Photo By Staff Sgt. Bryan Dominique | Cpt. William Ibrahim (left) and Staff Sgt. Ramil Leslie (Right), of the 84th Civil...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – “Don’t let them take me! Don’t let them take me!”
The mayor’s crew came bursting through the door with James Connaway’s son.
“Make the deal or I hurt your son,” said the mayor to Connaway.
Connaway owns a transportation company; the mayor runs a town that was recently flooded; and the Soldiers with the 84th Civil Affairs Battalion, they’re responsible for getting the mayor to approve of some much needed humanitarian aid.
This was the scene at Leschi Town on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Monday, Nov. 10.
“We’re trying to mirror the situations that we could run into in the Pacific, said Staff Sgt. Ramil Leslie, a CA noncommissioned officer in CA Team 8433.
The 84th CA BN is responsible for responding to disasters in the Pacific and helping to provide humanitarian relief to those affected.
The thing about natural disasters, however, is they’re unpredictable, and the damage is almost always catastrophic.
“Training like this makes us more prepared for our Pacific mission; with more training, you can perfect it,” said Leslie.
He was the one who ultimately got the mayor to sit down and talk about aid.
The mayor’s major concern was being the person people saw as the provider of the humanitarian assistance, said Leslie to his team.
Everything that unfolded after can only be described as a scene out of a hostage movie.
“That was familiar from my time in the Philippines,” he said.
Leslie spent several years in the Philippines, recalling how he and his friends used to call the armed guards he saw with the mayor today, "goons."
However, the aftermath of a natural disaster is real. They can separate families and leaves children stranded and alone. It can displace tens of thousands of people, and perhaps worst of all, leave those affected without clean water, food or shelter.
That’s part of the reason Leslie became a CA operator.
“I used to be an engineer; I worked construction management in Operation New Dawn. I enjoyed my time being an engineer, but I can use my skills as a civil affairs Soldier,” he said of his decision to join the civil affairs career field. “In a small way you get satisfaction in watching communities get back on their feet after something like this.”
It is no easy decision to decide to join the CA career field.
Applicants must pass a selection process that tests their physical and mental stamina, and their ability to create relationships.
They must also complete a survive, evade, resist, and escape level C physical, which is reserved for personnel who are at high risk of becoming a prisoner of war.
Civil Affairs work is not inherently dangerous, but the areas in which they may be required to operate in can be.
“Every engagement is always different, even if it’s with the same people,” said Leslie.
In the training at Lecshi Town, Leslie and his team were successful in getting the mayor to agree to aid, albeit the way the deal was struck among the town’s shakers and movers was an interesting turn of events.
| Date Taken: | 11.11.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 11.11.2014 16:21 |
| Story ID: | 147563 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 569 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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