Student veteran shares his views on war, service
When Ben Alexander joined the U.S. Navy in August of 2002, he received a free ticket to travel the world-places like Australia, Scotland, Guam and Somalia.
Alexander also gained a first-hand experience of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The sophomore pre-journalism major, from Tempe, Ariz., reached the E-5 rank in the Navy, a Petty Officer Second Class. He was deployed twice to Iraq and spent time on the seas in between ports.
When he first joined, Alexander said he wanted to try something new and his family was supportive of his decision. After he joined, he spent three months in boot camp, which he described more as “tennis shoe camp.”
“It’s nothing too vigorous,” he said. “It varies on what you’re going to be doing, but it’s usually about six months of schooling.”
Alexander spent his time in aviation structural component school, where he worked on the structural and hydraulic components of jets. He was sent to command right after school, and three months after he was deployed for the first time.
“It was right when the war was starting, so we just got thrown into the mix,” Alexander said. “So I was on my way to defend freedom.”
He said he was not sure what to expect with his first deployment.
“I was nervous,” he said. “I was still questioning, ‘was it the right move I made?'”
A typical cruise, Alexander said, lasts somewhere between six to ten months. He said after the first three months, “it didn’t really matter how long you’re there. It all feels the same.”
During his first deployment, Alexander was in charge of 25 men to make minor maintenance repairs on jets. They made sure the jets were serviceable to fly off the flight deck. On his first deployment, he said it was mandatory to stop in Hawaii to pick up weapons and hit other ports on the way. However, Alexander ended up spending 104 days at sea without stopping at ports along the way.
During his second deployment, Alexander worked on aerial refueling systems so jets could stay in the air longer. He and his team worked on refueling pods that fuel the jets.
At times though, he said, it was nerve wracking while he was deployed in Iraq.
“You watch the news and the poverty, the destruction that’s already happening there, definitely looked about right,” he said. “The scariest moments would be whenever we had to launch an alert, meaning something is an imminent danger to us. Alert 5 is get the jet and go.”
There were some bright spots during Alexander’s deployments too.
At one point Alexander’s father came on to the Tiger cruise from Hawaii to San Diego for a week.
Alexander also said he was proud to serve though he is glad to be back in school.
“Defending my country was the greatest thing I got out of the navy,” he said. “I was lucky to be able to do it for five years.”
Alexander was honorably discharged in May 2006. He said being discharged was a relief.
“I could grow out my hair if I wanted to,” Alexander said. “I didn’t have to report someone every night. All the freedoms I lost I gained back. It was kind of nice and refreshing to hang out with friends.”
Though the military encourages those serving to attend time during their service, Alexander said, there just wasn’t enough time.
Alexander came to CU this semester, and said it is a lot more fun than community college.
“There’s a lot of different views, a lot more people,” he said. “It’s more social.”
At 26 years old, he said he feels “like an old man.”
Alexander has strong opinions regarding the public opinions on the war in Iraq.
“It’s not just CU students, it’s the whole nation,” Alexander said “They think, ‘Oh, we need to pull out the troops, oh, we’re just going to quit.’ When you start something, you got to finish it. There’s never been a time without controversy, over thousands of years. I’m not a war monger or anything, but war is inevitable, it’s what this country was founded upon.”
Alexander said he is offended by war protesters. He cited the Revolutionary War, and said that people don’t understand it was for our freedom.
“It upsets me when I see protesters, people who say we don’t support the war but we support the troops,” he said. “The troops are the war. It rustles my feathers a lot.”
Alexander said he wanted to set the record straight about Iraqis.
“When I was over there, giving out aid to Iraqis, 90 percent want us there,” he said. “Saddam was killing everyone; sects were killing everyone. It’s genocide. It was the same thing in Germany, we stepped in and we were applauded. It’s only pockets of people that don’t want us there, the extremist Muslims who want to kill everyone.”
Alexander blamed the press for “skewing the truth.” He said he hopes to paint a different picture with his own journalism career.
Still, Alexander sang praises about his time in the Navy. He encouraged everyone to spend time giving back to the U.S.
“I think everyone should do some kind of civil service for their country,” he said. “If you’re free, you go volunteer for six months, and really give something back to the country.”
This is the second part in an ongoing series at the Campus Press on student veterans to run every Tuesday.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Marcy Franklin at marcy.franklin@colorado.edu.
