Michael Dierich Story

Major: Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, 1999-2006, 2011-2013
Military Rank: Sergeant E-5, HHC 864 Engineer Batallion, 555 Engineer Brigade. Health Care Specialist (a.k.a combat medic) Fort Eustis, Va.
Tour: October 2007-December 2008, Iraq

Flash Back 

by Trevor Uitenbroek
Student Reporter

The instructor held the class captive with a passage from the book "Hiroshima."

While she read, Michael Dierich started to perspire. Feeling constricted, he tugged at his collar, hoping for relief. The other students paid him no mind as they listened to the instructor describe the aftermath of the nuclear bombing of the Japanese city during World War II. Dierich’s thoughts, however, weren’t on the island nation in East Asia - instead he was thinking about an emergency room in Baghdad.           

Dierich is a junior at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. He is also an Iraq war vet.

He thought he had left the war behind when he finished his contract in 2011 after six years in the Army. But he has since learned, he may have left the front lines of war, but war and its effects are still with him, even in an Advanced Composition class.

To read the entire story, please download this PDF. 

 Podcasts

 In this audio podcast, Michael Dierich talks about going on patrols. 

In this audio podcast, Dierich shares his story about when the building he works at catches on fire and the ensuing comedy.

 In this audio podcast, Dierich shares his experience of participating in an Iraqi burial.