2-year-old son of his own.

He remembers his unit
helping an Iraqi boy who had burnt his arm.

“It broke my heart to see him in so much pain,” said Tham, “and it’s so hard for them to get to hospitals or have access to doctors and good medical care.”

Zapata, too, found the children engaging. “The children are always smiling. They always ran up to us wanting candy or footballs. They don’t understand what is happening in their country.

“We felt safer around children,” he added. “We knew we weren’t going to get blown up while they were around.”

The country’s poverty gave Tham a new perspective on his life in America.

“Before I went over there, I was all about me,” he said. “Now I’ve seen how the Iraqis live. They might go to work all day and get $7, and that’s from sunup to sundown. I’m very appreciative of the things we have here—better housing and vehicles, and the ability to get food and have jobs with good pay.”

His comrades agree that their time in the service and participation in the war have made a lasting impact on their lives.

Lewellyn says his four years in the Marines “changed me.”

“It gave me better morals, a way to contribute to others, a sense of responsibility,” he said. “It also gave me discipline and direction.”

Fellow Marine Zapata says serving was “a goal I’ve always had, to have that experience and to prove myself.” In particular, he says the time he spent in Iraq helped him to appreciate life.

“I have a different perspective on what’s important.”

One aspect of life all of the servicemen came to see as critical to their futures was completing their educations, and enrolling in Pellissippi State was an important step for each.

“School has been my priority always—always,” Zapata said, and despite working full time at DENSO Manufacturing, he also undertakes a full schedule of classes. An electrical engineering major, Zapata first enrolled at Pellissippi State in the spring of 2004, before his deployment to Iraq. After returning home in September of 2005, he resumed his pursuit of a degree by signing up for the semester that began in January.

Tham is in his first semester at the college. In addition to the knowledge he is gaining, he says, being in the classroom has provided an added benefit.

“Right after I got back home, I tended to be jumpy and pretty shy,” he said. “I didn’t really talk to anybody but my family and my military friends. Going back to school has made me realize I don’t have to be so isolated. I can open up with other people. School has helped me adjust.”

Lewellyn is in the second semester of work toward a mechanical engineering degree. At 23, he is few years older than many students who enter college right after high school, and he sees a difference in himself and his younger classmates.

“Many of them don’t know what they want to do, but I know where I want to go,” he said. “Being out of school for four years makes you think about that. I also found myself wanting to learn more. I’m thirstier for knowledge now. I find myself reading The New York Times, and I would like to read more books.”

Now that he is a college student, he will have plenty of opportunity to read, as well as take tests and write papers. And, yes, there will be demanding professors, pressure and deadlines.

But no bullets or bombs.

"Inside Pellissippi" is a bi-monthly electronic publication produced by the Community Relations Office for the faculty and staff of Pellissippi State Technical Community College, 10915 Hardin Valley Road, P.O. Box 22990, Knoxville, Tennessee 37933-0990. All suggestions and comments should be sent to Julia Wood (jwood@pstcc.edu).

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