Soldiers happy to be home after tours of duty in Iraq

Sophomore Travis Roll is trading in his knives, goggles, flak jackets, torches and other equipment he has used for the past three months. The lance corporal marine has switched battlegrounds and is now prepared to face another semester of classes after serving in Iraq.\nRoll said the transition back to IU was simple after all he has faced. "School is not so much responsibility," he said. "In a battlefield, you have the lives of so many people dependent on you."\nRoll served in Iraq from late March to May of this year until his arm was injured. He was on a convoy, riding along on the top of his Humvee when a bomb on the side of the road detonated. Shrapnel entered into his nose and his right arm. The piece of shrapnel is still embedded in his nose. Because of this accident, he does not have sensation in his ring finger, little finger or part of his middle finger.\nNow back at home, after all that he is been through, Roll said he is able to appreciate a lot of things in life much more. \n"You don't get bugged by the small things," he said.\nCpl. Matthew Marcus, an Ivy Tech student, returned home from Iraq last month and is enjoying spending time with his girlfriend and simply relaxing before he starts his next semester.\n"Actually I think it is easier to shoot and fight in the deserts of Iraq than it is to turn in papers and take exams," Marcus said. "It's part of the job, and you don't have to learn anything new," \nCpl. Brandon Nordhoff, an IU junior who aspires to be a U.S. Marshal, said when he looks around, he realizes he has seen more than most others and knows more about the culture and lifestyle of people of another country better than his peers.\n"It makes you want to travel and see more ... (and) know more," he said.\nNordhoff was in Iraq and Kuwait from April 2003 to August 2003. He resumed school at IU on Sept. 1, 2003. \nFor all three men, adjusting to civilian life wasn't easy. Loud noises and being woken up at night drew reactions from them that had become more habit than instinct.\nThe first time Nordhoff came home, he spent the night with a friend. He said he warned his friend not to wake him in the middle of the night. \n"The first thing that would come to my mind if woken up that way was that some terrorist was coming to harm me," he said. "So, instinctively, I'd do something." \nWhen his friend did wake him up that night, Nordhoff almost hit him. \n"But," Nordhoff said, "I've overcome that now. I sleep better and don't hit people when woken up in the middle of the night."\nThe marines said they often thought about small luxuries like a bed, a shower and junk food while they were in the desert. \n"The first thing I did when I came back was eat at Taco Bell," Roll said. \nRoll said it now feels great to shower everyday and sleep in his own bed.\n"Life here is so different from in Iraq," Nordhoff said. "It is like going to Mars or on a different planet." \nThe three men said they are not very happy with the media portrayal of the news and events in Iraq.\n"Once you come back, you tend to pay more attention to what is happening there because you've been in that place and know it," Roll said. \nHowever, he noticed that many times what the media shows is much more severe than what is really happening. \n"The people are very friendly, and the kids are great," Roll said.\nAt the end of the day, life for these three men will never be the same again. \n"The experience in Iraq was like a dream, and it has taught me a lot," Roll said. "Experience is a great teacher, and I'll never look at life as I did before I went to Iraq." \n-- Contact staff writer Hina Alam at halam@indiana.edu.