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Forward gives MCC a veteran's perspective (D & C)


Forward gives MCC a veteran's perspective

Sophomore Leslie did Army stint in Iraq

"mailto:jmand@democratandchronicle.com"Jim Mandelaro
Democrat and Chronicle Staff writer

(January 25, 2006) — It's Sept. 11, 2001, and Phil Leslie can't believe his eyes.

"I'm lying in bed at my Army base in Georgia,'' the Rochester native says, "and I think I'm watching a TV show. I think it's all made up.''

Leslie soon would discover that this day of terrorism and tragedy in America was all too real. Four days after his country was attacked, he was shipped to a military base in Germany, and 17 months later he was in the heat of conflict in Iraq.

Now 25, Leslie is a 6-foot-6 sophomore power forward for the Monroe Community College men's basketball team. He's set to graduate this spring and dreams of being a U.S. Marshal.

But it wasn't that long ago that Leslie woke up each day never certain that he would live to see tomorrow.

Shortly after graduating from Rush-Henrietta High School in 1999, Leslie enlisted in the Army for a five-year hitch.

"I've always wanted to do it,'' he says, "and I thought it would be a good way to help pay for my college tuition.''

He spent three months at basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, a post located in the Missouri Ozarks. Then it was on to Fort Stewart, about 40 miles southwest of Savannah, Ga., where he spent another 2½ years.

Leslie already had been scheduled to head to Germany the week of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but that horrible day made his Army experience all too real.

"I never thought I'd be in a war when I signed up,'' he says. "But all of a sudden that became possible.''

Leslie was sent to an Army base in Grafenwoehr, near Nuremburg. He also spent a month in Poland and three months in Kuwait before returning to Germany on Christmas Eve 2002.

Two months later, he was sent to Iraq as part of the 3rd Company 11th HET Division.

HET stands for heavy equipment transporters, or as Leslie calls them "humongous tractor trailers.'' He was part of a group of 100 soldiers whose main duty was to use HETs to move Army tanks that had been destroyed or were no longer functioning.

Often, the tanks were left in hostile territory.

"My training in the U.S. had been mostly jungle training,'' Leslie says. "I certainly wasn't prepared for Iraq, where people are shooting down at you from bridges and houses, and kids are throwing rocks at our trucks and hitting us in the face.

"We'd shoot our guns in the air, just to scare them away.''

It wasn't just children with rocks, either.

"We were shot at, and we had to shoot back,'' he says. "The best time to go out was at night, because we could at least see where the flashes (of gunfire) were coming from.''

Although none of the soldiers in Leslie's company were killed, there were close calls. One soldier was shot in the head, and the shrapnel went into his brain. Amazingly, he survived.

Another time, terrorists threw a rocket-propelled grenade into another HET. The grenade passed through one window, missed the driver's chin by an inch, and went out the other window. The second soldier in the HET would have been killed if he hadn't been sleeping in the back.''

Leslie reached the level of sergeant. He was stationed in Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein and the city were the Iraqi dictator was captured.

"It was bad in Iraq, and I'm told things have only gotten worse,'' Leslie said. "But we had fun, too. I had a friend from Germany, and another friend from Philadelphia.

"We'd go into nightclubs and drink non-alcoholic beer.''

Leslie says he is a pretty even-keeled person and didn't stress too much while in Iraq.

"Not everyone was like that,'' he says. "One guy had a panic attack.''

Leslie was honorably discharged in the spring of 2004 and returned to Rochester. That summer, he was shooting hoops at Cobbs Hill Park when he ran into James Brown, a former MCC player.

"He said I should try out, so I decided to visit Coach Burns,'' Leslie says.

He paid a visit to Jerry Burns, the longtime Tribunes coach, and was pleasantly surprised to be offered a chance to join the team. After all, his basketball resume consisted of pickup games at the Carter Street Rec Center growing up, his one year on the R-H varsity and some games against other posts while stationed in Georgia.

"Phil hadn't had a lot of basketball experience,'' Burns says, "but it wasn't really about that. It was about the kind of leadership he could provide us. You could tell right away he was a special kid.''

The wait was over. Now the weight had to come off. Leslie had topped the scales at 310 pounds, although he says it was "a muscular 310'' brought on by hours of weightlifting.

But thanks to the agility drills and constant running in Burns' practices, the weight began to melt off. He was down to 265 at the start of this season and is currently at 240.

Leslie joined the Tribunes for the second semester last year and helped them reach the quarterfinals of the National Junior College Athletic Association Tournament.

This year, the player Burns describes as "a banger,'' only averages about three shots and five rebounds per game. MCC is 16-3 and ranked fifth in the NJCAA Division II poll.

"Those numbers aren't important,'' Burns says. "We bring Phil in when our opponent has big players, but he doesn't play as much if we're facing a smaller team.

"He's made the ultimate sacrifice for us. He could start for any team in our region, but he's content to come off the bench and help us. He's also one of the best screen setters we have.''

Leslie admits he would like to play more.

"Everyone would,'' he says. "But coach told me to be ready at all times, and I am.''

Last week, he even wowed the crowd with a tip dunk in a win over Genesee Community College.

"That's when we knew the spring was back in his step,'' Burns says with a laugh.

Leslie already has passed the test to become a state trooper, but his real dream is to be a U.S. Marshal.

"Don't ask me why, but that name alone — U.S. Marshal — has called me,'' he says.

Leslie's Army hitch and time in Iraq have changed him.

"Changed me for the better,'' he says. "I take everything with a grain of salt. I don't stress over little things.''

Leslie's right arm is covered with a tattoo of hands praying. On the left arm is a drawing of his first Rottweiler, Philayda. And just beneath that is one word: VET.

"For veteran, not veterinarian,'' he says, laughing. "I'm a veteran.''

Proud to be one, too.

"mailto:JMAND@DemocratandChronicle.com"JMAND@DemocratandChronicle.com

Tom Garigen
Athletics
01/27/2006