Seehusen, who originally joined the Army in 1986 and served until 1997, decided he was going back after the troop surge in the Middle East around 2006 under Gen. David Petraeus.

“It just got to the point where I got tired of listening to people be armchair generals on what we should do, what we shouldn’t,” he said.

Seehusen said he believed he could still do his part for his country.

“I felt I was young enough, and I still missed the military,” he said. “I still missed the camaraderie of it. I decided, ‘I’m going back in.'”

-Submitted photo
Darwin Seehusen, a United States Army veteran, poses with a group of men while serving in Iraq.

He ended up joining the Iowa Army National Guard’s 34th Infantry Division in Boone.

While he originally served in the combat arms as a cavalry scout, Seehusen said he realized he probably couldn’t do what he used to do.

“And when I joined the guard, it’s like, ‘I’m 40 years old,'” he said. “‘I can’t be doing this young man’s combat game.'”

After asking the guard what positions they had available, he learned that there was an opening in the public affairs division.

His job was to be a photojournalist, taking pictures for the Army.

-Submitted photo
United States Army Veteran Darwin Seehusen poses with a group of Iraqi children while he was deployed overseas.

The position intrigued Seehusen.

“At the time, I took a lot of photographs as a hobby,” he said. “I shot still photos for 15 years. That kind of correlates with the photojournalism.”

It also sounded like a job that had variety.

“It’s interesting because you get to meet a lot of people from different walks of life, different backgrounds, different units,” he said. “You’re not stuck doing the same thing as, say, a supply clerk or a mechanic where that’s their only job.”

He signed on to serve in public affairs, and in 2010, he was deployed to Iraq with a National Guard unit operating out of Camp Dodge in Johnston.

-Submitted photo
Darwin Seehusen, who served in public affairs while in the United States Army, poses with a group of men in Iraq.

Seehusen was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division, which was in the northern part of Iraq.

He was one of four people sent to Mosul to Command Post North, “where the assistant division commander had his own contingent, and he would go to different places and talk with key leaders. Kind of the overall mission came through him.”

In his position, Seehusen got to meet several high-ranking military officials, including Petraeus.

Another time, then-Iowa Gov. Chet Culver and then-Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley came for a visit to Iraq and Seehusen got to take pictures of that visit.

Seehusen’s work with public affairs didn’t just take him overseas. He also spent time in South Dakota participating in the Golden Coyote, which is a three-week training exercise put on by the South Dakota National Guard.

-Submitted photo
Darwin Seehusen takes an ironic photo next to a sign saying that photography is prohibited while he served in Iraq. Seehusen, who served in public affairs, said one of his jobs was telling reporters what they could and could not photograph.

“The DNR (Department of Natural Resources) up in South Dakota marked different trees that were needing cut down,” he said. “The engineering unit cut them down and loaded them onto trucks. They’d take different areas within that Indian reservation and the council would use them for different things like firewood, repairing houses, building fences.”

Seehusen enjoyed his time serving in public affairs.

“I did more with the Guard than I ever did on active duty,” he said. “As a photojournalist, you can go with any unit, any assignment, because you’re going out, telling the Army’s story. It was a unique experience. I’m glad I did it. I met some great people.”

Prior to joining the National Guard, Seehusen joined the United States Army in 1986. He completed his basic training at Fort Campbell in Kentucky.

During his original Army tenure, he was deployed to Germany in 1988, where he worked for NATO headquarters.

-Submitted photo
United States Army Veteran Darwin Seehusen poses next to a statue of a chef while inside of a mall in Iraq.

“I was a mechanic there,” he said. “At the time, Gen. (Crosbie) Saint, the four-star general, was in charge of forces in Europe. I worked on his cars and did the support for the NATO mission.”

He served in Germany until 1991, when he was stationed at Fort Riley in Kansas.

Seehusen was later transferred to Fort Polk, Louisiana, and from 1994 to 1995 was deployed to Haiti, where he took part in Operation Uphold Democracy.

The United States military was sent to Haiti after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown by a coup.

What he remembers most about serving in Haiti was that the country had no sanitation system, so garbage was piling up in the streets.

He continued to serve in the Army until 1997.

Seehusen decided to leave because the Army was offering a reduction in force bonus.

“So if you wanted the money when you were discharged, you had to sign up in a Guard or reserve unit for two years,” he said.

Seehusen decided to join the 133rd Test Squadron of the Iowa Air National Guard, based in Fort Dodge, and served there for two years before leaving the military until he rejoined in 2008.

Seehusen retired from the Army in 2016.

Joining the military was an easy decision for Seehusen, as many in his family have served.

“I come from a military family,” he said. “My dad was a full-time Guard member out here at the Air Force, and I had an uncle that was active duty.”

-Submitted photo