One decade since the War on Terror began, thousands of U.S. troops continue their duties in Afghanistan and Iraq.

After the 9/11 attacks, the United States found itself in two separate wars: one in Afghanistan, which began Oct. 7, 2001, and a second in Iraq, which began March 20, 2003. Today, troops are still in both countries.

About 111,700 U.S. troops were in and around Afghanistan as of June 30, according to a report from the Defense Manpower Data Center. President Barack Obama plans to withdraw 10,000 troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2011, and a total of 33,000 troops will return home by summer 2012, Obama said in his June 22 address to the nation. The United States will hand over security to Afghans by 2014.

In his Aug. 31, 2010 address on Iraq, Obama announced nearly 100,000 troops were removed from the country. Fewer than 50,000 troops remain in the country to advise and assist Iraqi forces, and they are expected to leave by Dec. 31 as part of an agreement with the Iraqi government. Despite the agreement, a plan that would keep 3,000 to 4,000 troops in Iraq past the deadline for more security training could take effect, according to an article published by The New York Times on Sept. 6.

Although some U.S. troops remain in the two countries, others have returned home, including veterans enrolled at Syracuse University.

When Anthony Keach, a transfer student studying history, graduated from high school, everybody was going to college, but he wanted to do something different, he said. Instead of going to college right away, he joined the Army in July 2003 as a paralegal with a focus on criminal law. The 9/11 coverage on television also influenced his decision.

‘With the war and stuff going on, I wanted to see if I could be part of that,’ he said.

Keach served in the Army until June 2011. In his eight years, he was deployed twice: once in Iraq from 2004-05 and once in Afghanistan from January to July 2007.

When Keach first joined the Army he was a supporter of the war.

‘I would say at first I thought it was really necessary just to protect the individual freedoms of the people here,’ Keach said.

And he feels the same way today. Although many are probably questioning why the United States is still in Afghanistan and Iraq, Keach said, he can see and appreciate what the troops are doing for the people in those countries.

‘People are going to argue we have our own problems back here, but they have issues that I think far exceed the issues that we have here,’ he said.

But not all veterans share the same sentiments on the war. A.J. Lenowicz, a senior religion major, enlisted in the Army in March 2005, when he was halfway through college at SU.

‘I’d been in school for so long that I had lost the passion for it, and I wasn’t sure why I was still in there,’ he said. He added, ‘I needed to do something to shock myself into being a better student.’

Growing up, Lenowicz read classical literature, such as works by Ernest Hemingway. He said there is an intellectual masculine precedent for experiencing the conflict of one’s generation.

‘I definitely didn’t shy away from it,’ Lenowicz said. ‘It wasn’t a romantic ideal, but I definitely looked at that as some sort of precedent for what I was going to do.’

Lenowicz is currently on terminal leave but officially leaves the Army Sept. 20. During his five years in the service, he was part of the field artillery troop, flew drone aircrafts and left as a field sergeant.

Despite his involvement, Lenowicz said he never agreed with the reasons for the war.

‘I didn’t then and I don’t now, but I felt in some way it was my duty to participate.’

lgleveil@syr.edu

Published on September 7, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Laurence: lgleveil@syr.edu | @lgleveille