April 22, 2007

Erik Swabb '09 (Right)
at a military checkpoint in Fallujah

On a recent morning in the Harkness Commons, few of the bustling Harvard Law School students could have guessed that at a table in their midst, Erik Swabb, a 1L, was recounting the first time he dodged enemy bullets. Nor would Swabb be one to announce it to his classmates. "It's something I don’t wear on my sleeve," he said, "despite my haircut."

Not that Swabb, a former first lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps, isn't proud of his service as an infantry officer. But he said most of his peers might be reluctant to ask him about his experiences. "They don't want to offend me," he guessed, "or they're worried I might have post-traumatic stress syndrome."

The truth is that Swabb would enjoy talking about his time in Iraq and engaging with students who might be skeptical about the war. "Ninety-five percent of what happened over there, I'm willing to talk about," he said.

Swabb is one of approximately 20 HLS students who have served in Iraq, Afghanistan or stateside in support of missions overseas. Another is 1L Kyle Scherer, a  second lieutenant in the U.S. Army's Intelligence Corps.

Scherer's decision to enlist in the military reflected his family's belief in the importance of public service. But his choice came with its own difficulties. Aware that some see an imperialistic aspect to American involvement in Iraq, Scherer, an American Indian, was especially sensitive to the complex moral implications of his military service. "It's sometimes difficult to have such strong feelings about the Bureau of Indian Affairs, for example, and then serve in a different branch of the same government," he admitted.

For Swabb, the decision to enlist stemmed from his love of military history. "It was a matter of doing it as opposed to spending my life reading about it," he said.

Swabb was deployed to Iraq in September 2004, only a month before the assault on Fallujah, one of the deadliest battles in the conflict to date. He and his command were ordered to prevent the enemy's escape through the south of the city. It was during this time that Swabb's platoon suffered its heaviest casualties.

"I was probably afraid, but I didn't know it at the time," he remembered. "More than anything, your dominant feeling is, What do I need to do to fulfill my responsibility in this unit? The last thing you want to do is get someone killed because you messed up."

Stationed at the Army's Intelligence Center in Arizona, Scherer's command also faced challenging circumstances. "Technology allows you to serve domestically but at the same time directly support the global war on terror," Scherer explained. "Two people on the ground might be supported by 15 people stateside." Scherer's team used information from Iraq to predict and analyze insurgent activity.

Both Swabb and Scherer see the military's less-publicized humanitarian efforts as its most compelling aspect. Scherer explained: "The reasons I joined the military— rebuilding infrastructure, setting up schools—those things don't make the news. But by and large, that's what's going on in Iraq."

Swabb, who lived for a while in a village west of Fallujah, said: "The more I interacted with Iraqis, the more I liked them. Ironically, that helps your job, because when you develop a rapport with them, you get intelligence and information."

Back at HLS, Swabb is considering a career in government. Scherer wants to practice federal Indian law.

Asked how his military experience has affected his HLS experience, Swabb said, "What I learned in Iraq is that we live in shades of gray. When you work with Iraqis who are possibly trying to kill you, lots of things you do are in the gray area. I didn't know where they fell on the moral spectrum. But I think I'm able to get a lot out of this education because I'm dealing with ideals, or legal principles, and then I'm thinking about what the reality is."

As for Scherer, the advantages of his service are even more tangible: "I don't really stress out very much here," he said. What's more, he added, "A lot of people use amorphous words like 'leadership' and 'teamwork' that really don't have any weight behind them. I mean, I used to use those words about social clubs I was in. But when you serve," he concluded, "there's actually a lot of meaning attached to those words."

-- Mariah Robbins