Keith Arthur enlisted in the United States Army on September 28, 1987 after graduating that same year from Tyrone Area High School.
\nLast year, Arthur, who currently ranks as a Chief Warrant Officer Two, was assigned to travel to Iraq, like numerous other area soldiers.
\nAfter returning to his hometown of Tyrone, Arthur met with The Daily Herald to recount his involvement with the War in Iraq.
\nHe arrived in Kuwait in late February of 2003 and lived in tents for three weeks until all the necessary materials arrived from the United States.
\n\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it when we got there,\u201d said Arthur. \u201cI thought it was going to be a modern country, but these people are very poor, and conditions are harsh.\u201d
\nThen, the war started in March.
\nAccording to Arthur, about three or four times a day, he could hear explosions, which would cause the military to sound the warning sirens. The sirens meant all soldiers had to put on their gas masks, and he said everyone was concerned at that point about chemical and biological warfare.
\nA week after the war started, Arthur began to convoy. He said when the military would drive through towns, the Iraqi people would be lining the roads to beg for food and water. He also said they would try to take materials off the military trucks.
\nHe said the military would convoy for awhile, stop for a few days, and begin convoying again. The constant traveling took Arthur from the southern end of Iraq to the northern area in Mosul. After reaching Mosul, he was stationed there from the end of April to January 2004.
\n\u201cI think the biggest thing I take from it is we gave back to people something we take for granted, and that is freedom,\u201d Arthur said about his involvement in the war. \u201cWomen can now show their faces in public, can teach, can have a job, can leave home.\u201d
\nHe also added he believes 99 percent of the Iraqi people wanted the U.S. military there and said the people thanked them for their involvement. He said the military started programs to get the Iraqi people working. The military also spent time restoring swimming pools, soccer fields and other recreational facilities for the Iraqi people.
\nArthur described the weather as harsh, with temperatures reaching 135 degrees during the day. He said it hardly rained, but then in the winter, it rained frequently. In the spring, there were wind and sand storms. In the southern region, it was mostly dessert, and in the northern region, there were mountains.
\nArthur also described the animal life, with camels being seen frequently along with scorpions and camel spiders.
\nHe described the support from home in which two area companies adopted his troop. Denner Drive from Manheim sent the soldiers the items they needed in care packages such as toilet paper, chap stick and toothpaste. Also, New Pig Corporation supported his troop.
\n\u201cI wasn\u2019t expecting that, and it was very touching when it happened,\u201d said Arthur of the support from home. \u201cIt was very important to us.\u201d
\nAfter 17 years in the military, Arthur has been assigned to numerous places around the world, including Germany, Georgia, Korea, Louisiana, and most recently Iraq. His future assignment is scheduled for Fort Drum, New York.
\nHe has also received numerous awards and special badges during his military career.
\nArthur is married to the former Karri Soellner of Tyrone, and she is a 1988 Tyrone High School graduate. They have a two-year-old daughter, Kylie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Keith Arthur enlisted in the United States Army on September 28, 1987 after graduating that same year from Tyrone Area High School. Last year, Arthur, who currently ranks as a Chief Warrant Officer Two, was assigned to travel to Iraq, like numerous other area soldiers. After returning to his hometown of Tyrone, Arthur met with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44899\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}