U.S. Army Iraq War Veteran struggles with nightmares and PTSD
LEON, Kan. (KSNW) — Eli Marsolf grew up on a farm in northwest Oklahoma. He graduated from Burlington High School in Oklahoma in 2000, and a couple of months after receiving his diploma, he joined the Army National Guard.
Then, he was off to Fort Benning, Georgia, for basic training and to begin his 11-year military journey.
Little Leon, Kansas, is a quiet place to come home to at the end of a long day. Every working day is a long day for Eli Marsolf. He’s an over-the-road trucker. His road to the highways and byways of the Midwest began back when he was 18.
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“I chose the Army National Guard so I could go to college,” he said.
Marsolf was in a field artillery unit in the Oklahoma Army National Guard, and he used his G.I. Bill benefits to start attending college at Northwestern Oklahoma State University.
He was in class on Sept. 11, 2001.
His unit was told it would be activated and deployed overseas in early 2002.
“We were there (in Iraq and Kuwait) for six months. Well, they were there for six months. I was there for four. I blew my right knee out,” Marsolf said.
“When we first got there, we were guarding an Army RETRANS site. That is your communications. Army, Marines, and for all of us,” he explained. “Then the war started, ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom,’ and then we started guarding Patriot missiles against Fort Bliss, Texas.”
The MIM-104 Patriot is a surface-to-air missile (SAM) system. It was the primary system used by the U.S. Army and several allied states during the war in Iraq. The Patriot was one of the first tactical systems in the U.S. Department of Defense to employ lethal autonomy in combat. The system was successfully used against Iraqi missiles beginning in 2003.
After four months overseas, Marsolf was sent first to Germany for surgery, then back to the States to rehab his knee in Colorado.
After that, he resumed college in Alva, Oklahoma and joined the Kansas National Guard out of Dodge City.
Then, his life changed in a big way when he got married in 2007.
“In 2008 or 2009, I joined the Missouri Reserves. Became a truck driver,” Marsolf said.
Marsolf drove trucks for the Reserves for two years. Then, in August 2010, he decided it was time to get out. He was honorably discharged, ending his 11-year military career.
“Being an over-the-road truck driver, I was only able to see my family one week in a month. The other weekends, I had to do my military,” he said. “I had two kids, was married, had two boys. It can be extra tough. So, why at that time, it was decided, nah, we don’t need to be doing this crap.”
Marsolf took his Army driving skills and went to work as a full-time over-the-road trucker. He’s been hauling loads for different companies for 13 years now. He’s currently driving for Drisco L.L.C.
He often wears a cap that reads “I Survived Iraq” on the front. His name and rank are sewn in on one side, and his unit, the first 79th, 45th Brigade Thunderbirds, on the other side.
While he says he’s proud of his service to our country, like many other veterans, his service came at a cost. Marsolf says he has PTSD.
“I can’t watch fireworks no more because of the big booms that happened to me when I was over there,” he said. “And in ’03, when I was over there in Iraq, we were just a couple of miles south of Baghdad. Hostile environment, you know, keep your eyes open. A friendly walked up behind me. He did not let me know that they were using their night vision. He grabbed my shoulder at four o’clock in the morning. I still today can’t tell you exactly what happened. He said I almost broke his arm.”
That lieutenant that snuck up on Marsolf and grabbed him from behind is lucky his arm wasn’t broken or worse that night.
Despite the nightmares, Marsolf says he wouldn’t change a thing.
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“I learned discipline, which I’ve always had discipline from growing up on a ranch and a farm. The chance to be able to travel. I’ve been to Shannon, Ireland, Kuwait, Iraq, Greece, Germany. Places I never even think I probably would ever like to go and visit,” he said.
For now, it’s the end of another 13-hour, 500-mile day. Marsolf is back home in quiet Leon, and that’s just the way he likes it.
Marsolf says his grandfathers were also in the U.S. Army. He believes both of them served during World War II.
If you want to nominate a veteran for our Veteran Salute, email KSN reporter Jason Lamb at jason.lamb@ksn.com.
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