For every parent/spouse/sibling/loved one of a war fighter, this book will ease your burden. For every soldier/airman/sailor/war fighter, this book is a tribute to you

A Soft Place To Fall

Who is Protecting Our Soldiers While They Are Protecting Us?By Victoria Smith

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2011 Victoria Smith
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4567-2519-8

Chapter One

There is an important story that has yet to be told about the co-existence, and yes, partnership, between the United States military members who fought in the Iraq war and the civilian contractors who stood with them. This story is not about a company or a contract. It is not about me, although the events revealed are taken from my personal experiences. It is about human-ness, if there is such a word, that existed in the midst of a war, in one of the harshest environments in the world. The following events and moments involved people, both soldiers and civilians, who came from all over the world and from multiple backgrounds, giving the overall project and experience its own unique personality. I began my journey in Kuwait on June 1, 2003. I was hired by KBR to work in Human Resources for the LOGCAP project, primarily to assist new employees as they transitioned from the U.S. to the Middle East. Briefly, LOGCAP was the logistics contract between KBR and the United States Government whereby KBR was contracted to provide base life support to the war fighter. Base life support included the construction and management of dining facilities, laundry services, morale, welfare and recreation facilities, spot generation for power and facilities maintenance, among other things. I soon realized that the true mission was not in Kuwait but in Iraq and requested to move there. Since I had never been out of the country, much less exposed to war, I will admit that I was more frightened than I cared to admit at the time. But by August 4, 2003, I was living and working in Baghdad, in an area that was then referred to as the Green Zone. In February 2004, I was assigned as the Site Manager in the Green Zone at Camp Wolfpack. The "Green Zone," as it was referred to in 2003 and 2004, was located in the middle of Baghdad and was one of the "hottest" areas in Iraq at the time and continued to be "active" for many years. It subsequently became known as the "International Zone." While working at Camp Wolfpack, there was not one day that we did not receive indirect fire of some type, which consisted mostly of mortar or rocket attacks but also include small arms fire. The attacks would come at all hours, from the middle of the day to the wee hours of the morning, awakening even the soundest of sleepers. After donning protective gear that consisted of Kevlar helmet and vest, there was a frantic run to the bunkers, while knocking on doors to make sure everyone made it to safety. This was a normal daily activity. In addition, it was necessary for soldiers and civilians alike to travel on Route Irish, which was the only road from the Green Zone to Baghdad International Airport. In 2003 and 2004, Route Irish was classified as the most dangerous road in the world. I've seen countless vehicles reduced to scrap metal abandoned along that road after encountering an IED (improvised explosive device). Our brave military made daily passes up and down that road in tanks in an effort to apprehend and/ or discourage those who would emplace such devices. During my time at Wolfpack, I met a young Sergeant. As he did not have a coffee maker available to him, his practice was to stop by my office every morning for a cup of coffee. No matter what happened the day before or in the middle of the night with regard to hostile activity, I or one of my staff members had his coffee waiting for him, bright and early. On many days he stayed to talk after he finished his coffee and told me of his concerns for his wife and their 4-year-old son. His wife was not doing well, as she was worried about his deployment in Iraq, and the pressure of suddenly becoming a single mother, along with her concern for her husband's safety, was impacting her health. He asked for my advice, "what do I say to her to let her know that everything will be okay? I told him to reassure her that he loved her; that nothing could keep him away for long; and that she should try to stay strong for their son. I departed the Green Zone in July 2004 to work in Kuwait for the next year and his unit was scheduled to depart sometime in 2005. Although his unit had taken heavy casualties in 2003 and 2004, I subsequently heard that there were no further military casualties of his unit from Camp Wolfpack in 2004.

I am not the only civilian that dedicated time, effort and passion to supporting the U.S. military in Iraq. KBR is not the only company that employed civilians for this purpose; that said, evidence would confirm that KBR was the best contractor taking care of our soldiers, as several other companies had been awarded similar contracts but were unable to perform well and their contracts were cancelled in 2004. These are facts as I understand them. I worked for KBR in the Middle East from 2003-2010. Family and friends asked at first, "why would you work in a war zone?" I had a good job in Austin prior to my departure and left behind my best friends and of course my family. My grandson James was only three years old in 2003, and the light of my life. I had been part of his daily life since his birth and it was the hardest thing I have ever done when I said good-bye to him in late May 2003. He wasn't old enough to understand that I would be gone for a long time but would be returning, and my heart broke every time I thought of him. Did he wonder where I was? Did he know I was coming back?

