Iraq: Normal, like . . .going to work
BY DAN PARKER SOUTH JETTY REPORTER

COURTESY PHOTO Traffic control John McCall, a Port Aransan serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq, directs traffic from atop a military vehicle on a street outside the southern Iraq town of Tallil on April 10 this year. Two Iraqi civilians' cars had collided in an intersection. American soldiers at times find themselves fulfilling police duties and all kinds of other roles. "We do everything," McCall said. 'I've shot at people and handed out sandwiches.'

Port Aransan John McCall regularly arms himself with a handgun and rifle and rides around in armored vehicles, on the alert for enemies out to kill him in a dry, dusty, foreign land.

It's no day at the beach in Port Aransas. That's for sure.

And yet, for McCall, it has become something approaching routine.

"To be honest, at first, it's a little odd, a little different. You're not accustomed to it," McCall said in a recent interview while on leave, visiting Port Aransas. "But, once you've been doing it a while, it kind of becomes normal. … It's like getting up in the morning and going to work."

Still, McCall does worry about the dangers that could face him in his job, like roadside bombs and people shooting at him.

"You have to worry about it," he said. "You don't have an option. You have to have a constant state of alertness to everything going on around you. As soon as you let that guard down, become complacent, that's when it could result in death or injury, not only to yourself but to fellow soldiers."

McCall, 25, has lived in Port Aransas since he was 4 years old. His parents are Patrick and Mary McCall of Port Aransas. He has five brothers and sisters: Chris, Kelley and Rebecca McCall, and Siobhan Templeton, all of Port Aransas; and Warren McCall of Rockport.

A 2001 graduate of Port Aransas High School, McCall held a variety of jobs in Port Aransas before joining the military. He has been a deckhand, roofer and waiter and has worked at marine repair shops and mowed lawns. He is about two semesters short of obtaining a sociology degree at the University of North Texas in Denton.

McCall entered the U.S. Army in October 2006. His rank is specialist, and he is stationed in the southern Iraq town of Tallil. He has been in Iraq for more than 11 months.

Befriending Iraqis COURTESY PHOTO On foot patrol in the southern Iraz town of Tallil in April this year, Port Aransan John McCall poses for a photo with an Iraqi boy he knows only as Mustafa. McCall and members of his squad have befriended Mustafa and other Iraqis.

McCall's duties include helping escort what he calls "high-priority personnel and high-priority equipment" along routes in and around Tallil. That means he travels in armored Humvees - sometimes as a driver and sometimes as a passenger, but always armed with a 9 mm handgun and M-16 rifle. When he's riding on top of the Humvee, he mans a 50-caliber machine gun.

McCall declined to say whether he had been shot at, but he said his unit has had "very little contact" with enemies.

"We've been very successful with our mission," he said. "Our unit has been very lucky. We've had no casualties or injuries as a result of enemy-related activity since we've gotten in country."

Asked whether his experience in Iraq, overall, has been good or bad, McCall said, "It's an experience I can't replace. I've learned and seen things I wouldn't have been able to experience elsewhere. So, overall it's been a good experience, despite our reason for being there."

He said he likes the Iraqi people.

"Most of them are not out to harm us and have welcomed our presence there to have a better way of life," McCall said. "They're great people. … It's just avoiding those that are so strictly opposed to our presence that makes our mission there so dangerous."

Back home STAFF PHOTO BY DAN PARKER U.S. Army soldier John McCall pauses for a moment with his pickup truck in Port Aransas on Friday, June 27. McCall was on leave from service in Iraq.

Of their own volition, McCall and other members of his squad have delivered school supplies to schools in small villages in the area. The supplies have come in the mail from organizations in the United States. They also have brought the Iraqis fresh water that is cleaner than the water the locals are able to obtain on their own.

McCall traveled to South Texas on leave on June 14 and was heading back to Iraq on July 2. He is scheduled to spend four more months in Iraq and then go back to his permanent duty station: Fort Polk, La. He could be deployed back to Iraq or somewhere else within 12 to 18 months of his return to the U.S.

McCall said his long-term goals are to get promoted to sergeant, earn his college degree and maybe run a business in South Texas. He's not sure what kind of business or exactly where yet.

For now, he misses Port Aransas.

"I miss the beach, being near the water," McCall said. "I also miss knowing everybody, the local mentality, being able to go anywhere and being welcomed."