Local soldiers reflect on war

By Staff
Jonathan Willis
Staff Sgt. Hugh Plott sat in his office Wednesday inside the Alabama Army National Guard's 115th Signal Battalion headquarters in Haleyville.
As he looked through news clippings and web postings about the Iraq War, memories quickly came back to him; hitting home the fact the conflict has now been ongoing for five years.
More than a year of that time, from December 2003 until March 2005, the local 115th Signal Battalion was stationed near the heart of the largest Iraqi insurgency in Mosul, Iraq.
It was the cruel reality of war as the local unit was deployed as a whole for the first time ever.
"We always thought there was a possibility we could go," Plott said. "We went on the second rotation. We were deployed about six months after (the war) started."
The 115th went as part of the largest National Guard deployment in history. They provided communications, such as Internet and phone service, for all of northern Iraq.
"We were kind of like AT&T of the Army," Plott said.
While there, the unit was fired upon many times.
"We would just be walking and see mortars being fired or helicopters and planes being shot at," said Plott, who spent six months working out of one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces.
In December 2004, just shortly before the 115th returned to the United States, a suicide bomber dressed as an Iraqi soldier walked into the mess hall at the base where they were located.
The man detonated a bomb killing 22 people and wounding about 60 more. It was the deadliest attack on a U.S. military installation up to that that point in time.
"The Lord was really looking out for us because we didn't have a single person in (the mess hall) at that time," Plott said.
When the unit first learned they would be sent to Iraq, many were nervous and unsure of what to expect. But, as time wore on, the attitudes about their deployment changed.
"I thought we needed to be there and I think we should say until the job is finished," Plott said, adding that conditions were better than he expected in Iraq.
"If not, things will go back to being like they were before. After a period of time you kind of get used to things. The hardest part was being away from your family."
Some other units from north Alabama will be deployed in the near future, but another rotation period for the 115th would be years away, if that ever became necessary.
"It's our duty to serve," Plott said. "That's why we all enlist. It's always a possibility."
Russellville policeman Aaron Nichols, who is now part of the 115th, was deployed to Iraq in the opening days of the war.
Nichols had moved to Michigan for college and enlisted in the 437th Engineer Co.
"I got the call at 5 p.m. on a Friday and was told we had to be at Fort Campbell, Ky., in 72 hours," Nichols said.
The unit went through a rigorous training program before moving on to the Middle East where they built bridges and destroyed buildings.
After seeing many things he had never imagined, however, Nichols said he is still proud of the war effort but he wants to see Iraqis take over their own country soon.
"We need to get a stronghold and really push and train them to take over themselves," he said.
He did add, though, that if the call came again he would be ready to serve.
"I wouldn't want to leave my family, I wouldn't want to leave Russellville or the police department, but it would be my duty and I would go again," he said.
Christy Nix, of Phil Campbell, also served in Iraq as part of the 115th. She said her deployment was "life-changing" and at the time, she believed it was the right thing to do.
But she is now to the point where she thinks the war is benefiting anyone and is ready to see American troops return home.
"My opinion has totally changed since the war started," she said.
"I was all gung-ho at the time that we needed to be there. I think we were there at the right time, but now it has gone on long enough."