Trooper shares memories from Iraq
by Russell Lee, Utah Highway Patrol (ret.)

I had the privilege of working with Army and Marine units in the Fallujah area of Iraq, usually on patrols with ranking officers of the Iraqi police.

When we went on patrol with the Iraqi police, we tried to keep our numbers as small as possible, but enough to have firepower that would make it a bad decision to mess with us. We would have about six or eight Iraqi police, the interpreter I was assigned to work with, the U.S. military personnel, and me. It is not uncommon to see six to 12 Iraqi police in a patrol group, and in that unit, there would be two to four vehicles in their patrol.

We would go on foot, so we could have better personal contact with the people of the town we were assigned to patrol.

We would drop in the court facility and show our faces and let them see our presence in the town. The local judge seemed to enjoy seeing us, and we got to provide some training to their security personnel.

On one occasion, when we were at the court observing the normal routine, I almost had a mental meltdown. The court security men were fanning the judge and anyone else in the courtroom with their weapons, AK 47s with their fingers on the triggers, which was their idea of protection. The judge agreed with me that some extra training would be a good idea. The security men were very excited about the training and were a great class to teach.

During our foot patrol, we were always followed by the children of the town. They found out who had the candy and were sometimes too familiar with us, which was a safety issue. They always wanted footballs (a.k.a. soccer balls).

Lee, left, worked with Iraqi DRT officers, including Thalmer, pictured here.

I would try to spoil the cops and military with ice cream from a local shop on our patrols. In the heat, this was accepted pretty easily. It was well over 120 degrees that time of the year.

We would check into stores and visit with the owners to see how they felt business was, how they felt about the safety of the area, and just have normal conversations with many of them. We were just part of the normal day's activities and were welcomed by most everyone we met. There were some you could read who did not like us or want us there, but they were the minority.

We went to one of the boys’ schools where one of the male teachers told us that he was not afraid of us and that the Iraqis would end up doing something to our hearts and drinking our blood. We didn't worry about supporting that school, and we knew what he was teaching his students.

My group of military and I adopted a local girls’ school. You see, the girls’ schools do not get funding by the local government. It is supported by the parents of the pupils only. They had few supplies and used blackboards with small pieces of chalk. My wife put the wheels in motion, and we got package after package of school supplies and extra items from families in Utah that made many smiles on these little girls' faces.

They sent me some of those bubbles that have the wand with the hole on the end. These girls had never seen anything like this. When I showed the students how to blow bubbles, the little girls cringed and were afraid of it. I had to have my interpreter explain it was not something bad and had to pop some bubbles with my finger a few times before they relaxed. It is sad that they thought this was some kind of weapon.

Just before I came home, they were building a new school for the girls at this location. I hope the new facility has power and clean drinking water.

As we would walk the streets, we had to keep a close eye on rooftops and alleys. We were very careful of any vehicles that looked like they were unoccupied or had been parked for any time at all. I never did see an Iraqi female drive any vehicle the entire time I was at this location. When we would cross a main street, we stopped all traffic until we all cleared the street. Sometimes a simple hand signal did not seem to work, but the barrel of an M 240 or M 4 always seemed to be a universal signal that every motorist understood.

On one occasion when we had been out for about 2½ hours, we were on our way back to the station. We had just crossed the main highway when we heard gunshots. We headed toward the gunfire and advanced on a large walled house that had armed men around the perimeter. As we approached, we got one of the armed men, at gunpoint, to quietly come to some of us so the interpreter could question him. We could see about six to eight men at the location. More were inside the house, we found out later.

The gunfire was "happy fire" to celebrate the return of their commanding officers from an assignment. Our squad leader advised that another means of celebration would be a better idea. I had been covering a corner position on one side of the perimeter, and it was nice to have the stress level return to a normal yellow level.

We were all about out of water at this time and it was about 130 degrees. It was a dry mile-and-a-half walk back to the station. When we debriefed and got our gear off, no one had a dry piece of clothing. After a quart or two of water, it didn't take long for our clothes to dry out. They get a kind of white stain that is the salt from your body that makes your underwear almost stand up alone.

It was very rewarding for me to actually work with the Iraqi police and our military, side by side. I earned the respect of the young soldiers I worked with after a couple of patrols. They found out they didn't have to pamper me and that I could keep up. It made me feel good that they had confidence in my abilities, even if I was old enough to be their dad or grandpa. I would not trade my experience with these men for anything.

Would I do it again? My daughter thinks I have a death wish, and my wife told me if I think about going again, she will just shoot me and get it over with.

Russell Lee, 62, retired from the Utah Highway Patrol in 2004 after 25 years of service. He then worked for Dyncorp, through a contract with the Department of Justice, and served in Iraq January 2005-April 2006 and February-August 2008, including stints with the Baghdad Police Academy, the Mosul Police Academy, and police stations in Fallujah. He currently serves as a deputy with the Duchesne County Sheriff’s Office.

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