Soldier returns to head of classroom

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 Many students at Cambria Central High are glad he's back. EBENSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Capt. Blaze McCombie paces in front of the chalkboard, barking out the dress code to his homeroom class like a drill sergeant. "I don't want to see your butts! That goes for guys with the dropped pants and girls with the short shorts and skirts," McCombie shouts. "As of right now, I am your dad." It's the first day of school at Cambria Central High School, and it's a far cry from Habbiniyah, Iraq, where the 36-year-old National Guardsman recently finished an 18-month tour, earning a Bronze Star Medal and a Combat Action Badge. A math teacher at Cambria Central, McCombie served in Iraq as a staff officer, battle commander and company commander with the 1-103rd Armor Battalion of the Pennsylvania National Guard. His duties McCombie said his duties consisted largely of coordinating the efforts of troops in the field and making sure supply convoys ran smoothly. He also helped oversee tanks checking for improvised explosive devices along the region's roads. For much of that time, McCombie was safely ensconced — at least by Iraq standards — in an underground bunker at an old British air base in Habbiniyah. But for several months the base was mortared regularly. A rocket once hit his headquarters. And once, McCombie and his men came under enemy fire and an IED exploded nearby as they were setting up a security barrier. Fifteen men in his battalion of about 800 were killed in Iraq, he said. He read the eulogy at a funeral for one of them. "They can prepare you for everything. But they can't prepare you for losing a soldier," he said. "It's just difficult. Everyone was walking around on egg shells." The 14-hour shifts he sometimes worked didn't bother him as much as down time, he said. "What was difficult was filling in the last 10 hours," he said. "I started thinking about home. Thinking about my family. I have a little boy." Correspondence But McCombie was able to talk regularly with his wife over the Internet and corresponded with teachers and students at Cambria Central. He remembers how e-mails about snow days boggled his mind in the stifling 100-degree Iraqi heat. "We're beyond happy to have him back," said Donna Ridgeley, 46, a Cambria Central math teacher whose husband was also deployed with the National Guard. "The kids here have a different opinion of the war. This was actually hitting home for them." Many of his students are glad he's back, too. "I had him before. I like him. He's just different," said 16-year-old Zack Guian, who is in McCombie's homeroom class. McCombie, a teacher for 13 years, said he missed the classroom every day while he was on duty. He attributes much of his success as a teacher to his experience in the military. "You learn a lot of the little things that help you in the classroom. You don't just learn bullets and beans and how to go here and how to kill this," he said. "You learn discipline. And discipline, no matter what you do, no matter where you go, will always guide your career." But going back to school hasn't been easy for McCombie. He has a new classroom. There are new principals. And the algebra and geometry books he used to teach from, and which he had memorized, have changed. He still sports a close-cropped military haircut and wears a green shirt, green tie and dark green pants that could almost be mistaken for a uniform. "He taught me the ropes. Now the roles are reversed because he's been gone so long," said Christy Deah, 28, who was mentored early in her teaching career by McCombie. "We've got to get him out of the green. But we're glad to have him back." Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.