Snelling returns from Iraq
Staff reporter
Feeding his one-year-old son, William Snelling looked like any other proud father. The short haircut and muscular physique elude to the fact he is an American soldier who just returned from Iraq.
Snelling is a sergeant in the air national guard, a Marion native, and a 1984 Marion High School graduate.
He returned to his home in Gering, Neb., May 1, after serving his country in Iraq for nearly a year. He and his family recently visited Snelling's parents, John and Betty Snelling of rural Marion.
A member of the 1057 Transportation Company out of Chadron, Neb., Snelling has been in the guard since 1990.
"I plan to be in for 20 years," Snelling said.
Snelling was called to be activated Jan. 21, 2003. He went to Scottsbluff, Neb., and then to Ft. Carson, Colo., before being deployed to Iraq.
Snelling arrived April 21, 2003, in Kuwait. He then went to Tillil where he worked as a truck driver, hauling water, food, tents, troops — whatever was needed.
"We didn't see any actual combat," Snelling explained. "But you could hear it and see fire in the distance. You lived with the constant fear of being shot."
Snelling was a convoy commander for 20 missions, logging 7,000 miles while commander. His unit logged more than one million miles during its tour of duty.
Snelling was injured while in Iraq when the truck in which he was a passenger, rolled over.
"It was amazing we weren't both killed," Snelling said. The truck was a tractor-truck but was not pulling a trailer at the time.
"It had a canopy over the cab," Snelling said. Snelling's pictures indicated an open cab with a lightweight, metal frame holding a thin mesh fabric to protect the occupants from dust.
"We were in a convoy," Snelling said. "It was the day before Thanksgiving and we were 20 miles south of Baghdad."
A truck in front of Snelling's truck stopped, causing Snelling's to clip the rear of the front vehicle and spin. Snelling's truck rolled three times down a hill, landing on its top on a highway below.
When the truck rolled, the men fell into the canopy. When the canopy came off the truck, the men were inside of the canopy, which saved their lives.
When the truck fell to the lower road, the weight of the truck crushed the cab.
"If we would have been still in there (the cab), we both would have been killed," Snelling said.
Snelling had broken ribs and a collar bone. The driver, 50-year-old guardsman Dennis Hanks, was more seriously injured with a broken leg and wrist, and head injuries.
"Dennis walks with a limp now," Snelling said.
Following the accident, Snelling went from Tillal to Kuwait to recover and receive rehabilitation. He then was able to travel to Ft. Carson for additional evaluation. He was home for 14 days.
On Jan. 17, Snelling returned to active duty. He was finally able to return home again May 1, hopefully for good.
"I'm on leave until May 26," Snelling explained. "After that, I can be called back to active duty in a year."
Snelling plans to return to guard duty and maybe take an administrative position to reduce the possibility of being called again.
Snelling and his wife, Alicia, have four children — Kimberly, 7; Cody, 5; Kelly, 3; and Christopher, 1.
Alicia is from Lincoln, Neb., and was a member of the 101st Airborne out of Ft. Campbell, Ky. Alicia served in the Gulf War in Saudi Arabia for nine months prior to meeting William.
The Snellings met in 1992 at a weekend drill and were married shortly after.
Alicia retired from the military after 11 years of service and the birth of their second child.
William joined the guard in 1990 as a mechanic in the 161st Field Artillery. Six years later, he became a truck driver.
Prior to active duty in Iraq, Snelling and his unit served at the 2002 Winter Olympics and assisted when flood waters washed out a portion of I-80 near Ogallalala, Neb.
The experience in Iraq has made Snelling appreciate the simple things in life.
"A McDonald's hamburger over there would cost you $20," Snelling said. He related standing in line to use the telephone for more than six hours. The soldiers were limited to 20 minutes to talk but many times the calls wouldn't go through.
"That's when I decided to buy my own cell phone," Snelling said. The phone cost him $150, the chip needed for service in Iraq cost $60, and 90 minutes of air time cost $20.
"I charged soldiers to use my phone which was helpful to them and it helped me to pay for my phone," Snelling explained.
The fear of being shot wasn't only on the battlefield but in the tent.
"The locals fire guns in the air all the time," Snelling said. The "what goes up, must come down" analogy worried Snelling.
"I was afraid one of those stray bullets would end up in me," Snelling said.
It was open season on all wildlife in Iraq all the time, Snelling said. Wild camels roamed the land.
Local customs were different, too, Snelling related. People would stop what they were doing, and pray on the side of the roads.
"A Kuwaiti native would receive $250,000 per year in oil rights when he turned 18," Snelling said. When the native was betrothed, he would receive $50,000 cash.
Natives lived a lavish lifestyle with concrete walls like fortresses around their homes.
"When a car, like a Mercedes, would break down or have a flat tire, they would just leave it on the side of the road and go buy a new one," Snelling said. No one had insurance, either.
Not everyone was as rich as those in Kuwait. The locals from Tillil were impoverished.
"Locals were really capitalizing on the war," Snelling said. Commemorative coins and stamps were being sold as fast as they could be made.
Small children would approach soldiers and trade them coins for souvenirs.
"Then the children would take the souvenirs and sell them for a profit," Snelling said.
The exchange rate was about $4 American money for $1 Kuwait.
Some of the items soldiers gave children were water, food, and Gatorade.
"The children always wanted pen and paper," Snelling added. He added children did not have schools to attend so they would work. He knew of a seven-year-old who worked for his father at an ice plant.
Temperature during the days would reach a high of 140 degrees F.
"It was a dry heat. I've had a harder time adjusting to the humidity here since I've been back than when I went over to Iraq," Snelling said.
Snelling is appreciative of his wife, Alicia. She has an understanding as a former soldier of Snelling's duty and responsibility. However, it didn't make it any easier to be without him.
"Christopher (their youngest child) was a month old when William was deployed," Alicia said. "I decided to be a stay-at-home mom because I didn't want the kids bounced around to babysitters."
Alicia had support from a few peopled who helped out occasionally but mostly it was her and the children.
"That's the way I preferred it," Alicia added.
William's parents went to Nebraska once a month for four months to help Alicia with the children.
"We were scheduled to go at Christmas," Betty, William's mother, explained. "But John (William's father) had open heart surgery at Thanksgiving and we weren't able to go." Since then, John has been diagnosed with cancer.
Alicia is proud of William and relieved he is home.
"The kids are thrilled to have Daddy home again," Alicia said with a smile, watching William as he feeds his one-year-old son.
