Art students honor classmate

By Rhyse Furio

Last year Kyle Jaracz took a break from college to fulfill another commitment — as a corporal in a National Guard unit serving in the Middle East. He was finishing his senior year and graphic design major when he was suddenly called into active duty. Even though Jaracz was overseas, his classmates in the Anderson University Department of Art and Design didn’t forget about him.

“The students and faculty were very concerned about Kyle, knowing that he was out there [in the Middle East] and might be in danger,” says Arlon Bayliss, professor of art and co-chair of the Department of Art and Design. As the spring senior exhibition approached, art students from the Glass II class — Mary Notturno, David Fox, Beth Boughton, Randy Wheeler, and Abby Schmidt — joined together for a special glassmaking project. Under Bayliss’ supervision, the students fashioned a glass sword. The sword served as both a reminder of their friend while he was gone and as a gift to him upon his return.

While his classmates braved the heat of the glass furnace, Jaracz endured the torrid heat of the Iraqi desert. Family and friends in the United States who prayed for Kyle knew very little of the hardships he was enduring. Even back home at AU, Jaracz struggles to describe his experiences. “I don’t know how to begin,” he says.

Jaracz’s life as an active soldier began on Jan. 1, 2003, when his unit was mobilized after training at Camp Atterbury, Ind. The unit was first shipped off to Camp Doha in Kuwait on Feb. 12 and sent to Multa Ridge occasionally to relieve soldiers at that post. For the next two months, the unit was stationed at Talil Air Base in Iraq. The men were responsible for patrolling the northwest corner of the air base and for manning checkpoints and observation posts. They also conducted humanitarian services such as supplying food, water, and medicine to war victims and escorting doctors to medical stations. Camp Scorpion in Jordan was the last station he served in before problems with kidney stones and an injured knee forced him to be taken by MedEvac to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

In Iraq, a typical day consisted of a cycle of six hours on duty and five to six hours off duty. Patrols ran in shifts. Each squad would take two to three hours manning their observation posts, then another two to three hours fortifying their positions with sandbags. In Kuwait and Jordan, work proved less rigorous. “There was such a troop buildup [in Kuwait] that there wasn’t enough work to keep people busy,” says Jaracz.

Living conditions were much tougher in Iraq, too, where the soldiers lived in bombed-out Iraqi buildings in the middle of the desert. Communication with families back home was sporadic. Letters took three to four weeks to get to their destinations. When the Air Force took over the base, the men had their first access to the Internet and telephones, but were limited to one 10-minute visit to the Internet and telephone tents every week and a half.

Jaracz tells of one of his most difficult experiences. The whole platoon had come down with a flu-like illness, and the men suffered from dehydration. “Before we’d go on duty, we’d be given an IV. They would pump fluid into us — about a couple of bags — and then we’d walk to our station.”

They did have opportunities to interact with the Iraqis. “There were about three to four families in the general area, and we would have lunch with them,” says Jaracz. “We would bring them food and water.”

“A lot of Iraqis could speak English,” says Jaracz. Supplemented with hand signs, pointing, and the little Arabic the soldiers had picked up, conversation was fairly intelligible. “I was able to see their viewpoints, ideas, questions, and concerns — basically get their perspective on a lot of things.”

What they learned from the natives was an eye-opener for Jaracz. “The whole mindset is really different. The rationale of daily life is so contrary in many ways to what we do.” For example, equal power was a truly alien concept to the Iraqis, and each group defended its absolute right to the nation’s leadership.

Jaracz also learned some humbling lessons from the Iraqis. “They could be happy if they had a goat, a camel, or a little tract of land to grow wheat on,” whereas in the United States, “we get so caught up in our material possessions that it can be detrimental to us.”

Back at AU, Jaracz’s classmates faced their own ordeal. Glassmaking is anything but an easy task. Jaracz’s sword was composed of 11 parts. The pieces were then joined together while still hot from the furnace. Timing is crucial in putting any glass object together. The most critical part in the glass sword project was making the blade, a task Bayliss took upon himself.

“The blade has to be prepared while it is still warm and pulled in one go to its full length,” explained Bayliss. “It’s either going to work or it’s not.”

After a failed first attempt in which the blade did not come out straight, Bayliss and the students finally had a perfect glass sword to present to Jaracz and the public. “To mark his absence — and, in a way, his presence — they put the sword on display at the senior art exhibition as a reminder to everybody that they were thinking of Kyle,” said Bayliss.

Meanwhile, Jaracz discovered the kidney stones and the lateral meniscus tear on his knee. He was taken to Germany for surgeries. After three and a half weeks, he finally came home and underwent more surgery and physical therapy.

In the midst of physical pain and some disappointment for not being with his unit, Jaracz was able to return to AU and present his senior portfolio thesis, a graduation requirement for any art major. This semester, he is finishing the last nine hours of his degree. His military service officially ends on April 29.

“I won’t reenlist — not for having a bad experience, but because I kind of feel I’ve done my part,” Jaracz says. Plus, he has other plans, such as getting married this summer and finding a job with a design firm or advertising agency.

Jaracz says he learned some valuable lessons in the military. “My military experience opened my eyes and helped me to understand that there’s more to life than being comfortable and having possessions; sometimes you have to take a stand, be uncomfortable, and do your job regardless of whether someone is going to appreciate it or not.”

He was touched that his classmates continued to think of him while he was overseas. As for the gift of the glass sword, he says, “I appreciate it very much. It really is special.”