Afghanistan Veteran Student Soldier Returns to ROTC

Quite a few students decide to work before going to college. One of those students is 22 year old Thomas Sawicki.

Instead of starting right away with attaining higher education, he decided to join the Army at age 17.

Sawicki said he wanted "to do something else than school first," and joining the Army gave him that opportunity.

"College gives the kids a great chance to be independent and away from home,” he said. “Unfortunately some people get overthrown by their new freedom and have problems handling it."

Starting in Fort Benning Georgia, he moved to Fort Rucker, Alabama, where he received his bootcamp training.

From there on, his path led him to Fort Drum in New York.

He Left Fort Drum and headed to Afghanistan for a 13 month mission, where he served his country as a doorgunner in a Ch407 Helicopter.

Besides flying on patrol, he and his crew brought supply and mail to smaller bases inaccessible by other means.

Sawicki said his helicopter was often shot at while patrolling the skies over Afghanistan. The attackers mostly used handguns and sometimes rocket propelled grenades, or RPGs.

Sawicki also saw a few intense firefights but said that thanks to the fact that the aggressors did not know how to use their weapons properly, he survived without being wounded.

Back at the base, it was hard not to have a good time.

Volleyball, basketball and working out with fellow soldiers helped him socialize and stay healthy at the same time.

Sawicki was 20 years old by that time, but most of the other soldiers that served with him were at least 30 years old.

Although his mother was not too excited about him going to Afghanistan and his girlfriend broke up with him before his deployment, Sawicki said he enjoyed the 13 month service.

After 90 days of his tour he had three weeks of vacation, which he used to go back home to New York and relax.

Coming back to Afghanistan after the break was a little hard in the beginning, but routine kicks back in after a few days.

"You fall right back in the place, it feels like I had never been gone,” Sawicki said.

He described his time as a member of the armed forces as very useful, helping young men to become more mature, to operate as a team and form crucial bonds.

After finally returning from Afghanistan, he went to see his family in New York for two weeks before leaving again, this time heading south to Tampa.

Sawicki joined the ROTC program at UT.

He said he wanted to become a pilot upon graduation, since he has a strong interest in the aviation field, which led him to obtain his commercial pilot license.

He would like to become a Colonel and stay in the army until it is time to retire.

JP Busche can be reached at jbusche@ut.edu.

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