CHRISTINA EICHELKRAUT / PVT Veterans who took part in the Take a Vet to School Program spent Wednesday sharing their combat experiences with students in various classes. At left, Nye County Veterans Service Officer Ken Shockley organized the event. Advertisement

While fighting the war in Iraq, soldiers often use chickens to detect chemical agents in the air.

According to Staff Sgt. Matthew Montgomery, who served in Iraq from 2000 to 2004, "You can find chickens anywhere in Iraq."

That's just one of many details demonstrating the realities of war students at Pahrump Valley High School learned last Wednesday as part of the Take a Vet to School program.

The program, which included veteran ranging from World War II to the current conflict in the Middle East, allowed combat veterans to share their personal experiences with various classes throughout the day.

It proved to be rewarding for both the veterans and the students.

Students, for their part, got to learn about war from outside the static confines of a textbook, not just from the personal anecdotes shared by the veterans, but often getting to see memorabilia and personal items brought by the former troops.

Jose Telles, a Marine who fought in both Vietnam and what he called the "tail end" of the Korean War, brought a model of a trip wire used by Viet Cong to ambush American soldiers.

Montgomery, joined by his brother Pvt. Jim Scott, also showed students bills with Saddam Hussein's face on them, their radio packs, and the various uniforms they wear.

For the veterans, it was an opportunity to tell the stories that are often lost in the mass of statistics and facts offered by academia.

"I've enjoyed myself, talking to the young people," Telles said. "If anything, I think my war experiences helped them to enjoy their freedom a little more."

But as Montgomery put it, "The real knowledge is in the minds of the vets themselves."

"It's history that, some of it, hasn't been written," said Rusty Harder, who served as a seaman on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Enterprise, the most decorated ship of World War II.

Harder missed Pearl Harbor, but just barely, and only because of a rainstorm that kept them at sea.

"If it hadn't been for that rain storm, we would've been dead ducks," Harder said.

But he still saw his share of combat -- four years worth, to be exact, enabling him to qualify for a 512 optional discharge. His ship's battle ribbons included both naval battles of Guadalcanal and the critical battle of Midway, which is seen by many as having finally turned the tide against the Japanese in the Pacific.

During his service, he fueled planes while under fire on a ship going five knots.

"There were bullets going above us, around us. We'd pat each other on the back and say, 'How's your parachute,'" Harder recalled.

He told the students about "pretty much everything, the start of the war, during the war."

"They were very intent," Harder said of the youths he spoke to. "They were very interested."

Thanks to Jeffrey Blair, who served in the Navy during and after the Beirut barracks bombing in October 1983, students learned that terrorist attacks against the U.S. are not a recent development.

"They've heard about Vietnam, they've heard of World War II, but they've never heard about Lebanon," Blair explained. "It's considered by many vets to be the first war on terror."

Blair shared his experience of serving on the battleship U.S.S. New Jersey, the most decorated warcraft in Naval history, and fighting against Hezbollah long before it became a familiar name to most Americans.

He passed out photographs that illustrated the awesome firepower of the ship that earned 19 battle stars and saw action in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

Blair said the students he spoke to peppered him with questions, from how fast they could go, to what was his favorite place among those he saw.

When asked what the guns sounded like when they went off, Blair quoted what another solider had said after having heard them: "When the ship fired, it sounded like an Amtrak train going overhead."

For Blair, the chance to speak to students was also an opportunity to show them the more positive side of serving their country.

"People have been bombarded with hate," Blair said. "People don't want to serve now, so I wanted to show them it was good times, too. I spent my first Christmas in Venice, and my first Easter in Paris. In six years I saw 20 different countries."

Blair also attributed his success in earning his paralegal associates degree and a bachelor's degree in social sciences to the discipline and sense of duty the Navy gave him.

The students were appreciative as well.

"I've seen students come up and shake their hands and thank them," Rhonda Cosner, the Social Studies Department chairman, said.