'I felt like kissing the ground'

Man thrilled to be back in Flathead after Iraq tour

For Jared Tuck, the road back to the Flathead Valley has been a long one. After serving in Iraq on top-secret missions, Tuck is relieved to finally be back home.

Former Staff Sgt. Tuck graduated in 2000 from Flathead High School, where he met Mary, who would become his wife. The couple began dating their senior year.

Together they attended Montana State University in Bozeman, where Jared studied civil engineering and Mary took education courses.

"When 9/11 happened, I started to rethink my future plans," Jared said.

After speaking to a military recruiter, who encouraged Tuck to complete his education and become an officer, Jared continued to take classes.

However, following the Iraq invasion, he felt he could do more good by serving. He left school and enlisted in the Air Force.

Jared went to basic training in February 2003 at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. Following basic, Tuck moved on learning signals intelligence - he spent half the year learning Morse code and then half the year working with devices that send signals such as radios and cell phones.

Meanwhile Mary stayed in school at MSU and graduated with a degree in elementary education.

"What was most hard about it was the separation aspect," Tuck said. "It was the first time Mary and I had been apart for any length of time."

Tuck shipped out to Iraq in September 2006. He figured he'd be confined to a desk job in the Green Zone.

The Air Force had other plans

"I went to Iraq under the career field of weapons intelligence," Tuck said. "The mainstream media dubbed us 'CSI Iraq.' When I joined the Air Force in signals I expected a desk job or if deployed that I'd sit in a tent and listen to airwaves. I never thought I'd see myself standing over a bomb."

Tuck served as a senior intelligence analyst on one of 19 specialized five-man teams in Iraq. His work took him throughout Baghdad to identify and target improvised explosive devices (roadside bombs), and insurgent cells and their members.

"We [worked to find out] how the enemy works and why they do what they do," Tuck said. "We worked elbow to elbow with the bomb squad."

Tuck recalls a few close calls.

"I was blown up three times on my 25th birthday," he said.

Tuck's team was en route to a reported IED site. Often insurgents would place homemade bombs on the sides of highway off-ramps. They hit a bomb but fortunately were driving an MRAP, or a mine resistant armored vehicle. The bomb exploded under the truck and destroyed the transmission.

"It was fun afterward, but not during."

DESPITE SUCH EVENTS, Tuck was able to see the effect a U.S. presence was having on Iraq.

"I saw a lot of what we were doing there and how it was really helping," he said. "I saw the surge, saw what was happening. When we came in-country, [Iraqis] saw Americans and ran. By the end [of my deployment], they were coming up to us and turning in terrorists. I do think we've done good over there."

Tuck recalls the separation from his wife as the most difficult part of his service, but also the anxiety he and others felt.

"It was a tough job, battling the fear," he said.

Tuck explained explosions as similar to car crashes.

"You're looking out the window and then something changes," Tuck said. "There's no time to blink your eye. The sound, it shuts your ear down. That's when the training comes in. You start loading your weapon, asking everybody if they're OK, doing these things before you even realize you were blown up.

"It's sobering and it hits home, then you have to go out on the next call," he said. "You learned you've got to keep things light in dire circumstances. What gets you through it is the guy next to you."

To cope with the stress of everyday life, Tuck began keeping a journal.

"I thought it would be good if I wrote stuff down as it happened at the time," Tuck said of the experiences he detailed on the page that he wanted to forget. "At the beginning of my tour it was really intense. I was writing a lot in the beginning, then there was a month between entries.

"It was just another day, getting blown up."

Tuck said he wrote the journal not only to channel his thoughts but for his wife so she could understand what he went through during his tour.

"That journal let Mary see where I was coming from," he said. "It's hard for a soldier to broach these subjects. War is hell. Nobody wants to talk about it. You feel like you're bragging because you survived when someone else died."

Tuck recognized that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and sought counseling. Therapists were impressed with his journaling.

AFTER AN 18-month deployment, Tuck finished his Iraq tour in January 2008.

"The feeling was indescribable to be back in the U.S., I felt like kissing the ground," he said, describing his first night in America in a hotel in Baltimore. "There was a huge TV and a big king-size bed. I took a 45-minute shower."

Tuck returned to San Antonio where Mary was living. A year later, the Tucks returned to the Flathead Valley. Mary's father, Bill Hedstrom, owns Hedstrom Dairy on Lost Creek Drive. He is helping Jared and Mary get the Kalispell Kreamery running. The creamery will sell ice cream, cottage cheese and unhomogenized milk from the dairy.

The couple has a young daughter, Marian. Jared is studying information technology at Flathead Valley Community College.

Every now and then, Jared spooks at the closeness of other cars on the road. He eyes piles of trash with suspicion, remembering that similar piles in Iraq often concealed IEDs. But he's readjusting to life in Montana.

"It was a growing experience," he said. "I learned how important my family is to me. And you look back and think that [serving in Iraq] wasn't so bad. We got ice cream every night."

Reporter K.J. Hascall may be reached at 758-4439 or by e-mail at kjhascall@dailyinterlake.com