Asia Reabroi
Mariah Reabroi
Period 6
Shawn Mitchell
Army
16 Years
Shawn Alexander Mitchell
Our veteran, Shawn Mitchell, had no intention of joining the Army. In high school he would constantly receive phone calls from the draft asking him to join, each time without hesitation he would hang up. One day, his mother answered the phone and told Shawn it was for him. He then asked who it was, and when his mom told him it was the draft he instantly hung up. His intentions were clear; he did not want to join the military. One day he had lunch with a friend and realized that his, “Fears were baseless.” After graduation from high school, he joined the Army reserves in Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Two to three months into the reserves the unit deactivated, violating the contract he had signed giving him the choice of either returning home or to join the regular Army. He selected the option of going into the Army. He chose to join the Army so that his friends could do what they wanted, do what they dreamed. He trained at Fort Knox, KY, which he believed to be quite difficult. At the beginning of training he described being; “freaked out mentally and was tired physically.” This continued until he realized all they were doing was disciplining him.
While serving in the Army, he had three different jobs; a scout, counter intelligence, and a sniper. He served in Germany, Sicily, Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan. A year after he joined the Army, he went overseas to an airbase in Kuwait. His duty was to provide protection for a Patriot missile group. He would sit in a fort raised off the ground by hay stacks stacked on top of each other to create a vantage point: getting a higher view of things. He described this fort to be “unstable and untrustworthy”. One day, they were watching a Patriot missile that was specially designed and when launched had amazing aim. He then heard an alarm, not knowing it to be a warning that the missile was being launched. The missile went flying causing the fort to sway back and forth and dust and debris to get into their eyes and faces. The Lieutenant watching them got so upset that the soldiers were not warned of the missile launch that he told them, “If you ever do that again and not warn my soldiers they would have his bars.” After his service in Kuwait he returned home for a year before leaving to Iraq.
Working in counter intelligence he focused on illegal activity such as threats against the United States from other nations like North Korea and Iraq. As he worked in this job, it caused him to become frustrated making him want to return back to the scouts. He then chose to work as a sniper which required the task of having to go behind enemy lines. He had a roommate during his time in the Army who he now has known for twenty years. For entertainment, they would make their friends bed from the front, so when they went to lay down the sheets would not move. Also, he would make homemade Meal Ready to Eat (MRE) bombs and set them outside tents just for a scare. They would heat up the plastic MRE bag until it exploded. When deployed Mr. Mitchell would often have to drive the whole way there without stops, if they stopped at all then they would become a potential target. One day he and his friends were sitting at an out-post looking over the desert, in Iraq. Because of their position and equipment it allowed them to see several kilometers away. Out of nowhere an Iraq Bedouin and his herd of sheep came over a dune and asked Mr. Mitchell for water. He then supplied him with water because he knew that the Bedouin needed it more than they did. In return the Bedouin wanted to give him his head piece, but they could not accept it. The Bedouin said thank you one last time and went over the next hill. Shawn then proceeded to look over the hill to see where he went, but he had disappeared.
Mr. Mitchell believes that today there is different technology; they are not better or worse. “Technology makes soldiers lazy,” Shawn said. When he was in the service he would have to use a topographical map. He would plot his coordinates than use features in the area to navigate to where he would have to go. As a sniper he would have to calculate all of his surroundings, the wind, size of the bullet, etc, to reach his target “Today you can just plot it in and you are ready to go.” But there are similarities, “You will never stop being a soldier, you are all going through the same thing, you volunteered to serve your country,” says Shawn. He believed in the slogan, “Hurry up and wait.” This means it is better to hurry up and be where you need to be early and wait, than to be late and have others wait for you.
After sixteen years of serving in the Army he had no intention of leaving, but was discharged. When he returned home he admits to being sad and unmotivated. Soon enough he started working again and had a job at a toy store. He now is happily married to his wife whom he met through a friend in the Army, and has three children. Still to this day he keeps in touch with his roommate who owns a trucking company in Wyoming. We thank Mr. Mitchell for his Military Service that protected our Freedom and Country.