WINDHAM – After two years of training at Fort Bragg and a quick return home for rest and relaxation, Army Spc. Josh Varney of Windham is set to enter the fray known as the Afghanistan war.
Born and raised in Windham and a 2009 graduate of Windham High School, the 20-year-old Cook Road resident enlisted in July 2009 and has recently been promoted. Varney will serve on a forward operating base in the mountains of Afghanistan.
And his mother and brother couldn’t be more proud. Mom Robyn Corkum says of her son: “I’m very, very proud. I mean words cannot explain how proud.”
Twin brother Justin feels the same way. “Proud, scared,” he says.
After a month at home, Varney left for Fort Bragg, N.C., Aug. 21 for some last-minute training. And in September he’s off for a 12- to 15-month tour. The Lakes Region Weekly sat down for an interview with the helicopter mechanic last week.
Q: You’re going off to a forward operating base in Afghanistan. Most people run from danger, you’re running toward it. Why is that?
A: I guess the thrill, it’s exciting. It’s going to be an experience for sure. I really don’t know what I’m in store for, but I know I’ll be all right being the strong soldier that I am.
Q: So you’re confident in your abilities?
A: Yes. And the training the Army has provided me.
Q: And you’re confident in your fellow soldiers?
A: Yes, my battle buddies
Q: What’s that bond like?
A: It’s pretty extreme because you’re with these people every single day. You do the grunt work with them, you work out with them, and then afterward you hang out with them. It’s pretty much like a brother. We call each other our brother- and sister-in-arms because pretty much we’re just like family. We watch out for each other’s backs just because when we go down range, that’s all we got is each other.
Q: We’re in Afghanistan to rout out Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in response for Sept. 11. Do you remember Sept. 11?
A: I was in middle school I think when it happened. It came up on the news in school and we got out of school early that day and they said, go home and be with your families.
Q: Did you ever think you’d be fighting over there yourself?
A: Not at that time, no. No idea.
Q: What did you think when Seal Team 6 finally got Osama bin Laden a few months ago? What was it like to be at Fort Bragg when they got him?
A: That was a big thing. People were all hua, hua. That’s our Army motto. We were like, we got him. We were all pumped up. We were all together outside in a formation when they told us the news and we were all excited.
Q: Do you think America can win this war?
A: Of course. I have faith in America itself. Being part of the Army I know what we can do and what we’re capable of, so I have faith.
Q: How have you changed since graduating from Windham High School?
A: I feel like I’ve turned into a man pretty much. I’ve got all the fundamentals that the Army has given me. Right time, right place, right uniform, and you pretty much can’t go wrong. They’ve given me everything I’ve needed to succeed. They’re right behind me the whole time. They’ve given me everything from education to training to just knowledge of everything, the Army’s background, America’s background.
Q: How did your growing up in Windham prepare you for this? Do you come from a military family background?
A: Just my grandfather, he was in the Army for 24 years, retired as a first sergeant, that’s a pretty high ranking. And I talked to him and he pretty much gave me the whole spiel of what’s going to happen and what to prepare for. But one of my buddies enlisted in high school and he did the delayed entry program so he went to his Advanced Individual Training, which is basically your schooling for whatever your job is going to be, during the summer of his senior year. He talked to me all about the education I could get, the pay.
Q: You enlisted right in the depths of the recession. Is the structure and guaranteed paycheck a big help?
A: Of course, there’s not the stress of if next week I’m going to get a paycheck. I live in the barracks so I don’t have to pay housing. They pay for my food, so pretty much I’ve just been saving my money.
Q: What are your long-range goals? Are you going to stay in?
A: My contract is for six years so I figured after that I’d evaluate and see if I still like it. But if the economy still goes the way it is, that’s what I’m going to be doing.
Q: Have you learned anything about the area where you’re going to be?
A: We’ve pretty much only had the unclassified briefs so far about the background of Afghanistan, how to talk to people, how to interact, what to be ready for. And then after we come back from this leave is when we have our real briefs. They want you to enjoy your time at leave before they pretty much tell you what’s going to be going on, save the stress.
Q: Do you want to know everything that’s going to happen or do you prefer not knowing what to expect?
A: I’d rather like to know because then my mind wouldn’t wander. Because right now, I’m not really scared of going over there since I don’t know what I’m going to be in store for, but once I know then I’ll know everything is going to be OK and what I can do to prepare myself.
Q: Have you seen movies about what it’s like over there, or have you talked to people coming back?
A: I’ve actually had another buddy who has been to Afghanistan before but he was infantry and he was, I believe, in Kabul and so people have done multiple tours and I’ve talked to them about what to prepare for, what I need for essentials over there, what I am going to do to keep myself entertained.
Q: What will your job be?
