The meaning of family through the eyes of a friend
___
By Claude Schmid
I want to share with you what family means to a friend of mine—a friend that repeatedly risked his life for me. I’ll call this friend “Nabeel”, because I want to protect him and those close to him. People still want to kill him. Nabeel was one of my terps. “Terps” is short for interpreter.
When people are trying to kill you, you want answers.
|
Among the many cultural and practical realities of our nation’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was the urgent need for interpreters. When people are trying to kill you, you want answers. Ever ask a question without knowing the language? Doesn’t work well. Nabeel, and others, asked questions for me.
In 2005 Iraq we had two types of interpreters. A small group of them came from America or other countries and could speak Arabic because of where they had once lived. Others, the majority, were Iraqis locally recruited. They were vetted—to the extent possible—and put to work for us. Most were poor and had limited education, but, for one reason or another, they knew more than the average amount of English. Nabeel is one of these. He’s a Kurd. He spoke Kurdish, Arabic, and enough English to keep us out-of-trouble, or in-trouble, depending on what we wanted. But Nabeel did more than that; he also served on my personal security detail.
On that combat tour, I frequently secreted around Iraq with a small team in order to coordinate with other security elements protecting vital nodes of Iraqi Infrastructure, such as refineries, pipelines, and power plants. Often times, I and a handful of other Americans drove unarmored civilian cars on a kind of counterinsurgent’s caravan. American forces were stretched thin, so our personal security team was entirely Iraqi. They were my guards, my friends, my interpreters. We visited facilities and people who were prime bombing targets. Our Iraqis kept us safe. Nabeel did. Without them, I would be dead.
Nabeel came to know America through America’s soldiers. There are no better teachers. After serving and protecting American soldiers—and by that duty, serving America herself—he grew to love our country.
|
Like most of us, Nabeel thinks family is just about the most important thing there is. We spoke about his a lot. I learned about his family’s poverty, about how he understood his place in the world through his respect of family, about how most of them survived Saddam’s atrocities against the Kurds, about how some of them did not. Nabeel came to know America through America’s soldiers. There are no better teachers. After serving and protecting American soldiers—and by that duty, serving America herself—he grew to love our country.
Nabeel recently arrived in America, which took years of working through our legal immigration system. It’s a dream come true for him. After six years of helping us, he deserves it. He’s eligible to attend an American college, but chose, instead, to do something far more essential to him: he’s a man in a hurry, so he completed training to become a long-haul truck driver, and is now making good money fast. Why? With this money, he’ll be able to get his family to America sooner and get his younger brother in college . . . that’s what family means to my friend.
◊♦◊
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Colonel Claude Schmid retired from the Army in 2013 after 31 years of military service in combat units around the world. During his two tours of duty in Iraq, he commanded a combined US-Iraqi Infrastructure Security Force, which secured, defended, and assisted in the rebuilding of Iraq’s Northern Energy Infrastructure. He returned to Iraq as Commandant of the new Iraqi Military School System. A first-generation American, Claude was born in New Jersey of Swiss parents. He holds degrees in economics and government, a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, and a Master’s in Strategic Studies from the Army War College. He is a member of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the International Churchill Society, and serves on the New Jersey Board of Directors of Operation Homefront.
Look for his upcoming novel, PRINCES OF WAR available in June 2016 from Warriors Publishing Group.
“Nabeel” and Claude Schmid
◊♦◊
Visit Warriors Publishing Group, or find them on Facebook.
Photos by Tom Brandt and Claude Schmid