Byron Roth
36, Yardley
Captain, Army National Guard
Deployed to Iraq Summer 2005
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Byron Roth
36, Yardley
Captain, Army National Guard
Deployed to Iraq Summer 2005
When Byron Roth joined the military in 1994, the U.S. was mostly concerned with peace-keeping missions in the Balkans. He saw it as a way to pay for a marketing education at Kutztown University. "I anticipated a deployment to Bosnia or Kosovo," Roth says. "There was never any thought I would see combat operations on the scale that I ended up seeing." Still, he says, "I believed in the mission."
He deployed to Al-Asad Base in 2005 before being sent to a much more vulnerable base in Ramadi. "[Al-Asad], built out in the middle of the dessert, gave us 'standoff distance' — we could see people coming up and we were able to react to it. In Ramadi, the other side of the street, locals are living there." He witnessed three MASCALs — attacks where the number of wounded exceeds the immediate medical capacity — and was himself injured, halfway through his tour, by an IED on the road.
"I have a bulged disc, a herniated disc, a post-concussion headache, I have [permanent] ringing in the ears," Roth says. He finished his tour despite these injuries, but they prevented him from redeploying with his troops, and will likely result in a medical retirement after 15 years of service. His civilian career has been damaged, too. His contacts — the lifeblood of a marketing professional — have diminished since his deployment; as time passes, his house moves closer to foreclosure. Despite it all, Roth maintains his poise. "I'll either get the money or I won't," he says. "There are more important things."
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