During my college winter break, I enlisted in the Massachusetts Army National Guard January 1980 and earned my commission July of 1982.
This is a picture of myself on the first deployment in Iraq at Camp Speicher serving as a Civil-Affairs Officer in 2004. I was a logistics officer [major] at a corps support group [colonel level in command with 3000 soldiers]. Due to a personnel change, I was assigned to cover the civil-affairs position within our unit. I am not a school trained civil affairs officer- I learned on the job, trial and error.
The second picture shows us delivering aide. I carried an ax handle to shoo-away children that were getting too close or out of control. Using your weapon could be accidently deadly. The last picture is of my son, Andrew and myself in 2013. He is in the Army Reserves.
When people thank me for my service today, I feel humbled. I have a total of 30 years of service with 8 ½ years active duty in Italy (Ceggia and Vicenza), Guatemala, with 3 deployments to Iraq and 1 in Afghanistan. The remainder of service was the National Guard from 1980 to 1982 and Army Reserves for the balance of my service until retiring in 2010.
We had many indirect fire attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan. None were very close. But one RPG attacked a school complex in Tikrit in April of 2004. No one was injured. I was not scared during the attack, but afterwards while driving out of the area, we laughed about it in a nervous sort of way. There was a time we were driving south towards Tikrit, cresting a ridge on the highway and my driver and I saw a large pothole. We could not see inside it and drove over the pothole. I radioed the convoy about the pothole and to drive towards the right side. On the way back, heading north, the southbound traffic had been stopped. There was a large green disk in the pothole. It was a land mine. My driver and I had a long laugh. We had driven ‘over’ a landmine! Surviving the RPG attacks made me realize that the war was ‘real’ and that I or the soldiers I served with could have died. At that point, I had no choice but to become an excellent small unit leader- utilizing all my NCOs in the mission planning and execution. Doing civil-affairs is not combat per se, but you have to be ready to engage the enemy, because if you look weak, they will engage you. You have to be ‘tactically tactful’. Making a bad decision could get one of my soldiers killed or wounded. I regret not being able to go back for more. I know my experience could help other soldiers prepare for their deployments.
I stayed in touch with my family on a daily basis by sending emails. I sent a monthly email letter to my friends to keep them in the loop. But I never sent letters complaining or moaning about anything dangerous, which could have resulted being reported to the news. The ‘Greatest Generation’ suffered in silence. PTSD and mental illness were not discussed in the 1940s and 50s. As a result of my service, I have some hearing loss and PTSD.
I am a Life Member of the DAV. I utilized the Post 9/11 GI from 2012 to 2015, earning my MBA, CAGS and half-way through a MS in Nonprofit Management and recently started working for the Federal Government.
~ Al Abbondanza, Iraq and Afghanistan Vet
STORY LINK: https://medium.com/…/using-your-weapon-could-be-accidentall…
We are very thankful to Al for sharing his story with Comes A Soldier’s Whisper veteran tribute page and invite you to share your service photos and a memory of your wartime experience.
God Bless all who serve and keep us safe.
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