Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Clinton Wood | Sgt. Schilling takes a break from her Humvee gunner duties as her convoy escort team...... read more read more
CAMP STRYKER, Iraq " This female Minnesota Army National Guard Soldier probably had one of the more unique Mothers Day greetings.
As Sgt. Veronica Schilling of Fort Ripley, Minn., stood in the turret of a Humvee in Iraq, her truck commander, 1st Lt. Paul Harper of North Minneapolis, Minn., yelled up to her, "Hey Schilling, Happy Mother's Day," as the clock struck 12:15 a.m.
For the next several hours, Schilling of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1/34 Brigade Combat Team, either stood up in the turret or sat down on its parapet, assuming her duties as one of four Humvee gunners. This convoy escort team secured more than 15 semi trucks hauling goods from a small base in southern Iraq to Baghdad International Airport.
The convoy didn't arrive at BIAP until sunrise.
"I would like my family to know that I do all of this for them," said Schilling, a 1995 Little Falls High School graduate and the married mother of a daughter who turns 2 on May 24. "I am here for those I love most back home."
She also said that when her daughter, Brooke, is older she will explain to her that she deployed to Iraq to protect her.
"Sure will be a mother's day you can't forget," Schilling said.
What she did this particular night wasn't different from any others. She was the "eyes" for her team armed with a machine gun mounted on the swiveling turret. This included using a large spotlight and donning night vision goggles.
"I shine anything that looks suspicious, she said.
Schilling's spotlight duties included illuminating potholes and overpasses for her driver, Spc. Brandon Gerold (ducking down in the Humvee for safety as it went under them).
Schilling, who has been in the Guard since 1997, would also tell Harper the convoy's interval status and other traffic concerns.
When the convoy stopped because of the discovery of an Improvised Explosive Device several miles up the highway, Schilling donned her night vision goggles. She said she was constantly scanning the area around the Humvee.
"Just always being alert and looking around," Schilling said this pretty much summed up her duties.
She said she isn't the only one on the roads looking around. "It feels pretty good when people do a double take when they see that it is a female up there (in the turret)," she said. "It's a good feeling."
She said this reaction also gives her a lot of confidence.
Something she admitted she didn't have when she first learned that she was going be a gunner. "I didn't feel that I had enough training on the crew served weapon," she said. "But with some additional experience I felt very confident and proud to be a female gunner."
Schilling also trained with other Soldiers that she replaced. Her fist convoy was to BIAP.
"It was a good time," she said. "The guys made it fun, they knew when to joke and not to joke aroundâ?¦but it still was scary at times."
This training also gave her the opportunity to test fire a 50-caliber machine gun, the weapon of choice for most gunners.
"I have learned since that first convoy to be very alert and always be ready to fight," she said. "My team's safety is dependent on my ability to quickly react."
Back in Minnesota, Schilling left a full-time position at Camp Ripley near Little Falls, Minn., where she worked at the Property Management Office.
When she returns, she will be the supply noncommissioned officer for Company B, 134th Brigade Support Battalion at the camp.
She also will work in supply at Camp Adder, Iraq once a replacement company takes over the convoy escort missions next month.
She said her deployment goal is to build on her skills as a noncommissioned officer and return to Minnesota with this knowledge and experience as back up.
But for now, she said she will remember this Mothers Day as a day that she wasn't with her family but thought of them constantly.
She also knows that Brooke is in "good hands." Schilling's mother quit her job so she could watch Brooke during the day.
| Date Taken: | 05.22.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 05.22.2006 09:38 |
| Story ID: | 6446 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 328 |
| Downloads: | 39 |
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