CLARION
Brevard College, Brevard,'N.C.
Monday, September 17,1990
Volume 58, Number 2
Middle East crisis hits home
by Libby Enloe
Clarion Co-Editor
and Sarah Fish
Clarion Assistant Editor
As the crisis in the Middle East
escalates, many Brevard College people -
students, faculty, adminstration - have
been affected by the military build-up.
Two BC Reservists
in a waiting game
BC students Craig Register and
John Massie both belong to the U.S.
Army Reserve unit here in Brevard. As
of presstime, their unit was awaiting
word as to possible call-up.
How do these two student-soldiers
feel about the possibility of their being
sent to the Gulf?
When BC cross country runner
John Massie, a corporal, learned his unit
might be activated, he says he was
worried about losing his standing as a
runner, "But if I have to go - I'll go.
John says he is also worried about his
brother, Frank, a Marine who is already
stationed on the front lines in the Gulf.
Craig Register, also a corporal,
says, "I had mixed feelings when it all
started." He was at Ft. Jackson, S.C.,
serving his planned 17-day Annual
Training when he first heard about the
Iraqi invasion of Kuwait
"1 wasn't sure whether I was going
to get to come back to school," says
Craig.
Craig and John’s families also have
been greatly affected by the Persian Gulf
situation. Neither family is a stranger to
the services. Craig's brother escorted
tankers for six months. "So we've all
been kind of used to it," says Craig.
"It's different with me, though. He was
on a ship. My job is infantry."
With both a husband and two sons
in the military, John's mother worries
alot. "I do too, because this is my
brother's third combat," says John. "My
brother said if it came down to it
(combat), he wouldn't let me go," John
says, referring to the service clause
which exempts the last male in the
household.
Craig's friends have been worried.
He says, with an ironic grin, "A lot (of
his friends) had the idea I was already
overseas. I got a lot of letters of concern
at camp and phone messages waiting for
me at home when I returned."
How has the Middle East crisis
affected his friends?
Craig says he is "more worried
about my friends in full-time," naming
a friend in the 82nd airborne in Italy.
«
The men behind the masks: Brevard Collejse
Reservists John Massie (left) and Craig Register
say they’re ready to go if called.
(Clarion photos by Jock Lauterer)
"He's always on two hour stand-by,"
John says. "I'm sick of the rumors.
Every day I hear new things that scare
me. People don't know what they're
talking about. They're not directly
affected by it-we are."
The seriousness hit home with
many reservists. "A lot of us went ahead
and made out wills," says Craig. I knew
it (serving in time of war) was part of
my obligation, no one made me sign
the dotted line when I did in '86."
The threat of chemical and
biological warfar is a major concern in
this crisis. John says the M-17 protec-
uve masks are "used to protect a soldier
from chemical and biological attacks.
Craig adds, "We've practiced with them
two or three times this year.
John says, "President Bush is
doing the right thing. But Americans
should be more eager to get their
hostages back instead of playing these
waiung games. If we did what Russia
did and used aggressive for^. we d never
have hostages taken again."
Craig concludes, "I hope we can
eet it resolved without going to war."
John says, until notificauon, "Me
and Craig, we laugh - and it keeps you
from going nuts."
Derek Bauer
Friends Who Escaped
Just before coming to Brevard
College, freshman Derek Bauer and his
family narrowly escaped becoming a
part of Saddam Hussein's group of
"foreign guests" in Kuwait.
Derek and his family had lived in
Kuwait for two years and just happened
to move out before Hussein s tanks
rolled across what was the Bauer's
residence of Jabryia (a suburb of Kuwait
City).
On September 5, Derek talked with
his parents, (who now live in
Columbia. S.C.) concerning friends and
acquaintances still stranded in Kuwait.
"There is an underground movement
going on now." says Derek. He
explains, "Some really good friends of
ours were in the convoy of American
Embassy personnel that were sent to
Baghdad." The convoy had an accident
Derek's friends, Mr. and Mrs. Bobby
Higgins, suffered minor injuries. Derek
continues, "They were sent back to
Kuwait and pul in a hospital. While
they were in their hospital room, a
Kuwaiti woman came in and said. 'I
know you don't know me but if you
want to get out youll just have to trust
me.'"
Apparently, the woman was a part
of a Kuwaiti underground network of
people working to gel Westerners out of
the country. "They gave her their ID's."
says Derek, "Mrs. Higgins was pul in a
body bag and her husband was wrapped
in bkx)dy bandages." They were pul in
an ambulance and with sirens blaring,
driven across the border in Baghdad.
"This type of thing is happening a
lot over there," he explains. "They are
taking folks and disguising them as dead
or injured to gel out of Kuwait."
He also says that a resistance
movement is going on. "During the
daytime, Kuwait belongs lo Iraq." he
says "But at night, Kuwaiti people arc
in control." According to Derek, there
is guerilla warfare in and around Kuwait
City. "It's total chaos. Iraqi soldiers arc
going to Kuwaiti houses and taking the
men. No one knows what happens lo
them." He has also heard about Kuwaiti
citizens slitting the throats of Iraqi
soldiers.
As far as buildings and suucturcs
in Kuwait City, Derek says, "The actual
bridge I drove to school on has been
blown up. Some places around my old
apartment have been kx)«cd."
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