Jeremy Rodecap had just stepped outside to smoke a cigarette when he heard the first bullets fire into the sky.
The Iraqi national soccer team had just won, and Rodecap understood that the streaking bullets were fired in celebration.
"It was like watching the Fourth of July," he said.
But the gunfire wasn't lighthearted for long. Insurgents took the gunfire as a cue to fire on a nearby U.S. military base. Soon, Rodecap heard American artillery shooting back across the section of Baghdad.
Gunfire. All of this was so new to Rodecap, who had just arrived from his family's Kansas farm days before. He hadn't even made it to his base yet.
"That's when I realized I wasn't in Kansas," Rodecap said.
During that firefight, that introduction to Iraq, Rodecap quickly slid into a helmet and a flak jacket - attire he typically doesn't need while driving the streets of Topeka as a paramedic.
But last December, Rodecap, by his own choice, began a new life as a contracted firefighter and paramedic in Iraq, stationed on a U.S. military base in the northern Kurdish section of the war-torn country.
This weekend, the rural Douglas County resident was back home, visiting friends and family, relaying stories of what it's like to be charged with protecting a U.S. military base in ways soldiers with rifles can't.
Not so different?
Sure, there are isolated incidents of the violence there - like his trip through Baghdad on his way to the base.
But back home, the 29-year-old said life working on the base wasn't so different from his life back home for the past 11 years.
He would have been an 18-year-old kid back then, wrapping up high school and beginning his first firefighting job, as a volunteer with the township fire department in Williamstown, near Perry.
His dad was the chief there, and his memories of riding along on calls as a kid piqued his interest in battling flames. Then, about four years ago, he started working as a paramedic in Topeka.
Last year, he saw an ad in a national firefighting magazine advertising the Iraq job. It would send him to a U.S. Army base there, where he would tend to traffic accidents, grass fires - duties he had performed for years back home.
"We do exactly what they do," Rodecap said of his fellow firefighters and paramedics back home.
He got the job and now, after seven-plus months on the eight-square-mile base, he understands that it is not exactly the same.
Sure, he still helped battle grass fires, but these often were triggered by detonated bombs or other explosions. Plus, he's spent time training Iraqi firefighters, finding them equipment and making them their own department T-shirts to help them find an identity on the base.
"They're a great group of guys," he said of the Iraqis on base. "They were tickled to death" when they got their new Al-Qayyarah Fire Department shirts. The department was named after the town near the base.
But thousands of miles away, he's still a firefighter, still equipped with a fire department tattoo around his calf and a department emblem on a chain slung around his neck.
Ready for more
Now, he's back home to celebrate his birthday and see the aunts, uncles, nephews and cousins who all showed up at his parents' home to greet him.
He'll head back in a few days to finish his yearlong contract, which runs until December. Then he'll take some time off in Costa Rica, mainly to lie around on the beach and recuperate while working on the surfing skills he picked up during his travels.
But Rodecap said he'd sign up again for another year working on the base as soon as he gets the chance, likely in January.
Since he's been home, he's called going back to the base "going home." He doesn't mean it, but said the little mistake shows where his focus has been.
"He loves it. He's crazy about it," his mom Charlotte said. "We try to support him."
And, in many ways, Rodecap is working to support himself. The work pays well, for sure, and on this trip to Kansas alone he bought a new truck and a new television.
When he gets home for good, he wants to build a little house on the family property and have enough left to pay his own way through nursing school.
Plus, he said, the life over there is always interesting, always new. He's young and has little to tie him down.
"It's nice to be home," he said. "But I'm ready to go back. I've been ready."
Comments
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peachesncream (anonymous) says…
Jeremy thanks to you and all of our other solidiers in iraq god bless and return home safe and sound
smitty (anonymous) says…
Darn, I was hoping to see a list of the restaurants that a guy fresh back to Kansas would crave after eating at the military mess halls!
peaches, he has made a personal decision to be a high paid private citizen contracting his services to the u.s. If one must risk their life for war, make some money out of it, not some medal or ribbon and a flag drapped coffin.
**But last December, Rodecap, by his own choice, began a new life as a contracted firefighter and paramedic in Iraq, stationed on a U.S. military base in the northern Kurdish section of the war-torn country.**
A mercenary medic, isn't that why we all work, for money? At least he is getting enough to make it worth his self determined risks.
You can not simutaneously prepare for peace and war-Einstein
mommaeffortx2 (anonymous) says…
smitty get a grip he is trying to do good and train others along the way. He gets paid here to be a medic and firefighter so why not there. Well at least he would get paid if he worked at a city dept. not voluteer firefighter.
He should not be called names for doing it.
tweetybird2 (anonymous) says…
I know Jeremy. He is very dedicated to what he does. He is a kind person. There is nothing wrong with him making good money for what he does.
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mztrendy (anonymous) says…
Jeremy we love you and we're glad you're home. And we're very very proud of you.
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mommaeffortx2 (anonymous) says…
baby cakes?? hun trust that babycakes is way long gone, the fact of how you worded your post and made his choice sound bad is not my doing but yours, I do know a thing or two about conflict and the roles people and groups play/played in them
I swear you have to be a guy no other explanation possible.
mommaeffortx2 (anonymous) says…
hey smitty we been spanked by the ljw patrol are we not special:)
smitty (anonymous) says…
But momma, so many have said I'm some woman. It all sounded OK in my head. Must I have a personality transplant to participate here? It's all so confusing some days.
I feel special. I feel special. I feel special, witty, and bright.
So much for an accurate view of the medics, mercenary or not, the living history of the draft and non-violence medical service, the value of talking to your own grandparents for a perspective, other times when peaceful means were achieved by the activism of the draftees reported in the press, and ginger tea.
I want to officially and respectfully kiss the @&& of all those requesting our demise. smaacckk!!
mommaeffortx2 (anonymous) says…
medic is medic firefighter is firefighter, both very noble vocations.
mike_blur (Mike Blur) says…
Nice to see you have a firm grasp of the obvious, momma.
mommaeffortx2 (anonymous) says…
go away not talking to you trying to get to smitty
chzypoof1 (anonymous) says…
You guys are pathetic. You are posting on a forum about a guy that goes over and helps people in need. Quit arguing about your own feeble lives.
Jeremy is a good guy. Went to school with him. Good luck man!
Chzypoof
BabyJay13 (anonymous) says…
Jeremy,
It is good that you are back! I can't believe someone from our high school class decided to doing something so great! God Bless you and hope to see you around.
smitty (anonymous) says…
At the expense of a young man fresh back from the mid-east counting on his fingers the names of the restuarants he wants to patronize before returning to the war zone? Mamma, mamma, mamma, shame on you. Mind your manners or we'll take away your medicine jug.
tweetybird2, I have no doubt he is the nice young man you claim. Have him name some of the eateries the photo journalism protrayed or anything else he wanted the news to report that may not have been covered or reported accurately.
mommaeffortx2 (anonymous) says…
not my medicine please nooooooooo I'll go get granny if you try :)
mommaeffortx2 (anonymous) says…
what is up with the food deal smitty?
mommaeffortx2 (anonymous) says…
and in the real world syria tells its army to be ready, sad sad sad.