Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq and Afghanistan

by Jane Hampton Cook

  Led by Braswell, the 340th Quartermaster Company established field services for six FOBs in Iraq, mostly stretching in the dangerous western Al Anbar Province. Built in secured locations, FOBs had an aid station rather than a hospital and a helicopter landing zone rather than an airstrip. Soldiers prepare and serve only two meals a day without a luxurious KBR dining facility. FOBs support tactical operations of COPs. FOBs are highly beneficial because they reduce reaction time for medics treating injured soldiers and for Quick Reaction Forces to respond to soldiers in combat.

  In its most basic form, FOBs include triple strands of concertina wire surrounding them, interlocking fields of fire for crew served weapons, guard posts, and heavily guarded entry control points.

  “More advanced FOBs feature additional protections such as Hesco barriers and amenities such as telephone and Internet cafes, porta-johns, and perhaps a Hajji store where soldiers can shop,” Braswell added.

  Many life changes take us out of our comfort zone and into a “forward operating base.” College students rely on the support of home while the university gives them a semi-permanent stop on the road of life. Getting a new job and moving to a new town requires new infrastructures, such as new doctors and schools. While not the same as combat, life’s transitions rely on everyday courage until the forward operating position becomes a permanent home base.

  Prayer:

  Father, thank you for carrying me through life’s transitions, for those forward operating bases that give me enough support and security to get to the next stage in life.

  “May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.” (Psalm 122:7)

  February 11

  PRIMER 4: METT-TC

  Capt. Mark Braswell, United States Army

  The 340th Quartermaster Company found itself serving during one of the most difficult phases of the war. They came to Iraq in October 2004, months after the successful 2003 invasion but years before the successful surge.

  “Anti-Coalition forces attacked the 340th with mortars, rockets, rocket propelled grenades, Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), daisy-chained IEDs that the 340th called ‘convoy killers,’ snipers, and small arms fire. Incoming mortars came so close that they hit the shower and laundry tents at Camp Habbiniyah and FOB Corrigedor in Ar Ramadi,” recounted Captain Mark Braswell, commander of the 340th Quartermaster Company that provided crew members with gun trucks, and provided supplies as they outfitted Forward Operating Bases.

  What they faced was an ever smarter enemy. Braswell shared about a battlefield formula known as METT-TC: Mission, Enemy, Time, Terrain, Troops available and Civilians on the battlefields. This formula was crucial to making decisions about fighting an ever smarter enemy. Evaluating the elements of METT-TC led to changes in daily operations, such as timing.

  “The mission of providing Shower, Laundry and Clothing Renovation (SLCR) services was often affected by enemy activity. During major offensive operations, the soldiers closed down the shower tent in order to guard detainees in Ramadi. Also, the hours of the day or night (when the SLCR services were provided) changed based on missions and enemy activity.”

  The greatest threat to the gun truckers of the 340th Quartermaster Company was traveling in combat logistics patrols. Early on, the enemy figured out how to create IEDs that are often made with high explosive artillery shells. They placed IEDs on road curbs or other hidden locations and waited to detonate them until vehicles or pedestrians passed by. Then the enemy expanded on IEDs by using EFPs or explosively formed projectiles. EFOs are mortar or artillery rounds and rockets that aim and propel the explosion into vehicles. They are designed to penetrate armor from a distance. The METT-TC gave decision makers a guideline for evaluating dangerous terrain.

  “Sometimes, roads were closed due to attacks. Soldiers had to wait for Route Clearance teams to clear roads of any IEDs before traveling on the road,” Braswell noted. When main roads were blocked because of combat, soldiers were forced to take back roads and alternate routes and travel at unexpected times. That’s what good guidelines do: provide principles and boundaries to live by.

  Prayer:

  Thank you for providing practical operating guidelines in your word, and wisdom to keep my path straight.

  “I’m giving you thirty sterling principles tested guidelines to live by. Believe me these are truths that work, and will keep you accountable to those who sent you.” (Proverbs 22:17)

  February 12

  PRIMER 5: MEDALS

  Capt. Mark Braswell, United States Army

  Captain Mark Braswell went into Iraq in 2004 with two main prayers: that all 127 men and women under his leadership would come home alive. He also prayed that he would come home to be a husband to his wife and a dad to his two newly adopted daughters.

  After spending a year providing shower, laundry, and clothing renovation services at Forward Operating Bases in some of the most remote and dangerous places in Iraq and performing gun truck missions supplying and supporting military bases, the soldiers in the 340th lived up to their mottos: Proud and Ready! and Twice the citizen Twice the soldier!

  Several of the 127 soldiers serving in the 340th Quartermaster Company were wounded and two had serious head or neck injuries from IEDs. “These two were very close calls. One soldier received an emergency field tracheotomy from a Navy Corpsman that saved his life,” Braswell explained. “Some returned by medevac and all the rest returned in October 2005. All came home alive.”

