In the Military for Two Different Countries: Shant Kenderian (Fall 07)

by Emily Bagdasarian

The Armenian Graduate Students’ Association at UCLA, in its Meet and Greet Literary Series, presented author of 1001 Nights in Iraq: The Shocking Story of an American Forced to Fight for Saddam Against the Country He Loves, Shant Kenderian, to promote his book as well as personally share the experiences he chronicles in it.

Andrew Behesnilian, a second-year medical student, and AGSA’s project manager for the event, stated that the purpose of the Meet and Greet Series involves a desire to “bridge the Armenian community, and more specifically, the Armenian youth with other accomplished Armenians.”

Shant Kenderian, an Armenian born and raised within a close-knit Armenian community in Iraq, chose to flee the country for the United States with his mother when living conditions became difficult.

At age seventeen, in an attempt to reconcile with his estranged father, Kenderian returned to Iraq. As fate would have it, approximately a week later the Iran-Iraq war erupted, borders were sealed shut, and the young Kenderian, as an Iraqi citizen, was obligated to remain in the country. Kenderian managed to enroll in engineering school, thinking a four-year degree would outlast the war. He would, however, spend three and a half years fighting at the front lines. At the war’s end he was fortunately able to file the paperwork necessary to reinstate his permanent residency status for the United States. As luck would have it, Saddam invaded Kuwait and he was redrafted into the navy.

Deciding he had nothing to lose, and secretly hoping he would be captured as an American prisoner of war, Kenderian volunteered for what he refers to as a “triple suicide mission.”

Kenderian’s descriptions of his experiences emphasize not only the horrors of war, but also its humane side. While he recounts how they often lived on only one bagel-sized piece of bread per day, Kenderian also discussed the life-long friendships he formed with his American interrogators and fellow soldiers, confiding that, “It’s a very special bond, and it’s a very painful bond. I am still in touch with these people.”

Shant Kenderian survived these tribulations, eventually earning a masters and a PhD in material science from John Hopkins.

Third year global studies major Shahane Martirosyan found the story to be incredible: “It’s amazing that he survived and is here sharing this unique perspective of behind the scenes of war.”