Terry Heise serene after tumultuous year
SAN ANTONIO — Two hundred and thirty years ago, Terry Heise’s distant ancestor Daniel Bissell infiltrated a corps of British troops.
The Revolutionary War had been raging for six years, and Bissell, a young sergeant under the command of George Washington, posed as a Colonial deserter and enlisted in the British Army.
For the next 13 months, Bissell gathered information about the enemy’s position. After nearly succumbing to a fever, he escaped the British lines and returned to Washington with the information.
For his actions, Bissell became only the third soldier in U.S. history to receive the Badge of Military Merit, an award Washington had decreed would be given to soldiers who display “not only instances of unusual gallantry, but also of extraordinary fidelity and essential service.”
The award, a heart-shaped piece of purple cloth, is the official predecessor to the Purple Heart, now given out to soldiers wounded or killed in combat.
On Jan. 11, Heise, a Brighton native and Penfield High School graduate, received his own Purple Heart, three months after an Afghanistan roadside bomb destroyed the vehicle he was riding in, almost costing him his legs.
He was one of five soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division given Purple Hearts that afternoon, and receiving the medal from Maj. Gen. John Campbell, the division’s commander, was a “huge honor,” said Heise, 24.
“It really brought me back to some of the moments where I was going through basic (training) or going to Afghanistan. I was really proud of myself,” he said. “I really felt like a soldier.”
Hearts and minds
But Heise’s war is very different from the war of his ancestor. Even though he was in Afghanistan for only 19 days, it was long enough for Heise to characterize the conflict as a “quagmire,” and as “another Vietnam.”
“We can’t be there for 10 years and change thousands — literally thousands — of years of culture that’s been ingrained in them,” said Heise. “They’ve never liked outsiders. From Genghis Khan, to the Russians in the ’80s, to us.”
On paper, it all sounded fine.
The soldiers first had to win the hearts and minds of the civilians. The civilians would then come to embrace the Army’s presence, and would aid the soldiers in their search for insurgents.
Hearts and minds. Heise heard those words over and over in basic training.
But in Afghanistan, the message was lost almost immediately. Heise’s platoon sergeant, David Weigle, had served multiple tours during the war, and when he heard Heise mention “hearts and minds,” he responded angrily.
Forget that, Weigle told him. We’re here to kill people.
The soldiers were being attacked seemingly every time they left the base.
The insurgents were bringing in Pakistani-made mines to bolster their improvised explosive device supplies and had ramped up their efforts. In 2009 and 2010, more American soldiers were killed in Afghanistan than in the previous eight years combined.
Quickly, Heise realized that Weigle was right — this was a war, not a civilian-centered amnesty campaign. Weigle was now dead, killed in the same IED attack that nearly cost Heise his legs.
The fact that most Americans don’t seem particularly aware of what’s going on in Afghanistan doesn’t bother Heise all that much.
But the death of any fellow soldier does, especially with the end goal so poorly defined.
“I don’t see why we’re fighting over there, losing all these soldiers’ lives, losing all this money,” said Heise, who recalled watching a documentary that detailed the astronomical costs — $1 million a year — to send just a single soldier to Afghanistan.
Many of the soldiers he served with would agree, Heise said.
But it’s not a subject they spent a lot of time discussing — not in Afghanistan, anyway. Between the constant feeling of edginess and the IEDs that would go off at all hours of the night, the soldiers had enough to worry about.
“To get through everything, you just have to power your brain down and not think so much. Just try and react, instead of turning it into a cerebral experience,” said Heise. “Because if you start asking questions and you start overthinking it, you’ll probably go insane.”
No regrets
On a chilly Wednesday in February, four plastic trunks arrived in Heise’s room in San Antonio.
Within the trunks was everything that Heise had brought with him to Afghanistan, or acquired while he was there. Most of the contents were unspectacular — clothes, cigarettes, toiletries — but occasionally, Heise would wave something at his girlfriend, Cara Calcagno, and recount a story.
“Ahh, yes, the headband light,” he said, showing it to Calcagno. “They didn’t have any lights on the (base) at night, so if you wanted to try and find the bathroom, you had to have the headlight.”
A small plastic bag holding a cigar, given to him by Spc. Jeff Springer, came out of one of the trunks. Springer, who was wounded in the same attack as Heise, gave him the cigar on his third day in Afghanistan and told him to save it for when he got home.
“I totally forgot about this,” said Heise. “But maybe I’ll see him and smoke it with him. That would be cool.”
A few more items came out of the trunks. His watch, his dog tags, his favorite T-shirt.
“My wallet! Good to have that back,” he said, inspecting it. “No money in there, though.”
Fortunately, money is something that Heise hasn’t had to worry about as much lately. While he recovers, he’s getting free room and board at Fort Sam Houston, and gets full combat pay for a year.
He also received $25,000 from the Army as compensation for his injury, and Calcagno gets a stipend for her work as his non-medical liaison.
By the time he recovers, they’ll have enough money for a down payment on a house. Heise could also return to school to finish his bachelor’s degree, and then use the GI Bill to get a master’s. He’s also looking into some training programs with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security.
Regardless of where Heise lands, he’s in much better shape than when he was living paycheck to paycheck in a studio apartment in Rochester. But financial security isn’t the only thing he’s gained.
He’s a different person than he was a year ago. His life has structure now, and the future is rife with possibility.
Afghanistan might truly be a quagmire, but Heise is still tremendously grateful for his time in the Army.
“They push you to really push yourself … and that’s definitely going to translate into my education and every aspect of my daily life,” said Heise. “It would be good if everybody in the United States just went through basic (training), because it’ll definitely make you grow up. At least, that’s what it did for me.
“I was acting like an idiot before I joined, feeling sorry for myself, down in the dumps over everything, and the Army really kick-started me and turned me from a boy into a man,” he said.
“It’s been a really great experience, and I don’t regret joining the Army at all.”
Part One: https://a12iggymom.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/19-days-to-hell-and-back/
Part Two: https://a12iggymom.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/19-days-to-hell-and-back-part-two/
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