Proud to serve: Keith Bresnahan reflects on his service in Iraq

by Lissa Blake

When Waukon’s Keith Bresnahan reflects upon the time he spent serving his country from 2001-2005, there is nothing he regrets.
“If I were young, I’d do it again,” said Bresnahan in reflection of his military duty.

Bresnahan, a 2001 Waukon High School graduate, is the son of Lee and Jacky Bresnahan of Waukon.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army immediately after high school. He said at the time it seemed like a better option than going to college.

Bresnahan headed to basic training in Fort Benning, GA in June of 2001. He was just short of graduating from basic training when the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center occurred.

Bresnahan was training in infantry as part of the 1st Battalion 36 Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division. After 9/11 happened, he said the training and drills took on more significance for all of them.

“It wasn’t a matter of if (his unit would be deployed), it was a matter of when,” said Bresnahan.

GERMANY FIRST
Upon graduation from basic training, Bresnahan was sent to Freiburg, Germany, where he received additional infantry training. He came home in 2002 to marry his high school sweetheart, Amy Wild, daughter of Robert and Bonnie Wild of rural Lansing.

In May of 2003, Bresnahan’s unit was sent to Kuwait for three weeks of training before being deployed to Iraq. He remembers the trip as grueling.

“After training in Kuwait, we climbed in the back of these five-ton Army trucks, equipped with long wooden benches, and rode for something like 24 hours before we arrived in Iraq,” he remembered.

Once in Baghdad, the company took over a ministry of schools compound, where they stayed for the next six months. “We guarded anything from fuel stations to United Nations food compounds and propane stations… anything necessary to keep the people going,” he said. “Because they were rationing everything, our biggest job was to keep people from stealing.”

EVER-PRESENT DANGER
Bresnahan said his company was the second unit into Iraq, relieving the 3rd Armored Division. “We went out on patrols and saw the normal stuff… fire fights, IEDs (improvised explosive devices)… it was nothing like they have now,” he said.

Bresnahan noted although he knew people in other outfits that were injured or killed, his group was lucky to not experience any casualties. When asked if his company feared going out every day, he said, “You always felt like you were in danger. But that’s what we trained for. It was all part of it.”

Bresnahan said the biggest challenge for his group was never knowing who their enemies were. “It’s not like they were wearing a different uniform,” he said.

He added, although they always had an interpreter with them, there were still some interesting misunderstandings between the Americans and the Iraqi people from time to time.

“Some Iraqis thought we were ‘lucky’ because our bullet-proof vests were air-conditioning units. Underneath, we were sweating like crazy,” Bresnahan said.

After seven months in Iraq, Bresnahan’s duty station came up for renewal and he signed up for Fort Carson, CO, where he received additional infantry training.

COMING HOME
Before moving, however, Bresnahan was granted leave to go home to Waukon for the birth of his first child, Hailey, in November 2003. Amy and Hailey soon joined him, and the family lived off base in a rented apartment, where they stayed until May of 2005, when Keith decided not to re-enlist.

Keith said he saw friends get deployed several times and decided it wasn’t for him. “I loved the Army, I just wasn’t going to be away from my family that much,” he said.

By the time Bresnahan was discharged, he was an E-5 Sergeant who had earned his Expert Infantry Badge as well as his Combat Infantry Badge. After coming home, he worked for several years locating utilities before starting A-OK Well Service with Aaron McCabe in 2011.

LOOKING BACK
In retrospect, Bresnahan said he is glad he had the opportunity to serve his country. “It teaches you how to grow up and be responsible. You learn every morning, even if you stayed out too late, you still have to get up and go to work. There are no sick days,” he said.

When he looks at what today’s soldiers have to endure compared to when he served, he said it seems like things have changed. “The IED explosives have gotten more powerful. They’ve had to adapt the vehicles to withstand stronger explosions,” he said.

But Bresnahan said he understands why people do it. “Every day when anyone goes to work, they might get in a car accident. Sure, the risk (in the military) is escalated, but that’s just a risk I was willing to take,” he said.

When asked whether or not Keith’s service took a toll on their family life, Amy said she is glad he served. “He is who he is today because he served,” said Amy.

Keith added, “We did well. Amy went to school and finished her two-year degree… We’ve always made it. You work with whatever you have. We did okay living off one income.”

Keith noted he has great respect and appreciation for anyone who chooses to serve his or her country by enlisting. “I am glad that veterans today are treated with as much praise as they are, compared with the Vietnam era. I am respectful and grateful for their service. Serving made me appreciate everything veterans have done. It helped me to realize everything they went through in the past and still do,” said Keith. “I would encourage other people to do it.”

Today Keith co-owns and operates A-OK Well Service with McCabe, and Amy works as a certified inspector at Rockwell Collins. The couple has three children: Hailey, 13, Blake, 11 and Mason, 8.