NMH Magazine : Spring 2005

Sixth Moon Over Iraq

While stationed in Fallujah, Iraq, US Marine Corps officer Andrew Hewitt ’82 spoke to NMH Magazine about his experiences. Hewitt joined the Marines after college and has served in the Persian Gulf War and as a naval attaché to the United Arab Emirates. He’s also an actor (credits include the West Wing and Lethal Force) and a marathon ocean swimmer.

How did you come to be deployed in Iraq?
In January 2003, I was a long-haired civilian living in San Diego, spending one weekend a month in the marine reserve and two weeks in the summer drill. When President Bush decided it was time to go after Saddam Hussein, I was mobilized to active duty. I spent five months in Iraq in 2003, then returned last July as the senior MCIA (Marine Corps Intelligence Activity) liaison to I-MEF (First Marine Expeditionary Force) in Fallujah. What was intended to be a six-month deployment has become an eight-month whirlwind and one of the greatest opportunities in my life.

What are your main responsibilities?
I provide intelligence support to the marines in Iraq. I’m the conduit to the Washington-based intelligence community (e.g., National Security Agency, CIA, State Department). My role is a lot like someone in sales and marketing: the marine corps operating forces are my “clients.” They articulate their intelligence end-user needs to me, and I translate that to technicians at stateside facilities. I also work closely with navy Seabees and combat engineers to develop products for relocating displaced civilians and rebuilding infrastructure in Fallujah.

What’s a typical day in Iraq like for you?
I work in an office that parallels military staff offices in the States. We have one to three computers each and are connected through unclassified, secret, and top-secret local-access networks to every corner of the world. Our base has a wall around the compound that is guarded by marines, and I work and sleep in buildings that have 18-inch walls of reinforced concrete and steel. Forty miles of running trails are available to us all day every day. We run with our weapons and, during times of heightened threat, in flak jackets and helmets. Very infrequently do we encounter ground attacks or challenges to our perimeter, yet we routinely receive indirect mortar and rocket fire.

What do you think of the war in Iraq and America’s role in it?
I support our use of force in March 2003 to oust the Ba’athist regime, although I’m disheartened by the mechanism of suspected weapons of mass destruction that got the United States to Iraq. The brutal mistreatment of Shia Muslims by the Sunni-led government of Saddam Hussein warranted our intervention. I’ve walked among thousands of bodies in mass graves where innocents were slaughtered in Iraq. The past aside, now that Americans are in Iraq, I fervently confirm our continued commitment to the Iraqi people and their pursuit of a democratic government.

Many Americans—including a large number of NMH students—are against the war. What would you say to them?
Students should be passionate. If they don’t ask questions that challenge their conscience, they’re condemned to blindly repeat the mistakes of the past—mistakes that have led us into wars throughout history. Most of the junior marines here in Iraq are only a year or two older than the seniors at NMH; they struggle with the same questions. These kids have seen the daily, ugly horrors of war. They fight house-to-house through the streets in Najaf and Fallujah; their positions continually come under indirect fire attacks; they witness their friends dying at the hands of insurgent snipers and roadside bombs. At the same time, these soldiers are rebuilding the cities they liberated. When these young marines are asked—as they often are—if they think America should be in Iraq or if they personally support the war, their answers fill the spectrum. In the end, we’re all students, and we should all have the courage to question what troubles our hearts.

When have you been most frightened?
When I heard that one of the marines under my care was under fire by insurgent forces outside the city of Ramadi. He survived the engagement that day, but others with him didn’t. I felt helpless and angry. Time stood still for a few moments as I reflected on how I’d just talked to him, just seen him, wished him luck, and sent him out the gate with a smile on his face.

Are you often scared?
Living in Fallujah, you have a different perspective on personal security. I’m more concerned for my safety as I’ve gotten older because I think of all the people who are counting on me back at home and what my loss would mean to them.
There’s a tremendous amount of uncertainty in conducting security and stability operations when insurgents look and act like regular Iraqi civilians. Convoy movements on the roads are subject to random acts of violence in the form of insurgent-placed explosives and suicide vehicle-borne attacks. When you board a helicopter, the chance of falling out of the sky from a mechanical malfunction or a lucky shot from an insurgent attack is always on your mind.
It’s a lot less scary as long as you’re not alone. If there’s just one other person, the fear factor goes way down. The Iraqis feel the same way. They’ll go out on patrols against insurgents all day and night as long as they aren’t alone in the effort.

What have been your most memorable experiences in Iraq?
The times when I sit down with Iraqis and their families. We eat, drink tea, and tell stories of our lives. We talk about our children and the world we’d like to see for them. We discuss ways to make that world a reality in light of all that has gone before and all that’s going on around us.

How is it to be a 42-year-old marine among younger soldiers?
Well, that never gets easier. Every day out here you feel older. It doesn’t help when you hear young marines saying things like, “I knew this guy, he was real old—he was like, thirty-five.” But I can’t complain. I’ve been able to run 50 to 60 miles a week in Fallujah, in weather ranging from over 120º F in the summer to below freezing in the winter. There is no fall or spring in Iraq. If it’s a nice day, we just call it that: “a nice day.”

How has NMH influenced you?
For two years at NMH, I lived across the hall from two Iranian students. At that time, Iranians were still holding the American Embassy in Tehran, and US-Iranian associations were tense. I learned more from Sadri and Babak about Iran, Islam, and the Middle East than I’d ever known before. Because of their influence, I majored in political science at Berkeley with a minor in Near Eastern studies. In Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East, where I’ve spent most of my 17 years in the US Marine Corps, I routinely use what I learned at NMH in my dealings with different cultures, and in mentoring people on how to approach people, cultures, and interests in the Middle East.

What have you missed most?
My family. My two boys, who are nine and seven, are growing at an exponential rate.  Although I talk to them once a week, I feel I’m missing out on a huge part of their development. I miss the Pacific Ocean and my daily swims across La Jolla Cove. I miss spending half my day barefoot instead of in the heavy combat boots I wear 16 hours a day. I miss really good cheese. I brought this point up to some Iraqis that I work with and they tried to find me some local cheese. I don’t know what they brought me. I think it was yogurt-based. Out of courtesy, I ate it.
I recently took a picture of my sixth full moon over Iraq—only two more to go!

What will you do after your tour of duty ends?
Honestly, I’ll be going to Disneyland. My kids are happy to have a dad who likes the big mouse! After I return to the States, I’ll spend a week in Washington debriefing with various national intelligence organizations, then return home to San Diego. I’m scheduled to speak to community groups, high schools, and associations about the positive stories in Iraq neglected by the mainstream media. I have plans to swim the Catalina Island Channel in June and the English Channel in August. Beyond that, I plan on attending as many San Diego Padres home games as I can with my family. 

Hewitt’s tour of duty in Iraq ended in March; he remains on active duty until November 2005.