Oct. 23, 2009

John O'Brien played some soccer after leaving the UMass Lowell men's program in 2004.

He kicked the ball around with Iraqi Army members in between patrolling hot spots, surviving firefights, searching for roadside bombs, and enduring combat missions to confiscate weapons and arrest terrorist leaders.

But the 27-year-old from North Andover — who has gray hairs starting to sprout — sometimes wonders if playing college soccer after a five-year hiatus and competing against men five to eight years younger than him might be his toughest mission yet.

It hasn't been easy. He can't practice every day like he could when was 20. And he admitted that he probably felt more nerves right before playing his first game for UMass Lowell this season than he did when heading to the Iraq War in August 2006.

"Not being able to go hard one day in a game and then being ready the next day (for practice) — that's been difficult for me because I hate sitting out," O'Brien said while watching practice Monday from the stands and resting his sore body after playing all 90 minutes in a contest against Southern Connecticut on Saturday.

To put it simply, O'Brien is a fascinating man.

The former North Andover High School co-captain left his secure life as a college student-athlete to serve his country. He still believes he made the right decision despite 15 dangerous and grueling months in Iraq.

But right now the former Cape Ann League MVP is glad to be back home playing soccer again. He said thinking about how he would someday rejoin the UMass Lowell team helped him get through some of the difficult times in Iraq.

"I wouldn't mind at all (returning to Iraq) but clearly it's not what I want to do right now," said O'Brien who is part of the Individual Ready Reserve until 2012. "I want to be here."

UMass Lowell assistant coach Christian Figueroa, who O'Brien played with at both North Andover and UMass Lowell, said, "He's added a great deal of help for the team whether it's as a player or just the experience and the leadership and maturity he brings."

Surprises family

The events on and after Sept. 11, 2001 sparked O'Brien's interest in joining the Army.

"Especially when the U.S. invaded Iraq," he said. "Then it really becomes reality. I then started to look at the timetable. I didn't want it to pass by without me getting a chance.

"Everyone at home was talking about it and every class you went to, it was a discussion. Everybody had their point of view. I just kind of figured, 'What's the best point of view to get?' You've got to be there. You've got to experience it yourself."

O'Brien joined the Army in the summer of 2004 after helping the River Hawks win the Northeast-10 Conference tournament and make the 2003 Division 2 Elite 8. He was a third-team All-NE-10 defender that fall.

He still doesn't know why he didn't tell any family members or friends he had been thinking about joining the Army for nearly three years.

"If you know John, it's not all that surprising," his mother Patricia O'Brien said. "He's a man of few words. But the fact he had sort of made up his mind doesn't surprise me."

Nobody close to O'Brien knew until after he already started filling out the paperwork.

"It was a shock," Patricia O'Brien said. "We were terrified. We were very concerned."

War duties

O'Brien deployed for Iraq in August 2006 as a member of a small Recon unit of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. He and his unit stayed there until November 2007.

Besides patrolling and taking part in some combat missions, O'Brien said he brought food to Iraqis and provided security for medics visiting villages. His unit built its bases in schools and abandoned buildings to stay close to the people to try to make them feel safe.

"We did a lot of work with the Iraqi Army," O'Brien said. "In the downtime, they obviously enjoy soccer so that was a common thing for us. We started to play with those guys. It was fun. It's good anytime to build common ground."

Fate on his side twice

O'Brien experienced the brutal cold and windy rain season in Northern Iraq.

He said the rain was so heavy that the dirt roads turn into a muddy mess.

Most nights he slept in a sleeping bag rather than on a cot. He washed himself with Baby Wipes and showered when members of his unit stood over him and poured buckets of water on his body. He ate bags of tuna fish, but one of his best meals came when he and the others bought a cow from an Iraqi they befriended, then butchered it and cooked it on a makeshift grill.

O'Brien, furthermore, was in almost constant danger of roadside bombs and said he even had one partially detonate right in front of his vehicle's tire while driving. Luckily, the entire bomb didn't explode because of a problem with the wiring and O'Brien escaped.

Another close call came April 23, 2007 when two suicide bombers in dump trucks full of explosives drove into the L-shaped school where O'Brien's unit had set up its base. The attack killed nine soldiers, O'Brien said. O'Brien, who was on the other side of the building, escaped with back injuries. Back in North Andover, his mother didn't sleep that night.

"I heard on the 11 o'clock news that something had happened with the 82nd Airborne," said Patricia O'Brien, who heard nothing else about it until 4 p.m. the next day after victims' families had been notified. "I knew immediately it was his unit because they had been to that place before."

O'Brien described some of the planned combat missions as tough but actually enjoyable.

"I got a lot of positive things out of it in the long run," he said. "That kind of experience you can't get doing other things — the ability to adapt to situations, to deal with poor circumstances, and seeing what guys are capable of doing on an everyday basis like staying awake for days at a time to pull security."

O'Brien said he received a Purple Heart for his actions after the events of April 23, 2007 but when he was asked about it, he said he does not like to talk about his Purple Heart or his injuries.

He said those things are not important to him. What's important to him is honoring and remembering the nine men who died and respecting their families.

Coach then a surprise returnEE

O'Brien always had planned to play soccer at UMass Lowell after returning home.

But he broke his ankle in a men's league in May 2008. That injury prevented him from playing that fall. He instead worked at Fort Devens rather than returning to school.

He accepted a position as a UMass Lowell assistant coach when he finally did return to the school in January to study criminal justice.

"My ankle was still a mess," he said. "(Soccer) just wasn't looking like an option."

He still felt pain in his ankle when he jumped into some practice sessions with the players during training camp. But also he realized something.

"I began to think maybe I could do more than I thought," he said. "The idea that I could physically do it without killing myself made (playing again) seem like maybe an option."

O'Brien and Figueroa discussed the possibility of O'Brien playing next fall.

But three games into this season, Figueroa thought the defense could use O'Brien's skill and leadership.

"Having seen him play at practice ... he looked good," Figueroa said.

O'Brien never practices the day after a game, but receives treatment and works on his conditioning. He said he's much slower than he used to be but makes up for it with his savvy.

He said getting back into soccer shape has been a chore.

O'Brien saw his first action back in a game against Assumption on Sept. 19.

"I didn't even plan on going in that game," said O'Brien, who soon earned a starting position. "It was earlier than we had planned. He (coach) kind of looked at me on the bench and said 'Can you go?' I said, 'Sure.' I wasn't going to say no at that point. That's for sure."

The team erased a 1-0 deficit after O'Brien entered and won 2-1.

His mother is thrilled.

"To go through the time we went through not knowing what the future would bring,'' Patricia said, "it's an extra added little bonus that I didn't expect."