Pvt. Eric Rundquist, left, and Pvt. Jason Taylor, both with 1st Platoon, Company B, 1-12 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, hold on to a strap inside a Bradley fighting vehicle after the Bradley hit a roadside bomb. The Soldiers were en route to the Forward Operating Base Gabe medical station after one of their fellow Soldiers was injured when they encountered sporadic sniper fire for about two hours during a house clearing mission in the Tahrir neighborhood of Baqubah. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Antonieta Rico, 5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SR# B236
April 10, 2007


By Staff Sgt. Antonieta Rico
5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment


BAQUBAH, Iraq -- Sweat mixed with dirt on the face of Pvt. Eric Rundquist. Slowly, it made glistening streaks down his face as he rode within the dusty confines of a Bradley fighting vehicle, March 28.

A muffled thud briefly shook the 40-ton personnel carrier, and those inside checked on each other. The Bradley had just hit a roadside bomb — another combat experience for Rundquist, as he rode away from the scene of his first firefight in Iraq.

His experience may have been similar to the media’s portrayal of a Soldier’s life in Iraq, but not identical. With little more than two weeks spent in Baqubah, Rundquist said he has learned that there’s more to his job than combat.

“As a little kid, watching war movies, I was like, ‘I want to be a Soldier,’” Rundquist said, “My uncle was a Soldier. He pretty much glorified it all for me.”
The 22-year-old Rundquist has been in the Army for nine months. He acknowledged the rush of adrenaline he felt during the firefight, but he can’t ignore the satisfaction he’d experienced when performing other duties, such as handing out food to the residents of Baqubah.

“It’s not always action,” he said of his duties to this point.

Rundquist now realizes he had a false impression about the Army and its presence in Iraq, which was shared by family and friends in his hometown of Streamwood, Ill. Their perceptions, he said, were influenced by what they’d seen on the news.

“You only hear about the bad stuff. You never hear about the good things,” Rundquist said. “I mean, we are doing good things out here.” [Emphasis mine -- Pam]

Rundquist, a member of Company B, 1-12 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, said he didn’t know about the humanitarian aspect of being a Soldier until he arrived in Iraq.

“You think every time you go out there, its going to be a firefight,” he said.
But his first mission in Baqubah was handing out shoes and food to civilians. He said his interaction with the Iraqi people helped him let go of misconceptions about the country’s people, as well.

“There are good people out here,” said Rundquist, “They are just trying to live their life. They just happen to be caught in the middle of a war.”

In his first few weeks in Baqubah, Rundquist has faced the intensity of war. Minutes before the Bradley hit the roadside bomb, Rundquist and his fellow Soldiers had finished a sporadic engagement with insurgent snipers that lasted about two hours.

But Rundquist has also talked with Iraqi children. A feeling of compassion for the Iraqi people now dominates his attitude.

“People actually have to live around that stuff 24 hours a day, and people will and are getting killed,” he said. “I would somehow like to help. They deserve it - a normal life away from all this war.”

Before he joined the Army, Rundquist worked and spent time with his friends like most people his age. He said his experiences in Baqubah make him feel like he is living a small part of history.

Sometimes he thinks, “Look what you were, now look what you are … look where you have gone. Now, you are in Iraq, halfway around the world, in a street in Baqubah, in a firefight.”

He will remember when he returns home that war is not like what it’s portrayed as on the news, he said.

Until then, he is determined to keep his mind here in Iraq, and as the new kid in his squad, he’s determined to be an asset to his team.

“I’m going to keep my morale high, because I do not want to let anybody down,” he said.

Labels: 1-12 CAB, 1st Cavalry Division, Baqubah, FOB Gabe, Iraq, Tahrir, US Army