Serving in Iraq

Serving in Iraq: a Modern Day View

In preparation for the ‘Children and War’ exhibition, a group of sixth form students from St Helen and St Katherine, Abingdon, undertook research about young soldiers, working with the curator Julie Summers, and the Learning & Participation Manager Stephen Barker. The students’ case study was Lt Charles Widcombe of the OBLI who served and died in Mesopotamia (Iraq) during the First World War. His papers, photographs and letters are kept at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Research Centre.

To compare his experience to that of a modern soldier, the students met a current soldier, Warrant Officer Neil Carter REME (PSI),OUTC. We are very grateful to Warrant Officer Carter for sharing his experience with us, and to the Oxford University Officer Training Corps for their support on this project.
The description below of the students’ interview with Neil Carter was written by Amelia Juster.

Neil Carter, a vehicle mechanic in REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers), fought in Iraq during the 2003-2009 conflict. Having joined the army at 17 years old he was a valued member of the army and was sent out in the first deployment.  Carter described to us his experiences in Iraq and the reality of modern warfare. Upon arrival the troops were given two weeks to acclimatise to the humidity and heat the Iraqi climate brought. Life was by no means cushy for the troops as seeing as it was the 1st deployment permanent bases were yet to be erected. Thus Carter described himself and the rest of the troops being ‘a bit like gypsies’, enduring 36 hour road moves due to the fact there were no safe compounds and they were having to move around a lot and set up make-shift bases.

When asked what the climate and geography of his surroundings were like, the word ‘dusty’ immediately sprung to Mr Carter’s lips, describing it as ‘castles in the sand’. He emphasised the difficulty of living and working in humidity with everyone having to carry 75kg of kit on their backs on a daily basis.

Regarding the First World War legacy, Mr Carter explained how they saw some of the graves from the fallen in World War One. However they didn’t stop to have a tour or pay their respects to those who were in a similar position to themselves, it was merely a passing glance. They were ‘there on a job’.
Finally I asked Mr Carter what his most poignant/best memory that stuck out from his time in Iraq and Mr Carter simply answered ‘going home’.