I'll be honest, I had no idea what I would be getting into when I departed he U.S., not really. I had been briefed about the hostile environment, including camel spiders, scorpions, relentless heat, and that I would no doubt live in a tent, at least for a while. Those things were such an insignificant part of the journey that they are hardly worth mentioning.

So why did I go and why would others choose to work in a war zone, so far away from everything and everyone they love? Is it even important to write this book? I believe that there are soldiers who served in Iraq who will want to read this book; and it may lift a burden off of their loved ones, just knowing that while their children/spouses/parents/ siblings were 8,000 miles away fighting a war without the benefit of their loved ones' support, or the ability to find comfort in almost any way, there were people supporting them who, first of all, cared. They demonstrated that over and over again not only with their actions, but by the very fact that they were also 8,000 miles away from home. For those who believe that contractors make good salaries, those people are correct. But speaking from experience, let me tell you that there is not enough money in the world to ease the stress of fearing for your life; missing family; and working 84 hours every week, week after week, month after month. As evidenced by the deaths of many of my co-workers, rockets and mortars do not discriminate between soldiers and civilians. Many good people working hard to support their families lost their lives not because they were doing anything particularly dangerous at the time, they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Although they accepted, as I did, the responsibility for themselves and knew the dangers of working in a war zone before leaving home, they chose to do what they did for various reasons that they obviously felt passionate about. I cannot speak for everyone. I will share with you what I learned from my new employees at each "new hire" brief I gave when I was a project manager. Their responses will shed some light on their motivations that were no doubt shared by many civilians at the time that were working for LOGCAP. Of course, I asked the obvious questions: how many of you have never been overseas? How many of you are re-hires? I then asked each new employee individually where they were from, what they did for a living at home, what they were hired to do for KBR, and what motivated them to make such a huge commitment to work so far away from home. Some of the answers were exactly what you might expect; i.e., "for the money," or "I retired from the military and thought this was a way I could continue to help the soldiers." Several responses reflected the feelings of many employees who had never served in the military and it was stunning to hear an older tradesman, a carpenter, say, "after 9/11 I wanted to join the military but I was too old. I want to help these young men and women fight terrorism in any way I can. This seemed like the best opportunity for me." One young mother told me that she was on her own financially and wanted to give her young daughter a head start in life, by enrolling her in a private school. Every story is unique and profoundly personal; but every story is filled with passion; passion for country or family, and most times both. KBR proudly employs a good number of former military personnel. While working as a project manager, my boss was a retired MAJ General. His boss was a retired LT General. I have witnessed both of them, on separate occasions, choke back tears as they spoke of their love and devotion to our country and to the young soldiers voluntarily serving in Iraq. Their entire careers had been dedicated to training and taking care of soldiers. I am here to tell you, these were men's men. They bravely served their countries, raised families, and at the time I knew them, had the oversight of the largest defense contract in the world. They cared. They were proud of their service to our country, and expected the same level of dedication from every employee who worked on LOGCAP, especially from their leaders. If you were not tough and disciplined enough to follow the rules, not only KBR's but the military's, if you were thin-skinned and couldn't take criticism, constructive or not, if you embraced excuses rather than personal accountability, then let me assure you, you did not belong on LOGCAP. Leadership asked us to do the impossible and then told us that they had faith in our ability to get it done. I have never felt such stress or jubilation in completing projects than I did while working for KBR LOGCAP. I was actually convinced that I would die in the performance of my duties, not by rocket or mortar attack, but by a heart attack. The level of stress I felt personally was balanced by the sense of purpose I felt because of service to the young men and women for whom we were charged with caring for. I use the word "service" because although we were paid for what we did as it related to the contract between the USG and KBR, events will demonstrate that the intent was always to do more – and in my seven years spent in the Middle East, I witnessed many, many instances of civilians putting themselves last in terms of safety and comfort, in which their efforts could be described only as heroic and what I call providing these brave young men and women a soft place to fall. When parents and other loved ones were thousands of miles away, we were there to make sure that their meals, maybe the last meal they ever ate, were excellent – that they had the benefit of a climate-controlled room the day and night before they went outside the gate into what is referred to as the `red' zone, perhaps never to return; that the clothes they wore were clean; that they had an opportunity to visit a recreational facility and maybe have some fun with their buddies one last time; and that if they asked one of us for a special favor, "hey, I'm departing tonight for a mission and I forgot to turn in my dirty clothes, can you help" – that we said 'yes' if at all possible. Our only restriction contractually was that we did not add cost to the contract without prior approval. Washing, drying and folding clothes quickly did not add cost, nor did the other many selfless events you will read about in this book, and we said `yes' every time we could.