  Braswell was proud of the medals his company earned. Ten of the wounded soldiers earned Purple Heart Medals and seven received Bronze Star Medals. One of the 340th soldiers rescued some Marines who were injured by double stacked landmines in an IED kill-zone for which he was awarded an Army Commendation Medal with “V” device for Valor and thanked by the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps.

  Some soldiers earned the new coveted Combat Action Badge for their experience in combat. “Every soldier earned a distinguishing shoulder sleeve insignia for their wartime service, or as soldiers simply call it a ‘combat patch’ that they proudly wear on their right shoulder,” Braswell proudly reported.

  No mission was too tough. The soldiers got the job done. Every time, they adapted and overcame the challenges. For their service in Iraq, all of the soldiers in the 340th also received the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with the “M” Mobilization device, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Overseas Training ribbon.

  Although medals and recognition are important, the greater satisfaction for Braswell was knowing that every soldier came home alive; and that he had the opportunity to continue being a father to his daughters and a husband to his wife.

  Prayer:

  Thank you for the medals and rewards that recognize achievement. Thank you also for the greater blessing of family and friendships.

  “Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” (Matthew 7:20)

  February 13

  HEART OF A CHILD

  Col. Mark Troutman and Sandy Troutman, United States Army

  Going to the United States Army War College is an honorable and desirable assignment. Located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the War College has a one-year master’s program that is setup in two semesters. The students and their families arrive in the summer for a year of get-togethers and classroom learning.

  “During Mark’s first semester, the Senior Leadership Branch contacted him (along with eight others) about going to Iraq in December. It is unheard of to pull students from the War College. So this was a big deal,” Sandy Troutman explained of her husband’s one-year deployment to Iraq. The students would finish the following year.

  Some children “keep their own counsel.” One day Sandy took her children, Anna and Nathan, to Boyds Bears near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. There they could build bears by stuffing them with meaningful colored beans: yellow for laughter, green for imagination, blue for friendship, red for
love, and purple for bravery.

  “I was helping Nathan fill the bear, thinking he might want a full rainbow of beans,” Sandy said. Nathan only wanted two colors: red and purple.

  “Mom, this bear is for Dad. I want it filled with love so that Dad is filled with love. So he knows God loves him, we love him and that he has all the love he needs. Dad needs a lot of courage right now, so the rest is for courage,” Nathan said quietly with earnest eyes.

  “I managed to choke out something along the lines of ‘his bear being just perfect.’ Needless to say, we did not fill the bear with many of the other colors.”

  “As I carry this story in my heart, I realized that for all of my expertise in the human heart, Nathan knew with the simplicity of a child what was needful and really counted. His words expressed a love so pure that it hurt in its blinding brilliance.”

  Nathan named the bear Mark Bear. It stayed with him for a long time, quietly going where we went, and in Nathan’s arms every night. Anna and Nathan also sent a tiny bear to Mark from Boyds Bears that day as a symbol of the bears waiting at home for him. When Mark returned in October 2005, Mark Bear faded onto the shelf of beloved but no longer necessary toys. The bears took Mark and Nathan to the other side of a very long year.

  Prayer:

  Thank you for speaking to the heart in remarkable ways.

  “For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45b)

  February 14

  LETTING GO

  Capt. Amy Malugani, United States Marine Corps

  One of the hardest moments for Captain Amy Malugani was the day she had to let her Marines go forward to their assigned units. Her public affairs team separated and spread throughout two Marine infantry regiments in November 2004 to clear the booby-trapped city of Fallujah that had been under complete insurgent control after the first attempt to take the city had stalled in April 2004.

  “We had synergy. Our personalities matched our work ethics and motivations. It was an amazing team,” Malugani explained.

  In the early months of her first tour (August 2004 to March 2005) Malugani served as the public affairs officer for the 1st Force Service Support Group (1st FSSG), which provided logistical support for more than 25,000 Marines and Sailors in al Anbar province. The job of Malugani’s team was to tell their story: internally through documentation and externally through reporters.

  In October 2004 Malugani received the call from higher headquarters. Her team would push with the infantry unit into Fallujah. They spread throughout Regimental Combat Team 7 (RCT-7) and RCT-1 to assist about forty embedded reporters covering the battle. The insurgents had grossly inflated the number of civilian casualties during the stalled April push. Getting an accurate story out to the Iraqis and the rest of the world was even more important the second time around.

  “I wanted to go and be with those Marines, my team, but I had to let them go and trust, all would be well,” Malugani said, noting that she watched battalion and unit movements from RCT-7 headquarters on the skirts of the city. And while she kept her eye closely on the situation reports that documented the names of casualties, Malugani stayed focus on doing her job with excellence.

  “I admired how well the public affairs team seamlessly integrated into all these different facets of the Marine Corps ground, aviation, logistics operating with generals in one moment and then with little notice operating on the front lines with infantry lance corporals.”

