In March of 2003 my unit, the 203rd Engineer
Battalion (ECB)(HVY) Houn Dawgs, was activated, in May 2003 my unit was deployed to Iraq. During that time I worked as both a Medic and for five months I had the unique opportunity of working side by side with Iraqis (Arabs and Kurds) doing my civillian job... Software Developer.

 

I helped get the wheels in motion with my database counterpart for a national school database and website (which now have yet to be realized). I'm proud of the work that our Battalion had done all over Iraq in construction missions and surveying schools for Rebuilding and Refurbishment. I'm also very proud to have met my software development counterparts in the North and in Baghdad.

The EMIS (Educational Management Information System) team:

Returning home on 17Jul04 was difficult emotionally and physically. I, and I'm sure my fellow soldiers, was drained. Then to come home and be on a bus to FLW watching for IEDs on Missouri Roads... and I know I wasn't the only one watching overpasses and cars pulling up along side. The sound of a nailgun in the distant construction sites has a very familiar sound as well.

It has been easier for me transitioning than it has for others. When I was there, I didn't ever think of being anywhere but home. Now that I'm home, I think often of being back.

I don't really have any complaints about the deployment (though as I type, I'll probably think of some) except that there were plenty of logistic issues when we first arrived. So many issues getting med supply and chronic meds that my mother-in-law organized a campaign in Atlanta to ship us the things we couldn't get like Tylenol, Ibuprophen, bandaids, bacitracin, footpowder, and some smaller sundry things until the logistics caught up to get us things.

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