TL20071126-01 "Sharon Leff Editor in Chief When graduating from high school, many seniors are ready to pack up their lives, move out of their houses, and start their college careers. But some take a different route, enlist-ing in the military. Some current Towson students are just now returning from the war. By credits some are considered freshmen, but these veterans are a little older and they view their time at Towson a little differently. Andrew Munn, a 24-year-old history educa-tion major, enlisted in the army after Sept. 11. �I was still in high school when that hap-pened. I was a senior. I just saw the first build-ing go down and I knew I had to do something,� Munn said. He served two year-long deployments: one in Iraq and another in Afghanistan. The Army sergeant served five years of active duty and is still in the Army Reserves. Patrick Hunt, a senior sociology major who was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan twice, enlisted in the army in 1999 when he was 19-years-old. He said he doesn�t hide that he fought, but he also doesn�t make a point to mention it. �It�s not something I keep private, but it�s not something I make known either. If it comes up in a conversation and if it pertains to a discus-sion, I might bring it up in a class. Otherwise no,� Hunt said. �I�m in school to pretty much learn and get my degree. If any of the knowledge I have from the military is relevant to anything I�m learning than I use it.� Hunt said his day-to-day work over-seas was always different. At times he would be going after bomb makers, ter-rorists or insurgent leaders. �You get a tip some informant or some detainee that had already been picked up has information, then the informa-tion gets processed and [it�s] decided we�re going to make a mission of this,� he said. Patrick Young, a sergeant in United States Marine Corps, who served two tours overseas, also makes little mention of his time overseas. �I never really went out there and put it out on my chest. I try to blend in,� Young said. �If they ask [about it], I have no problem. [But] I don�t go out of my way to explain my experiences to them.� Young said everyday during his service was different. For the first five months he said there wasn�t a lot going on. Then a battle in Fallujah broke out in 2004 and his unit was one of the main units involved. Young said when he does tell people about his experiences he typically encounters respect-ful reactions. �Regardless of how people feel about the situation, they respect the fact that I served willingly,� he said. While in Afghanistan Munn worked to coun-ter IEDs. He said for about a year he went around trying to find bombs and disarm them. His platoon found 27 in a year. He said he felt frustrated when he came back home and the media was criticizing the progress of the war. �I understand that the war is terrible. Yes, we don't want to be over there as much as everyone here doesn't want us to be over there. But it's something we have to do and we need the full support of everyone over here to get through this,� he said. �It's just heartbreaking to come home from all that you've done, and all that you see is people saying how bad we're doing over there. We're trying our best to keep civilian casualties down and keep our own casualties down. When you're dealing with people that use children and other civilians as shields, or blow themselves up in front of crowds, it�s hard to combat that.� Greg Pedrick, a corporal in the Marine Corps who is originally from Catonsville, served for four years and went on two tours. �I joined as soon as the war started up. My buddy was being sent over and I wanted to be part of it,� he said. �I decided to join up. I was slacking off in school, so I figured I�d take the military route and see what I could with a mili-tary background when I finished up school. My ultimate goal was to work for the government.� Pedrick, who is 25 years old, said his view on college and education has changed since return-ing from war. �Before, I�d be like �Yeah I�ll go class today or maybe I won�t. Maybe I�ll go out and get drunk.� [Now] I see it more as a job. I can�t be fooling around anymore. I take it very seriously,� he said. He said his unit helped ground troops if they got into trouble and was also used to patrol areas that had suspected targets as well as keeping an eye out for IEDs. Pedrick took two rounds across the shoulder and one across the Nov. 26, 2007 www.thetowerlight.com The Towerlight Published by and for the students of Towson and Baltimore -- twice-weekly Monday Now on TheTowerlight.com: Become a fan of The Towerlight on Facebook by clicking on the link on the left side of the page... Leaving battle, returning to class Courtesy Patrick Young Marine Corps Sgt. Patrick Young, pictured in Iraq in 2004, was also an infantry team leader. The Catonsville native and Towson student was deployed twice. Courtesy Andrew Munn Army Sgt. Andrew Munn, pictured in Afghanistan, enlisted after Sept. 11. He has gone on two deployments and now serves in the Army Reserves. He is a history education major at Towson. Veterans enroll at Towson after fighting; trade �college experience� for serving overseas See VETS, page 14 "
