Engineer Looks Back at Road He

KARBALA, IRAQ

07.06.2004

Courtesy Story

1-230th Cavalry Regiment

Story by: Spc. Andrew Meissner

KARBALA, Iraq -- When James Flum enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1988 he was 21. He had been out of high school a few years, tried college, but it didn't work out.

Holding down odd jobs, he wanted something more in his life. Flum admitted he wasn't leading an outstanding life before he raised his right hand.

"I knew that I needed some kind of direction, my parents had nine kids to deal with and I was probably the hardest one," he said. His father had been a combat engineer and Flum decided on the same military occupation. He began his Army career like a board game, at square one. "I came in as a buck Private -- E-1," he said.

After completing Initial Entry Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Flum was assigned to the 54h Engineer Battalion in Germany where he stayed for six years. "I got extended. I was due [for a permanent change of station] to Fort Campbell and then stop loss came about at the end of 1990 for Desert Storm," Flum explained.

By January 1991, Flum was a specialist deploying to Operation Desert Storm. "My squad leader was on leave when the flag went up -- he never came back. So they pinned corporal on me and told me to take charge," he recalled. The newly appointed Cpl. Flum was now leading a six man squad. "It was different, it wasn't like what we're going through now, the fighting was all in the desert," said Flum. "We engaged bunkers, people on the ground, there was no urban fighting back then."

For his time in Desert Storm Flum received a division coin and a Certificate of Achievement. Upon his return, Flum was promoted to sergeant. After his time with 54th Eng. Bn., Flum went to Fort Riley, Kan. He served with the 1st Infantry Division there until he received orders for Drill Sergeant's school. "Somebody made that decision for me. They figured, probably, that I had such a good job at Riley that I was due for some pain," he related. While on 'the trail,' Flum molded future combat engineers at Fort Leonard Wood for two years.

After leaving the drill pad in October 2000, Flum was assigned another teaching position at Fort Leonard Wood. "Back then, they didn't want people coming off the trail and then shoving them in a unit because they tended to be jerks, so they send us in a chill unit for a year," he explained. He instructed Modernized Demolition Initiators, teaching demolitions. "MDI is the baseline demolition instruction that we give to privates, before they go out in their units," he said.

Because of his position, Flum learned everything in the training manuals. He knew everything about demolitions, backward and forward, "like the palm of my hand," Flum admitted. He felt that his next tour would take him back overseas. Flum's wife is German and she wanted to go back and see her family, so he requested to be stationed in that country.

"They gave me what I wanted and in December 2001 I came over to the 16th Eng. Bn. in Giessen, and I've been with them ever since," Flum said. Currently, Flum is the platoon sergeant in Company B, 16th Engineers -- in charge of 24 Soldiers.

Flum said he thinks highly of his Soldiers and feels they have invaluable experience from the action they've seen. "A lot of the privates that we have, they're new, they've only been in four to six months, but I will put their knowledge up against some E-4s [specialists], maybe even against some E-5s [sergeants] in other units that have not been deployed because of everything they've learned out here," he said with pride.

Yet, being out here is not always rosy for a platoon sergeant and Flum knows he has to be a model for his Soldiers.

"The hard part is to put on my game face everyday and tell [my Soldiers] they might have to go another mile on a mission when I know they're dog tired, because I'm dog tired," he said. "I can't show them that I'm getting tired and I can't show them that I want to give up. I've got 24 guys that I've got to carry through this and they're doing well. They're doing really well."

With the extension of 1st Armored Division, Flum's unit was attached to Task Force 1st Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment and moved to Karbala where they work closely with infantry and armor companies to remove Moqtada al Sadr's militia from that city. Flum said he's learned many things in the past year and has much to take back to future combat engineers.

"Since I've been out here I've learned all about IEDs. How they make them, how they wire them, what they make them out of and recently, where they make them. I've got a lot of stuff in my head to take back for lessons learned," he said. Somewhere on his odyssey, Flum started smoking a burl wood pipe. He does it in a very slow and deliberate way. Flum looks young, with his clear blue eyes and closely cropped blond hair. In that respect the pipe looks out of place, but it accents his personality, scholarly demeanor and the air of wisdom Flum conveys.

When asked how he feels he performed on this deployment, Flum took some time to gather his thoughts and then came through with an answer that is much like he is, measured and honest. "Sometimes I ought to be a little bit harder on [the Soldiers], but the conditions out here are hard enough," he says. Stopping for a moment, Flum pondered and continued, "I'm like the glue, I have to keep them together and keep them straight, and to get them back safe and in one piece."

• Date Taken: 07.06.2004
• Date Posted: 07.06.2004 11:36
• Story ID: 69
• Location: KARBALA, IQ