Veterans Day honors military members past and present (pt.1)

Intermountain Catholic

+ Enlarge

Then-Captain Joaquin Mixco, Brigadier General Fadhil Jamil Al Barwady, Major Ahmed Mutalib display the Utah state flag that was given to the general. Courtesy photo/Major Joaquin Mixco

SALT LAKE CITY — Americans around the nation will honor those who have served in the Armed Forces on Veterans Day, Nov. 11. Among Utah veterans are two who experienced the Gulf War differently.

Major Joaquin Mixco joined the Utah National Guard in 1990. A 1985 graduate of Judge Memorial Catholic High School, he is a member of Saint Catherine of Siena/Newman Center.

"To be a veteran is to serve your fellow man and that is why I stayed in the Guard, because I can keep a vocation and be an example of selfless service," said Mixco. "It's important to remember that behind any successful service man or woman is family who supports them. My family has had to suffer with missed birthdays and holidays, but it's good to know I have extended family members who help as well."

Mixco is assigned to the Quartermaster Corps, which is responsible for supplies and logistics. Their patron saint is Saint Martin of Tours, whose shrine became a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

In January 1991, shortly after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, and a few hours after his daughter was born, Mixco was sent to Saudi Arabia for training. He entered Officer Candidate School in 1992, was commissioned in military intelligence and became a Special Forces communications officer. In 2002 he became the full-time quartermaster officer, and in 2007 he served a year tour as a liaison officer in Bagdad, teaching Iraqi Special Forces how to be officers.

"I had a satisfying experience," Mixco said, adding he absorbed Iraqi culture in every aspect – music, food, language, traditions and customs. "I lived with my Iraqi counterparts. We were on the American part of the compound, but went to the Iraqi offices. My Iraqi civilian interpreter and I trusted each other fully. He helped me become a better liaison with my Iraqi counterpart."

Mixco said he would return to Iraq because he never suffered. "Most soldiers were on the street patrolling with guns ready and I kept my gun hidden."

In contrast, Sgt. Scott Simpson (U.S. Army, ret.) was shot at so much in the Gulf War that he almost got used to it, he said. A 1994 Judge Memorial graduate, Simpson joined the Army in 2004 and served until 2010.

After basic training, he was sent to Fort Polk, La., for urban combat training.

"I was sent to Iraq in the summer of 2007 and it was hot," Simpson said. "We were there three months and we experienced dust storms that could last one to three days. Sometimes you could not see five feet in front of you. It was also very tense. We had incoming fire on a regular basis and would have to seek shelter until it passed. Then we would sweep the base to make sure everything had exploded."

Simpson worked in maintenance and didn't experience direct combat.

"I was proud to serve but the work was very hard," he said. "I rarely got to see my family because I was always in the field.

"Veterans Day makes me realize that institutionally, this country remembers what it asks of its service members," Simpson said. "That's hard for me to remember because I had a lot of negative experiences and saw things in Iraq I shouldn't have seen. I now suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I sometimes feel nobody cares, but on Veterans Day I realize people do care. Veterans Day also makes me think of all the people I served with: those who left Iraq with us and those that left either critically injured or dead. Veterans Day lets me know we're not doing something no one cares about."