Posted on 10/04/2005 4:30:32 PM PDT by SandRat
WASHINGTON, Oct. 4, 2005 – After 15 months in Iraq and a deployment to Afghanistan that landed him in the hospital recovering from gunshot wounds, Army Sgt. Erik Aass is anxious to join his fellow soldiers in supporting what he considers an important cause.
"It's tough to be on the sidelines," said Aass, an infantryman with the 173rd Airborne Brigade who's undergoing physical therapy in Vicenza, Italy. "You feel like you're letting your fellow soldiers down, not participating."
Aass, a native of Norway who gained his U.S. citizenship in 2004, said he's known almost since he first came to live in the United States at age 8 that he wanted to join the military. As an ROTC student at Fordham University in New York, he was the company commander of the local chapter of the National Society of Pershing Rifles, an organization dedicated to military and academic excellence.
Yet, when Aass graduated, he could not be commissioned as an Army officer because he wasn't yet a citizen.
Not to be deterred, Aass marched to the nearest recruiting station the same day he received his green card, enlisting in the Army on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States.
Since then, Aass has spent about half of his service deployed to Iraq, with the 1st Armored Division, then Afghanistan, with the 173rd Airborne Brigade.
While on a mission clearing out an apartment in the Oruzgan province of Afghanistan, Aass was shot in the left hand and right knee when an enemy fighter came out of a tunnel and opened fire. "I was very lucky," he said. "I received only tissue damage. It could have been a lot worse."
When he finishes his physical therapy in December, Aass is hopeful he'll be able to rejoin his fellow soldiers in Afghanistan.
"I strongly believe in the cause in both Afghanistan and Iraq," the sergeant said. "I think the people we're fighting against there are pure evil. The only thing that separates them from the Nazis is their incompetence. In fact, their views are even more extreme than the Nazis."
Aass said he's gratified by progress he witnessed in Afghanistan, from new, paved roadways where none existed, to young girls now attending school, to the elections he watched on TV while recovering. "Things are far from perfect," he said. "But it's good to see these things and recognize them as signs of what's happening in the country."
Watching this progress on the TV news that he closely monitors makes Aass itch to rejoin the effort.
But stepping back from personal involvement, at least until his wounds heel, has also given the sergeant insights into the American public that are beginning to cause him distress. "The American public is fickle," he said.
Aass said he fully supports the rights of those who oppose U.S. involvement in the war on terror. What he has a harder time dealing with, he said, are those who initially supported it, then "flip-flopped" when things began to get more challenging than they expected.
"Nobody is asking them to fight or anything," Aass said. "All we're asking is that they just don't quit on us."
Warrior PING!!!
"It's tough to be on the sidelines," said Aass, an infantryman with the 173rd Airborne Brigade who's undergoing physical therapy in Vicenza, Italy. "You feel like you're letting your fellow soldiers down, not participating."
"gained his U.S. citizenship in 2004" .....we need more citizens like this!
Thanks for the ping!
BTTT
Roger that, we'll take his six.
"You feel like you're letting your fellow soldiers down, not participating."
Too bad the soldier in this story isn't recovering at Walter Reed. Would sure like to meet him!
Hold down the fort this weekend, we'll all be out of town. See you on the 14th.
Thank you for your service.
God bless our Military - the BEST in the world.
...we'll all be out of town. See you on the 14th
More time off??? You guys have been on vacation far too much. If this continues, I may have to report you to Karl!
;*))) Hope you know I'm just kidding. Enjoy your weekend knowing you will be missed - big time!
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