By Lori Ehde
After two months of sleeping in a bag in the desert sands of Afghanistan, LuverneÕs Adam Sellgren is glad to be home.
Lance Cpl. Sellgren, 21, was welcomed home Saturday with a party at the Coffey Haus after completing his first two years of a four-year commitment to the Marines.
The cake, balloons and well-wishes seemed almost surreal compared with what he'd seen in the past few months.
"I was totally unprepared for what we had to do," Sellgren said of his role in Operation Enduring Freedom.
All in a day's work
Sellgren's military occupational specialty is anti-tank assault, and his secondary specialty is demolition.
For "reasons of national security" he couldn't be specific about when he was there or what he did, but his job was basically to destroy enemy tanks and detect land mines and booby traps.
For example, he had standing orders to shoot all dogs because they are commonly wired with explosives that detonate when the animals are petted.
The Marine Corps' mission in Afghanistan was to seek and flush out Taliban forces. Generally, Sellgren said the Marines met with little resistance when they encountered pockets of Taliban troops.
"They could see we had the bigger guns, and they'd call it a day," he said. "But sometimes, they'd dig their heels in and weÕd have to earn our bread and butter."
He spoke matter-of-factly about his work in Afghanistan, but on some days, he said, he questioned his decision to join the Marines or the military at all.
'It was bad'
When asked to share details of his worst day in the desert, all he said was, "It was bad. It's a day I'm going to live for a few years. It's nothing I want to experience ever again ... A lot of guys out there aren't going to be right in the head for quite awhile."
Though not all days were that bad, Sellgren spoke of those two months in Afghanistan as something to be endured.
"There was some really messed up stuff going on in Afghanistan," he said. "It was the kind of thing you didn't see on CNN."
He didn't get too specific, because it was too painful to relive some situations, but he did say the Taliban would hang enemy sympathizers from the tops of buildings to show other would-be traitors their fate.
The Marine infantrymen had dirty jobs, but their living conditions were even worse.
Every night for two months, he slept in a lightweight sleeping bag, inside a larger outer Gore-Tex shell. That outer shell enclosed the men in their sleeping sacks, plus all their gear.
Even though they zipped the outer shell completely shut to outside elements, Sellgren said he still woke up every morning with sand grinding in the skin of his neck.
The drifting sand would nearly bury those enclosed sacks of sleeping Marines, and Sellgren said heÕd pray a tank wouldn't accidentally run them over.
He went for five weeks straight at one stretch without a shower. "It was hot, sticky and ..."
Despite the trying experience, Sellgren said he never doubted his reason for being there.
"I kept thinking, 'All this, because we don't believe the same things they do, and they think they can bomb our cities because of it.' I think they're getting what they deserved."
Living with war
In the days and months following the Sept. 11 terrorism attack on America, Sellgren's parents, Barb and Jim Schmidt, tried to keep close tabs on him.
"You learn how to live with war, and you learn how to live on hope," Barb said.
She spoke occasionally with Adam on the phone, but he wasnÕt allowed to reveal his location or what he was doing.
Barb said it was especially hard to know heÕd likely be in harmÕs way, but she couldn't know how or when.
"Something within me knew when he was going to Afghanistan," she said, recalling her last phone conversation with Adam before he left.
"There was a tone to his voice ... and then, I didn't hear anything for eight weeks and three days."
She said for a time, she was depressed.
"That triggered something in me. The life of one of my children was threatened," she said.
"I had to work it out with my God. It was a true test of faith. Do I really trust God? Do I trust him with the life of my child?"
No regrets
Sellgren said he joined the Marines because he wanted to be part of the pride and camaraderie only the Marines seemed to offer.
Plus, he's enjoyed mastering the physical challenges of Marine Corps basic training, and he's taken in the wonders of traveling lesser-known regions of the world.
"I have no regrets," Sellgren said, when asked if the Marines experience is what he thought it would be. "I've done a ton of things I've always wanted to do.... I've been overseas, and I've met a lot of people from all different ethnic backgrounds."
He said Marine Corps training has given him confidence he's never had before. "I can jump out of helicopters, I can save someone in a flood or tornado," he said. "It's amazing when I step back out of the picture and look at what I was before the Marines and what I am now."
Sellgren will report back to Camp Pendleton on March 25, but until then, he's enjoying sleeping until noon - on a real bed, spending time with his brother, Taylor, and eating real food, not military rations on the run.