Former Marine corporal substitutes college classroom for battlefield

[thedrifter]

A change of pace
Former Marine corporal substitutes college classroom for battlefield

By BRYAN MITCHELL, mitchellb@knews.com
January 14, 2004

You'll have to excuse Matthew Heath if he doesn't commiserate with the average college student who complains of being stressed out.

The 22-year-old freshman, one of more than 20,000 University of Tennessee students who returned to class this week, has a vastly different definition of stress.

Last winter at this time he was preparing for the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

By early spring 2003 the Marine Corps corporal was part of the Second Marine Expeditionary Brigade involved in the initial assault into Iraq. On March 26 Heath's battalion was tasked with securing a convoy route near the southern Iraqi city of An-Nasiriyah.

Early intelligence from coalition forces within the city signaled the operation would not prove difficult, but the Marines who entered An-Nasiriyah found a different scenario.

"We thought it was going to be easy, but it took the whole regiment," the former linguist and radioman said.

A 1999 graduate of Union County High School, Heath was sleeping when the madness began.

"I woke up and there was a huge firefight," Heath said. "That was the most intense I have ever felt."

The events that unfolded during the next several hours demonstrated Heath's poise under pressure and won him a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal.

Heath twice ran through heavy enemy fire to bring fellow Marines a spare barrel to an automatic weapon that had overheated. He used night vision goggles to adjust fire for a gunner and finally called in artillery rounds within 100 meters of the main command post.

This all occurred while Heath and his comrades were under heavy mortar and enemy gunfire attack.

"By his noteworthy accomplishments, perse-verance and devotion to duty, Corporal Heath reflected credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service," the commendation award states.

Heath said that amid the chaos he let his military training guide him.

"You kind of stop thinking, you just shut out everything except what you have to do next," Heath said. "Nothing else matters except getting your job done."

After the battle, Heath continued his post in signals intelligence and stayed in Iraq until June. He was honorably discharged on Aug. 10, 2003, after a four-year hitch.

Tuesday was his first day as a UT student. He will pursue a degree in aerospace engineering. One day he hopes to work in the space industry.

For now, though, Heath is just another green undergrad trying to cope with the rigors of college life.

"I don't think there are very many things that could bother me," Heath said. "I know what a very bad day is and am pretty good about handling nondeadly pressure."

Bryan Mitchell may be reached at 865-342-6306. Matthew Heath, left, served four years in the U.S. Marines.

http://knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/...2574646,00.html


Sempers,

Roger