A Star of David, Enemy Fire and Cups of Tea: Local Soldier Returns Home

No one was more surprised to learn that Andrew Einstein had enlisted in the military than Einstein’s parents. 

During Lenape High School’s commencement ceremony in 2006, the principal asked those students to stand who would be entering the armed services after graduation.

“I stood up among them,” says Einstein, 23, a soft-spoken man with gleaming hazel eyes. “That’s when my parents found out that I had enlisted.”

The subject of the military had come up earlier, but like most, Einstein’s folks didn’t want to see their oldest son possibly entrenched in a war.

But into combat is where he went.

Within the last two years, Cpl. Einstein has survived the dreariness, danger and dryness of life in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“In the Afghanistan desert, temperatures sometimes reached 140 degrees,” he says.

He has witnessed the exhilarating highs: "I've made so many friends, and I've been lucky to see such beautiful places."

And he's been surrounded by the crushing lows of these Muslim countries—Einstein himself a Jew—surviving an enemy attack for which he earned a Purple Heart. And he's been recommended for a Navy Achievement Medal for trying to save a mortally wounded soldier.

A choice is made

Einstein had been a volunteer firefighter at the Mount Laurel Fire Department from the age of 14 and shifted over to the emergency medical services unit two years later. Joining the department granted Einstein a camaraderie among like-minded men. 

“I didn’t go to parties during high school,” Einstein declares. “I spent most of my time at the station.” 

Originally planning an Army enlistment, it was at the urging of other Marines working at the station that Einstein decided to seek out the Marine Corps as the ultimate proving ground. By January 2007, he was on a plane to Parris Island, SC, slated for the Marines’ rigorous boot camp. 

“It was the best and worst 13 weeks of my life,” he says of his training.

Einstein arrived in Al-Anbar Province Iraq in October 2009—three years after the execution of Saddam Hussein—as part of a route clearance team, a monotonous but perilous job. Although conditions had improved, there still were terrorist cells engaged in the area. 

During his four-month deployment, he and his unit would patrol highways for buried bombs, working six-to-eight-hour nightly shifts shielded in mine-resistant-ambush-protected trucks, known as MRAPs, that weighed 33 tons. 

After his tour of duty, he returned to the firehouse for a year. He then received new orders.

Afghanistan.

He deployed in June 2011.

Hot spot 

It was in Afghanistan where he experienced his most dangerous missions.

Arriving in the city of Sangin in Helmud Province, Einstein was commisioned as a civil affairs operator with the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion. Their mission was to integrate with villagers, gather information and work alongside the infantry. 

Marines who guard this area of the world tell of snipers working for the Taliban, who barrage artillery from mud-walled compounds and who bribe kids with money to fire on Americans.

It’s a district of truck stops and home to a few hundred family farms—a far cry from the farm towns Einstein is accustomed to in Southern New Jersey.

“It's a deadly area,” Einstein says. “There was a period when two to three Marines a week were losing an arm or leg.”

Einstein says his worse day came on Aug. 5, 2011. 

By nightfall, the Marines had climbed onto the roof of a compound in Malozie, and within hours had taken control of the building. Apprehension was always apparent during a mission. 

Later that night, there was a burst of enemy-fire. At first, Einstein couldn’t discern the source of the blast. And as he hit the ground, he saw that one of his comrades had been hit. 

His medic training kicked in. “I had tourniquets tying up his [the soldier’s] wounds on his legs and arms, and I was trying to stop the bleeding. It was really bad…” Einstein stops short as he recalls the memory of the Marine who lost his life that day.

Shortly thereafter, a 9- or 10-year-old boy threw a grenade, landing and exploding within three feet of Einstein.

As a result of the blast, Einstein sustained a concussion and loss part of the hearing in his right ear. 

Friendship and cups of tea

There are the good memories from his tour in Afghanistan.

“One day, one of the local men saw this.” He points to the Star of David tattoo on his chest. “I was a little worried about the fact that I was a Jew, and he was a Muslim.”

According to Einstein, the young man admired the design, like it was a work of art.

“You know, Muslims and Jews are not that far apart,” Einstein suggests. “Both religions follow similar dietary restrictions, and our prayer services are a lot alike.”

And then there was the tea.

“I drank so much tea. For the Afghans, tea time is together time.”

Many times, Einstein was warmly welcomed into tribal families, ate meals with them, and was invited to wear their clothing, a high honor for a foreigner.

But paradoxically, Einstein says women are sometimes mistreated.

“I saw women and little girls beat by male relatives for something that caused disgrace to the family,” explains Einstein.

It's a patriarchal society where life expectancy for a woman lingers around 45.

Home

After spending months without taking a shower, having no communication with family or friends, and existing with limited rations of bottled water, Einstein returned to the comforts of his hometown in Mount Laurel in January.

On Feb. 21, Einstein will be joining the Riverton Police Department, one of nine officers in town. 

“Right before I was deployed to Afghanistan I was hired. Chief [John] Shaw has been very supportive. He told me my job would be waiting when I got back,” he says.

This summer, Einstein might be sent on a civil affairs mission to Africa, although it’s not official yet.

In the meantime, he’s finally settling into the townhouse located a stone's throw from his parents, his brother and sister, which he bought in May 2010—and still commiserating about the home-buying slog of credit checks, agreements of sale and mortgage applications.

“That was more stressful than being in any war,” he says laughing.