Veterans from two different wars 60 years apart spoke Thursday at two local Warsaw schools.

On two-weeks leave for rest and relaxation from Afghanistan, U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Brian Yoder spoke to students at the Alternative Learning Center about his personal views of the war in that country. Air Corp P51 pilot Don Locke talked briefly to Edgewood and Lakeview middle schools' students during their Veterans Day concert about a World War II experience.

Yoder has served in the Army since Sept. 22, 1986, and expects to retire June 1. His sister and father are both veterans.

For his presentation, Yoder showed the ALC students a slide show of photos of Afghanistan taken from a UH60 helicopter. The photos showed the Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan, the desert and views from the UH60.

Yoder's job as a maintenance test pilot is to fly the broken ones. After flying one, he reports what is wrong with the aircraft and what needs fixed. Then, after repairs, he again flies the helicopter to make sure it is properly working. He said his family doesn't like it that he does that job, but it has to be done.

Speaking of the desert, Yoder said it is brown or grey until it becomes red, which goes on "for miles and miles and miles."

"To me," he said, "my personal view, it looks like a red ocean."

When flying out in the red desert, Yoder said a pilot has to be very careful because it can be very calm or very deceptive and a pilot can fly into the ground.

The people in that country have no lights, no power and no water except from the holes they dig. "These people have nothing but farm animals and a tent."

Yoder said, "These people (in Afghanistan) survive, and I don't know how they do it." There is nothing out in the desert. "It's got to be a hard life, but they do it."

The hottest the temperature ever got there while he's been there, he said, was about 157 degrees, but the summer temperatures average 130 to 140 degrees. It gets so hot a person has to wear gloves to touch a helicopter, but even that burns the nylon stitching in the gloves. To keep cool, Yoder said each person drinks about 2 gallons of water per day.

As temperatures increase, Yoder said he has to exercise more caution in his activities. He has to be more alert and consistent.

Besides the sand, Yoder said there also was the dirt, heat, sand fleas, camel spiders and sand vipers. The biggest camel spider he's seen to date was the size of his entire hand. If a person is bitten by a sand viper and they don't get medical attention in about two minutes, Yoder said they will die.

The soldiers have rooms to sleep in and access to the Internet and cable television. But, Yoder said, after he gets off work, he usually showers, sleeps, and then wakes up four to five hours later to do it all again. "That's just the way it works," he said.

A student asked what the main purpose of the war in Afghanistan is. Yoder said in his personal viewpoint it is to eliminate terrorism and to allow the people of Afghanistan freedoms they never had.

Another student asked Yoder if he had ever seen someone shot or killed.

"In a war, you are going to see it," said Yoder. "Yes, I have seen the aftermath."

When asked how he deals with it emotionally, he said, "There's a time and a place for everything to happen."

Things happen while there and he has to move and react. If he doesn't, he said he could end up the same way. So he finishes the situation he is in and the work he has to do and puts the emotions in their own spot. When he finds time to be alone and quiet, "I'll let it out then," he said.

Yoder was asked what he thought of the Democrats winning Tuesday's election and the resignation of U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

"I still have a job to do and I'm going to do the job I was told to do," Yoder said.

Also in his personal view, he said he believes Afghanistan is improving because of the conditions of the people there and the improvements he sees. "I believe they are being afforded the opportunities all people should have."

To the ALC, Yoder presented an American flag that was flown in Afghanistan in aircraft 93-26476, a UH60L Blackhawk helicopter. He also presented the school with a patch from his flight uniform and a coin given to him from his company commander for excellence for a job well done.

Locke, born in March 1921, related a quick story to the middle school students about his time serving in Iwo Jima in 1945 for a mission. This was shortly after the raising of the American flag by U.S. soldiers on the hill.

"We were told this mission was so important, if we didn't destroy the plane carrying dignitaries, we shouldn't come back," he said.

After the war was over, he enrolled at Grace College, Winona Lake. While at the school, he met a Japanese student who had been in the same area as Locke's Iwo Jima mission. Locke said it was interesting that five years after the war, he was in Winona Lake, sitting by a Japanese man, both enjoying the freedoms America has to offer.

The Veterans Day concert also included performances by the middle schools' choirs and bands. Seven students read their essays on why they were proud to be Americans, Kosciusko County Police and Fire Honor Guard posted and retired the Colors, and all veterans were recognized. The same program was held again Thursday night at 7 p.m. [[In-content Ad]]