by Caroline Nimocks
Terry DeWitt
He left Arkadelphia in October 2004 for his first tour to Iraq. “It was such an extreme change,” said DeWitt.
Just two weeks into his deployment, he faced his first mortar attack. DeWitt knew what a mortar attack was, but experiencing one in first person was entirely different. “Having to run to a shelter with your weapon, because mortars are coming in on top of you…that was just…crazy,” said DeWitt.
His group was stationed with the Third Iraqi Infantry Division. The Iraqi troops outnumbered the U.S. troops, but they were “all in it together.” DeWitt said, “We shared all the same experiences. If we got mortar attacked, they did too. It was quite a remarkable experience.”
After spending eight months in Iraq, DeWitt was able to take his Rest and Recuperation leave.
He reunited with his family for a short vacation in Germany. However, this was not an ordinary trip, or at least not for his family. Ouachita, DeWitt’s employer, and Second Baptist Church of Arkadelphia, each bought a plane ticket for a member of the DeWitt family. Major DeWitt paid for the third ticket. A trip to Germany was not really in the family’s price range at the time, so this gift was very meaningful. The family was able to stay at one of the Army’s R&R resorts in Germany and go on several excursions throughout the two weeks of their stay.
“It was really a blessing for me that my employer, OBU, paid for one of my family members—as well as my home church. To me, that meant the world,” said DeWitt.
Being deployed for the first time was the most trying time for him.
DeWitt felt that he was very fortunate to have his support system back at home. In the beginning of his first tour they made his transition a little easier and throughout the rough times knowing they were okay was enough to help him push through. He could always relish in knowing that they would be there waiting for him when he returned.
However, he saw those that were not so fortunate, and how it distinctly affected them. DeWitt remembered frequently getting letters and care packages from his family and those in his community. Still, there were those who rarely received anything. “It was tough for those people. They didn’t have the support that those with families did,” said Dewitt.
He came to realize that life, as we know it, should be cherished. The things that we consider small or insignificant, others might see as the greatest splendor. DeWitt said, “Everyday I am grateful for the opportunities we have.”
He has now been in the Army Reserve for 29 years and has risen in the ranks to Kernel. He has come to recognize that joining the Military has been much more than a financial security blanket. “It makes you feel like you are something bigger than yourself. You are a part of a big organization, with the whole United States Military,” said DeWitt.
Photo provided by Terry DeWitt
Dr. Terry DeWitt is a professor at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark. He teaches courses in the Kinesiology and Leisure Studies department. If you did not know Dr. DeWitt personally, you would likely think he was a simple college professor and a devoted family man. Though both of these may be true, he has one singularly distinct characteristic. DeWitt is a war veteran.
THE PROFESSOR
CALL TO SERVICE
DeWitt attended Ouachita as a student from 1983-1988. He joined the Military through Ouachita’s ROTC program. He needed help paying his tuition at Ouachita, and this seemed to be a good option. The Military offered the financial security that DeWitt needed.
Shortly after becoming a major in 2004, DeWitt received a call from the 98th Division out of Rochester, NY. He was asked to join their unit on a tour to Northern Iraq. At this time, he had been in the Army Reserve for 20 years.
When he received his call to serve, he was working as professor Ouachita and had recently received his Ph.D.
THE TRANSITION: LIFE OR DEATH
In Iraq all the local nationalists treated DeWitt's company like they were famous. This was something he did not expect when he left for his tour. “We’d drive into a village or a town and the little kids would run up to us—wanting candy or water bottles or what ever we would throw to them. It was fun!” said DeWitt.
At some point during his first tour, DeWitt received soccer balls and coloring books in the mail from friends and family. With these items, he was able give the local children gifts. To these children, the gifts were extraordinary. “When we would go out on the missions, and the kids would run up to us, we actually started airing up soccer balls and giving them out. Talk about some excited kids!”
SMILES IN IRAQ
FAMILY VACATION
PUSHING PAST THE PERIL
AN INFLUENTIAL EXPERIENCE
"...If we got mortar attacked, they did too. It was quite a remarkable experience."
When his division reached their base in Northern Iraq, he began to grow accustom to the frequent mortar attacks.
“The transition from being in the Army Reserve one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer, to going into a full combat zone was fairly simple for me,” said DeWitt. Although he endured many hardships, he had such a great support system at home, which helped to alleviate some of the distressing situations that made it hard to adjust.
DeWitt found that the foremost absolute thing that pulled him through any distressing situation was his faith. He found a solid group of comrades that he could pray with and whom lifted one another up. “We had a lot of good, strong, Christian people,” said DeWitt. “I don’t see how you could get through something like that if you didn’t have faith.”
-Terry DeWitt
"I don't see how you could get through something like that if you didn't have faith."
He was, and is currently, married with two children—who were in ninth grade at the time of his first deployment. Communication between DeWitt and his family became strenuous during his first tour. He could rarely tell his them where he was or what he was doing. “Really the biggest job on a deployment like this are the people who are at home,” said DeWitt. “They don’t know what everybody’s doing when they’re deployed…so it’s really tough on them.”
Photo provided by Terry DeWitt
-Terry DeWitt