Soldiers in Iraq reunite thirty years after graduation

Courtesy Photo | From left to right: Col. Mike Fant, commander, 525th Military Intelligence Brigade, Fort Bragg, N.C., Col. James H. Huggins II, Multi-National Corps - Iraq inspector general, and Maj. Parris McCullah, MNC-I Reserve Component Division stay-behind equipment liaison officer, stand in front of the Al-Faw Palace at Camp Victory, Iraq. The three Soldiers are graduates of Northwest High School in Clarksville, Tenn. (U.S. Army photo.)  

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

10.14.2005

Courtesy Story

DVIDS Hub       

by Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp
MNC -- I PAO

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq -- There are three Vikings serving for the deployed forces of the U.S. Army. These Vikings aren't the ones of Nordic fame, but they do share a common bond.

The three Soldiers are actually Northwest High School Vikings from Clarksville, Tenn. Thirty years after graduation, the long-lost troops have found each other in the most unlikely of places -- Iraq.

As a graduate of the NHS Class of 1973, Col. James H. Huggins II, Multi-National Corps - Iraq inspector general, was sitting in a briefing inspecting a personnel chart when he happened to notice a familiar name. It was that of Maj. Parris McCullah, the stay-behind equipment liaison for the MNC-I Reserve Component Division and member of the NHS Class of 1974.

The two had classes together in their high school days, and once Huggins saw that his former classmate was deployed to Camp Victory as well, he got in touch with McCullah over dinner.

"We got together at the chow hall to shoot the breeze and catch up on old times," Huggins said. But there was one more Viking out there, and Huggins knew this one was on the same camp as McCullah and him.

While the two were catching up over dinner, Huggins relayed this interesting piece of information to McCullah.

"Hey, did you know Mike Fant is here?" Huggins asked his former classmate.

"You've got to be joking me!" replied McCullah.

"No, I'm not. Matter of fact," Huggins grinned, pointed a finger, and said, 'there he goes right there!"

Col. Mike Fant, graduate from the NHS Class of 1975 and now the commander of the 525th Military Intelligence Brigade, Fort Bragg, N.C., had just walked into the dining facility, Huggins explained.

Three former Vikings got together as Soldiers and finished their meals while chatting of life back then. They had to go their separate ways, but not before a snapshot was taken of the three outside one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces.

Growing up, McCullah had lived a ways down the road from Huggins. The former was a suburbanite, while the latter was out in the country. The two had class together off and on throughout their high school careers, but because of the distance between homes, they didn't spend much time together after school.

"I would get a little jealous sometimes because McCullah lived in town and could hang out with everybody after school," Huggins said. "We had horses and cattle and lots of other things to do after school. I don't consider them chores now and would love to go back to that life, but when I was 16 or 17, I"d grumble because Parris got to hang out with all our buddies."

While Huggins was two grades ahead of Fant, he didn't have much interaction with the youngest Viking. He remembers him now as the same way he saw him in school.

"You meet him now, he's the same as he was," Huggins said. "He's quiet, and back then, he just went to class and probably made straight-As."

After high school, Fant and McCullah both enlisted in the Army and later accepted commissions into the Army Officer Corps. Huggins attended the Reserve Officer Training Course at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1977.

Fant and McCullah had classes together while attending NHS, but neither had seen each other since high school, explained McCullah. He added that he was glad they've all had the chance to get together now.

"It's good to see people you haven't seen in years," McCullah said. "It's kind of funny to see who looks older and who looks younger."

When asked who has aged the best, McCullah responded with a laugh.

"I'll get in trouble answering that one," he said.

Though the three have separate missions, they still try to see each other when they can.

"We catch each other off and on," Huggins said. "My weekly schedule is not the same as McCullah's or Fant's, and Fant is the hardest to track down since his brigade is spread all over the country, but I still see the guys around. It's good just knowing they are here. It gives a feeling of home."

All three still have family in the Clarksville area, and McCullah, a full-time Army National Guardsman, has a residence in his hometown.

• Date Taken: 10.14.2005
• Date Posted: 10.14.2005 19:25
• Story ID: 3341
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