"...He has been in the military 13 years now.  Iraq is his first war.  He has traveled all over the world, to countries such as Mexico, Canada, Korea, China, Japan, Australia, Germany, and now Iraq.  He wanted to join the military because his grandfather and father were in the military, so it ran in his family.  He was a bit of a trouble maker in high school, so he wanted to clean up his act also.  He was kind of mad that the media never explains any of the good things that we're doing in Iraq.  We are building schools and helping protect Iraqi families from terrorists.
        His main job is fixing helicopters.  When there is a battle, he is the helicopter crew chief.  The helicopter lands, lets out the soldier, and then the helicopter takes off again.  It all takes about 30 seconds...
        He told us two really interesting stories from when he was over there.  The first one he told us was about the citizens of Iraq getting to vote for the first time.  He said that to vote, they had to paint their finger blue, so they could get a fingerprint taken.  The reason for this is so they couldn't vote more than once.  Terrorist groups said that they would kill anyone with a blue finger, though.  This scared a lot of Iraqis in to not voting.  The ones who did thought, didn't wash off the blue paint, and whenever an American convoy would go by, they would hold up their fingers to show the Americans that they appreciated  what we were doing.  I thought that this was really cool, because it shows that we really are making a difference over there.
        The second story is about the statues of Saddam Hussein that the Iraqis were knocking over.  One day a man showed up at an American base, with a statue of an American soldier patting an Iraqi girl on the back.  The Americans went to find the man so they could pay him for the statue.  When they found him, he wouldn't take the money.  He said that we had already repaid him more than enough.  The soldiers found out that he was the man who was being forced to make the statues for Hussein, but now he could make whatever statues he wanted...
        I always supported the war.  I thought we needed to be over there.  I just didn't quite understand why we were over there.  If that makes any sense.  Right now we're just helping to protect the citizens of Iraq, and we're rebuilding schools, hospitals, etc.  The stories about the statue guy, and the Iraqis with the blue finger must mean that they really appreciate what we're doing.  They're already on the way to becoming a better country."  ~ M. Sennett

       "...Mr. Conrad told my group what he did for a job, he was a helicopter mechanic. He was also a crew chief, someone that stays in the helicopter all the time. There were many parts to his job. Sometimes he flew the helicopter sometimes he manned the gun. He said he could fix any part of a helicopter. He is also said, 'war isn't like the movies, it’s not all bullets and bloodshed'..."  ~ P. Stanton

       "...I learned so much more stuff about Iraq. I learned we are over there because they don't have freedom. I think it is good that we are in war because they need the freedoms that we have. I learned that war was not like war is in movies. I learned that training is harder than war. He was very good at telling what was going on in Iraq."  ~ J. Dangler

       "... Talking with Mr. Conrad was fantastic. I don't know how he does it. His respect for this country is more than I've ever seen. I don't think I would make it in there like him...
       I am very glad that I got to talk with war veteran, John Conrad. It showed me a much better perspective of war than some movie or textbook ever could. Talking with someone that has seen it up front, knows exactly what it's like..."  ~ B. Toner