A Veteran’s Story: Why I Chose Infantry

On Memorial Day, we remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice fighting for this country.

Men and women join the military for different reasons.

And they have can have wildly different experiences, depending on luck, and the choices they make.

We got to know one ordinary veteran, with what might be called an ordinary set of experiences.

Russ Davis is from Braintree, Massachusetts.

Russ Davis outside The World's studio in Boston (Photo: Marco Werman/The World)

Davis joined the army while unemployed after 9-11.

“A lot of folks sign up for college money or to learn a trade,” Davis tells anchor Marco Werman. “I signed up because I wanted to fight.”

He chose the infantry, the branch of service with the highest casualty rate. “The way I put it is, when everyone was kids, no-one played with the GI Joe computer repair man.”

“And also I felt that was where I could contribute the most, and contribute the hardest. Do the thing most people don’t want to do.”

The U.S.Army's Combat Infantry Badge, coveted by some (Photo: Wiki Commons)

Davis got to fight, with two tours in Iraq. War has “good days and bad days”, Davis says. “The best part of the whole thing was – some people say it’s a cliche, but it’s really not, you know: the whole band of brothers thing. You never forget the guys you serve with.”

“To this day, they’re still some of the finest people I ever knew.”

One of Russ Davis's buddies who didn't come home: Staff Sergeant Jason Arnette, Arlington National Cemetary. (Photo: Russ Davis)

“War, to put simply, it’s bad. It’s not a good time. But when you get out of it, it’s something I wouldn’t trade for anything. (It) makes you appreciate what you got.”

Davis was injured by a spent bullet in the last week of his second deployment. He was badly bruised in the backside, earning him the nickname, ‘Iron Ass.’

He’s now out of the military and training to be a mental health counselor to help other returning veterans.

Read the Transcript
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Marco Werman: I’m Marco Werman, this is The World. On Memorial Day we remember those people in the armed forces who have given their lives to defend our country. It’s a meaningful day for anyone who has served in the military. We have been speaking with a lot of veterans about what it’s been like coming home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Today we share the story of veteran Russ Davis from Braintree, Massachusetts.

Russ Davis: I enlisted back in April of 2002. I was unemployed, I had recently left a job at Bed Bath and Beyond working stock. That’s pretty much it. It just happened that I decided to sign up when I had nothing else going on.

Werman: At the time you were 23?

Davis: 23 yes.

Werman: Alright. Nothing else going on, going from Bed Bath and Beyond into the military seems like a big jump, almost a leap of faith. What were you thinking?

Davis: Not so much a leap of faith, because it was something that I always planned on doing, I planned on doing it when I turned 25, regardless of what the world situation was. It wasn’t like I just woke up one day, oh well I got nothing else to do, I will join the military.

Werman: Was it 9/11 that kind of pushed you in that direction further?

Davis: Oh yeah. 9/11 had a big part of it. Like I said, I always planned on joining when I was 25 anyways but since there was a war on at that time, I figured now is the time to go. Now I am needed.

Werman: You seem like a smart guy, you could have picked any specialty in the military I would assume. Yet you chose infantry, the branch of service with the highest casualty rate. Why did you go in that direction?

Davis: I chose that direction because I didn’t sign up to, You know a lot of folks sign up for college money, or to learn a trade. Basically I signed up because I wanted to fight. The way I put it is, when everyone was kids no one played with the G.I. Joe computer repairman. Also I felt that was where I could contribute the most and contribute the hardest. Do the thing most people don’t want to do. Somebody has got to do it.

Werman: You served in South Korea, then two tours in Iraq with 10th mountain division. You wanted to fight, guess you saw some time to fight in Iraq. What was that like? Tell me about your time there.

Davis: Well, good days and bad days, like any job. The best part of the whole thing was some people say it’s a cliche, but it’s really not, you know: the whole band of brothers thing. You never forget the guys you serve with. To this day, they’re still some of the finest people I ever knew. I wouldn’t trade it, War it’s, basically it’s bad. It’s not a good time. At the same time, when you get out of it, it’s something I wouldn’t trade for anything, the life experience. It also really makes you appreciate what you’ve got.

Werman: You were nicked a couple of times. Minor injuries by enemy action, but you never filed the paper work for Purple Heart. Can you tell me what went through your mind and the thought process?

