By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

PAWTUCKET — The service flag that went up in Jason Marchetti’s history classroom when U.S. Army National Guard Specialist Derek Davenport was deployed to Iraq a year ago was taken down on Monday. Happily, it was handed to Davenport himself when he arrived to speak to Marchetti’s students at the Walsh High School about his year of military service.

Davenport, of Pawtucket, along with Sgt. Julie Cote, of Smithfield, were part of the 103rd Field Artillery unit that returned to Rhode Island last Saturday. For Davenport, a history teacher at Cumberland High School and a friend of Marchetti’s, it was a triumphant return to the Walsh School. The students had designed “welcome home” posters, and there were cakes, cookies, and a hearty round of applause to greet the two guardsmen when they entered the classroom
Just prior to his deployment last fall, Davenport, 27, had spoken candidly to the teens about why he was volunteering for the mission, what he hoped to accomplish, and of his feelings as prepared to leave his family and friends, a job he enjoyed, and everything else that was familiar, in order to face the unknown in a war-torn region. During the year, he kept in touch with Marchetti by phone calls and e-mails, so the class could be updated on his experiences.
Davenport told the students about his initial training to be part of a military police unit that began at Fort Dix in New Jersey. He said he landed in Baghdad on Christmas Day and began the job of guarding prisoners at a nearby base that had once housed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. He was a gunner and Cote was a truck commander on a Quick Reactionary Force whose job it was to patrol the base.
Both Davenport and Dix were then assigned to another mission: guarding a detention center for teenage offenders, whose crimes ranged from mild offenses such as breaking a curfew, to such serious and violent acts as killing people--including American soldiers. Instead of teaching, Davenport found himself guarding the school’s teachers and keeping order among the detainees in makeshift classrooms at the facility, which, in English, is called the House of Wisdom.
Davenport spoke of how difficult it was to keep his anger in check when dealing with teens whose records showed they had killed or wounded members of the U.S. troops. “One 10-year-old kid had 14 confirmed killings of American soldiers,” noted Davenport. With no court system in place for teens, he said that most of the detainees were released from the facility after a year, no matter how horrific the crime.
Yet, both he and Cote said they tried to connect with the teens, with the idea that perhaps they could make them see that their violent approach was wrong, even for supposed religious purposes, and that the U.S. troops were there to help their country to start to function as a democracy.
Davenport said that some of the teachers expressed an interest in learning English, so he began holding a small class for adults during the evening. “I was teaching with an M4 (assault rifle) strapped to my chest,” he said, smiling.
Cote, as a 22-year-old woman in a culture that has little regard for females, said she had felt it was doubly hard to earn the all-male detainees’ respect. However, she said that after about a week, a group of the students surprised her by inviting her to eat lunch with them--something she continued to do regularly after that.
Marchetti and his students had plenty of questions for Davenport and Cote. What was the weather like? “Picture holding a blow dryer in front of your face and then throwing sand at it,” joked Davenport. Cote spoke of the winter rains that created a muddy clay that would harden onto the soles of their combat boots and would have to be chiseled off. “It’s very uncomfortable,” noted Cite, of the desert-like environment.
Were the Iraqi teens anything like U.S. teens? Both guardsmen said that in many respects, they were, wanting to know about things like X-Box game systems and music and movies in American pop culture. Yet, they noted the violent and lawless environment that many of these youth grew up in and hoped they had reached some of them about embracing peace and democracy.
The two guardsmen also spoke of missing their families and key events. Davenport wasn’t there for his nine-year-old son’s birthday and both he and Cote lost a grandparent while deployed. They also mentioned a mind-numbing routine that consisted of 12 hours work shifts and then spending downtime in a tiny barracks room and socializing with the same group of people day-in and day-out. “It was like that movie “Groundhog Day,’” noted Cote. Davenport said he “played a lot of chess” and watched movies on his laptop computer in order to get his mind off the situation.
On a positive note, both Davenport and Cote said that they felt they had made a difference by being there and that they are starting to see some progress in building trust among the Iraqi people. Davenport said the conflict has become “more of a psychological war now. “Gone are the days of kicking in the doors. We’re trying to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. Show them we’re here to help and show them how democracy works,” he said.
Davenport said he plans on returning to teaching at Cumberland High School and Cote, a college student, will continue pursuing the degree she had to put on hold. Davenport said that while he “hated it for a year,” he would do it all again. “I felt like it was my time, my responsibility, to go through it,” he said, of his choice to volunteer for military service. “Now, when I discuss history or politics, I feel like I have something to stand on.”
Cote agreed, saying that while she’s obviously glad to be home, “It’s a proud feeling to do something like that. I think we got through to some of those kids.” She added, “If I can change one person’s mind there about what a soldier is” it will make it easier and safer for the next wave of U.S. troops who are sent to the area.