Home for the holidays
January 5, 2009
By Jim Feehan
Skyline grad, Iraq bomb engineer, finds his way back to Issaquah in time for Christmas
Kevin Thruelsen
Half a world away, Kevin Thruelsen spent 15 months clearing roadside bombs and locating caches of weapons in Iraq. Amid the searing 130-degree heat, blinding sand storms and constant threat of being blown up, he was touched by a care package from students at the elementary school he attended a decade ago.
“I can’t tell you how much of a morale booster that was,” he said of the Christmas cookies he received from Hank Klein’s Challenger Elementary School class in December 2007.
Thirteen months ago, Thruelsen, 21, witnessed the first snowfall in Baghdad in 40 years. He also saw snow while visiting his family in Klahanie last month while on holiday leave.
For a little more than a year, he traveled along the pockmarked roads leading to Abu Gharib, Sadr City and Baghdad, and up to the Diyala province near the Iranian border in search of roadside bombs and other explosives.“The Iraqis are pretty clever when it comes to hiding explosives,” he said. “They’ll hide them in dead animals, culverts and old blast holes.”
Thruelsen is a member of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, 84th Engineering Co. His squad traveled across the country in armored vehicles resembling something from the post apocalyptic action thriller “Mad Max.” They cleared routes of bombs and landmines for supply convoys and troop deployment. They also searched fields for hidden weapons caches, he said.
“Complacency is our biggest enemy,” Thruelsen said. “Just when you let your guard down, the enemy strikes. They’re really devious and that’s scary.”
His closest brush with death came on a road clearance mission in the Diyala province. His convoy was trapped on a narrow one-lane road and taking on mortar fire. Luckily, the firing stopped when it was discovered the incoming rounds were from U.S. forces.
“I was thinking, ‘Oh, my God, I’m going to get hit,’” he said. “I got lucky.”
Still, his deployment in Iraq had lighter moments. His unit was called upon to distribute school supplies to Iraqi children and he ran into a high school classmate in Baghdad.
“I was coming out of the PX in Baghdad and someone yelled out, ‘Hey Kevin,’” he said. “In the military, everyone refers to you by your last name, so I was a little shocked. I turned to see it was Andy Strackbein, who went to Skyline with me. It’s such a small world.”
Three weeks after graduating from the 2007 class at Skyline High School, Thruelsen enlisted in the Army. He didn’t have far to look for role models. Two older brothers that he looks up to — John, an intelligence officer in Kosovo, and Nate — are career military.
Unlike his brothers, Thruelsen doesn’t plan to make a career out of the military. When his two-year stint expires in August, he plans to go to college. For the next eight months, he’ll be stationed at the regiment’s headquarters at Vilseck, Germany.
During his holiday break, Thruelsen spent time with family and caught up with friends. Civilian life is markedly different from the military and for the past month, Thruelsen had to dispel a few misconceptions.
“The No. 1 thing I was asked was, ‘Have you killed anybody?’” he said.
Too many people think of “Platoon” and “Saving Private Ryan,” or other Hollywood movies when they think of war, he said.
“Well, that’s not the reality of war,” he added. “I haven’t killed anyone — thank God.”
Kevin’s father Ron, a math teacher at Liberty High School for the past 10 years, said he’s proud of his son’s service to country. He said his son has matured in the 18 months since he left home.
“When he left, he was a confused teenager,” Ron Thruelsen said. “Now, he has lots of drive, bearing and confidence. I’m also pleased his tour of duty in Iraq didn’t mess him up mentally.”
With roads littered with bombs, weapons caches stashed throughout the countryside, to say nothing of booby-trapped houses and civilians armed to the teeth with AK-47s, Thruelsen said he is happy to report his squad had no fatalities or serious injuries during its deployment.
“Somebody was looking out for us,” he said.
Reach Reporter Jim Feehan at 392-6434, ext. 239, or jfeehan@isspress.com. Comment on this story at www.issaquahpress.com.
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Kevin Thruelsen graduated from Skyline High School in 2006 not 2007, and his ttour of duty is three years.