As you read further, you will learn of events and incredible moments that reflect some of my personal experiences. There are thousands more experiences by others that I am sure touched countless war fighters' lives. I hope you find this information interesting, comforting if you have a loved one who was or is at war, or even helpful. KBR received some bad press. Granted, we had some rascals, along with the heroes, who worked in our midst. I am thankful that the rascals were caught and punished for their dishonorable behavior. But most of the bad press was rumor, not fact. I will now speak to all LOGCAP III employees who stuck with it, took great care to provide excellent service to the military, and didn't let the hard times get them down: I am proud to have worked alongside you.

Christmas 2005

RRP (radio relay point) #11, Iraq, about 100 miles northeast of the Kuwait border. Christmas 2005.

"Sergeant, did I hear you right? We are to expect five SUVs filled with KBR personnel here today? What the frick-frack is going on? Where did you get that information?"

"Captain, it came directly from base command at Tallil. The personnel will be here around 1130."

Sergeant, I have enough to do without playing host on Christmas day to a bunch of civilians. They do know that we are in the middle of fighting a war and are not having a gift exchange, right? What are they thinking, don't they know the bad guys are out today, especially since it is Christmas? Does no one share intel with KBR?

"Sir, the commander said he is providing gunner trucks for security and we will receive them."

"We don't even have latrines – what the hell???"

I shared that information with the LTC, sir. He said for us to do the best we can. They should stay here no more than an hour, then they will head back to Tallil."

"Then that really doesn't make sense does it? Why put their lives on the line? What is going on that I don't know about?"

I don't know, sir. As you know, the internet has been down for three days so information is sketchy.

"Damn it all. Merry Christmas. It's 1030 now, inform everyone to get ready to receive guests."

"Yes, sir."

As the first gunner truck pulled up, the unit commander, a young captain, walked out of the facility that served as offices, chow hall and recreation room for the unit at RRP #11. They slept in a crude wooden shelter off to the side, which was not much more than a lean-to with walls. The captain shook the hands of the soldiers departing their turrets on top of the Humvees and then made his way to the first civilian SUV. Inside the first vehicle was the KBR project manager, Bruce Chirinko, along with the Site Manager for Tallil. The other vehicles held the remaining KBR personnel, about 20 in all, which was a mixture of management and staffers.

As Bruce departed the vehicle, he extended his hand to the young captain. "Good morning, captain, Merry Christmas," said Bruce. The captain responded, "Merry Christmas to you, sir." I must apologize, however. We were not expecting company today. To what do we owe this honor?

Captain, as you probably already know, my site manager has visited your RRP on several occasions recently to make various maintenance repairs. He informed my staff a few weeks ago that Christmas dinner seemed unlikely for your team. With your permission, sir, we brought Christmas dinner with us, along with all the trimmings, and my staff would be honored to serve your soldiers a holiday meal today.

The captain did not speak for a moment. He looked around to see if his soldiers had heard the news. Evidently they had, as there were smiles all around. Then the captain smiled and shook Bruce's hand again. Please, come in, and tell all of your folks to come in. We would be proud to share Christmas dinner with you and your team today.

As we commenced with bringing in mermite containers filled with food, the soldiers seemed amazed to see turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, fresh salads, green beans, carrots, pies of several varieties, disposable plates and cutlery, as well as jugs filled with sweet tea. The soldiers made way. Once inside, the soldiers directed us to the recreation area, which was a 10x12 room, sparsely furnished with one long table and one small table, along with some scattered metal folding chairs. On the small table were two decks of cards and a few board games. A small television was showing re-runs of "Mayberry." One of the soldiers motioned for KBR to place the food on the tables. The KBR food service manager offered to give a short prayer before he began to open the containers so that the food could be accessed by the hungry and anxious diners. After all heads bowed for prayer, Christmas dinner at RRP# 11 in Iraq began. The only other items in the room were an American flag that was hung wall to wall, and a small imitation Christmas tree with a few decorations hanging on it. The smell of the food soon filled the room. It wasn't long until everyone – soldiers and civilians – were enjoying Christmas dinner. The conversation was lively; "man, I sure didn't expect to eat real turkey today," said one young soldier. As a matter of fact, I expected almost nothing. There really is a Santa Claus!" As the room filled with laughter, playful insults and cheerful talk of the great-tasting food created a scene that would no doubt be played out in homes throughout America that same day.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from A Soft Place To Fallby Victoria Smith Copyright © 2011 by Victoria Smith. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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