The second reality check came when Owen's squad went to work guarding a water treatment plant, in addition to building Army living quarters.
The water plant "was attacked after we handed off to another unit," said Owen. "Iraqis damaged the transformer and made the plant inoperable."
Then, the Iraqis blew up the pipes that carried the water in and out.
The third reality check came when the Army extended Owen's deployment from six months to a year.
"I felt like they knew that in advance," said Julie Owen, Kris' wife. "Sometimes, I felt like they treated us as if we were stupid and didn't deserve to know what was going to happen."
What happened by the end of Owen's 12-month deployment was an epiphany.
Owen tried to be a good soldier and a loyal American. He believes he made his country safer serving in Iraq. His 23-year-old wife pitched in. Kris and Julie Owen are as patriotic as the American flag hanging in the window of their suburban Denver townhouse.
They're especially happy that America's fighters have received the respect too often withheld from Vietnam veterans. That's why Kris joined a group of Iraq veterans called Operation Truth (optruth.org). He wanted to explain service in America's latest war.
Better than most, the Owens realize how the facts of Iraq can collide with promises made to justify and sustain the war.
Kris Owen hopes history sees that "we truly brought freedom to a country. I hope history doesn't see it that we occupied a land for our own interest."
Owen can't predict what historians will conclude. He knows that despite his best efforts, Iraq was more dangerous when he left than when he arrived.
Today, Iraq is more dangerous still.
During his tour of duty, Owen first wondered why liberated Iraqis would destroy their own country. The longer he stayed, the sandy-haired newlywed faced a more troubling question: "Why are we doing this for these people?"
"You struggled within yourself," Owen said. "One day, part of your platoon gets attacked, and you get angry at the Iraqis in general. Then, you work with Iraqi civilians who only want to make life better for their families."
Welcome to the yin and yang of military service in Iraq. Owen not only built quarters for the U.S. military, he bulldozed dangerous buildings where Iraqi children were getting hurt. He graded soccer fields for those kids.
Owen once asked a translator why helping Iraq made Americans targets.
"He said Iraqis have lived with war so long that they see that as their cause," Owen recalled, "especially when an invading force comes in."
If that is true, the people asked to risk their lives needed to understand it before their leaders sent them to war, not after they were stuck in a place where hard work, courage and sacrifice are still not enough.
If you enjoyed reading Kris' story and would like continue to read more of such stories, plese help us by contributing to Operation Truth. Click here to donate. To arrange an interview with Kris, contact press[at]iava.org.
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