In The Eye’s lead story this week, Stephen Snowder examines the lives of military veterans at Columbia. In compiling his story, Snowder spoke to more than a dozen veterans who shared their stories with us.
Unfortunately, due to space constraints, some of their accounts had to be excised from the final print version. While the experiences of Justin Neal (GS ’13) and John Schiffer (GS ’15) did not make it to print, they are nonetheless powerful narratives that further illustrate the harsh reality of war, with all its tension, turmoil, and triumph. Read on for their stories, and don’t forget to read the full article.
Justin Neal, from Tennessee, is a senior in the School of General Studies. He enlisted in the Army as an infantryman and went to basic training in February of 2003.
He was stationed in Alaska after basic training, but less than two months after arriving at his permanent duty station, he deployed to Afghanistan.
Neal’s job consisted of conducting foot patrols. He also conducted village assessments: “We would go in there and ask the village elders if they knew of any hostiles, or if they had any weapons,” he explained. “They pretty much always said no.” The real job, though, “was pretty much just trying to draw fire. We were just walking around, like ‘OK, well if we get shot at then we know there’s bad guys in the area.’”
