Tim Johnson

50, Port Richmond
Specialist, Army National Guard
Deployed to Iraq Winter 2004 and Spring 2008

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Published: Jul 1, 2009

50, Port Richmond
Specialist, Army National Guard 
Deployed to Iraq Winter 2004 and Spring 2008

Tim Johnson is the youngest of 13 children, and all seven of the males served in the military. His only explanation for enlisting at 23: "I was just following in my brothers' footsteps," he says. He would serve in the Reserves for almost 20 years while studying criminal justice at the University of Massachusetts and Temple. In November 2002, he suspended a masters program at Temple and put teaching at Alverna College on hold in order to rejoin the Army Reserve as a new soldier. He cites the 9/11 attacks as his major motivating factor.

He arrived in Iraq in 2004, and began coordinating security and engineering tasks. The randomness of those days sticks with him. A few days before he left the war zone, he posed for a picture atop a tank. One week later that exact position was targeted by a rocket — 15 were wounded, three killed. "When you're out of [Iraq], it hits you," says Johnson. He thought differently about the violence while there. During one rocket attack, "when the mortar passed overhead, I said, 'Fuck 'em, if they do me they do me, I'm going outside to smoke a cigarette.' And that's exactly what I did."

Johnson's second Iraq deployment was cut short after just about a month. He was subpoenaed back to Philadelphia to testify in a murder case — he had witnessed a shooting at the Aramingo Diner, less than 100 yards from his front step. In fact, he tried to revive the victim in the restaurant, and has been recommended by the Wounded Warrior program to receive its highest award of valor. After testifying, he finished his tour on a base in the U.S. He's not sure right now if he will attempt to redeploy to Afghanistan. If he doesn't, he plans to go back to teaching.

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