  The battle was block-by-block fighting Marines kicking in doors. One block might be filled with smoke from a full-scale battle while at the same time another might be calm, filled with Marines distributing food. Although it was hard letting her team go, the situation was beyond her control. She had to trust.

  “You do your part and there’s just a higher power, a divine order. There is enough grace to deal with whatever comes next.”

  Prayer:

  Thank you for giving us the measure of grace we need, moment by moment.

  “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.” (Ephesians 4:7)

  February 15

  REALITIES

  Capt. Amy Malugani, United States Marine Corps

  One of the greatest challenges for Captain Amy Malugani was mentally preparing for high alert situations. “Knowing that I had the capacity to do whatever it took to keep myself and someone else alive was difficult. I did have to provide security, but I didn’t have to fire my weapon personally, even though there were some close calls. Everyone has that instinct to protect themselves and those around them. Your defense mechanism kicks in,” she noted.

  Battlefield realities reveal humanity’s primal state. Everyone wants to get out alive. Surprisingly, reality was sometimes better than expectations. “As my vehicle moved deeper into the city, I expected the stench to be overwhelming based on the death totals but to my dismay it was bearable.”

  Sometimes reality was simply a matter of logistics and innovation. When the Marines raised the Iraqi and American flags in the city of Fallujah, there wasn’t a single investigative reporter around to capture the significant moment. A lieutenant used his mini DVD camera to film it. Unit by unit, they handed the recording back through the city in a wrapper from a ready-made-meal.

  “Marines moved it from the center of the city to the logistics channel; I got it from the edge of the city and into headquarters. They used it in the press conference that night, and media outlets broadcasted it around the world.”

  Sometimes the news media was abuzz with a different reality. A Los Angeles Times photographer captured a striking close-up of a Marine smoking a cigarette reminiscent of the Marlboro man commercials from decades past. Everyone wanted to know his name.

  “This was a big deal back in the states. I was getting called to put a name with the famous face. It may appear simple; however reality proved otherwise in the midst of a battle with Marines on the move.”

  “At other times reality was worse than expectations. Your brain doesn’t allow you to prepare for some things, such as suddenly being overwhelmed by a swarm of flies or a dog gnawing on a dead insurgent’s remains.

  “You don’t allow yourself to imagine some of the sites you’re going to see. I’m a believer in being in the moment, being in the present. There’s always enough grace in the moment. It’s when I go into the past or into the future that anxiety or fear sets in. The grace is in the moment. I tapped into that a lot for strength and peace.”

  Prayer:

  Father, renew my heart. Help me to live in the present tense, trusting you for strength for whatever comes my way today.

  “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4:16)

  February 16

  SCARED WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECTED IT

  Capt. Amy Malugani, United States Marine Corps

  “The times I was scared they were the times I didn’t think I would be. The times I was relaxed were times people would think that I’d be scared.” These were the upside-down expectations that Captain Malugani had during the Battle of Fallujah in 2004.

  She expected to be scared when she went on jump teams into Fallujah during the taking of the city, but she found calmness instead. “If I had to be any place, I would want to be with an infantry regiment. I was surrounded by a regimental combat team, hundreds of Marines. I felt very safe, protected. I felt surrendered to their expertise.” She also found strength in the experience of those around her.

  “My colonel had more than twenty years in the military. I was with a gunner that had more than twenty years and a sergeant major who had more than twenty years. I had sixty years of experience with me every single day. With all that was going on in Iraq, it was not a safe place to be. But now with these three experienced Marines, I was in the safest place I could be.

  “Early in my deployment, my mom asked me, ‘Are you safe?’”

  “Well, it’s kind of relative, Mom. I’m in Ira
q.”

  During the Battle of Fallujah, Malugani found that she felt less safe during times of isolation in a tent that the Marines used for transient needs. “They put me in there because I was the only female with them. They were concerned for me, making sure I had space in a secure area. With no electricity and often rain beating down on the fifty-man tent, being alone was accompanied by irrefutable fear.”

  She often longed to talk with her father, who had served as an Air Force paratroop rescuer in Vietnam because he would understand the things she was going through. Her grandfather served in the Army during World War II. Their service inspired Amy to join the military. Although she couldn’t always talk to her earthly fathers, she knew she could instantly turn to her heavenly father.

  “When I would see things that were really challenging, I would remind myself that this is the now. I knew I would have an opportunity later, when there was time, to process what I was seeing as well as pray. I would remind myself that my expectations weren’t matching my reality and that was okay.”

  Prayer:

  Thank you for being a Father who is available to listen 24-7.

  “About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.” (Acts 10:9)

  February 17

  SURRENDER AND FREEDOM

  Capt. Amy Malugani, United States Marine Corps

  During the Battle of Fallujah in November 2004, Captain Malugani’s lieutenant had moved through with an infantry battalion. On a day-trip into the city with her commanding officer, unexpectedly she was within walking distance to the lieutenant’s operation’s center.