Students Chronicle 'War Through Their Eyes'

Oshkosh, Wis., May 14, 2009 -- When Nate Wilhelms is asked about his Iraq war experience, he pulls out an old saying: "You go into war as a boy, but you come out as a man."

Wilhelms, a 24-year-old Iraq war veteran from Fond du Lac, Wis., joined the military at 17. Three years later, in 2005, he was deployed to Safwan, Iraq near the border of Kuwait, where his yearlong tour began with a tragedy.

Just one month after being deployed Wilhelms lost a friend and fellow soldier to a roadside bomb. "It hits you," he said of his friend's death. "Really, there's not a whole lot you could do. You still have to find some way to drive on."

Wilhelms returned to Wisconsin in August 2006 to attend the University of Wisconsin Fond du Lac, and later, the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, where he is scheduled to graduate May 16 with a degree in history. He came to realize how his experiences in Iraq had matured him beyond the level of his fellow students.

"You come out more aged mentally and almost physically to a point. That's the way I felt," he said. "I'm going to my peers, and I'm seeing them still living with mom and dad and having fun at the bar, and it's like, 'Dude, seriously? You need to grow up.'"

Wilhelms' story is one of 16 featured in "War: Through Their Eyes," a student journalism project that includes an 80-page book, a series of podcasts and an art gallery exhibit.

"War: Through Their Eyes, From UW Oshkosh to the Middle East and Back" tells the stories of 16 UW Oshkosh students and alumni, most of whom are veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The exhibit opens May 15 at the Steinhilber Gallery at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, which has more than 12,000 students, and will run through September.

In the podcasts, which are available free on iTunes U, one Iraq war vet tells the story of watching a young Iraqi boy get cut down by crossfire and being reminded of his little brother safe at home in Wisconsin. Another explains the appreciation he now has for the things most take for granted, like a hot shower.