At age 23, Bryan Corn is already a war veteran.
The Ball State senior from Jasper was one of more than 200 soldiers in the National Guard's 152nd Infantry who returned to the Indianapolis International Airport Sunday.
Corn plans to reside in Fort Wayne until Wednesday, when he will travel to Camp Atterbury in Edinburgh to undergo a five-day deactivation process. He said as he begins to readjust to life in the United States, he will never forget the year and a half he spent overseas.
"The experiences I had over there have been life altering," Corn, who had been stationed in Iraq and Kuwait, said.
Senior Danielle Irons, Corn's fianc+â-¬, said being able to see Corn return home Sunday was more than she could have ever asked for.
After serving overseas for so long, he returned at the perfect time, she said.
"It was a nice Valentine's Day present," Irons said.
FOREIGN LANDS
Irons said Corn first joined the military the summer after he graduated from high school in 1999 and was happy to receive a full military scholarship for college. After he spent several months in boot camp, Corn became an official member of the Army National Guard's reserved forces and entered Ball State University as a freshman in Spring 2000.
Three years into his college career, however, Corn received the surprise of his life as his military commitment began to take precedence over his academic plans.
On Dec. 27, 2002, Corn was told to report to Camp Atterbury in order to train for the upcoming war with Iraq. He was officially activated into the Army National Guard on Jan. 2, 2003.
After Corn left Camp Atterbury in February, he was sent to Camp Doha, Kuwait, where he began deployment on one of his sniper teams in the Reconnaissance platoon, he said. During the first week of April, he left for Iraq, where he spent one week in an abandoned base camp located near Nusayriyah.
Corn's headquarters then pushed north, approximately 65 miles south of Baghdad, where he remained until mid-June before returning to Kuwait. Corn said the only time he visited the United States was in mid-August, when he took a Primary Leadership Development Course in Fort McCoy, Wis.
After he completed his course, he returned to Iraq and served as the senior non-commissioned officer of his transportation section, he said. His headquarters later pushed 35 miles closer toward Baghdad, where he remained until January 2004.
Throughout the few weeks that followed, Corn traveled back to Kuwait, where he and his fellow soldiers prepared to return to the United States for good, he said.
Corn said as he often reflects on the entire time he spent overseas, some of the greatest challenges he remembers facing included working through daily temperatures of 130 degrees and frequently encountering wild scorpions.
He said witnessing the standard living conditions of people in Kuwait and Iraq also helped him to appreciate the luxuries people in the United States so often overlook.
"You don't understand how much you take for granted until you see first hand how some of the people live," Corn said. "They don't have (simple) things like running water, ice and electricity."
MISSED FRIENDS
Corn said being away from home also taught him to appreciate the most important people in his life.
Many people do not realize how much their loved ones mean to them until they are gone, he said.
"It was difficult being away from my family, friends and fianc+â-¬," he said.
Corn proposed to Irons in October 2002 knowing he would probably be sent overseas within the following months. When that probability turned into reality, he was more than shocked, Irons said.
"He had enlisted in the military not realizing the commitment he was making," Irons said. "He had never hoped (for this)."
In addition to dropping his second-semester courses, Corn had to step down as president of Ball State's Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.
Fifth year student Josh Panyard, a member of Lambda Chi Alpha, said he is looking forward to seeing Corn again and is glad the fraternity is planning to hold a welcome-back party after Corn returns from Camp Atterbury within a few days.
Panyard said he respects Corn's devotion to his mission overseas and is confident Corn's experiences have enhanced his perspective on life.
"He was proud to contribute to the military," Panyard said. "And I'm sure he cherishes life in general a little bit more because of the things he faced over there."
RETURNING HOME
Corn said he is excited about being back in Indiana and is eagerly awaiting his return to Ball State this summer, when he will take on a full course load to continue in his business marketing major. He plans to graduate either in December 2004 or May 2005.
While overseas, Corn said he continued his education taking a math correspondence course through Indiana University.
Though he was glad the course helped him to catch up with his studies, he said learning the material required extra time and effort.
"Trying to teach myself Calculus has been something else," he said.
Corn said while he is excited about once again stepping foot in a college classroom, he knows adjusting will not be easy.
"It is definitely something I am going to have to get used to again," he said.
Irons said even after Corn readjusts both to the civilian world and to the college environment, his life in general will never be the same.
Corn might feel alone on campus since many of his friends and fraternity brothers have already graduated from Ball State, Irons said. Even planning for the future is challenging since the wedding date he and Irons set for July 19, 2005 will have to be pushed back, she said.
"His life is just completely turned upside down," she said. "But he still has never been the type of person to complain."
While Corn is hoping to get out of the military this fall, his firsthand experience in the war has given him a renewed appreciation of what so many U.S. soldiers go through on a daily basis, Irons said.
He will always have an interesting story to tell, she said.
"(Being overseas) was definitely eye-opening for him," Irons said. "He's learned a lot about himself, and he's become a better person because of it."
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