Three vets speak out

Brock Bigej

Two servicemen are reunited at MHCC 

after serving in Afghanistan 

Straight out of David Douglas High School in 2007, Brock Bigej joined the Marines.

When he got out of the military, he toured several community colleges, decided MHCC was the place for him and signed up for the veterans cohort program.

During new student orientation day, participants are split into designated tour groups. And, within Bigej’s group, several people stuck out to him.

He approached one of them and asked if he was a veteran, too, which he was. From there, they began the exchange of stories and realized they served in Afghanistan at the same time.

Bigej had gone through the trauma center where the other vet, Charlie, had worked.

“He remembered that my last name was spelled funny, was what he said. He remembered my face. He said that we met before but obviously I was in a different state of mind, so I never really met him until that night,” Bigej said.

Now the two have met as civilians and become friends.

Bigej landed in several trauma centers in Afghanistan after an explosion caused severe injuries

“An IUD, a bomb, was detonated right next to me, chewed up my legs and put me in a pretty bad place,” he said. “I had a reconstructed leg and a lot of stitches and hardware and plates and some vascular reconstruction, too. It’s pretty extensive… even though just talking to me, no one would know, especially wearing pants.

“I guess it kind of gives you a new outlook on life. I feel like I got a second leg. I could have had a prosthetic leg, that would’ve been different for me.”

Bigej acknowledged a potential worse outcome. “I could not be here (at all), too. So, I kind of look at it almost as a positive,” he said.

Bigej said his interest in the military goes back to his childhood.

“I took it to another level, had a desire to serve my country and (have) it be an adventure as well.”

 

 

Robert Singh

Singh witnessed a transformation of Iraq during his three tours

At age 17, Robert Singh “went to the Army and said I want to join the Army and I want to serve the Army and they gave me the job and said here’s what we can let you do.”

“I wanted to join the Army since I was about 8 years old. It’s kind of my childhood dream come true,” he said.

He served three tours in Iraq, the first two as a medic. His first tour in 2004 came shortly after the initial U.S. invasion.

“During that time, I saw just the destroyed infrastructure of Iraq and also the people in Iraq trying very hard to get back to what we would consider civilization,” he said.

During his second tour in 2008, he said the country its residents were very different. “They had gotten the basis of government down, they were starting to build an infrastructure, their police force was stronger, their military was getting stronger.”

Singh served as a military policeman during his third tour, during which the country seemed fairly stable.

“We could see that all the work we’d done, all the work that I’d done, in my previous tours was having effect and being very useful,” he said.

Now that he is out of the military, Singh is pursuing a degree in linguistics. He was inspired by the translators and interpreters he saw while he served.

“It really seemed to be a rewarding job to be able to understand and help people break down the barriers of communication,” he said.

“I have experience working with both German and Arabic (languages). With those two experiences, I was able to go, ‘I understand that communicating in cross languages is difficult, also that it is something that needs to be done.’ ”

William Henton

The Army forced Henton to grow up faster and provide for his family

Eleven-year U.S. Army vet William Henton deployed to Afghanistan twice, and Iraq once.

“I joined the Army so I could take care of my family. I had a daughter on the way at the time, and eventually a second one. And I needed a way to take care of them. The army was good for that,” he said.

After joining at 18, Henton started as a Blackhawk helicopter mechanic and then became a fueler.

“I’m glad I did it and I’m glad I got out,” he said. “It’s kind of a weird thing. I think that it made me grow up a lot faster than I would have if I just jumped straight into school. I think that people come out of the Army generally better, unless something catastrophic happens to them.

“For the most part, I’m glad that I was there, but that’s behind me and I’m not longing for those days anymore.”

Henton is taking several classes in the veterans cohort program and said, “It’s nice to have a couple classes with people that I can relate to, pretty much automatically.”

His math class is outside the cohort and contains several fresh-out-of-high school students who worry about “things kids worry about” he said.

His advice to civilians is to treat vets like people and don’t ask about their experiences.

“Just treat them like grown-ups and act like a grown-up yourself and everything will be all right.”