Iraq through a soldier's eyes

Major Mike Banzet of Kalispell could fill volumes with his experiences as a pilot in the United States Air Force and as a lead adviser to the Iraqi Air Force Training Division. But he has just one in mind.

"I'm going to write a book about what an amazing place the United States is," he said. "When you leave the confines of these borders, you just left the best place on the planet."

He also wants to set the record straight about what he considers the unreported positive relationships formed between the United States, its coalition partners and Iraq's military.

"We made so many allies over there," he said. "But you don't hear about that."

A 22-year veteran of the Air Force, Banzet, his wife Deb, daughter Sara and son Mike returned to the Flathead recently for a visit with his parents, Jerry and Joyce Banzet, and her parents, Ken and June Hair.

Banzet currently serves at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Springboro, Ohio. He returned from his advisory mission in Baghdad a year ago with a unique insider's perspective.

He describes his mission as advising colonels and generals to help them develop a self-sufficient, law-abiding Iraqi Air Force. While helping set up officer and pilot training schools, Banzet made friends for life.

"They were the nicest bunch of guys and the bravest that I have ever met," he said.

In spite of the unspeakable torture and deaths of several of their predecessors, these men continued to work with the Americans and the coalition partners, preparing to assume security for their country.

According to Banzet, bringing Iraqis to the United States for training and a first-hand look at our military and country proved a huge eye-opener and motivation to them. He recalled one man who couldn't wait to share his experience in San Diego.

At first, Banzet was concerned that he had a terrible experience as he noticed the tears in his eyes. He asked the Iraqi what was wrong.

"He said 'Everyone there is so beautiful,'" Banzet said.

Through his eyes, even poor Americans were well-fed, clothed

and lived decent lives compared to the grinding poverty and malnutrition in many areas of Iraq.

Banzet's Middle East experience and travels to many other countries reinforced his appreciation for this country - a land of opportunity that allowed him to become a pilot and then an adviser to the Iraqi Air Force.

As Banzet tells it, he wasn't a typical high-achiever student at Flathead High School where he graduated in 1986. His standout moment was meeting Deb and persuading her to marry him in 1989.

"She never did have good judgment," he said with a laugh.

Banzet finds his own story amazing because he started out as the lowest ranking enlisted man in 1987. Through hard work, he moved from crew chief for stealth fighters to maintenance officer for nuclear weapons to a major advising Iraq's top brass.

He spent seven years as an enlisted man, which included serving in Desert Storm. Along the way, he picked up both bachelor and master's degrees and graduated from officer training school to an assignment as a maintenance officer at a base in the Northwest.

"Here is this stupid kid from Montana and I'm responsible for security and operations of nuclear weapons," he said.

Within a few years, he won a coveted slot at pilot training school, where he spent a year. Banzet was assigned to fly KC10 aerial refueling planes.

He was stationed in New Jersey on Sept. 11, 2001.

"Shortly thereafter, I was flying over New York City, refueling fighters," he said. "We were flying above the big smoking hole."

During subsequent deployments to the Middle East, he flew into Afghanistan, often refueling fighters in the battlefield. He was impressed by how the competitive armed forces came together when anyone was in trouble.

"When the chips are down, it's one front and one fight," he said. "I could talk for days and days about the amazing things we did over there."

Banzet had no idea that more memorable experiences awaited him after he ended up at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in material command. He made an offhand comment to his boss that he was about ready to volunteer for Iraq to get out from behind his desk.

The boss took him seriously.

"He called a week later and said, 'That volunteer thing, you're going,'" he said.

He remembers his trepidation as he was issued an M-4 and combat gear for the first time. As a refueling pilot, he only carried a 9 mm pistol.

His new job was with the Coalition Air Force Transition Team.

"I ended up having the neatest job ever," he said. "The whole job was to stand up the Iraqi Air Force."

Banzet arrived in Baghdad in full body armor in July of 2007 as the temperature hit 118 and kept going up.

Once again, he couldn't believe a Montana boy was standing in the Middle East, advising generals and colonels. Some were pilots the Americans had tried to kill in earlier conflicts, but apparently they didn't hold a grudge.

That was the case with Col. K, the subject of one of Banzet's favorite stories. He tells how Col. K brought a big album with photos of his prized 1982 Buick Regal, a gift from Saddam Hussein for his service and bravery fighting the war with Iran.

His last picture showed a blackened, smoking frame. Banzet asked what disaster befell his beloved Buick.

Looking sad, Col. K informed him, "you guys blew it up." He was silent for a moment, then smiled and spoke words that deeply touched Banzet.

"Thank you for coming. I'm glad you are here. You are giving us a chance."

In firming up the Iraqi command structure, Banzet said a major obstacle was overcoming their aversion to making any decisions. It was a result of the Saddam-era when making a wrong decision or better decision than a superior was a death sentence.

Passing the buck became a survival strategy.

"That inertia was still there," he said.

Slowly, especially among the younger officers, Banzet saw a turnaround. He sees the future of Iraq resting with those young people who learned better ways and had the courage to follow them.

He has hundreds more stories, like the wonders of "the magic Taji 11," a group of Iraqis who mastered English in just over six months and went on to officer training school where they succeeded under intolerable conditions.

"The first thing that happened was they got boils from bad water. They only had three hours of electricity at 115 degree temperatures," he said. "Then they got food poisoning from metal shavings in the food."

Topping off that misery, they didn't get paid for three months due to the Iraqi bureaucracy - no one making a decision to issue checks.

"But we didn't lose one, not one," Banzet said.

He has touching personal stories of gifts he was given, such as an heirloom survival knife that Col.T - another of his memorable acquaintances - had carried on every flight during the war with Iran. Just before Christmas, the same colonel searched all over Baghdad to buy a little tree complete with lights to present to Banzet.

Taken aback, he asked why Col. T, a Muslim, would buy him a Christmas tree.

"He said, 'I know it's important to you.'"

By the time Banzet left, he saw people coming back to Iraq with their families after years in exile. Casualties dropped to record lows, but he said he saw little reporting of the huge turnaround.

Banzet gave his perspective in an opinion piece that he wrote from Iraq that was printed in the Daily Inter Lake in December 2007. He told some of these stories and finished with this:

"It looks like we can win on the ground, in the air, on the seas, and in the hearts of the Iraqis, only to be portrayed as losers, villains or bullies in the media."

People interested in hearing Banzet firsthand may attend either the 8 or 11 a.m. Sunday services at the Stillwater Lutheran Church near Kalispell.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com