One of the more jarring tales from Donald Trump’s immigration ban was the story of an Iraqi who worked with the Department of Defense getting detained at Kennedy International Airport.
Hameed Khalid Darweesh was held overnight after the ban went into effect,before eventually being released.
During that time, as America erupted in protest, a former soldier took to Twitter to tell his tale of how a teenager he worked with during the Iraq War gave him life years later, when their paths serendipitously crossed at one of the lowest points of his life.
Read along. It may move you.
I told this story about #refugees a couple years ago on Veterans Day with a humorous slant. I'm going to tell it again today, unfiltered.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
Years ago, on my first deployment to Iraq, I befriended a local boy, Brahim, who would quickly become one of our interpreters.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
He was able to do so, bc the turnover rate for local nationals work with us was enormous. And not bc they quit, bc they were killed.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
Besides the money, we were able to get them to volunteer with us by promising them refugee status in the U.S. if they completed a tour.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
(But really, I think the chain of command knew that most interpreters wouldn't make it through their contracts alive.)
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
Anyway, Brahmin would tell me about all the family members he lost in the conflict–brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, all of em.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
He told me how he lived in a one bedroom house with 7 people. No clean, power every other week because of the rolling blackouts, etc.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
He told me how they did have the basic necessities most days and that him volunteering w/ us was one of their sole sources of income.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
One day, I went down to the PX and bought him $20, maybe $30 worth of toiletries. Nbd really. Just didn't want dude to smell like shit.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
When I presented it to him, he cried. Literally bawled his eyes out and said he give his life for me. OVER SOAP. Completely sobering.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
He spent the next year acting as our liaison, providing us with valuable intel, essentially saving our lives on a daily basis. At 16.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
At the end of my tour in Iraq, I knew I was leaving him to die. I knew I'd never see him again. Was just kinda like "take care kid."
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
Fast forward 5-years. And I'm flying home to Phoenix to bury my little brother who was brutally murdered. (Gun violence is another subj.)
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
I remember the day like it was yesterday. I cried my eyes out all the way from Hawaii to Arizona. Fucking brutal.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
Spend 6 years fighting wars and you don't expect to get a phone call that your kid brother was randomly murdered in a carjacking.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
Anyway, I land in Arizona and it's pouring. Hop off and walk down to the taxi stand. (Uber's weren't really a thing in 2013.)
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
I get in the first taxi that pulls up and we're off. Driver starts to make the standard small talk. Where you from, what do you do, etc.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
I tell him I just got out of the military and blah blah. He says "oh great. I love the military. You ever travel anywhere?"
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
Tell him, "Sure. Been to every corner of the globe. Africa, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc." He says "Oh! I'm from Iraq! What part?"
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
I say "Kirkuk, mostly." And he says "Im from Kirkuk." And then gets really fucking quiet. Like awkwardly quiet. Making me nervous quiet.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
My first thought is I killed one of his family members and he recognizes me. And now im literally getting ready to bail out of the cab.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
I see him staring at me in the rear view. I can see the anguish in his eyes. And then he starts to PULL THE CAB TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
He stops, turns around and says, "Dylan, you remember me? It's me, Brahim." And I'm like wtffffff. And just start sobbing.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
We got out of that taxi off the I10 and Rural and hugged it out on a bridge in the rain on some Notebook shit. I didn't ever care, man.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
So I'm like WTF ARE YOU DOING IN FUCKING ARIZONA?! HOW? MAN WHAT? And he's like I did my 4 years and they gave me a visa.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
They gave him some cash and a 1 way ticket to the States. Asked him where he wanted to go, and he said where the weather is like Iraq.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
So they sent him to Arizona.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
5 years after I left him in Iraq and a few days after my younger brother was violently murdered, the universe linked us up again.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
Brahim literally saved my life, twice.
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
Lost one brother, and got another one back. #refugees pic.twitter.com/FDF6jVNBZf
— Dylan Park-Pettiford (@dyllyp) January 28, 2017
Amazing.
H/T BroBible