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CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait (8/25/2012) - There I was, at an outpost in
a little town called Karma, a suburb of Fallujah. I was the acting
company commander for B Company, 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry
Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.
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Photo Left:
Capt. Phil "Gryz" Gryskewicz, a resident of Franklin, Pa., and the 316th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) support operations section field services officer in charge, on his current deployment to Camp Arifjan,
Kuwait.
Photo Right: First Lt. Phil Gryskewicz, a member of B
Company, 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Comat
Team, 25th Infantry Division, getting ready for patrol during the
unit's deployment to Iraq in 2006.
Photos Courtesy of U.S. Army
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Our commanding officer had gotten hit with a
daisy-chained improvised explosive device. He was OK, just
in a state of shell shock, he couldn't tell you which way
was up or down let alone lead a counter attack and with that
Capt. Phil “Gryz” Gryskewicz, a resident of Franklin, Pa.,
and the 316th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) support
operations section field services officer in charge, became
acting CO as a first lieutenant.
We had been
receiving small arms fire from that area so there was
clearly more than just one person setting up improvised
explosive devices there and we needed to flush them out, one
way or another. So, as acting CO, I made the decision that
we were going to go and clear out that section of town.
We move in with two platoons and start receiving small
arms fire. Then two dump trucks drive up from the front
while another vehicle pulls up from the rear turning
sideways and blocking us in on this road. A sister outpost
calls us on the radio warning us that about 30 vehicles were
moving in from the east and now the vehicles blocking us
were flashing their lights at each other.
I'm
thinking these approaching vehicles are going to use the
east to west running road to hit us while we are blocked by
the dump trucks. I grab one of the platoon sergeants and
tell him to shoot a star cluster flare straight down the
road at the dump trucks, figuring it'll scare them and
they'll high tail it out of here. He aims it and fires,
sparks and flames shoot out followed by a pretty big fire
ball flying down the street, confusing many and definitely
scaring the drivers because they drove out of there as fast
as they could.
My older brother, 1st Lt. Allan Gryskewicz who served in the same
company with me for around six months, got a Marine AH-1 Cobra
helicopter on station scattering the approaching vehicles almost
immediately.
That's how Phil Gryskewicz remembers one of the
most memorable incidents to happen on his previous deployment to
Iraq from Sep. 2006 through Dec. 2007. “It was one of the coolest
things that happened over there,” said Gryskewicz. “I'm on a radio
maneuvering these two platoons and I turn to see my big brother on
another radio coordinating air assets for the same fight. There was
like half a second, not even half a second, a millisecond where
everything just stopped. I was thinking, hey that's my big brother
over there, it was like we were kids again playing war in the
backyard.”
Many soldiers of the 316th have prior deployments
that they learned and experienced many things, dealt with different
kinds of situations and a lack of amenities. Lt. Col. William
Cacciotti, a resident of Johnstown, Pa., and the 316th SPO supply
services OIC, says this prior experience and the lessons learned
from it make Gryskewicz a great asset for the unit and its soldiers.
“Being on the ground at the war fighter level and seeing the
logistics that are involved gives him a great perspective at the
theater level,” said Cacciotti.
Gryskewicz went through Army
ROTC at Slippery Rock University, Pa., from 2000 through 2004, was
branched infantry and completed Ranger school before being assigned
to the 4th BCT, 25th Inf. Div.
In 2006 while deployed to
Iraq. “We started off south of Baghdad monitoring a bridge for a few
months before moving to Karma, Iraq,” he said. “This area [Karma]
had a lot of through traffic from insurgents traveling back and
forth between Fallujah and Baghdad.”
This heavy amount of activity gave much insight to the soldiers
on that deployment. “A lesson that I learned as a lieutenant was you
can always improve your position. Add more sandbags, put more camo
around it, put more overhead cover, until you've got Fort Knox made
out of a foxhole. That's what this command [316th] is trying to do,
they are always constantly trying to improve their position, and I
can see that not just in the SPO but throughout the rest of the
command too,” said Gryskewicz, during the 316th's current deployment
to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. “People are staying engaged, trying to
provide the best products they can.”
The field services
section of SPO is broken down into three different sections; aerial
delivery, mortuary affairs and shower and laundry. “I manage all of
the pieces and make sure they are run properly,” explained
Gryskewicz.
During his previous deployment to Iraq living
conditions and workload were rougher and more sporadic.
“In
the beginning we were in tents, 15 to 20 men per tent,” said
Gryskewicz. “They weren't insulated very well and you would sweat
all night while trying to sleep.” After moving to a different
outpost things got even rougher. “Up near Taji we took over a
farmer's building and the whole company just slept in the dirt,” he
said.
“You just laid out your foam sleeping mat you got from
CIF [central issuing facility] and put your sleeping bag down on top
of it and slept in the dirt. But, that's the airborne infantry way
of life.”
Even hot chow was a luxury in Iraq. “We had those heater meal
things for the longest time, it was a while before we got hot chow
out there and even then it was just MKT [mobile kitchen trailer]
stuff,” explained Gryskewicz. Having a chow hall available for
nearly every meal is great. “I get three hot meals a day and eating
at the DFAC [dining facility] is like a treat for me,” he added.
While in Iraq there was not specific battle rhythm to follow.
“You were working 24 hours a day seven days a week,” explained
Gryskewicz. “You worked whenever the enemy decided to make you
work.” The semi-set battle rhythm of the current Kuwaiti deployment
makes it much easier to set time aside for resiliency and
self-improvement. “I'm having a great time on this deployment. I get
to work out twice a day.” Gryskewicz's older brother Allan is also
currently deployed as a brigade staff officer with the 508th Brigade
Special Troops Battalion, 4th BCT, 82nd Airborne Div., in
Afghanistan and the set schedule the 316th is working makes it easy
for them to stay in contact. “I get to call my older brother about
once a week,” he said.
Things seem to be going well so far
with the 316th's current mission in Kuwait. “From what I see yeah, I
think we are doing good things,” said Gryskewicz. “I think our
command has a really good attitude, a can do attitude and a want to
do attitude, they are not just here to check the block, I think they
actually want to try to do something more. Even though our mission
is a steady state operation there is always something more you can
do, some other way of bettering yourself.”
By Army Sgt. Peter Berardi
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2012
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