TOPEKA (KSNT) – Specialist E4 Kenny Rodriguez grew up in Emporia and wanted to serve locally in the Army Reserves while attending college and raising his family. He had to adapt quickly after becoming involved in the growing conflicts between Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
While his father served during the Vietnam conflict and his grandfather served in World War II, the pride that comes from service stayed with Rodriguez from an early age.
“That was taught to me as a little kid,” Rodriguez said. “As I grew up, I knew I wanted to do two things: I wanted to join the military and I wanted to be a police officer for as long as I can remember.”
His plans to serve the United States quickly changed as the Gulf War spread abroad.
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“It wasn’t really about, ‘Hey, I’m in a theater of war,’ you know,” he said. “I enjoyed it and was quite proud to be there.”
Rodriguez was deployed to Saudi Arabia as a transport driver, driving a heavy equipment transport vehicle (HET).
“Our job was to transport M1A1 tanks to the front lines,” he said. “So we transported them from the port, and we just kept transporting them up. Once it got closer to the Desert Storm of things, they would be fully combat loaded, a pretty safe feeling when you have a battle loaded tank on the back of your trailer.
Once the tanks were delivered, his unit would be assigned various duties at nearby businesses.
“During the ground war, I was transferred to a medical unit field hospital,” Rodriguez said. “We transported them to the front line for all the wounded soldiers. Once we crossed into Iraq, we hit the highway of death, which was just as long. It was such a long highway full of burned out vehicles and burned out people.”
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During his stay abroad, there was one aspect that really stood out to the specialist.
“What many people don’t know about the U.S. military is that they will treat other people’s wounded just as well as we treat our wounded,” Rodriguez said. “So the first few days we were there, Iraqi soldiers came in, and then civilians got caught in the crossfire. I don’t know how other countries would operate if we were given that luxury, treated by their field hospitals, but you know we didn’t even ask questions, we just treated their wounded.”
Rodriguez would also fulfill the other half of that childhood dream; he currently works as a patrolman with the Emporia Police Department.
He also does freelance video work and just completed a music video for country artist Cynthia Rausch. “Coming Home” features a storyline that follows a veteran’s homecoming and prominently features Rodriguez’s hometown.
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