CyberPlainsman Staff

Have you ever had to go through the experience of a relative going to war? I have for the last 10 months.

This situation began for my family and I on Sept. 11, 2001.

Growing up in Texas

As I reflect on the past year I recall my childhood with my four older brothers. We were raised in Texas in a Republican household where the American flag was always hung in the yard. We gave thanks in every prayer for our lives.

Like many Texan families, we would spend July 4 out in the yard with hot dogs and hamburgers cooking on the grill. We would play with firecrackers and go for a swim in the river down the road. Toward the end of the day, before we went to watch the fireworks, we would all sit on the porch and pray. Even back then we prayed for our troops and our president. We also gave thanks for the honor of living in America. We were raised as free Americans and my dad wanted to make sure we knew it.

My brother Jesse, who is two years older than me, and I were the youngest of five boys. We fought like brothers do but because of the lifestyle we were raised. However our love for each other would not let us stay angry with one another very long. Jesse and I were and still are best friends.

Our Move to Wyoming

In July 2000 my parents, Jesse, and I moved to Laramie leaving two brothers behind in Texas. At the time my oldest brother was already in the Army and stationed in Washington. Our dad, a Baptist preacher, was looking for a change in location. When the preaching job in Laramie came up, he jumped at the opportunity.

When we made the move I was a 15-year-old ninth grader and could not have been more excited because I had always wanted to live in Wyoming. However, Jesse was not happy at all. He had built a good life in Texas and wasn’t ready to leave it. He was the state high school champion saddle bronc rider and had a girlfriend he thought "hung the moon."

So when we came here Jesse changed. He turned to drinking with his friends every weekend and skipping some classes nearly every day.

Sept. 11 changes Jesse

Then America was attacked on 9-11. Following this terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, my older brother Jesse’s patriotism kicked in more than ever.

The old Jesse, who was a senior at LHS at the time, came back. He stopped going out on weekends and he started looking into joining the US Army. He stopped skipping class and started studying Army history. In every way Jesse had gone wrong, he changed and made it right.

At this time he was working for the Wyoming Technical Institute and, being just like my dad was two years earlier, was looking for a change. So when Jesse graduated from LHS in May 2002, the first thing he did was sign up for the Army. He planned on continuing to work for WyoTech until he left for the Army in January 2003. However some of his paperwork had been mishandled so he had to wait until May. He didn’t have a job because he had already put in his notice. So until the day he left, Jesse spent his days fishing, hiking, running and lifting weights. He also found time to go coyote and duck hunting.

Fort Benning: Jesse’s first stop

Finally on May 5, 2003 at about 3 a.m. Jesse and my dad drove to Denver and Jesse got on a plane and headed for Fort Benning, Ga and basic training.

I was left to live with my mom and dad without the presence of my favorite person. Jesse was gone and mom was torn up because she knew Jesse could possibly go to war. It didn’t help I was now her only son left at home.

When Jesse left to go to Fort Benning he wasn’t thinking about being back home, he wasn’t thinking about his old girlfriend and he wasn’t thinking about the sports that he usually watched. All Jesse had on his mind was becoming a soldier. He would write us a letter almost every night. He was only able to call us once, and that was only for about two minutes. Mom and dad would write him at least once a week, but I wrote him four or five times every week. I would tell him about how much all of his friends missed him and he would tell me about how scared he was that he might have to go to war.

Another Grindstaff in Iraq

Meanwhile our oldest brother Jason was also in the Army. He was shipped off to Iraq in April of 2003.

Jason was only there for a month because in a small battle inside a city he was shot and had to come home. He was in a hospital in New York for a month. When we were finally able to go to there and see him he was different. Jason wouldn’t go out at night and he cried any time we spoke of Jesse being in the Army. Jason was no longer "ten-foot tall and bulletproof." He was now just a veteran soldier who had his life nearly taken away from him and he couldn’t keep that out of his mind. Jesse had always heard war stories from our grandpa who fought in WW II but when he heard Jason’s experience his fear increased.

Jesse joins Special Forces

However, despite his fear Jesse didn’t stop. He had his chance to quit when he caught a virus that was going around the base and had to spend time in the medical center. But Jesse has never been the quitting type, so he kept on going and kept trying harder and harder to be the best. All the work that he put into his training paid off when he became his squad leader and graduated basic training at the top of his battalion.

After basic training was over he went through airborne or parachuting school. After he graduated airborne he was shipped to New York to begin his Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) training. MOS is what individuals go into the military to become. Jesse’s MOS was Special Forces. Those are the guys that are specially trained for war--the guys nobody wants to mess with. They are the first ones to get there and the last ones to leave, the elite. When he got to his training he found that it was going to be a lot harder than he was thinking. He had to carry an eighty-pound pack everywhere he went and it was too difficult for him. He was 135 pounds when he joined the military and 145 pounds when he went to Special Forces School. He was built like a stick and he was unable to find the strength for this training. So he had to drop out. It was the first time he ever quit anything in his life. Jesse was torn apart but he knew there was no way he could pass.

Jesse goes to war in Afghanistan

After all that he received word that he was to be shipped off to Afghanistan.

After finding this out Jesse decided not to think about it the way he had been. He no longer wanted to fear dying he wanted to fight for those who fear dying. Our mom, again, was torn. However, she was more proud of him than ever. My dad and I felt the same.

Jesse might not be in the Special Forces but he is still fighting. He is considered a "grunt," or infantry soldier. His job over there is to patrol the mountains and capture or kill whoever is considered a target. His battalion’s main targets are HVT’s, which means High Value Targets. Recently Jesse told us over the phone that he was involved in capturing the eighth most wanted terrorist in the world. His name will go unmentioned because Jesse couldn’t even tell me the name.

Everyone in Jesse’s battalion is assigned a specific duty, including Jesse. His is to carry a shotgun to shoot down doors and then he’s the first person to go in. Anyone who gets in his way is considered a threat and he either knocks them down or, if they show good reason, he shoots them.

Jesse is right now on a fourteen-day mission into the mountains in search of a man who recently led an attack on a U.S. Army base in Afghanistan. Jesse’s closest friend in the army was killed in that attack.

Jesse due home this month

Jesse hopes to be leaving Afghanistan on May 28. He will then go to New York for two weeks for a mental rehabilitation program that all soldiers must go through after returning from war. After that he will drive to Texas where my parents will be living and I will get to see my brother for the first time in over a year.

My hero

I was asked to write this story to tell what it’s like to be the brother of a soldier over seas. However, I have more or less written a biography on him. But if I were to describe the way I feel I could only say that I’m proud. Jesse has always been my best friend and someone I want to be like. Now, he is all that and more. Jesse is my hero.