STORY BEHIND THE PLAQUE
Service Reflections of SPC Justin Olson U.S. Army (2003-2006)

I joined after September 11th after the two towers fell. I wanted to be a pilot. There were no current positions, so I was going to be an aircraft mechanic. There were also no positions, so I was offered the 63 Alpha Abrams system maintainer main battle tank mechanic position. I said, “But that’s the opposite; tanks are heavy. Aircraft are light.” I was told the main battle tank had the same AGT 1500 turbine engine as the Blackhawk helicopter. I was told I could double mosQ to aircraft engines after 3 years, and that’s the first people that I would look to for pilots. So I looked at it like a six-year-goal. My military career didn’t quite pan out that way. I went to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for unique training for five and a half months, then 2 weeks of hometown recruiting back in Utah and Ogden. I got married. I then reported for duty in December 2003 to Fort Hood, Texas, where within a short few months, I was already at the real head and leaving for Iraq, where being wounded doesn’t take mechanic would end my career. Luckily, I got to use my skills while using my post-911 GI Bill to go to college at Texas State Technical College as an aircraft mechanic, where I also got to do my initial flights. That’s not currently what I do today.

I entered into the delayed entry 2003 on February 27th. I was delayed entry for 3 months. I then deployed to my first duty station for basic training, where we were outsourced to Fort Knox, Kentucky. I was in 1-81 Armor. I was Echo Company Eagles, 2nd Platoon, and Death Dealers, where there were only 16 of us in the Platoon. I was one of five originals to graduate. All five of us deployed to combat. In different locations, all 5 of us are alive today. I deployed to Fort Hood for my first main duty station after 5 1/2 months of vigorous training with Soldiers and Marines and no females. That first 3 months at Fort Hood, Texas, in the First Cavalry Division in the 115th Forward Support Battalion, Charlie Company. We spent time at the railhead training and preparing to go to Iraq for war. Once we deployed on March 11th, 2003, we got to Kuwait, where we spent 28 days in Udari waiting to do the long drive to Baghdad. Once we got to Sadar City, Camp War Eagle (aka) the Dirty Bird.

We were immediately ambushed and had taken on 69 casualties and had nine dead in the first few hours before even unveiling our guidance and taking control of our camp. April 4th, 2004, will go down in history after that, along with another 80-plus sustained days of combat without a break. There was a 60-day ceasefire where they still took pop shots at us. And then another 60 days while they broke the ceasefire, a vigorous combat. After being wounded three times while being attached to the second battalion, the 5th Cavalry Regiment Black Knights in Sadar City. I escorted the het flatbeds carrying our military vehicles and tanks back to Kuwait and then took 14 gun trucks back to Camp Cuervo to drop them off for the next unit, where I hit another roadside bomb on my last day in Iraq. Then we flew back to Kuwait, where we were debriefed and finally got to go back home. I spent one year and one day in the Middle East. After missing three R&Rs due to too much heavy combat while I was wounded, I finally got RNR 9, and 1/2 months later, I came back, finished my tour, and then went back home and got my surgery. When I got home, I had two surgeries on my foot and one surgery on my elbow, where I was medically discharged with honor. My ETS date was October 6th, 2006.

April 4th, 2004, had a huge impact on my life. And the lost soldiers and the wounded those days will never be forgotten; those soldiers and heroes will never be forgotten. And it’s burned in my brain like it was yesterday. Task force lancers will forever have respect. And I would never go to war with any other soldiers. We were the best. Everybody there conducted it flawlessly. My respect goes out to 112 115 2/5 Cavalry, and many more. God bless the soldiers, and God bless their families. Black Sunday is the day I wish I could undo from history.

There are many nights I thought I would not survive. Recovering tanks that have taken 12 RPGs and anti-tank mines and more trying to save the crew and vehicles extractions with scouts and infantry shooting from building to building and from vehicles to building and vice versa, 9 hours stuck in an alleyway fighting.

Over 1,100 artillery shells, give or take 100, landed in our little 60-acre fob for the year, and that’s just what was inside the walls. Our entire camp looks like Swiss cheese. Snipers to towers, grenades, and bullets were a constant, but so was valor. I’ll never forget my brothers and sisters, as I know they won’t forget me. I feel like I aged 10 years in that one year. Since then, I’ve been to the VA for veterans with posttraumatic stress who self-medicate and need help as an inpatient three times over the last 20 years. I still deal with this today, but I’m still okay. The memory in my head of the dead and the wounded soldiers, civilians, coalition forces, and children.

115 Ford Support Battalion; 2/5 Cavalry and one 1/12 Tankers

At Fort Hood, Texas, many barbecues and fishing trips, and the wives and spouses of the soldiers were all very close. I’ll never take back that brotherhood and sisterhood for anything.

Fort Knox, Kentucky, was rough. There were 16 Drill Sergeants who were Court-Marshaled after my time there and another five the following year. The Commander did 6 months of confinement because of how hard they were on us. Recently I got hold of some Drill Sergeants and told them they did a damn good job. How could you create a warrior any other way? Still, I’d rather go to combat and do another five and a half months at Fort Knox.

I was wounded three times in combat. I also received a Bronze Star and was nominated for another one. I lived and worked among heroes. Acts of courage were quite common among us in Iraq during 2004 and 2005. However, I didn’t get a bronze star; I got an Army Accommodation with Valor. I also got a Good Conduct medal, which I’m proud of, and I earned my Combat Cavalry Spurs and Stetson. I also got my Global War on Terrorism and Expeditionary and my Global War on Terrorism Service Medals. I’m very proud of my Army Service Ribbon for the 5 1/2 months at Fort Knox, which was tough. I also got my Iraq campaign medal, which I’m very proud of. I’m also proud of my National Defense ribbon for joining after those two towers fell.

Weirdly enough, I think the Army Commendation with Valor because I know how I earned it. And I earned every bit of my Combat Action Badge.

My drill sergeants, Sergeant Harris, Sergeant Corbin, and Sergeant Edwards, as well as my comrades and leaders at Fort Knox to Iraq and back, Sergeant Sloan, Sergeant Boersma, Sergeant Castillo, Specialist Loan Specialist Sanchez Specialist Gonzalez, Specialist Bush from Delta team maintenance 115 Forward Support Battalion attached to 2/5 Infantry, 1st Calvary Division.

Sergeant Sloan, Sergeant Castillo, Sergeant Borsma Specialist Sloan Specialist Sanchez Specialist Gonzalez, and Sergeant Ortega, there are too many to list.

There was a time I was in a Blackhawk helicopter for the first time, and we were coming in for a landing. It looked like we were going to crash onto the tarmac. I freaked out as I was sitting by the open side door, saying, “We’re going down, we’re going down.” Everybody started laughing as I realized that our kids had wheels, and we landed like a plane rolling smoothly. I still giggle to myself about that.

I used my post-9/11 GI Bill to go on to aircraft as a mechanic working toward a pilot’s license. I was a Machinist for many years and now run a handyman company.

Black Sunday Challenge and Alumni to 2/5 Infantry Black Sunday reunion.

The camaraderie is what I miss the most.

Stay low, stay motivated, be loud, look out for one another, be scared and brave if you get through successfully, and after you are out, it’s worth it. It ain’t easy. I don’t necessarily condone anybody joining the military, but I’ll shake any man’s hand who has the balls to do it.

It was tough to call some of the memories to answer the questionnaire, but I’m grateful because it does help to talk about it.