Robert Chamberlain could have spent the past year using a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University.

Instead, he was in Iraq, helping rebuild a war-torn country with the U.S. Army.

“It’s something I never imagined happening when I was in high school — sitting in an Iraqi garden, sipping chai and talking about telephone systems and improvements,” Chamberlain said.

Chamberlain returned Thursday to his alma mater, Kansas University, for the first time since returning from a nine-month stint in Mosul, in northern Iraq. He spoke with Army ROTC cadets.

Chamberlain, who graduated from KU in May 2002, was named a Rhodes scholar later that year. He was planning to enroll at Oxford that fall, but the program he was most interested in attending — Master’s of Science in forced immigration — was full, and he knew the prospects for war were increasing.

“Obviously you don’t want a war to happen,” the 24-year-old said. “But because of the community we’re in and the bonds we share, we share risks together. If there’s going to be a war, we want to be there.”

Chamberlain, a field artillery officer with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky., arrived in April in Iraq and returned in late January to the United States. He led a nine-member fire support team.

His duties included dealing with infrastructure issues such as sewer systems and waste disposal, managing information flow to Iraqis and overseeing city elections.

“A lot of things are going really well,” Chamberlain said. “Electricity production is back to previous levels. The turbines are working again at the Mosul dam. They have sanitation service. The infrastructure is set up for them to succeed.”

Robert Chamberlain, a Kansas University graduate who deferred his Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University so he could serve with the U.S. Army in Iraq, talks with ROTC students about his experience. Chamberlain returned in late January to the United States and paid a visit Thursday to KU.

The Topeka native said he saw many different responses from Iraqis to the U.S. military presence. He said he saw only limited fighting while there.

“It is the whole gamut,” he said. “A lot of people are really happy to see you. But there are some who were doing really well in the old regime who don’t want you to be there. The vast majority of people are just trying to get along — go to work, those kinds of things. It’s the same goals shared by the vast majority of humanity.”

Chamberlain now plans to enroll at Oxford this fall for a two-year master’s program. He wants to study the use of children in the military in such countries as Cambodia and Liberia.

He then will spend at least six years fulfilling his ROTC requirement in the Army.

Despite the dangers he faced in Iraq, Chamberlain said he made the right decision by deferring his admission at Oxford.

“Absolutely,” he said. “I gained a lot as a person and gained a lot as a leader. It was a privilege and an honor to lead those soldiers.”

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