INTERVIEW WITH VIDA JONES
Vida Jones has two sons in the Army. Her oldest son is stationed in Ft. Huachuca, Arizona and, so far, has not been deployed in the War on Terror. Her younger son, Sgt. Brett has served in Korea, Afghanistan, Egypt, Kuwait, and Iraq.
Vida: Sgt Brett is with the 101st Airborne and his M.O.S. is mortars so he is directly involved in combat. He has been in the Army for seven years after enlisting at 19. He is now 26.
He missed his first baby's birth during his tour of duty in Afghanistan and then missed her first birthday during his tour of duty in Iraq.
We�e a close family. After several unsuccessful pregnancies my two boys were born and I call them my miracle children. Brett always wanted to join the military but after he left the family home, my husband and I had to go through a tough adjustment; our boys went from our nest straight to the military.
I watched 9/11 with horror but I didn� realize it would affect me and my family in Florida. Then, after the war began, my husband and I woke up to TV News and newspaper reports of dead soldiers. For nearly two years we�e lived day-to-day not knowing if our son is alive, wounded, or, God forbid, dead. The waiting was excruciating.
Brett was active during the initial part of the war in March of 2003. Before the war actually started he participated in the 72-hour convoy barreling across the country and rolling towards Baghdad Airport. The 101st was supposed to repel out of choppers but that plan changed when the Apache helicopter was shot down. Their convoy was ambushed by Iraqi forces who may have thought they were a supply convoy. Instead, they discovered they� attacked a combat unit who quickly repulsed them.
Brett� unit then moved up to Mosul where things were easier. Its different now but back then Mosul was a good place to be: Iraqis were cooperative, wonderful, and friendly. Brett made friends amongst the local people and was invited into their homes. [Mosul is a predominantly Kurdish town and Kurds tend to be pro-US.]
As a Sergeant Brett is in charge of several young fellows and I� not used to seeing him in that role. I got a peek at that side of him when we were talking on the phone one day. This was while he was in Iraq and, in the background, I could hear two of his young fellows arguing about some trivial matter. They tried to enlist Brett� intervention to settle it. Brett told them, �isten you two, I� talking with my mother here. You two need to stop that squabbling and wait until I� finished.�
Brett doesn� tell me a lot about what he� faced and seen over there. But one thing he reported affected him very much. During a routine house search for insurgents, Brett came across a padlocked door. He called for back-up and then broke the lock. Inside the very small room was a woman. She was the second wife to the homeowner who described her as �razy�and that is why she was locked up. Turned out she� been in there for two years. Brett was heartbroken at that. He said if she was crazy she� probably become so after being locked up for two years. He said she slept on a pallet on the floor and had a bowl for a toilet. She hadn� been out for two years! He took her to the clinic for care but who knows where she is now?
While he was gone our little town, population of about 1,000, made a huge billboard with names of 82 soldiers from the area or with ties to our town. We had a lovely ceremony honoring the soldiers and veterans arrived to celebrate too. One of the attendees had unwittingly trained one of the 9/11 hijackers in flying skills.
I feel a change of mood amongst people now who formerly supported this administration and it� reasoning behind the war. I believe the change has to do with all the deceptions that are coming to light. When I listened to the President outline his reasoning to go to war I waited for him to tell me about Weapons of Mass Destruction. I waited to hear the tie between 9/11. As a mother that was my marker about why my son would be put into danger. Once the President made that connection I was behind him.
But now there are now WMD, no link to Al Queda. While Saddam Hussein� regime was bad, toppling a regime is not a good enough reason to go to war or to risk the lives of our young people.
This war was not justified. Things are not improving and we�e repressed most of the country. We need to get out of there.
Brett� attitude is, �he president is my commander-in-chief and I signed on the dotted line.�At the same time he asked, �om, what are we doing here? The Iraqi people don� want us here.�
He asked me if people in America were against the soldiers. �hy are there protests? Is this going to be another Vietnam style era of protest? Am I going to be spit upon when I come home?�
Brett is back in the US now. He'll start a new job as an instructor and he's thrilled at that.
When he got back my husband and I traveled to Ft. Campbell to greet him and the troops on arrival. They debarked a commercial airliner �Hawaii Airlines �and I saw him for the first time with his full uniform, his weapons, and his stature as leader. It was a great homecoming and the crowd cheered like crazy. This was after that terrible crash of the chopper when so many soldiers from Ft. Campbell were killed.
In a way, I feel guilty that my burden has been lifted by the return of my child while other parents are only now beginning to feel that burden. Worry and fear for one� child is horrible thing to live with.
I� still willing to listen to answers to my son� questions about what we�e doing over there. These are the same questions people all around the country are asking. So far, I� not hearing any answers that are good enough.