Chemeketa Voices

Student/soldier presents flag to Chemeketa

SPC Jonathan Cartney, Oregon National Guard, was a soldier serving in Afghanistan when he signed up for classes at Chemeketa Community College in the fall of 2006. Hoping to get help paying his tuition, he called the financial aid office to see if he qualified for assistance. He learned his combat pay pushed his income too high, and he was ineligible for aid, but, even so, that didn’t stop the financial aid office from adopting him as their “guy in Afghanistan.”

“He was such a nice young man,” said Elaine Smith, federal work study coordinator, “and talking to him put an Oregon face on the nightly news. He’d call or send e-mail and bring us up-to-date on what was going on in his life.”

Around Christmas that year, Jolene Jones, financial aid assistant, suggested they send Jonathan a Christmas present, an idea that grew into a series of care packages.

“Elaine really took the lead,” said Jolene. “People from several departments contributed, but she collected everything and got it to the post office. She was also our main contact with Jonathan.”

“They sent me a lot of stuff,” Jonathan said. “It seemed like about 800 pounds of books, snacks, games, socks, hats, stamps, and writing material.” Things, he said, that he always appreciated receiving. Of more importance to Jonathan, however, was the friendship those gifts represented.

When he first went to Afghanistan, Jonathan had already served 10 months in Kirkkuk, in the northern part of Iraq. He had little time there to study, but in Afghanistan he signed up for online classes in reading, writing and math.

“It wasn’t easy,” he said, “I completed much of my reading while bouncing up and down in the back of a Humvee.”

It may not have been easy, but it could help him achieve his goal. Jonathan grew up in the northeast corner of Oregon and graduated from Cove High School, He has wanted to be a paramedic since he was 8 years old. At the age of 17, he joined the Oregon National Guard, in part to help pay for a college education.

“I also wanted to serve my country,” he said, “and I wanted the chance to work as part of a team.”

Because of his interest in the medical field, he asked to serve as a medic while in the Middle East. It was hard being away from friends and family, but helping other people, no matter what nationality they were, helped make that separation easier.

“The best part of my tour,” he said, “was being a part of MedCAPS [Medical Civilian Assistance Program]. We’d go out to villages for three or four days and treat people for their health problems. It was good just being able to help someone in need.”

Now back home after “364 days, 12 hours and 13 minutes in Afghanistan,” Jonathan is enrolled in Introduction to Emergency Services and a psychology class, hoping to enter Chemeketa’s Fire Protection and Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedic programs in the fall. He also works for the Sublimity Fire Department as a “sleeper” – a position that provides experience and a place to live for students attending school full time in the emergency service field.

He’s happy to talk about his future, but, like many soldiers, there are other things he’d rather not talk about. For example, he’s not interested in the politics of his situation, saying these are problems for the politicians.

“My job is to be a soldier on the ground and make sure my guys are okay,” he said. “That’s what we do.”

Nor is he interested in watching the war unfold on television.

“A soldier dies and it’s covered for a minute,” he said, “but they spend days on Anna Nicole Smith. It’s hard to watch.”

When asked if he or any of his friends had been wounded, he is even more succinct. “A couple of my friends were injured; a couple are no longer here.” Then he lets you know it’s time to move on to another topic.

On Sept. 11, 2006, Jonathan requested that an American flag be flown for Chemeketa over his base in Kabul, and on June 26 this year, he gave that same flag to President Gretchen Schuette as a gift to the college out of his gratitude for the professionalism and caring of the college’s staff and faculty. He took a second flag, flown that same day in Afghanistan, to Elaine Smith, for going out of her way to be a friend to him.

“People at the college knew I had some issues,” he said, in a classic case of understatement, “and that sometimes situations might keep me from meeting a deadline. The people at Chemeketa always treated me like a real person.”

Updated July 3, 2007 by the College Advancement Department.