DRMO Eglin worker helps wounded in Iraq

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  • Defense Logistics Agency
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. --  The days in Iraq are long. Not that they exceed the standard 24 hours, but for servicemembers and the people who support them, the work days are very long. In the Global War on Terror, many are called to serve and sacrifice for the safety of the nation.

Curtis Mitchell is a federal government worker who volunteered to serve in that cause. He left his job at the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office (DRMO), Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. for a six-month deployment to DRMO Anaconda. 

"The reason why I volunteered is because I feel like this is a way that I can help the soldier out," Mitchell said.

DRMO Anaconda is open every day and takes in surplus and damaged material from war fighters in the area. The material is reutilized by other military units, turned in scrap, or returned to the states for other uses.

When the work day is done, Mitchell and other DRMO employees head over to the base hospital to help with the wounded. "Originally there were four of us who volunteered," Mitchell said. Those numbers have dropped as tours ended. Mitchell works on the helicopter pad to get the wounded onto a gurney and move them to the emergency room. "Volunteering at the hospital does... show you what it's really like outside the wire."

When the wounded are moved from the pad to the hospital, they pass through a covered area called "Hero's Highway" that has an American flag on the ceiling. Stories abound of wounded service members who are scared and in shock when they arrive on the pad, but once they pass under the flag, they know that everything is alright and they will be taken care of.

"I come from a long line of military family members and for me to volunteer to come to Iraq as a civilian and not be in the action felt different, so I felt like I should do something else while [I] was here." Mitchell's brother is also in Iraq, serving with the U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division, 4th Brigade. They haven't seen each other, but Mitchell knows that the work he's doing is helping someone else's brother, sister, mother or father. 

"It's very humbling to see them. The soldiers are the real heroes here. I'm just here to support them as much as I possibly can on and off duty."