Our Commander
A great piece in the TENNESSEAN:
Local architect helps build a nation
By JEANNE A. NAUJECK
For The Tennessean
For the past two decades, architect Jeffrey Holmes has helped shape the landscape of Middle Tennessee by building skyscrapers, hospitals and corporate headquarters.
But for almost two years, he's been helping build a nation.
In addition to being the top executive at a Middle Tennessee architectural and engineering firm, Holmes is also a lieutenant colonel in an elite unit of the Army National Guard. So when that unit was called up in early 2004, Holmes left his job and his family for a decidedly less comfortable existence in war-torn Iraq.
Commanding 800 soldiers, his mission was not only to stabilize a volatile portion of Iraq but also to train local police, the Iraqi army and civilians how to sustain themselves through enterprise and self-government.
"My experience over there has definitely given me a new appreciation for life and, most definitely, what we have here," he said.
"Things here are important, obviously, but in the grand scheme of things, I'm not going to lose my life if I miss a deadline. There, you lose your life for something similar. I think everybody who was over there is going to have that same attitude."
Holmes' squadron was assigned to a portion of Diyala Province, an area about the size of West Virginia 100 miles northeast of Baghdad that contains an Iranian border crossing and is called "Little Iraq" because it contains members of just about every ethnic and religious faction.
Roadside bombs were a fact of life, as were random shootings in crowded places, an experience that still makes him wary of crowds.
He lost six soldiers and numerous Iraqi allies — the cost, he says, of establishing a democracy. Still, it's a price Holmes said most Iraqi civilians seem willing to pay as they learn that their needs can be fulfilled through a system in which each group has a voice regardless of ethnicity or who has the most weapons.
"There are a lot of brave people over there and a lot of people die every day because they want to create a country that's better for their kids and their grandkids.
"You can't help but think back when this country was created, all the people who sacrificed when they themselves would never see the benefits of what they were doing. That's what those people are doing."
Read the entie article HERE.
Local architect helps build a nation
By JEANNE A. NAUJECK
For The Tennessean
For the past two decades, architect Jeffrey Holmes has helped shape the landscape of Middle Tennessee by building skyscrapers, hospitals and corporate headquarters.
But for almost two years, he's been helping build a nation.
In addition to being the top executive at a Middle Tennessee architectural and engineering firm, Holmes is also a lieutenant colonel in an elite unit of the Army National Guard. So when that unit was called up in early 2004, Holmes left his job and his family for a decidedly less comfortable existence in war-torn Iraq.
Commanding 800 soldiers, his mission was not only to stabilize a volatile portion of Iraq but also to train local police, the Iraqi army and civilians how to sustain themselves through enterprise and self-government.
"My experience over there has definitely given me a new appreciation for life and, most definitely, what we have here," he said.
"Things here are important, obviously, but in the grand scheme of things, I'm not going to lose my life if I miss a deadline. There, you lose your life for something similar. I think everybody who was over there is going to have that same attitude."
Holmes' squadron was assigned to a portion of Diyala Province, an area about the size of West Virginia 100 miles northeast of Baghdad that contains an Iranian border crossing and is called "Little Iraq" because it contains members of just about every ethnic and religious faction.
Roadside bombs were a fact of life, as were random shootings in crowded places, an experience that still makes him wary of crowds.
He lost six soldiers and numerous Iraqi allies — the cost, he says, of establishing a democracy. Still, it's a price Holmes said most Iraqi civilians seem willing to pay as they learn that their needs can be fulfilled through a system in which each group has a voice regardless of ethnicity or who has the most weapons.
"There are a lot of brave people over there and a lot of people die every day because they want to create a country that's better for their kids and their grandkids.
"You can't help but think back when this country was created, all the people who sacrificed when they themselves would never see the benefits of what they were doing. That's what those people are doing."
Read the entie article HERE.
posted by SSG Ron Long | 03:13
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