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Alan Beck tried to hold onto the bottom of his seat when the armored vehicle that was speeding down a highway in Iraq hit a bump on the road and began to roll.
Beck said his patrol was heading back to its base near Fallujah, Iraq when the armored vehicle hit the bump causing the driver to lose control. The 14-ton vehicle spun and rolled, and Beck was thrown 155 feet into a ditch, he said. Beck said when the vehicle stopped rolling, it was only a few feet away from crushing him; he laid pinned beneath the machine gun, which had detached from the top of the vehicle.
“All I remember is seeing the ground rolling from side to side,” Beck said.
Beck, a senior from Steeleville studying kinesiology, said even though he does not look disabled, more than three years later, his body is still recovering from the trauma of the collision. When he arrived at SIUC in fall 2007, Beck said he didn’t know what to do or where to go for help. He said besides Disability Support Services, there weren’t any veterans’ services available.
Since then, the university has extended many services to veterans. Beck is now the president of the Registered Student Organization for veterans, and Chris Piha, a senior from Carol Stream studying history, was recently named veterans coordinator. Piha said his job would be to make sure veterans know about the available services.
“As a veteran, letting (other veterans) know there’s a place to turn and that there’s someone else who has done what they’re going to do is the most important aspect of my job,” Piha said.
Piha said during his deployment to Iraq with the U.S. Air Force, his job was to pick up wounded soldiers and transport them by plane to respective hospitals, depending on the injuries.
“Anyone and everyone coming out of the desert went through our airports,” Piha said. “I’ve seen the human aspect of war a lot of people don’t get to see.”
Brenda Gilbert, director of the clinical center, said the center has counseling available for veterans suffering from psychological problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder. She said the center also offers family and child therapy.
“These are young people, some starting families,” Gilbert said. “Their families are important as well.”
Beck said when he arrived home with separated shoulders, a collapsed lung and injuries to his spine, knees and hips, he just felt happy to be alive. But after awhile, he said he started having nightmares and drinking alcohol to numb the pain.
“You kind of question things,” Beck said. “At the moment I felt like I did the right thing; I had no doubt in my mind, but now I question it.”
Beck said he wouldn’t be graduating if it weren’t for Disability Support Services and the people he works with. He said the services now available provide a place all veterans can go if they need help or just to talk with someone.
He said despite the negative aspects of war, there were good things too. Beck said he spent a lot of time just talking with the locals, bringing them bags of rice when they hadn’t eaten in days and playing soccer with the children.
“I would do it all again in a heartbeat,” Beck said.
Christina Spakousky can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 258.
