1. Family NewsTHE MIRROR
BY DENNY McCARTHY
MIRROR REPORTER
On September 22,
Andrew Curran bought a
plane ticket, packed his
belongings and said goodbye
to his family and friends in
Maumee for yet another
trip. He isn’t spending his
time relaxing on the shores
of Cancun, immersing him-
self in the culture of Japan
or sightseeing all over
Europe.
He is back in Iraq.
Petty Officer 3rd Class
Andrew Curran, 27, is a vet-
eran of the Iraq War, but he
isn’t going to be fighting
again anytime soon.
During his tour as a Navy
hospital corpsman in 2007,
he was attached to a Marine
unit and taught emergency
medical skills to Ramadi
police forces. Now, for the
second year in a row, he will
be spending eight months in
the Soran district of Iraq,
teaching English to its citi-
zens.
Andrew graduated from
Maumee High School in
2005 and studied Middle
Eastern and North African
studies at the University of
Michigan, graduating in
2013. He is an avid traveler
– filling up two passports
and visiting 22 countries
while learning languages
and tutoring skills. After
serving, he decided he want-
ed to keep working in Iraq.
Andrew said that because he
didn’t initially understand
the country’s culture or lan-
guage, it motivated him to
pursue them in his academ-
ic life.
Andrew’s brother, Sgt.
Conor Curran, 30, was a
Marine combat engineer
who inspired Andrew to
join the Navy. Conor is a
2002 graduate of Maumee
High School and is attend-
ing college on the GI Bill.
Conor toured in
Habbaniya and Ramadi,
clearing IEDs, and at the
end of his second tour, he
was able to meet up with his
brother, as Andrew’s unit
was taking over for his. This
moment, Conor said, was
pivotal to their relation-
ship.
“He was, like, prom king.
I was kind of the rebel,”
Conor said, smiling. “It
flipped it all on its head and
allowed me to see the con-
nection we have.”
After returning home,
the brothers said they felt a
call to action. “We both
came home feeling the urge,
the need, to do something
to change the status quo of
how America is relating to
that region,” Conor said.
Conor spent two sum-
mers speaking about the
power of compassion and
his experiences in the war.
He bicycled across the
country with fellow veteran
Josh Stieber and the next
year they were joined by
others.
“Both Andrew and
Conor have said that they
would like to go back and
they would like to experi-
ence (Iraq) differently rather
than in the military,” the
brothers’ father, Dick, said.
“Andrew has acted on that.”
Ramadi, where Andrew
served, is now controlled by
the terrorist organization
ISIS; and while he employs
nonviolent teachings, he’s
wary of them being used
against people in any way.
“I assume that I’m affect-
ing lives positively in the
classroom, but I guess you
don’t really know until they
get older,” Andrew said. “I
taught these citizens of
Ramadi these medical tech-
niques and it’s like, ‘What
are they doing with that
knowledge now?’ I don’t
know.”
In recent months, ISIS
has been claiming regions
of Iraq and Syria at a stag-
gering rate. The group is
known for its brutal meth-
ods of killing during its
expansion efforts, including
public executions by cruci-
fixion and death marches.
ISIS is estimated to have
8,000 soldiers, with control
spanning from Ramadi to
Al-Raqqah, 300 miles away,
according to a recent publi-
cation of the U.S. Army
War College.
Although Soran is about
80 miles from Mosul, the
nearest ISIS-controlled
region in Kurdish Iraq,
Andrew called the distance
“close, but very far.” He
said Kurdish territory is
safer than Sunni territory,
due to geographic and cul-
tural barriers, along with a
Kurdish military that
should be able to protect
the land from further ISIS
expansion.
“It wouldn’t be safe for
me to go back to the Sunni
part of Iraq,” Andrew said.
“I’d get my head chopped
off.” He said he feels safe,
but plans on retreating to
Turkey if he feels that the
area becomes too danger-
ous.
While the threat of ISIS
activity near Andrew’s
school in Soran concerns
Andrew’s family, they
encourage him to follow his
passion.
“If I had my way, I
would just have our whole
family sitting here all the
time with a fire in the fire-
place, playing Scrabble, eat-
ing popcorn and we just
stay (here),” Andrew’s
mother, Kit, said, looking at
the living room floor and
imagining it. “But that’s
not life. That’s containing
people and putting them in
a cage. … The real adven-
tures in life are going out
and doing all kinds of
things, having freedom to
grow and find out who you
are and helping others.”
Andrew Curran stands in uptown Maumee with one of
his two filled passports. Andrew has been to 22 coun-
tries, including Iraq. He has returned to the country to
teach after serving in the Iraq War.
MIRROR PHOTO BY DENNY McCARTHY
Brothers Andrew (left) and Conor Curran were able meet
for two weeks in Iraq while their respective units shifted
duties. Conor’s service in the Marines inspired Andrew
to join the Navy. PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW CURRAN
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