Published: November 12, 2008 12:02 pm      

Iraq War veteran speaks to Monroney students

“It’s an honor to come back to where you went to junior high,” Lt. Col. David Jordan said about speaking at the Monroney Middle School Veterans Day Assembly.

The event happened on Nov. 11 at 9:30 a.m. MMS gym. The band, lead by Jackie Gilley and Holly Fike, and choir, lead by Dan Lucas, performed patriotic songs before Lt. Col. Jordan spoke about the importance of keeping the nation free.

The musical program opened with the “Star Spangled Banner” performed by the Monroney Middle School band and moved on to “Yankee Doodle/Yankee Doodle Boy.” Then the choir sang “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” which was followed by Lt. Col. Jordan’s speech.

Around three weeks ago, Lt. Col. Jordan was in Iraq. He was at Camp Bucca (pronounced bu-ka), the largest detention facility in the world.

“It was a hot and desolate place,” Lt. Col. Jordan said of the terrain of Iraq. He accentuated ‘desolate’ since Camp Bucca is “as far south you can get before being in Kuwait,” he said.

The nearly 22,000 prisoners kept at Camp Bucca were security detainees. They were being held there “to teach them to be better Iraqi citizens,” Lt. Col. Jordan said. “The Iraqi people knew why we were there and appreciated that.”

Lt. Col. Jordan is from Midwest City originally, in fact, he attended Monroney back in the days when it was a junior high school. He was with the first of 160th Field Artillery and 45th Infantry Brigade.

Lt. Col. Jordan is glad to be back. “Oklahoma is a beautiful place, especially beautiful when you have been away.” For over a year, Lt. Col. Jordan was gone: 90 days in Fort Bliss, Texas and10 months in Iraq.

“Every day our country gets a little bit better,” Lt. Col. Jordan said. “We have been a country for 232 years and Iraq has been one for about four. Us being there will make Iraq better.”

A large portion of the population of Iraq is illiterate and uneducated. “At Camp Bucca, one of our big things was to teach them to read and to understand their new constitution,” Lt. Col. Jordan said. “Bad people can manipulate the uneducated. We are there to help them get through this difficult time.”

“Be respectful to the flag and all it represents: all veterans of all wars,” he said. “It represents not just military but teachers and firemen, too,” Lt. Col. Jordan concluded.

Following this was “Armed Forces Salute” arranged by Michael Sweeney. This was a medley of “The Marines Hymn,” “The Caissons Go Rolling Along” (Army song), “Anchors Aweigh” (Navy song), and “The US Air Force Song.” During the playing of this, all of the members of the respective branches rose as their song played.

Then choir teacher Dan Lucas sang “God Bless America.” The assembly ended with the state song: “Oklahoma!”

At the end of the assembly, Lt. Col. Jordan presented the school with the flag that flew over Camp Bucca on the seventh anniversary of 9/11.