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- Part 3: Damon Rooney
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- Vermont Public Radio
In these remarkably candid first-person stories, we hear about the day-to-day life of a soldier, the waiting for something to happen, and what it?s like to face life-or-death situations. These eight soldiers from Task Force Saber open up about some of their fears now that their time in Iraq is over?fears of emotions that might rise up, fears of not being able to find people who will understand what they're talking about, and fears of long-term emotional scars. All of the soldiers served in the Vermont National Guard, yet their stories are universal. The stories were recorded during demobilization at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, by Vermont Public Radio.
Damon Rooney
(Host intro) Twenty-year-old Damon Rooney was trained to load ammunition into the guns mounted on tanks. When he was deployed to Iraq, he was told he would be sitting in the tank "gunner's seat" and firing the weapons. Today, in "Soldier Stories", Rooney describes what it?s like to come to terms with taking another life.
--Audio content--
(Host outro) Tomorrow in Soldier Stories, Gabriel Bullard talks about the camaraderie among troops and the emotional impact of the war.
(optional music bed provided)
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Piece Description
In these remarkably candid first-person stories, we hear about the day-to-day life of a soldier, the waiting for something to happen, and what it?s like to face life-or-death situations. These eight soldiers from Task Force Saber open up about some of their fears now that their time in Iraq is over?fears of emotions that might rise up, fears of not being able to find people who will understand what they're talking about, and fears of long-term emotional scars. All of the soldiers served in the Vermont National Guard, yet their stories are universal. The stories were recorded during demobilization at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, by Vermont Public Radio. Damon Rooney (Host intro) Twenty-year-old Damon Rooney was trained to load ammunition into the guns mounted on tanks. When he was deployed to Iraq, he was told he would be sitting in the tank "gunner's seat" and firing the weapons. Today, in "Soldier Stories", Rooney describes what it?s like to come to terms with taking another life. --Audio content-- (Host outro) Tomorrow in Soldier Stories, Gabriel Bullard talks about the camaraderie among troops and the emotional impact of the war. (optional music bed provided)
Broadcast History
Vermont Public Radio broadcast this piece on June 16, 2006.
Transcript
(Rooney) "At first, it was definitely overwhelming, not so much that I didn't know what to do in the seat, but just knowing that this is the real thing. You know, the last time I'd had sat in the gunner's seat before coming to Shelby was during my basic training. I sat there. I touched off a main gun round, ok, you get out of the seat, next guy get in.' And now, you know, I was in the thick of it."
"We had to go out one night, we were escorting the Iraqi security forces, training them up, and Catamount Company they called us up saying we need to run a snap raid. They had a high-value target come up through intelligence that was gathered, and you know he's in this house right now, we need to get him.' And this was at night, so I had the thermal imaging system on the tank on, which picks up heat signatures and I noticed a pack of dogs running across the road, and obviously it was hard t...
Read the full transcript
Timing and Cues
(Host intro) Twenty-year-old Damon Rooney was trained to load ammunition into the guns mounted on tanks. When he was deployed to Iraq, he was told he would be sitting in the tank "gunner's seat" and firing the weapons. Today, in "Soldier Stories", Rooney describes what it?s like to come to terms with taking another life.
(Host outro) Tomorrow in Soldier Stories, Gabriel Bullard talks about the camaraderie among troops and the emotional impact of the war.
(optional music bed provided)
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