Soldier's Home : A Young Commander's Uneasy Assurances

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A Young Commander's Uneasy Assurances

David Botti

Lt. Brian McDonald on patrol in the Diyala province / Photo: David Botti

When the Iraq war started, Brian McDonald, then a sophomore in college, sat in his grandparents’ living room watching television footage of the invasion, and knew he would someday end up in the war then unfolding before his eyes. Earlier this month, a little more than five years later, the now Lieutenant McDonald sat with a local school teacher in the Iraqi village his infantry company arrived at by helicopter just days before.

The purpose of 25-year-old McDonald’s visit was to both gather intelligence on enemy activity in a rural area of the Diyala province, and survey what essential services the U.S. Army could provide to this village of mud brick and aging concrete homes. For McDonald, balancing these priorities could only be achieved through meetings such as this late-afternoon gathering that began as his platoon entered the school teacher’s home, searched it, and positioned themselves in a defensive perimeter outside.

These types of encounters frequently occur all over Iraq, as young commanders, both enlisted and officers, find themselves shifting more and more from the kinetic fights of the past five years, to countless nuanced dialogues with civilians in their areas of operation.

McDonald began the conversation, which took place inside a bare room in the teacher’s home, with a short speech said with such ease and clarity it was obvious he’d said similar words before.

“Everyone needs to cooperate with the law,” he said after taking off his helmet and settling into a white plastic chair. “We’re here to get projects done, and get rid of weapons caches. That’s our goal, that’s our mission, and we don’t plan on leaving here until we do.”

As is frequently the case in similar circumstances throughout Iraq, speaking with coalition forces can be dangerous for an Iraqi, and on this day the situation was no different for the school teacher.

“I haven’t seen anything with my eyes,” he told McDonald. “There are just rumors that here the terrorists control more than the sheiks.”

The Americans knew the residents of this area had legitimate cause to be nervous. Prior U.S. Army operations into the region were comparatively short, and resulted in the arrests of Iraqis suspected of aiding the insurgency. Now, citizens like the school teacher had no assurances that if they gave the Army intelligence, the soldiers would remain to ensure they were protected from retribution by hostile forces.

McDonald later observed that perhaps his greatest asset during the opening moments of these types of conversations is the ability of his Iraq-born translator to observe the mannerisms of a subject that may be imperceptible to the non-Arabic speaker. While the person may appear to the American as welcoming and hospitable, the translator can usually tell whether there is there is a nervousness or anger in the speaker’s voice.

On this day, McDonald’s translator, known by the pseudonym “M.D.,” affirmed that the school teacher was indeed uneasy with the American presence in his house—despite the fact he served the soldiers tea and homemade pastries. McDonald attempted to calm the teacher’s fears:

“I’m a person who doesn’t lie,” he said. “I understand that you’re nervous because we’re walking up here with all of these [weapons]. You can trust me 100 percent. I don’t want you to feel like we’re pressuring you for info. But understand it’s good for the village to provide this [intelligence] to get information. This is why we give you an open invitation to come to us for anything you need.”

The American soldiers had reason to believe there were in fact enemy forces in the immediate area. Roadside bombs were disabling Army vehicles on a daily basis, and, more telling, soldiers encountered what became referred to as the “bomb house.”

Days before, McDonald and his fellow soldiers had spent nearly a day-and-a-half living out of an abandoned building in the vicinity of the teacher’s home. It wasn’t until a soldier happened to notice wires running from the building’s foundation towards a nearby road, that it was discovered the entire house was packed with explosives ready for detonation. Had the explosives gone off, over 100 soldiers could have been injured or killed.

About midway through the conversation, McDonald turned to the subject of the bomb house.

“If you’re honest with us, we’ll be honest with you. Did you see the explosion?” he asked, referring to the controlled detonation of the house by Army ordinance experts.

“Everyone heard it,” said the teacher.

“Something that big [as a mined house] cannot exist without people learning about it.”

“We were just told that the house was being used by families that were displaced.”

“Understand the big picture of that house,” McDonald said. “In each room was some explosive device. There was copper wiring running across to the main road. This isn’t a very big town, people talk. I’m from a small town I know. Think about that and think about the good things for this town. Think real hard about what you want.”

As McDonald later discussed the encounter, he spoke about the difficulty of putting residents like the school teacher in such a dangerous position. Even with the best of intentions, he could never completely ensure the teacher would be safe from harm. At the same time, gathering intelligence from area residents was vital to the greater mission of clearing the region of any remaining enemy forces.

“I feel kind of hypocritical sometimes when I tell them, ‘hey look you don’t have to worry you can live your day-to-day life,’” said McDonald, who’s been an active-duty Army officer for nearly 30 months. “I know in a way I’m kind of telling him to do something that’s impossible. It’s impossible for him not to worry even if I’m watching his house all of the time. There’s going to be that one time when we’re not going to be there because we’re going to be somewhere else. It’s kind of tough.”

Iraq

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Member Comments

Posted By: hereinbrighton (August 22, 2008 at 11:27 AM)

We know Brian and his family!! It is GREAT to see a picture of him, but we would much rather see him at the beach lighting off fireworks on the 4th of July!!! We are VERY proud of this young and all the other soldiers..............

House of Boggs

Brighton, ON

Canada

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