Rusty Lininger said he joined the Army in 1998 because he wanted to play G.I. Joe.
His four-year tour of duty was nearly up when the 9/11 attack took place. He watched the second tower fall from a television set at the base where he was stationed in the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
“I said OK I will reenlist. I have a reason to stay in,” he said.
Lininger went on to serve two terms in Iraq, to struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, and years later to help fellow veterans find healing through the same thing that helped him: fly fishing.
As a post-9/11 veteran, Lininger will serve as a grand marshal for the 2021 Douglas County Veterans Parade this week. The parade’s theme this year is “20 Years of Commitment…Honoring Those Who Have Served in Our Nation’s Longest War,” referring to the global war on terrorism.
It returns to downtown Roseburg this year, with the traditional parade route on Southeast Jackson Street. As always, it will begin at 11 a.m., Thursday. A parade organizer said there are enough applications turned in already that it’s expected to be at least as big as in pre-pandemic times.
Lininger’s service in the Korean demilitarized zone was the first time he’d ever been in a foreign country.
“It was an eye opener being in a country that has this enemy that they look at every day across this vast area that is off limits to man,” he said.
Down in Seoul it was like nothing was happening, but the closer you got to the border the more drastically things changed. There were tanks in fighting position and highways and bridges wired with explosives.
“It isn’t hidden from the public eye or anything like that. It’s just very openly they are prepared for war,” he said.
After reenlisting in 2002, he requested to be sent to Germany. It was from there that most of the deployments were made to Iraq, and he wanted to go.
In 2003, he was flown into Kuwait and from there, to Baghdad.
His impression of the latter city was that it “looked like it was real nice until we screwed it up.”
“You could tell that at one time Baghdad was the most westernized city in that region, and you could tell after the first Gulf War or what have you, there had been just years and years of neglect on everything,” he said.
Rusty was with the 1st Armored Division, 26th Infantry. He was assigned as a rifle team leader managing a crew of five infantry riflemen.
“Everything was still smoking and so places, palaces, you name it, the infrastructure had just been bombed to hell,” he said. “And then 3rd (Infantry Division) they rolled in, shot everything up and they were leaving when we got there.”
His first tour, he was in Iraq for 15 months. His time there had been extended due to a surge from enemy militia.
“I was glad, honestly, I didn’t want to leave. I was like wow it’s just getting fun now,” he said.
He worked with the locals quite a bit and was attached to a group selecting and training Iraqi forces.
One of the things that impressed him, particularly in Baghdad, was that it seemed like everyone he met spoke either English or German and had a college degree.
Lininger recalled that the troops used to play jokes on new U.S. Army privates arriving at the base. For example, they had a volleyball net and would tell the recruits they would need to go out and catch mortars in it.
One time, they skipped the hazing for a group of recruits that arrived by Black Hawk helicopter. The helicopter had to perform evasive maneuvers to land because they were under fire.
Many of these young soldiers had been home with their parents not long beforehand.
“We just laughed and said, ‘Well we had some fun jokes for you, but welcome to Iraq,’” he said.
In 2005, he returned to Germany to train for his next deployment.
In 2006, he returned to Iraq, this time assigned to be a sniper.
Things had changed in Iraq. Their attacks were more coordinated and their equipment was better. They had been receiving help from Iran.
“The ball game had changed completely. It was a lot more fighting. We got into a lot more gunfights,” he said.
He had begun to experience some post-traumatic stress disorder while back in Germany between deployments. In the beginning, he spent most of his time there watching DVDs on a portable player in his room and drinking.
“I bunkered in,” he said.
But later, he began stopping at a pub off post, a pub that happened to be on a university campus. It was there that he first met Elena, his future wife, who had grown up in Belarus but emigrated to Germany.
The PTSD symptoms faded on his return to Iraq, where he could keep focused on the mission.
One thing he realized during that second deployment, though, is just how good Americans have it.
“We don’t have a whole lot to complain about, we really don’t. There’s a lot of people pissing and moaning about stuff today that isn’t really that important,” he said.
Lininger was a staff sergeant when he concluded his service. After that, he remained in Germany, where he worked a civilian federal job providing outdoor recreation opportunities to the soldiers stationed there.
They offered activities like skiing, mountain biking and sightseeing tours around Europe.
“I loved it. It was great. I got to see a lot of Europe that I normally wouldn’t be able to see in the military,” he said.
Particular favorite European locations for him were the Czech Republic and Norway because they were both beautiful and less crowded than much of the continent.
Lininger learned to fly fish there, and recalled a day he spent fishing for brown trout in the Nahe River just outside Baumholden. He had struggled with PTSD and depression after getting out of the Army, and in 2012 had attempted to kill himself.
But one day, sitting on a rock and fly fishing in the Nahe, he forgot entirely all his PTSD symptoms and time flew by without his realizing it. He had achieved serenity, just living in the moment.
It was an experience he would go on to share with other veterans.
In 2013, Rusty and Elena Lininger met World War II veteran and legendary fly fisherman Frank Moore and his wife Jeanne of Idleyld Park. It soon became clear to the Liningers that they would be moving to Douglas County. It’s also not far from where he grew up, in Myrtle Point.
On arriving here, they opened Source One Serenity, which offers veterans the opportunity to heal from PTSD — like he did — by learning fly fishing.
On Thursday, Lininger will ride in a float at the head of the parade.
“It’ll be different being in the front this time,” he said.
Credit: Source link
