NEW YORK, N.Y. -- “Regardless of how you feel about the war, the fact is we still have troops on the ground and we have to support them and pray for them.” That’s the message to Americans from Grenadian-born, U.S. soldier, Nimrod Ollivierre, just back from an eight-month stint in northern Kuwait, near the border with southern Iraq.
“We can’t just pick up and say let’s go home, we got to have some sort of closure,” says the naturalized American citizen, adding that this Thanksgiving, his heart is with the thousands of American soldiers who are still in Iraq, many of whom have been deployed for more than a year.
Still Sergeant Ollivierre laments the ongoing loss of life. “We would want to tell ourselves the situation is not that grim or not that bad, but it is, I mean the numbers can’t lie,” he told HBN this week.
While he was not directly in the conflict zone, the construction/electrician admits to a pervasive feeling of uneasiness. “It’s an Arab world and you will always be seen as an outsider and basically it’s just the same as us not trusting them, they don’t trust us,” he said.
And although his unit didn’t have any casualties, two other construction units lost about seven people, the most recent being about two weeks ago.
“Our motto says we build and we fight and our logo is depicted by a bee with a hammer in one hand and an M16 in the other. That’s basically how we work, with an M16 on your back and your tools in your hands,” he disclosed. It “basically comes down to a trust issue, so you’re basically on your p’s and q’s all the time, can’t let your guard down.”
But asked whether or not the troops should be brought home, Ollivierre said although “it’s a forgone conclusion that we were lied to, the fact remains that we’re in there so we have to do what we have to until we come home.”
Ollivierre, however, describes his return to the United States as “just an awesome feeling to walk on regular ground, to view regular buildings, not just tent city.”
He says it was an overwhelming feeling to be reunited his family after this long separation, especially seeing his kids again, paying surprise visits to their schools the day after his return.
“I actually broke down and started crying at my daughter’s school,” he revealed.
Still without even being asked, he answered a burning question. “Is it something that I will do again? …Probably not but if the calls comes and I have to go, I would go but I would not volunteer to leave my family again for eight months and go into that kind of hostile environment.”
Ollivierre has been in the U.S. Army for the past thirteen years, serving as a reserve for the majority of that time. He was naturalized eleven years ago and although his chosen occupation constantly puts him in harm’s way, he has no regrets about becoming a citizen. He’s been employed by the New York Police Department for the last ten years and currently holds the rank of Sergeant, having been promoted two years ago.
