Never weak, Never Back Down

Part Two

    Shortly after being assigned, there was a military coup in Haiti and their only democratically elected president had been deposed. It was decided to send American troops down to assist.  Initially, Deanna’s team was to jump in with the 82^nd Airborne.  Although few women in the military, especially vets, wind up jumping out of airplanes into possible action, Deanna was anxious to go where her expertise is needed and the quicker the better. Also, she was anxious to prove she could pull her weight in a world of fighting men. Shortly before getting on the plane, she was called to her unit’s headquarters.  They informed her that she could not go with her team.  Women are not allowed to jump into potential combat.  That did not sit lightly with Deanna. Her removal left her team to go in without an officer. She put her team on that plane and watched it take off.  Shortly after getting home, she heard on the news that former President Carter had met with the coup leader, and toned things down some, so that our forces would not, hopefully, be arriving in the midst of open conflict. The planes, along with her team were turned around and came home.

   The next day, she again joined her team, and this time they were to go with the Marines.  Again they prepared, but again before they got on the plane… she was told she could not go.  This time, the story was that the Marines didn’t want any women.  She was very mad, feeling she needed to be doing the job they are paying her to do.  Her team left, again without a team leader, and Deanna was assigned to another team which would be attached to Tenth Mountain Division, assigned to secure the Port Au Prince airport. The following day, she and her new team were flown in and dumped on the tarmac in Port Au Prince. When they arrived, they pretty much had to fend for themselves.  They were a small team attached to an infantry unit whose job was to secure an airfield… why did they need to interact with the civilian population? They found a slight overhang outside of a metal building next to the airfield to camp under. Metal pallets on top of rollers kept them off the ground.  There were no tents, only what they carried in their ruck sack, which included one change of clothes. There were no bathrooms. Needless to say, there were no other women. Her bathroom was her pancho, spread out around her, while a teammate stood lookout. They were there for a month, doing very little. Finally, they were rewarded with a real bathroom, they found an enclosed space with a hole in the floor.  Luckily, it rained almost every afternoon, and the rain runoff from the roof was a great way to wash hair and to try to have a little hygiene.

     Food was also a problem. They were given none. They finally worked out a plan. When a plane arrived with cases of MRE’s (Meals ready to eat) they waited until it was unloaded. One would distract a guard, while another cut open a pallet of MRE’s and “borrowed” a few boxes.

     Deanna and her team were not using their skills. After a month, they asked to be used or transferred. They were then attached to the engineers who had a lot for them to do. Their job, then, was to go out and find places for base camps. Deanna, then a captain, was the Civil Affairs team leader.

     They sometimes had exciting moments in this job. There were still a lot of very bad people in the military, and police, of Haiti. Once, a man came running up to them. “Help! They’re killing Robert! You’ve got to stop them!” They followed the man, as he led out on his bicycle. He eventually led them to a very large compound. They realized it was a Fadh compound (some of the bad guys). They were now eight against two hundred. Their major went in to try to locate Robert, while the others spread out to provide security for the major. Deanna carried an M16 and a 9mm pistol, locked and loaded. Her M16 fires a three round burst each time the trigger was pulled. Robert was never found, but they all got out alive.

     Another tense moment arose when they found a nice spot for the engineers to build a base camp, a place that already had a brick wall around it.  Once, 300 or so Haitian men came running up to the wall, not fighting, but tearing the wall down.  The combat engineers were ready to use force to stop them.  Deanna’s team was called to intervene.  She took an interpreter out to talk to them.  CONTINUED IN ONE WEEK