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Cooking up mission success

Photo By Spc. Yolanda Moreno Leon | Soldiers of HHC 172 Brigade Support Battalion transport detainees to 1 West where...... read more read more

MOSUL, IRAQ

05.29.2006

Courtesy Story

138th Public Affairs Detachment

MOSUL, Iraq (May 26, 2006) -- Deployments bring uncertainty. Being in the Army means being adaptable. The Soldiers in Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 172nd Brigade Support Battalion know this.

They were trained as cooks but have found themselves navigating Mosul's streets in armored Humvees and scanning from behind a .50 caliber machine gun. None of them are complaining.

"We enjoy what we do," said Staff Sgt. Wayne Myrie, convoy commander. Myrie is from Morristown, N.J. "It is important that they get a chance to do this because they don't usually get to do this type of thing [back in the U.S.]"

The unit has been tasked to bring recently released detainees from an airport in Mosul to the local police station to be processed into the database and then released.

On a recent trip, the Soldiers in vehicle number twenty laughed and joked about ping-pong, food, promotions, and other topics. One member of the team wrote "The Dream Team" above the windshield of the vehicle.

The Dream Team's gunner baited the 1st Sergeant.

"First Sergeant, I think you'll be really bad," said Spc. Chad O'Leary of the 1st Sergeant's ping-pong skill. "I'll beat the First Sergeant and the Cubs will win the World Series."

O'Leary is from Wichita, Kan., or as he puts it, 'the Dub Wizzle." The driver laughed and shot down O'Leary.

"I think I could take O'Leary," said Spc. Michelle Feedor, driver and chemical operations specialist from Bronx, N.Y.

"The main mission right now is the detainee mission," Myrie said. The unit also brings food and supplies to other locations in northern Iraq such as Combat Outpost Rawah, Makmur, Jaguar North, COP Scorpion, COP Sinjar, Forward Operating Base Sykes, Fort Tal Afar, FOB Courage, and Rabbiyah. The unit also served as convoy security for the trucks bringing equipment from FOB Courage to FOB Marez.

"So far I have done 12 to 15 of these missions and they've been successful," Myrie said. "I switch up my Soldiers and give each one of them the opportunity to do this mission and see what it's all about."

"We treat these detainees with the utmost respect, and that's important to us, that we stay professional at all times when we are handling these detainees," Myrie said. "Me personally, I love what I do. I'm a Soldier. That's all I want to do. I have a good group of Soldiers and NCOs that I lead and they stay professional at all times."

According to Myrie he has a good group of Soldiers and loves them. They are very professional, they know what they're doing, and I'm proud of them. At any time they can switch from their original MOS, 92 golf, which is a cook, and they can go back to their basic Soldiering skills and handle it.

"I think that what we're doing over here is a good thing," Myrie said. "We're trying to help the Iraqi people get back to normality, to a sense of security, to get their life on track. And I think that they appreciate what we're doing. If I have to do it over again a million times I'll do it, because I love it, because I'm a Soldier and I'm always going to do what I have to do as a Soldier, to make life better for others."

According to Myrie he is happy to know that he can be a part of something that's directly dealing with the Iraqi people and so to speak, make a difference.

"We're here to help them, and that's what this is all about: helping these Iraqis so that they can help themselves to be better, and make their country better. That's just how I look at it."