Cardinal Points

Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: News

A friend of PSUC sophomore Dan Racine, who served in both Afghanistan and Iraq, sits at an overwatch in Afgahnistan and keeps look out. Racine said more activity happens after nightfall, which is when they take the overwatch more seriously. [Click to enlarge]

When Dan Racine and Shaher Zakaria left Iraq for America, they were both looking forward to something different. Racine was excited for the sight of grass, something he had missed during his almost two years serving overseas. Zakaria, however, was just happy to be able to walk down the streets without a pistol and an AK-47 strapped to his back.

Racine, now a sophomore at Plattsburgh State, joined the military after high school and spent just less than two years fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I was a senior during 9/11 and kinda got caught up in the whole anti-terrorism hype," he said. "I felt the need to help with the war effort."

He convinced a friend to join with him, and just three weeks out of basic training, they found themselves in the midst of a war-torn country.

"I hate to say it, but this country is so numb to the reality of what is going on over there," Racine said.

Trained to find, capture and kill, they had to be ready for anything, especially with the constant threat of improvised explosive devices.

"It's crazy what they can do with (IEDs), the things they come up with," he said, recalling instances when the explosives were planted inside dead dogs to attract the attention of American troops. "It's terrible, but it's clever. There's a method to their madness."

The transition from high school in America to war zones in Iraq was not an easy one for Racine. He lost friends in action. He watched others die.

"The first time we had anything bad happen, I was puking all night. I probably smoked two packs of cigarettes," he said.

But for Zakaria, an Iraqi exchange student now in his senior year at PSUC, warfare was not an option - it was a way of life.

Continued...

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