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Thursday, May 24, 2007 | 
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No Comments [ Add Comment ]By Jamie Lampros
Standard-Examiner correspondent
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By Jamie Lampros
Standard-Examiner correspondent
SOUTH OGDEN -- Jason Finder, having completed deployment in Iraq where he escaped injury from a roadside bomb, got a hero's welcome Wednesday from 767 South Ogden Junior High School students.
Finder, a special education teacher who was called to duty two days after Christmas 2005, was picked up at his home by school employees in a shiny black Hummer donated for the day by Phil Sotomayer, a parent at the school. As they drove back, students gathered on both sides of a parking lot lined with 80 American flags and dozens of yellow balloons.
Students began cheering, whistling, waving and clapping as Finder approached, waving a small American flag out the window. The kids followed the Hummer, which drove up over several steps and right up to the front door of the school, where Finder got out, smiled and waved and followed the students inside to be honored during an assembly.
"Thank you for all of your support and for being behind me," Finder told the students. "I'm just a little piece of the puzzle. There are so many soldiers who have been there longer than me, but I just thank you, thank God, thank my wife and family and South Ogden Junior High. I'm excited to return to my teaching job next year. I'll always be a Spartan."
Finder, a staff sergeant, served as a duty supply sergeant for a civil affairs company just south of Baghdad, responsible for delegating supplies and equipment to different military teams. He also participated in numerous humanitarian projects.
"We distributed wheelchairs to Iraqis and desks to schoolchildren," he said. Finder, 37, drove an LMTV flatbed truck while on duty. Once, his truck was hit by an improvised explosive device, the roadside bombs that have killed so many soldiers and civilians.
"We had one-and-a-half inch thick metal up-armor around the truck and if it hadn't been there I would have been hit in the back or in the neck," he said.
"We were just driving along and all of a sudden we heard this boom! All we could see was white smoke and our ears were ringing. It was pretty scary and pretty surreal. It flattened our tires and blew chunks of metal around, but we kept driving. Everyone was thanking God or thanking whatever higher power they believed in that we had made it out alive."
For his courage, Finder received a combat action award. He also received an Army achievement medal, as well as a meritorious service medal.
Finder said Iraq is a dangerous place for Americans, and many Iraqis don't want the military there because of the danger to both sides.
"There are a lot of roadside bombings and snipers," he said. "You could be walking to the market one day and have a car bomb go off right next to you that kills 100 people. People were nervous about having the American presence there because we were always a target."
Finder told the students he was grateful to be back on American soil. His wife, Hillary, said he was happy to see the mountains, the rain, the green foliage and even bees, even though he's allergic to their stings.
"You just can't even explain what it feels like to have your feet hit American soil again," he said.
Principal Bill Grilz said although the school district guarantees the military a job when they return, he fought to have Finder return to his job at South as a special education teacher. He will also go back to coaching basketball at Bonneville High School.
During the assembly, Finder was given a yellow Army banner that has been flying outside of the school in his honor and received a standing ovation from the student body.
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