by Terri A. Barta
When the North Dakota Army National Guard’s 817th Engineer Battalion returned from Iraq the first week of June, a veteran and a rookie from Lisbon returned with them. Sgt. Cale Kiser, served his second tour of duty in Iraq while Spc. Levi Bischof was on his very first assignment as a newly trained soldier. They, along with the 102 other soldiers serving in the 817th, all came back together.
This time the experience was different for Sgt. Kiser who received a purple heart, as well as many other medals, the first time around.
“It was about 50 times safer and quieter,” said Sgt. Kiser. “From the first tour to this one was as different as night and day.”
Since Spc. Bischof didn’t have any experience to compare it with, he had to take Kiser’s word for it. Bischof said his expectation was there would be lots of explosions like you see in the movies. But that wasn’t the case.
“Mostly, it was just routine doing our jobs, with a few high moments of excitement,” said Spc. Bischof. He went on to say, “I was actually hit a few times (his vehicle, by roadside bombs).” Sgt. Kiser talked about how much better the equipment was his second tour of duty and that most of the country of Iraq was safe now. “There are only about 3 hotspots left, “ he added. Bischof echoed Kiser’s words that “equipment was a ton better”. “We wouldn’t have been able to bring everybody back ,” said Bischof. For Bischof, everything was a whole new experience. For Kiser it was old hat, but better. 
“It was a good feeling to be able to help,” said Bischof. “It was a bit of a culture shock when you first get there,” he added. “They have such meager means and actually the Iraqis are quite innovative with what they have to work with.”
Kiser commented on the improvements in the Iraqi Army since his first tour of duty. “The Iraqi Army is dong a good job once we get them cleared,” said Kiser. He believes that in 3-4 years, the Iraqis will be able to stand on their own feet.
Communication is a big part of the adjustment when you leave your family and friends a half a world away. Lavonne Kiser, who married Cale just before he left on his first tour of duty, said this time she got to talk to him often and they could e-mail back and forth so they stayed in much better touch.
Bischof said he thought the communication was very good. “I could call home if I needed to,” he said. “We had a limited internet which we set up ourselves.” He also received Care packages from family and friends.
The soldiers might be out on a mission for six days and then return to find a care package. “My family and friends were looking out for me,” said Levi with a smile. He added that they would take the gatorade and other treats from care packages out on the mission route with them to enjoy.
Bischof kept a journal although it was sporadic. He started it at Fort McCoy, Wisc., while they were in training for their overseas mission. It helped him express his feelings. He looks back at it now and sees how far he has come.
One of the worst times for Spc. Bischof was hearing that his girlfriend had broken her neck while jumping into a pool. It was tough for him to have her in the hospital and he couldn’t go see her. This happened while he was still at Fort McCoy. He had a brief leave before flying to Iraq and he finally got to visit his girlfriend. He says she is doing very well and can now walk again and is recovering from her injury.
One of the most annoying parts of his tour of duty was the extreme heat in Iraq. “It was 120 degrees in Kuwait when we arrived and 109-110 degrees when we left Iraq,” said Bischof. He added that it did snow once over there which was very unusual and he enjoyed it.
Bischof said some of the people weren’t happy that the U.S. military was there, but others were happy to see the Americans and gave them a “thumbs up.”
Seeing some of the things he studied in high school geography and history were an interesting part of the tour of duty. “I got to cross both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers,” said Bischof. “Near the rivers it was green and lush and then just a little ways further there was sand and desert.”
In his second tour of duty, Sgt. Kiser noted that housing was better. They lived in “The Cans” which were semi bodies stacked on top of each other and they had 2-3 man rooms. On his first tour of duty they slept in tents in groups. Sometimes they slept on their vehicles.
The food was plentiful and they had hot chow as opposed to the MRE’s they ate a lot of on Kiser’s first tour of duty. They were also allowed to eat subs, tacos, hamburgers, and pizza at restaurants on the compound.
The 817th soldiers were stationed at Camp Anaconda near Balad which is a compound of about 20,000 people. There were gyms for playing sports and two swimming pools.
In the first part of the mission, the 817th hooked up with the 20th Airborne Engineers. They patrolled the 20th’s area of operation for about four months. After that, for the second rotation, the 817th hooked up with the Indianheads or 2nd Infantry Division.
Sgt. Kiser who has given 25 years of service to this country in the military has collected a lot of medals over his career. Some of them are: purple heart, 2nd Army commendation medal, Valorous Unit Award, driver and mechanic badges, Army Good Conduct for his career, National Defense Service medal, Global War on Terrorism medal, campaign star-3rd award, Iraq Campaign medal and combat action badge. This is only a partial list.
Spc. Bischof, who turned 21 while in Fort McCoy, earned a couple of medals, too. He received an Army Commendation medal. “But the one I am most proud of, said the rookie soldier, is my Combat Action Badge.”
Bischof commends the veteran soldiers who showed the rookies the way. “A lot of guys who had already done it (tour of duty in Iraq) were good teachers,” praised Bischof. He said he made bonds with the guys in his unit and enjoys running into them and talking about their shared experiences.
The 817th performed 575 patrols, and cleared 80,257 kilometers of road, found 119 IED’s, and all 104 soldiers returned safely.
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