Iraq War 20 years later: SC veterans reflect on service and a more ‘diversified force’

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Twenty years ago, this month, America entered Operation Iraqi Freedom. Iraq was in breach of UN Resolution 1441, which prohibited the stockpiling and importing of weapons of mass destruction. The nation was also reeling from the attacks of 9/11 and the threats of Al-Qaeda. The war would last almost nine years, but it also changed how the VA and Department of Defense supported a new generation of veterans when they returned home.

One quickly learns in basic training you must be mission ready. And Greenville’s Pamela Adams was once part of a U.S. Navy Recruit Training graduation.

“I didn’t know what I had in me,” Adams said.

She wanted to see the world and get an education, serving as a dental assistant from 1987 to 2016.

“You’re supposed to be medical and dental ready. If you can’t do your job, you can’t be mobilized,” said Adams.

And then came Operation Iraqi Freedom, a multinational coalition effort to end the regime of Saddam Hussein, liberate the Iraqi people, and eliminate their weapons of mass destruction. The date was March 20th, 2003.

“The only thing I could think about was my daughter, my 4-year-old daughter, I was a single parent,” she said.

A single parent with a 10-month order to serve in a fleet hospital in a combat zone.

“I mean we had to do dental work on canines, these are the canines that sniff bombs and other task so we’re doing work on the canine force that was there – I mean we’re doing root canals on them,” Adams said.

Mission essential work supporting canines, coalition partners and American forces.

“We would see people from the brig who were trying to injure themselves or harm themselves, we would see people from the brig who would try to harm or injure others,” Adams said.

The culmination of airstrikes, naval forces and boots on the ground overwhelmed Iraqi forces just five weeks after the invasion, but coalition forces dealt with another threat: the influx of Al-Qaeda inspired fighters and a civil war.

“It is no longer about you, it is about the whole,” Adams said.

The conflict lasted nearly nine years. And 4,500 American lives were lost.

“Yeah, I hope that my part mattered,” she said.

Back on American soil, Toya Moore spent 23 years in the U.S. Air Force as a mental health technician and recognizes how the VA and Department of Defense responds to a more diversified generation of veterans.

“This was not your grandmother or grandfathers war, and I don’t know if we knew that going into it,” Moore said. So, as people were going down range, and coming back talking about some of the things that they had seen and experienced, all the branches of service had to figure out a better way to prepare people for being in combat. I would say the men and women who served changed how we view mental health because the men and women who served came back and told us, ‘This is not working for me, we need more, the way you prepared me for my wartime experience didn’t actually help me when I got down there and experienced what I experienced.”

Experts say the timing of the war is key to understanding the needs of today’s military, the attacks of 9/11 led to an almost 10% immediate increase in Americans enlisting, and veterans who served in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom comprised more state National Guard’s and Reserve components. Military branches also saw a higher number of women.

“We saw so many powerful officers and higher enlisted women who were taking on these positions of authority and commanding this presence of being able to do the work and to fulfill the mission,” Adams said.

A mission that began 20 years ago, both Adams and Moore say it should serve as a reminder of the sacrifices and the diversity of the force.

“It is necessary,” Adams said.

“20 years of hope, disappointment, frustration, and support,” Moore added.

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