Never be Weak, Never Back Down - The Low Point

     The third group was planning other military training trips for Africans, similar to her first mission. She would have gotten to go, but her officer told her she had to go to a training school, if she hoped to advance further in the army. So, again against her will, she put in her application. Otherwise, she would stay as a major, no hopes for advancing. Goodbye, Third Group. Hello, San Antonio, for a Master’s Degree in Public health.

     A vet commander was needed in Germany. Six weeks before going, their  beautiful Kristen, their only child, was born. Then they all left for a three year tour in Germany.

     9/11 happened during her time in Germany. Her group in Germany soon started preparing to be the first group into Iraq. Just HOW quickly, she seemed to be a little vague about. They would be in support of conventional forces. Special Forces were in Afghanistan.  She trained a year for Iraq. However, her three year tour was up before they were to leave for Iraq. She left for Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, training officers to be small unit commanders in Afghanistan and Iraq. There she was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.  Her long time friend in Afghanistan, however, failed to get promoted, thus he was forced to retire at 20 years.

     Many groups were destined for Iraq. Most vets did not want to go, preferring to stay in the US. But Deanna felt she had spent her entire life preparing for this, and staying in the US with all this going on, was just flat boring. She was headed for Ft. Bragg again.

     She spent a year training for Iraq, again. But right before being deployed, a new General was put in charge. He started moving out good men who had been training for a year for this mission, then he began moving in his own friends who had no training. Deanna survived the cut, so she deployed.

     From a vet point of view, Iraq did not have a good plan. Rabies was rampant among feral packs of dogs, and people were hiding their pets from vaccination programs. So, unvaccinated pets were living with rabid dogs. And, there was no good bite control program. Seventeen human deaths from rabies occurred in a short period of time.

    And, there were food problems. Most was trucked in, with no good records kept. Sometimes food trucks were held up for ten days, and upon arrival, the food was rotten.

     There were water safety problems, careless handling of medical waste, and strange deadly organisms invaded many hospitals.

     The General in charge was a hospital man, never been in the field. His buddies were not doing a good job. The general was deciding who would do what, and many were sent home.  He wound up sending her entire medical team home. The general wound up wasting maybe a year and a half, in Deanna’s estimation.

     I talked to Deanna when she arrived home. She was depressed. “I’ve spent my entire career training for this moment. Then when I got there, I was not allowed to do it. We were told, it’s too dangerous out there now, and made to sit around in the green zone far too much.”

     Deanna moved to Special Ops once again. In two years, she was in a position to assign people to Iraq. Guess who she assigned? Yes, you guessed it. Lt. Col. Deanna Brown.

     Iraq had no higher level vets. They had 10,000 vets to give vaccinations, etc. But to be fully functional, they needed higher level training. Saddam did not allow “Thinking for self” for his vets, or anyone else, for that matter. They needed to be taught how to function.

     And, we added to the problem. Many of the leaders in that area were deposed, with all new people brought in.

      Deanna’s second tour in Iraq accomplished a lot. So it was a good tour. But it had a very bad personal aspect to it, for Deanna.

     Five vets were needed. Deanna assigned herself, as I mentioned. Her friend, Daniel Holland, wanted to go. But his wife would not allow him to volunteer. Since Deanna was in a position to assign, he expressed to her his wishes to be “volunteered.” Dan was a very good man, and was on his way along a path to becoming a General. After completing her team, they headed for Iraq. She had a pretty good idea where her Civil Affairs team should be placed, but the decision makers had different ideas. Two were assigned to the same desk, The most junior vet was sent alone to a pretty hot area, and Deanna and another were assigned to Bagdad.

     Dan and Deanna met regularly for lunch to decide on their mission. Dan’s bosses wanted to send him to a very dangerous area, to  vaccinate  animals. Deanna told him they were not there to vaccinate animals, but to train Iraq’s vets to a higher level. Iraq had plenty of vets to vaccinate. Just tell them no. He would not, saying it would look like he was scared. Two days later, Dan was dead. In Deanna’s mind, it was largely because of her. This was the low point of her career.