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Barth Takes Road Less Traveled By to Commencement
Saturday, May 06, 2006
When Curtis Barth walked through the Griffith Memorial Arch after Commencement on May 6, he had definitely taken the road less traveled by.
Barth’s path led through Baghdad, where the U.S. Army reservist spent a 15-month deployment as a water purification specialist.
Barth explained that he had already joined the Reserves prior to beginning classes at UF in 2000. On Sept. 11, 2001, he and his fellow reservists were put on alert and training was stepped up.
“Most of us knew it was a matter of time before we were deployed,” he said, although he continued both his coursework and his monthly training weekends, learning during his December 2002 weekend that he could expect to be activated.
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Barth at the door of Saddam’s
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palace in Baghdad.
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| “On Feb. 7, 2003, my orders were hand-delivered to my house,” he said. After an initial assignment at a port, he was sent to Baghdad in May and remained there for most of his deployment, setting up a purification unit at one of Saddam’s palaces known as Camp Victory, and helping to deliver 61 million gallons of purified water during his stay.
The one thing about his deployment he remembers most? The friendships he formed there. “My whole unit was like a family,” he said. “I still stay in close contact with most of them.”
The intensity and direction of life on active duty made the transition to civilian life difficult.
“When I came back, I wasn’t really sure I was going to go back to school,” he admitted, explaining that there seemed to be no priorities and no urgency to civilian life, so he considered signing on for active duty.
“Luckily, one of my professors, Jim Jaffe, took me under his wing and got me back on the right path,” he said.
He had a close call with another overseas stint, when his unit in Tiffin was eliminated and he was one of 15 experienced reservists assigned to another unit that was about to be activated. He appealed and was permitted to finish his six-year stint in August 2005 without being sent overseas, although he has two years of obligation remaining.
As he has pursued his degree, Barth has taken one on-campus internship, at the training center, and others off campus serving as an intern coordinator with environmental health and safety managers. He is currently pursuing a sales position with an environmental services firm.
Barth said he appreciates the support he has received from all members of the environmental, safety and health faculty. “Overall, a lot of my professors in the program have helped me along as far as reaching this day,” he said.
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