CIVILIAN SKILLS SERVE WARRIOR-CITIZEN WELL IN IRAQ

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Before deploying to Iraq, ISG Karen Henderson, a 20-year Army Reserve veteran and member of the 80th Division headquartered in Richmond, Va., expected to train Iraqi Soldiers in combat arms in the hopes of allowing U.S. Soldiers to come home quicker. Instead, she ended up working at the Minister of Defense level of the Iraqi government.

When Henderson arrived in Iraq in July 2005, she was assigned to administrative work instead of"combat arms training due to cultural sensitivities surrounding women in the country. However, 5 months later, the Army leadership was looking for Soldiers with communication network experience and learned that Henderson was an expert in this area due to her civilian job as a consultant with BearingPoint in Springfield, Va.

"For the remainder of my deployment, I served as the only enlisted adviser for the Iraqi Director General of Communications, who serves as part of the Ministry of Defense. As an advisor, I worked with the Iraqis and U.S. military to evaluate and supply the Iraqi Army with the needed communications to be a successful military force," Henderson said.

During her deployment, she was involved in approximately 30 convoy missions. During one mission in which Henderson was riding in the second Humvee of a five vehicle convoy, an Iraqi insurgent struck the lead Humvee with a minivan. Although Henderson and her team were not aware if the vehicle was loaded with explosives, they prepared as if it was. "You could tell by the severity of the attack and the actions of the insurgent, it was time to go into a defensive mode," Henderson said.

After the convoy commander accessed the damage and ordered a 360 degree perimeter set up for security in preparation for an insurgent attack, the minivan did not explode.

Using her combat lifesaver training skills she learned after being mobilized, Henderson tended to the wounds of a U.S. Soldier and the insurgent, who were injured. She prepared alt wounds for transport and the two were medivac'd out by helicopter.

For her actions as a combat lifesaver during the insurgent attack on her convoy, Henderson was awarded the Joint Service Achievement Medal. For her tour of duty and work at the Iraqi Ministry of Defense she was awarded the Bronze Star.

"I feel privileged to have served with the brave men and women of Iraq that I worked with. I am grateful," Henderson said.

[Sidebar]

ISG Karen Henderson hangs a wireless antenna on the defense phone network tower to connect the Iraqi 7th Division Headquaters to the Iraqi Defense Network.

[Author Affiliation]

By Paul Adams

Army Reserve Public Affairs