Davis: I got clicked in the camp basically. What happened there was, I was about a week from leaving, and I was counting ammunition for the unit that was replacing us because that time I was performing the duty as company armorer. All of a sudden I felt this intense pain in my back side. I jumped up, and when I looked down I saw this deformed little nine millimeter hollow point bullet lying on the ground. Turns out that some guy in the Abu Ghraib section of Bagdad fired his pistol, it came through the city, over the berm into the base and into my backside. It bounced off, basically, my left butt cheek looks like, you ever seen one of those pictures of nebulas?

Werman: Yeah.

Davis: From outer space, it worked like that for [inaudible 3:50]. So it was just one in a million shot. It hurt, but it wasn’t serious. For the next four months I was in the service I had to put up with the nickname “Iron Ass”, because I was the only person in Iraq with a bullet proof back side.

Werman: We couldn’t exactly justify heroic act in the line of Duty.

Davis: No, it was just a nice ironic parting shot from Iraq, right as I left.

Werman: It almost sounds like, and I don’t want to say average, but it sounds like your experience in Iraq as an infantry man was, wasn’t it terrible, wasn’t great, it was kind of average?

Davis: Yeah, it was average. A lot of guys had it lot worse that I did. Like I said, good days and bad days, everything is a matter of perspective.

Werman: Russ tell me about your homecoming. What did you imagine it would be like? And what was the reality?

Davis: The way I imagined it was, and I am sure it’s a lot of guys, didn’t imagine [unintelligible 04:45] parade or anything like that. Basically I was just focused on seeing my family and friends again. And getting along my wife. I hadn’t really planned on what to do at that point. So I want to get on with my life and it’s pretty much what happens. The only tough part is the readjustment from the military life to civilian life. It’s just a little jarring when you get out and see people’s lives have changed, all the stuff you missed. The biggest thing is you’re changed. For me personally, I was lot more, when I want something done, I got to get it done now, tada, tada, tada. If I needed something, I do it myself. I am still that way to this day. I don’t trust other people, to get things taken care of for me.

Werman: One of the big changes in your life is that you are now at UMass Boston, a beneficiary of the GI Bill. I am just wondering what it’s like being in the classrooms with students who are at least 10 years younger than you.

Davis: That is probably the single most difficult thing I had to endure since getting home.

Werman: Why is that?

Davis: Problem is what you deal with is you go to school, the age difference really doesn’t matter to me in itself. But, you come home, you go to classes and seems like everyone has got an opinion on the Iraq war. And, when you get into college, everyone assumes you want to hear about it.
It’s one of the hard part in topics to the point where I’d be sitting in a English literature class and for some reason the professor will feel the need to discuss his opinions on the war in Iraq or something. It’s like, come on now, stop.

[laughter]

Werman: Have you ever told a professor to stop? Have you ever actually had words with the professor in the middle of the class?

Davis: Generally what happens is, the professor or the student would go off on a tangent, and I just quietly put my hand up and you know I was there and this is a little bit different, tada, tada, tada. Then after that typically it’s like “eek”, you can hear the record stop. No one wants to talk about it anymore. It becomes very uncomfortable for all involved.
Pretty much when I get into class, or when I know that’s going to be an issue, I try to get that over with as soon as possible. Hopefully it will put the reins of them for the rest of the class. I am not the only one I know that, because there are a lot of veterans there. I have talked to veterans who go to school too, a lot of them have the same issue. Very frustrating.

Werman: What are you studying Russ? What do you hope to do with that degree?

Davis: Currently I am studying Social Psychology. Once I graduate from UMass I would go on to a graduate school to study for Masters in Social Work, with a focus on mental health, because my goal is to work with veterans who have either PTSD, adjustment issues or just in general benefits the civilization.

Werman: Have you seen PTSD among friends?

Davis: Oh yeah. I have seen plenty of it, with guys I know, it is also a big issue in the veteran community at large, nothing new.

Werman: When you look back on your military service Russ, what do you think of most?

Davis: My buddies. Yeah, like I said, you meet some of the best people you will ever meet in your life. That’s mostly what I think of.

Werman: Well, Russ Davis thanks for coming and speaking with us.

Davis: Thanks for having me sir, anytime.

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