The official site of the Torch, the student-run newspaper at Glenbrook North High School.

Torch

The official site of the Torch, the student-run newspaper at Glenbrook North High School.

Torch

The official site of the Torch, the student-run newspaper at Glenbrook North High School.

Torch

Camouflaged identity exposed

Paraprofessional Jim Ossey

Most people do not have to dodge 180 bullets in order to return to the Glenbrook North hallways.

Lt. Col. James Ossey has worked at GBN as a parapro for 17 years, but he recently left for four years to serve in the military.

Ossey served in the Operation Iraqi Freedom war as a contracting and special projects officer for 14 months. He then served as the commander of the mobile training team and senior advisor of Saudi Arabia for three years.

According to Ossey, returning to the United States held many changes for him.

“Life isn’t the same as when you left it,” said Ossey. “It takes a little while to get reintegrated.”

Ossey said there are some “funny” differences between a place like Northbrook and Saudi Arabia.

“I learned the language, ate with the people, learned everything in the community that they did,” said Ossey.  “So that was an adaptation.”

He said in America we push our light switch up to turn it on, while in Saudi Arabia, down is on. In Saudi Arabia businesses and stores do not open until 4 p.m., because it is hard to conduct business in the extreme heat during the day.

Ossey worked undercover among the civilians in Saudi Arabia. His team learned the language and culture so that they would not be recognized as Americans. He found that by learning the language, the civilians gained respect for them, just as students and teachers gain respect for foreign exchange students that attempt to learn English. Through this experience, Ossey’s perception of Middle Easterners changed.

“Being able to see things through their eyes opened my eyes a lot,” Ossey said.

According to Ossey, the media is a factor of why some Americans view the Middle East in a negative light, because we do not know anything different. Ossey’s mission in Saudi Arabia was to repair damaged relationships that had previously been created between the countries.

“If I failed then the United States might not have that connection with the Ministry of [the] Interior [of Saudi Arabia],” said Ossey. “I was responsible for 65 percent of the whole entire program.”

Ossey said he came to the realization that everyone is really the same. He realized this for the first time when he saw a rat come running through the yard, when one of the children picked it up by the tail and punted it like a football. When it came down, they all started playing soccer with it.

“I thought, you know what, I could see a bunch of the high school kids doing something like that back home,” said Ossey. “[Iraqi children] may have a little more obligation than some of us but they all joke with each other just like we do.”

Ossey recognized after living with Saudi Arabian civilians that everyone has the same goals: provide for your family and put food on the table.

“I don’t think it’s an American dream. I think it’s a human dream,” Ossey said.

He said people counted on him to protect them and himself, so to worry about dying or getting killed would only drain him more.

“I think a person who goes through life and can’t find the positive in something is not going about it properly,” said Ossey. “I try to pick out the positive in things even when you’re in a negative environment.”