It was instinct, of course. Until February, Peacock, an Ole Miss sophomore had been serving with the Fourth Infantry in Iraq where he’d grown accustomed to explosions of a more sinister nature. As a 23-year-old member of the Mississippi National Guard, Peacock was shipped overseas last March, dropping coursework to join 102,500 others in the Mideast. While his classmates and friends back home were rushing fraternities, hobnobbing at tailgates and dressing up for formal dances, Peacock was working 16-hour days in the sweltering sun and pelting desert sand.
The Iraq war is hitting home at Ole Miss. As the casualties mount and the June 30 deadline for transfer of authority looms, students are talking about the conflict in increasingly somber and serious tones. Peacock, however, is one of several students who have returned to campus from the battlefield, putting a human face on a faraway fight. The majority of students on campus remains supportive of the Iraq war and President Bush. But as Peacock and others return from battle, their classmates, the ones who listen, are starting to get a more precise and disturbing picture of what war in Iraq is really like.
Even Peacock, the now-seasoned veteran, admits that he didn’t know much about Iraq before he was shipped out last March. His deployment–six months extended to 11–would be the longest time he’d ever spent away from home. In fact, he’d only been out of the country once before, on a high school trip to Cancun. Back on campus, he won’t talk much about his service in Iraq–he says he can’t–but it’s clear from what he does say that this overseas trip was no vacation. Stationed near Tikrit and other hotspots, Peacock estimates that the camps in which he served came under attack an average of five times per week. He says he thinks about the soldiers he saw wounded and killed and worries about the spirits of those who continue to serve. “As long as you have extended, year-long tours,” he told me, “morale is going to stay low.”
It’s a far cry from Ole Miss where, generally speaking, morale stays about the same semester after semester and year after year. Peacock returned from the front in late February, too late to enroll in spring classes. So he got a job on campus, working for the university police. Students, he says, have been tremendously supportive since his return, respectful of his experience and thankful for his service. But he knows they can’t really understand what fighting in Iraq was like. Theirs is a different world, one dominated by draft beer and drafted football players. Of course they have been disturbed by the barrage of bloody images from Fallujah and Najaf. But those are just images on television.
It’s hardly a surprise, then, that Ole Miss remains supportive of the Iraq war. It’s not just that this is a solidly pro-Bush campus in a solidly pro-Bush state; it’s that patriotism comes as second nature to many students here and most of them would have a tough time seeing their government’s actions as wrong. Still, now more than ever, students are realizing that war has a cost and that stabilizing Iraq will be more of a struggle than they thought.
And some are even preparing to take part in the struggle themselves. No. 1 on senior Brian Noble’s list of worries is passing Latin so he can graduate in May. But the Mississippi National Guardsman who will join the service after getting his diploma also thinks about Iraq. The 22 year-old says he supports the war effort because, “we’re helping people … and our cause is just.” But as he contemplates fighting himself, Noble admits he has some skepticism about President Bush’s leadership and whether America has what it takes to get the job done in Iraq. In that way he’s like so many other Ole Miss students, suddenly waking up to the realities of war: hopeful for victory but unconvinced that it will happen, at least any time soon.
title: “National Affairs” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-24” author: “Bernard Faires”
It was instinct, of course. Until February, Peacock, an Ole Miss sophomore had been serving with the Fourth Infantry in Iraq where he’d grown accustomed to explosions of a more sinister nature. As a 23-year-old member of the Mississippi National Guard, Peacock was shipped overseas last March, dropping coursework to join 102,500 others in the Mideast. While his classmates and friends back home were rushing fraternities, hobnobbing at tailgates and dressing up for formal dances, Peacock was working 16-hour days in the sweltering sun and pelting desert sand.
The Iraq war is hitting home at Ole Miss. As the casualties mount and the June 30 deadline for transfer of authority looms, students are talking about the conflict in increasingly somber and serious tones. Peacock, however, is one of several students who have returned to campus from the battlefield, putting a human face on a faraway fight. The majority of students on campus remains supportive of the Iraq war and President Bush. But as Peacock and others return from battle, their classmates, the ones who listen, are starting to get a more precise and disturbing picture of what war in Iraq is really like.
Even Peacock, the now-seasoned veteran, admits that he didn’t know much about Iraq before he was shipped out last March. His deployment–six months extended to 11–would be the longest time he’d ever spent away from home. In fact, he’d only been out of the country once before, on a high school trip to Cancun. Back on campus, he won’t talk much about his service in Iraq–he says he can’t–but it’s clear from what he does say that this overseas trip was no vacation. Stationed near Tikrit and other hotspots, Peacock estimates that the camps in which he served came under attack an average of five times per week. He says he thinks about the soldiers he saw wounded and killed and worries about the spirits of those who continue to serve. “As long as you have extended, year-long tours,” he told me, “morale is going to stay low.”
It’s a far cry from Ole Miss where, generally speaking, morale stays about the same semester after semester and year after year. Peacock returned from the front in late February, too late to enroll in spring classes. So he got a job on campus, working for the university police. Students, he says, have been tremendously supportive since his return, respectful of his experience and thankful for his service. But he knows they can’t really understand what fighting in Iraq was like. Theirs is a different world, one dominated by draft beer and drafted football players. Of course they have been disturbed by the barrage of bloody images from Fallujah and Najaf. But those are just images on television.
It’s hardly a surprise, then, that Ole Miss remains supportive of the Iraq war. It’s not just that this is a solidly pro-Bush campus in a solidly pro-Bush state; it’s that patriotism comes as second nature to many students here and most of them would have a tough time seeing their government’s actions as wrong. Still, now more than ever, students are realizing that war has a cost and that stabilizing Iraq will be more of a struggle than they thought.
And some are even preparing to take part in the struggle themselves. No. 1 on senior Brian Noble’s list of worries is passing Latin so he can graduate in May. But the Mississippi National Guardsman who will join the service after getting his diploma also thinks about Iraq. The 22 year-old says he supports the war effort because, “we’re helping people … and our cause is just.” But as he contemplates fighting himself, Noble admits he has some skepticism about President Bush’s leadership and whether America has what it takes to get the job done in Iraq. In that way he’s like so many other Ole Miss students, suddenly waking up to the realities of war: hopeful for victory but unconvinced that it will happen, at least any time soon.
