TOPEKA (KSNT) – Growing up in Emporia, Specialist E4 Kenny Rodriguez was looking to serve locally in the Army Reserves while attending college and starting his family. He had to adjust quickly after being brought into the growing Desert Shield and Desert Storm conflicts.
With his father serving during the Vietnam conflict and his grandpa serving in WWII the pride that comes from service stuck with Rodriguez from a young age.
“That was instilled into me as a little kid,” Rodriguez said. “I knew I wanted to do two things when I became an adult, I wanted to go into the military and I wanted to be a Police Officer for as long as I can recall.”
His plans to serve stateside shifted rapidly as the Gulf War ramped up overseas.
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“It didn’t really set in that, ‘Hey, I’m in a war theater,’ you know,” he said. “I was enjoying it, and I was feeling pretty proud being over there.”
Deployed to Saudi Arabia as a Transport Driver, Rodriguez drove a heavy equipment transporter (HET).
“Our job was to transport M1A1 tanks to the front lines,” he said. “So we’d transport them from the port, and we’d just keep transporting them up. Once it got closer to the Desert Storm of things, they would be fully combat loaded, pretty safe feeling when you got a combat loaded tank on the back of your trailer.”
Once the tanks were delivered, his unit would be given different tasks with nearby companies.
“During the ground war, I got tasked out to a medical unit field hospital,” Rodriguez said. “We were transporting them to the front lines for all the injured soldiers. Once we crossed into Iraq, we got to the highway of death, which was just so long. It was such a long highway full of burnt out vehicles and burnt out people.”
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Through his time overseas, there was one aspect that really stood out to the specialist.
“What a lot of people don’t know about the US Military, is they’ll treat other people’s wounded just as much as we’ll treat our wounded,” Rodriguez said. “So the first few days of us being there was Iraqi soldiers coming in, and then civilians getting caught in the crossfire. I don’t know how other countries operate if we would get afforded that luxury, being treated by their field hospitals, but we you know didn’t even ask questions, we just treated their wounded.”
Rodriguez would fulfil the other half of that childhood dream as well, he currently works Patrol in the Emporia Police Department.
Additionally, he does freelance video work on the side, and just completed a music video for country artist Cynthia Rausch. “Coming Home” has a storyline following a Veteran’s Homecoming and features Rodriguez’s hometown prominently.
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