A: I’m an Apache (helicopter) maintainer so every 125, 250 and 500 hours the aircraft goes through something we call a phase. It’s preventive maintenance. We have technical manuals that will tell us a certain amount of damage is allowed, a certain amount of depth of a scratch. Stuff like that.
Q: Do you do that eight hours a day?
A: We come in in the morning and we do PMDs, which are preventive maintenance dailies, which is a quick overview of the aircraft making sure there are no FOD, which is foreign object damage. So, we start off with a PMD, look over everything, and the pilots by that time would have their flight schedule. We’d launch the aircraft with headsets on. They start up the engines and the rotary system.
Q: How many people in an Apache?
A: It’s a two-man crew. You have the pilot, and the co-pilot is a gunner also.
Q: Is that an attack helicopter?
A: Yes. AH-64D Longbow. The Apache came from the Cobra. It’s got wings with rocket pods underneath and a big ol’ gun underneath. It’s a $32 million aircraft. It’s basically a big computer that flies.
Q: That’s a lot of responsibility. You have two people’s lives in your hands.
A: Safety is the main thing we worry about all the time. Even minor issues we always bring up.
Q: Sounds like a lot of stress. You may not be on the front line, but you really are by extension. How do you deal with that stress?
A: Of course. The Army offers so many programs – anything from child care to stress management and they’ll give you these important classes. For my own personal escape, I listen to music.
Q: What kind of music do you like?
A: I like it all actually, anywhere from Bluegrass to opera.
Q: Do you just say to yourself, I’m doing the best I can.
A: Yes, I pretty much motivate myself along with my comrades. We motivate others because there are people with families and kids. Sometimes we work 15 hours a day depending on what we need to do. So I guess I’m not even on the same level as people with families and their stress levels because I’m just a single soldier leaving just my mom and my brother behind. I can’t imagine these people who have kids already, leaving them and doing a year overseas.
Q: Are you excited to see the world?
A: Yes, actually the only time I’ve ever traveled was in the Army. The farthest I went before was New Hampshire. So I went from Maine to South Carolina for basic training, then I went to Virginia for AIT and now I’m in North Carolina. And now I’m about to go to Afghanistan. It’s a whole different perspective because I only knew Maine life. And I go to Fayetteville, N.C., and Fort Bragg, which is a city of its own, so it’s been an experience for sure.
Q: Do you think you’re going to get lonely at the base in Afghanistan?
A: From what I’ve heard, they are going to have Internet out there so I’m going to try to get Skype and hopefully talk to family and friends on that. But being over there for a year, I’m going to have to keep myself entertained.
Q: Do you have a work team you’ll be a part of?
A: Well, there’s maintenance, which I’m a part of, and the line company. I do the phase work, and the line companies will, while the aircraft are on the flight line, check the oil, the transmission fluid, the hydraulics. They’re kind of like the Quick Prompto Lube pretty much and I’m like the garage.
Q: When you get out do you think you’d like to work at a garage?
A: Yes, my dad, Jeff Varney, got me interested in fixing things because he’s like a Mr. Fix-It pretty much. He worked on motorcycles and four-wheelers and lawn equipment and growing up just working with him got me interested. And when I took my ASVAB test I saw an Apache maintainer and was like, wow, I can work on $32 million aircraft.
Q: You sound like a walking, talking advertisement for the Army.
A: I love it.
Q: Do you guys talk politics?
A: We try not to. Because you know everyone’s got their opinion. Usually it’s just like anyone else talking politics. All different sorts of opinions. Doesn’t matter.
Q: Will you be coming into contact with civilians over there?
A: Yes, we’ll actually have translators over there, which are civilian people. We’ll have the Afghan National Army, which will be associated with us. And they actually told us that when we get over there we should associate with the elders so they feel comfortable, because the big thing over there is the Taliban or the terrorists or anyone would try to either dress up as Army soldiers or try to impersonate, so now we’ve gotten tighter with security. But we also need the interaction just for being known, being friendly, and to let them know we’re there to help them.
Q: When you get over there, you’re going to be an ambassador for America. How does that make you feel?
A: It’s empowering. And when I come home everyone says thank-you. They say thank-you for serving and sometimes I feel like I don’t deserve it because I haven’t been deployed yet but I know that what I’m doing is necessary and they need me because I’m a good asset to the Army, doing what I do. But it’s always nice to have people show their support.
Q: What’s it like being back home?
A: It’s like a culture shock. Maine seems more beautiful, peaceful compared to where I’ve been. I look at things with a whole different perspective just because when I’m working, I work so hard and I’m so determined with what I do, and I come back home and I’ll see old friends or other people not doing anything with no motivation or determination or doing anything to succeed. And that’s a bummer, but it also makes me push myself more knowing that I’m succeeding. And it’s always good to see family and friends.
Army Spc. Josh Varney, right, his mother, Robyn Corkum, and
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