Pomona Student Dispatched to Gulf
By Jeff Horwitz
Staff Writer

Last Thursday at 10 am, while most other Claremont College Students were waking up for classes, Lance Corporal Nesvig boarded a military aircraft flying to an unknown destination in the Persian Gulf. Though only one of thousands of US Marine Reservists to be activated and sent overseas in the last month and a half, Lance Corporal Nesvig is the only one who is also a Pomona student.

Nesvig is better known at Pomona as Paul. Last semester, he was a Junior Philosophy major, as well as a tight end on the Pomona-Pitzer football squad and a member of Kappa Delta Fraternity. His student life was put on hold, however, when he was activated by the Marines on January 14. In the past few weeks he has completed his final training at Camp Pendleton in San Diego and is now among the estimated 135,000 American troops already present in the Persian Gulf.

It is still difficult for his friends and family to believe that he is now overseas preparing for a possible war against Iraq; his name is still on the answering machine at the house he shared with his former roommates Shea Joachim and Dana Madlem. "Personally, I never thought it would happen," said Joachim of Nesvig's activation.

Nesvig joined a reserve unit in his hometown of Phoenix, Arizona in 2001, shortly before the September 11 terrorist attacks. Philosophy professor Fred Sontag, who has known Nesvig since his freshman year, suggested the Marines when he found that Paul was considering joining the Army Reserves. "The Marines seemed more his style," Sontag said, "Paul is very outspoken and works hard, and the [The Marines] are the one branch of the armed forces that haven't lost their discipline over the years."

Rigorous training was one of the aspects of the Marines that originally attracted Nesvig to the reserves. "Paul was brought up in a certain way, and he was worried that some of the values he'd been brought up with were falling by the wayside," said Joachim. "I think the general reason he joined the reserves was that it was not only honorable, but it added discipline."

To join the reserves, Nesvig took a one-year leave of absence from Pomona to complete his basic training. Boot camp was by all accounts a difficult but valuable experience. "Paul appreciated freedoms, and the good things in his life [after he finished boot camp]," said Jeanine Nesvig, Paul's mother, who still lives in Phoenix along with Paul's father Mark and his two younger brothers. "He was proud of himself for having done it."

Sontag characterized Nesvig's experience in basic training slightly differently. "He had a marvelous time… they put the fear of God into him." Since finishing his basic training, Nesvig has trained with his reserve unit in Phoenix at least one weekend a month.

While going to war is never safe, it is some comfort to Paul's family and friends that his duties as a soldier will probably not include combat. His Military Occupational Specialty [MOS] is "Bulk Fuel," or running the fuel supplies for military vehicles and equipment. "Provided that he stays in his MOS, that's a very good thing," Sontag commented. "He's not in a combat unit."

Throughout the fall semester of 2002, Nesvig became aware of the increasing likelihood that he would be called to duty. "Paul checked the news every day," Joachim said. "He never knew exactly if or when he was going to be called up, but he kind of planned on it. When he was called, he wasn't excited, but he was proud to be going over there."

According to his parents, Paul's decision to serve was grounded in patriotism rather than politics. "He made a commitment to serve his country, and chose the Marines as a way to do it," said his father Mark, noting that Paul's personal views had nothing to do with his willingness to go. "He didn't necessarily agree with this one, but he accepts how the military operates, and he felt a duty to answer the call and serve his country." Even so, it was reportedly a sudden switch for Nesvig from student to soldier. "A few days after he'd been called up, we were in the car, driving back from buying stuff for him," and according to his father, "Paul said 'you know, I can't quite even believe this is happening. In a lot of ways, it doesn't feel real, even yet. It's so out of what we deal with everyday.'"

It's hard to know when Nesvig will return to civilian life-reservists can be placed on active duty for up to a year. When he does, expect to see him back at Pomona. "He's very loyal to Pomona," said Sontag. "He'll be back-there's no question about that." As for Nesvig himself, he seemed optimistic in the last letter his parents received before his deployment: "The sooner I get over there, the sooner I'll get home," he wrote.