Spokane7
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March 5, 2010 in City
Vet pleased by Iraq success
Spokane-area native in town to honor Gonzaga student
Josh Olson, who lost a leg to a rocket-propelled grenade while serving with the Army in Iraq, talks with ROTC cadet Shannon Rutledge at the Gonzaga University ROTC center on Thursday. Olson, originally from the Spokane area, is a member of the Army’s marksmanship team. He is stationed at Fort Benning, Ga. He came back to Spokane to present an outstanding senior cadet award to Rutledge.
(Full-size photo)
Sgt. 1st Class Josh Olson has a lot invested in the future of Iraq, and he would like to believe his sacrifice was not in vain.
What he saw in October, when he returned to the place where a rocket-propelled grenade took his leg, gave him reason to believe “it was worth it.”
Olson, 30, the son of Jock and Shirley Olson, of Newman Lake, was severely wounded when his company of the 101st Airborne was attacked near Tel Afar in October 2003.
The injury knocked him out of the war but not the Army, and Olson remained in the service as a member of the U.S. Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning, Ga. He was in Spokane this week to attend a Friends of the National Rifle Association banquet, where he will present an award to this year’s outstanding Gonzaga University ROTC cadet.
Six years after leaving Iraq, Olson returned as part of a program called Operation Proper Exit, in which wounded soldiers are “allowed to go back and leave under their own power,” he said.
It is hoped that revisiting the site of their trauma will help injured soldiers heal their psychological wounds, often called invisible wounds.
Olson has since visited Iraq two more times as an Operation Proper Exit mentor. He said he was amazed by the changes he saw there.
“It was totally different,” Olson said. Victory Base has once again become Baghdad International Airport and Iraqi security forces have largely replaced U.S. troops. “It made me feel good to see there was progress.”
A large section of Tel Afar had been leveled and its residents removed by U.S. forces to prevent it becoming another Fallujah, a former hotbed of Iraqi insurgence.
“It’s still a big ordeal for the Iraqi people,” Olson said, adding that a surge in violence already has begun in advance of upcoming Iraq elections. “People over there are dying to vote where people over here don’t bother.”
He believes Iraqis are taking back control of their country.
“Nothing will ever replace a body part or a loved one that you lost, but seeing how we made a difference and seeing Iraq’s chance at a better life makes us feel pretty good,” Olson said.
Rights panel poorly understood 
greyhound2 on March 05 at 5:34 a.m.
It would be nice to believe gallant efforts were not in vain, but Iraq and Afganistan are like Viet Nam, lives and treasure wasted for nothing. A “prince” of Syria, on a Charlie Rose broadcast, said Iraq was “a ticking time bomb ready to explode again”. And Afganistan has been the graveyard of more than one empire and it doesn’t look any better this time. With an illiteracy rate of over 70%, you can’t make a silk purse out of a sows ear.
empyrius on March 05 at 8:52 a.m.
Did this youngster, Olson, live in Iraq before we bombed them back into the stone ages, and he was sent in to do clean-up detail? I think not . . .
We invade the entire Middle East (we are coming for you Iran), set-up U.S. “business” friendly regimes, and then call ourselves the “good guys”: har har har har har!
America: the greatest war criminal nation in the world!
The true enemies of humankind are the White House, Wall Street, Congress, and the U.S. military!
One day soon you evildoers will be utterly destroyed!
Praise the Lord.
spokanada on March 05 at 8:56 a.m.
What Iraqi terrorists killed 4000 people and a major landmark?
What Freedoms are women, homosexuals and Christians enjoying in Iraq?
Where are the WMD?
Where is the peace?
Where did all the US money go?
Why are we building hospitals in Iraq when we could be fixing the health care system here?
What freedoms are the 4000 dead american soldiers enjoying since the invasion?
spokanada on March 05 at 9:02 a.m.
Josh,
I appreciate your efforts. You are making the best out of a bad situation and working to help others get their lives back on track. What you are doing now is far more valuable than what you were doing in combat.
Regardless of one’s opinion on the wars, we need to take care of the wounded soldiers.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on March 05 at 11:34 a.m.
1st Sgt… thank you for your service… as a Viet Nam era veteran, it does give me some hope that the young men and women that serve, often with very very serious consequences are not held responsible for the decisions made by our congressional leaders, most of whom have never served in he military.
Continue to heal… best wishes Captain John
CharlesBillford on March 05 at 2:22 p.m.
How can he be pleased about the deaths of 200,000 civilians, a $3 Trillion dollar debt, 5000 U.S. miitary dead…and we still haven’t gotten Bin Laden?
Time to check in.
Albert on March 05 at 6:52 p.m.
Chef…sent over a request to SR with my email to make contact with you. I have a friend that you need to call.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on March 06 at 6:16 a.m.
albert my email is jcielsbleu@gmail.com feel free to contact me there…. j
leekinny on March 06 at 9:12 a.m.
From the real liberal media….
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/3/5/nir_rosen
eagleproducer on March 06 at 9:33 a.m.
I have to agree with most of the posts on this thread concerning whether or not we should glorify those involved in the Iraq war.
Since the U.S. sanctions were put in place in 1990 more than 400,000 Iraqis have died/been killed by U.S. involvement. Under most definitions that would qualify as genocide.
I watched the Charlie Rose piece with the Syrian prince and have listened to and read the words of many experts on that region in the past few days as the Iraqis prepare for their national elections. Most people believe, following the elections, that unrest and perhaps renewed civil war will ensue.
Whatever the outcome of the elections, the U.S. needs to exit Iraq and work on getting out of Afghanistan as well.