UWS student stationed in Iraq
by Laura Podgornik for 91.3 KUWS
Stack (pictured left) has been stationed in Iraq since April.
A 21-year old University of Wisconsin - Superior student stationed in Iraq says he misses the simple things the most.
Superior native Willie Stack isn't worried about rain this summer or now this fall. Right now, he is worrying about "Red Sky" weather while patrolling the Joint Base Balad in Iraq.
"'Red Sky' is when the wind picks up and it picks up all the sand up into the air and the helicopters can't fly or anything like that. So, then we'll take one extra truck out. And basically what we do is we drive the same routes that we've been doing since we got here pretty much. And missions can usually take anywhere from like five hours to 12 hours depending on what happens while we're out there; if we find anything or we get hit with anything," said Stack.
Stack is a combat engineer in the United States Army. He was deployed to Iraq in April and will be coming home in February or March.
"It was kind of like scary at first, being out there and doing the stuff we do and then after a while we kind of got used to it. You get kind of used to doing the stuff that you do on a day to day basis. I kind of think of it like just playing your first football game, you're kind of scared the first game and then after, you're fine," he said.
Stack misses being a regular college student.
"Driving in a normal civilian car; it's like all I do is drive in these big, up armored, you know like 80,000 lb vehicles that are just ridiculous but just be able to like, I don't know, go fishing or golfing. You don't really realize how lucky people are, I guess. Being back, being to do whatever they want," said Stack.
Stack plans to continue his college career at UW-Superior when he returns home. He has spent nearly all his time overseas in Balad, but he was recently sent to spend a few weeks in Tikrit, Iraq; the hometown of Saddam Hussein.
Superior native Willie Stack isn't worried about rain this summer or now this fall. Right now, he is worrying about "Red Sky" weather while patrolling the Joint Base Balad in Iraq.
"'Red Sky' is when the wind picks up and it picks up all the sand up into the air and the helicopters can't fly or anything like that. So, then we'll take one extra truck out. And basically what we do is we drive the same routes that we've been doing since we got here pretty much. And missions can usually take anywhere from like five hours to 12 hours depending on what happens while we're out there; if we find anything or we get hit with anything," said Stack.
Stack is a combat engineer in the United States Army. He was deployed to Iraq in April and will be coming home in February or March.
"It was kind of like scary at first, being out there and doing the stuff we do and then after a while we kind of got used to it. You get kind of used to doing the stuff that you do on a day to day basis. I kind of think of it like just playing your first football game, you're kind of scared the first game and then after, you're fine," he said.
Stack misses being a regular college student.
"Driving in a normal civilian car; it's like all I do is drive in these big, up armored, you know like 80,000 lb vehicles that are just ridiculous but just be able to like, I don't know, go fishing or golfing. You don't really realize how lucky people are, I guess. Being back, being to do whatever they want," said Stack.
Stack plans to continue his college career at UW-Superior when he returns home. He has spent nearly all his time overseas in Balad, but he was recently sent to spend a few weeks in Tikrit, Iraq; the hometown of Saddam Hussein.
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