Stories

Name: Shawn Michael Monroe

Age: 30

Hometown: Oshkosh, Wis

Military Rank/Unit: Sergeant, Forward Observer, Squad Leader, HHC 3-156 Infantry Regiment of the Louisiana National Guard

Tours: August 2004-October 2005, Western Baghdad, Iraq

SHAWN MICHAEL MONROE

by Jay Spanbauer

Leaving Home

Shawn Monroe joined the Wisconsin Army National Guard in 1999 because he felt it was something he had to do. The military has always played an important role in his family. At that time, Monroe was in the process of transferring to UW-Oshkosh from another university. And then the terrorists attacked the United States on Sept. 11.

“When Sept. 11 happened, there were a lot of rumors flying around, and we were told to have our equipment ready to ship out any day if it got bigger than it was. I was going to school at that time, and I just stopped going to classes. I volunteered to go to Iraq in 2004 because I was sick of waiting around. I didn’t want to get stuck with a convoy security or base security mission. I wanted to be in the fight…”

The rest of the story can be found in the book War: Through Their Eyes, which is sold at the University Books & More.

Podcasts

The following files are also available for download to your iPod through UW Oshkosh iTunesU (requires iTunes).

Audio Files