In the Afghan mountains near the border with Pakistan, the enemy was elusive to the cop on loan to the Army National Guard.
Instead of a patrol car, Jim McGuire bounced around the back of a Toyota pickup, traveling across dusty roads looking for members of al-Qaida and the Taliban. Months before, McGuire had shed his Utah Highway Patrol uniform for military fatigues. He traded his UHP lieutenant title for Sgt. 1st Class. He still was armed, but his military weapon was more powerful.
A couple of kilometers from the cave complex that was his base, "I heard something in succession, like an automatic weapon," McGuire recalled. "I tapped on the cab and said, 'I think we're getting shot at.' "
Then a rocket-propelled grenade exploded. The driver pulled the truck behind a small hill. The soldiers climbed to the hill's top to return fire.
"We kept asking each other, 'Where did it come from?' 'Where did it come from?' " McGuire said. "We had a general direction, but we were trying to pinpoint it."
From a distance, they spotted trucks in procession with men and women on foot. The translator said it was a wedding party.
McGuire believes the Taliban quickly joined the wedding party, knowing Americans would not attack it.
Last year, McGuire spent Veterans Day hunting weapons caches and interrogating alleged terrorists. This Veterans Day, McGuire is back home with his wife and children after an eight-month deployment in the Middle East. He also has returned to work as a UHP SWAT commander. McGuire has been a cop 19 years. He joined the military 15 years ago for the extra income and continues to serve in the Guard.
Police departments boast high numbers of officers who are military veterans and part-time military, such as McGuire.
"Law enforcement and the military go hand in hand," Salt Lake County sheriff's spokeswoman Peggy Faulkner said. "It's called public service. People who want to be part of the greater good, serve their country."
Law enforcement and the military are similar in organization and training, said Summit County sheriff's Capt. Joe Offret, who was a Navy submarine helmsman during the Vietnam conflict. But neither is always glamorous.
"The way you see it on TV is not the way it is," Offret said. "It's interesting work, but it's not terrifying. A lot of times it's sheer boredom."
In 1971, Offret said he "had a real low draft number. It was like eight or something. They were doing that lottery thing."
He knew he would be selected for military service. After graduating from Park City High School, Offret enlisted in the Navy to have some control over his fate. He was stationed at Pearl Harbor and part of a 60-member nuclear, fast-attack submarine crew that deployed to the western Pacific twice.
Offret drove the submarine in shifts. He kept his eye on Russian submarines in the region but never was involved in any intense combat.
In 1975, Offret joined the reserves and began his career in law enforcement, where he noticed police skills — such as forcing entrance into buildings, gun training, decisions about use of force, rank structure, uniformity — were modeled after military tactics. The military "teaches you to be accountable for your job, unit and fellow sailor. Law enforcement is very similar," he said.
Offret was discharged from the military in 1977. His days in the submarine "stick" with him. He remembers the closeness of the crew, which served as a family when he was young and thousands of miles from his own.
"The submarine service is rather an elite service. I'm rather proud," said Offret. "(But) I had a pretty short stretch of service, to put it in perspective. I have friends who barely made it out of Vietnam. They're heroes in my book."
Sandy police detective Chuck Thoman first thought about police work as an Army infantry platoon sergeant in Panama City in 1990. He was over a group of 43 soldiers who fought down the military of dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega. They secured buildings for the country's new leadership and suppressed lawlessness after Noriega surrendered to the United States.
Thoman's unit rounded up suspects in looting and other crimes. Military intelligence questioned them. Sometimes Thoman watched.
"That really piqued my interest," said Thoman. "The way they got confessions, I thought it was amazing."
He particularly remembers a woman who worked for the equivalent of Noriega's secret service. The U.S. military wanted to know where Noriega had stashed his money, some of which was connected to the drug trade.
"She spent hours lying," Thoman said.
Interrogators continued questioning her, incorporating her lies into the questions. The woman realized they were on to her and came clean.
"She helped us locate some of the money," Thoman said.
Thoman left active duty and joined the reserves in 1991, when he moved to Utah and became a cop. He retired after 23 years of military service in 2001, ironically on Sept. 11. As a police detective, he investigates property crimes in Sandy.
This Veterans Day, Thoman plans to attach his American flag to his house and call his father, who was with the Marines six years and 30 years with the New Jersey National Guard.
He also will go to lunch with a co-worker at the Sandy Police Department who is a Vietnam veteran.
"We always do something," said Thoman. "It's a bond."
E-MAIL: lhancock@desnews.com