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                         March 12, 2004

Ried expands potential as leader through Iraq experience

Story and photo by Spc. Benjamin Gruver
Staff Writer   

Among many Soldiers ending their one-year deployment in Iraq and returning home at the beginning of this year is Sgt. James Ried of the U.S. Military Academy Engineer Platoon.

Ried, who arrived back on American soil Feb. 6, had received orders a year ago to report to a replacement center at Fort Bliss, Texas.

Ried recalls how after a physical training formation his first sergeant pulled aside all the E-5, 51-B’s, carpentry and masonry specialists, and explained he had orders to send someone to Iraq and asked for volunteers.

“No one raised their hand up,” said Ried. “Being the office clerk at the time I knew there were a whole bunch of people already leaving on orders, so it pretty much came down to me.”

Ried had recently been married and within two weeks his wife was pregnant, so he wasn’t exactly excited about it at first.

From the replacement center at Fort Bliss, Ried flew to Kuwait where he was attached to the 130th Engineer Brigade. 

“I heard that my old unit was deployed and happened to be over there at the time,” Ried said. “I got attached to 864th Engineer Battalion out of Fort Lewis. That was my last duty station, so I had some friends there.”

At the beginning of the war, the 864th Battalion didn’t have all of their equipment right away. During the war, Ried recalls doing a lot of security missions escorting convoys up into Iraq and back down to Kuwait.

 “We all got used to the road,” Ried said. “We got used to sleeping in the back of five-tons, staying places and being gone. Different platoons were doing the same thing, but ours was pretty head on, taking all the missions. That was exciting.”

During those missions he got to see a lot of the country and the people in it and remembers how different it was.

“It looked like biblical times,” Ried said. “People were still wearing their gowns, still farming, sheep herding and most of them were wearing slippers. The kids were all into politics too. They were more mature than kids over here are. They all knew what was going on cheering on the U.S. Soldiers.

“We saw a lot of stuff from the previous war, old tanks and old remains of vehicles. Everyday you see cars on the side with gunshots.”

As combat support Ried didn’t see any combat, but recalls one time when a situation became real serious.

He explains how two unknown trucks came up to the gate at Camp Pacemaker while they were picking up the last vehicle of the battalion. The convoy had been there waiting for about two hours because the truck they were picking up had a flat.

The unknown trucks were each filled with about 10 Iraqis each armed with AK-47s and rifle propelled grenades whose intent, it seemed to Ried, was to assume control of the camp after the Americans left.

“They stopped and we were pointing at each other and the platoon sergeant went up to negotiate to see what they wanted,” Ried said. “There was nothing hostile on their part, but everyone was really cautious. That was exciting.”

One of the biggest things Ried was involved with was rebuilding the Anaconda Airfield at Balad. According to Ried the 864th Battalion was one of the first engineer units to arrive in Balad, and nothing was set up when they first got there. 

The airfield at Balad was a major project in Iraq after the war as an effort to fly Soldiers and supplies directly into Iraq instead of Kuwait.

Ried explains there were 15 to 18 craters that had to be filled and covered with concrete. The airfield had to meet Air Force specifications before the planes could land there.

“That was a beautiful sight when we saw the first airplane land on that airfield,” Ried said. “That meant we had airmail instead of everything going to Kuwait and then being driven up. After October  life started getting easier. That was the time we had one side of the airfield done and it was enough for C-130’s to come in. The next major accomplishment was when large planes like the C-5’s and C-17’s started to come in. Things started moving faster.”

Ried said that Iraqis also started to work at the airfield. They would hold job fairs for the Iraqis who were electricians and plumbers to come in and work alongside Soldiers. They would do jobs like fix the restrooms and pipes.

“We took a break from the airfield around December,” Ried said. “We started doing red-cycle missions. We started digging trenches for water pipes.”

One thing Ried remembers as a nice break from the airfield was building a pavilion for the battalion.

“We’d have parties and we did re-enlistments there,” Ried said. “It was good to do something different besides messing with concrete.”

“One of the last missions we did was in January,” Ried said. “We went back to the airfield and finished up the taxis to allow the larger aircraft to maneuver on the airfield a lot better. There was so much traffic coming on to the airfield they needed more taxis. They would sit there for hours sometimes.”

After returning to the States early last month, Ried finished out processing at Fort Bliss and eventually made his way back to the West Point community.

He expects to stay here for the next two years to finish up his degree.

“It was definitely something that makes you grow,” he said speaking of his experience. “You take the last thing that you would ever want to do and that is to leave your family and check in with a bunch of guys you don’t know. It could be a whole year wasted. You have to exercise your potential as a leader and non-commissioned officer and also as a good spouse. It wasn’t hard all the time, but you have to go through hard experiences to learn.”

Another thing that Ried has felt about his experience is that it has definitely made him a better NCO.

“I’ve had to deal with the good and the bad,” Ried said. “There isn’t any problem that I could face here that I haven’t faced out there. I think out there makes everything here seem so easy as far as dealing with Soldiers.”