Wounded Soldier Continues Service
(February 9, 2010) |
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Army Sgt. Sophia Malone is working toward getting back to
health from wounds she suffered during her deployment to Iraq with the Alabama
Army National Guard's 128th Military Police Company. |
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REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala., Feb. 4, 2010 – A
chance meeting with Army Lt. Gen. Kevin Campbell
in June led to a dream job for Iraqi war veteran
and Purple Heart recipient Army Sgt. Sophia
Malone.
The Alabama National Guard soldier, assigned to
the community-based warrior transition unit
here, is continuing her service to the nation as
a human resources administrative assistant at
the Space and Missile Defense Command/Army
Forces Strategic Command. She takes care of
administrative requirements for awards,
appraisals, in-processing actions and other
personnel actions.
“General Campbell wanted to bring wounded
warriors on here,” Malone said. “I met him at
the wounded warrior Army birthday bash they had
here in June. ... General Campbell is the best
general I've ever met. He and his wife are
awesome.”
Malone, a former military police soldier, said
her co-workers have eased her transition. “The
people here work with me,” she said. “I know
I've found a home here.”
In 1989, at age 19, Malone joined the active
Army, serving a four-year stint that took her to
Operation Desert Storm to support
multiple-launch rocket system maintenance. With
her enlistment, she continued her family's |
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tradition of serving in the military. Her grandfather served in World War II,
and her father was a Korean War and Vietnam War veteran. Her brother is in the
reserves, and other family members also serve. |
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Malone left the Army for nine years, during which she
married and had three children – twin daughters Lacy and
Lexy, now 15, and son E.Z., who's 10. But 9/11 led her to
recommit to national service.
“I had to do something. I had to get back in,” she said. “I
joined the National Guard so that I could be a part-time
soldier and a mom at the same time. But I've been on active
duty orders since 2005 as a battalion career counselor with
the 203rd Battalion out of Athens. I've done more with the
National Guard than I did while on active duty.”
Her full-time Guard service included hurricane relief
efforts following hurricanes Ivan, Rita and Katrina, during
which she participated in military police security
activities. In October 2006, she deployed with the 128th
Military Police Company for a year to Iraq, during a time
that was extremely volatile in the war-torn country.
“Our squad would get hit all the time. The 3rd Platoon
became known as the IED magnets,” she said, referring to
improvised explosive devices. “We were rolling so much
outside the wire that we took a lot of hits and we lived
through a lot of ambushes. We were ambushed twice while
crossing the Tigris [River}. Once, we rolled up on an IED
attack on a unit where a guy with the Air Force was killed
by shrapnel. We saw other convoys attacked and a lot of
other stuff.”
In one situation, when a mosque was blown up with a
vehicle-borne bomb, Malone and several other soldiers from
the 128th put their training as combat lifesavers to work.
They assisted Army medical personnel in providing first aid
to Iraqi civilians injured in the attack.
Malone served as a truck commander and team leader in a
military police training force. She and her fellow soldiers
helped to reduce the violence by training the Iraqi police
force.
“I was part of a police transition team that trained Iraqi
police,” she said. “We left our base every day to travel to
Iraqi police stations in the different cities.”
Each day, upon arrival, her team, consisting of nine to 12
soldiers, would set up a security perimeter around the
police station. Then they would assess the station's
training and equipment needs, meet with police chiefs and
establish working relationships with the police station
personnel.
“We started from scratch at every station,” she said. “At
some of these stations, they had never seen an American
soldier before. Ours was such a new mission, the rules of
engagement were changing all the time, and we were all
learning about the Iraqi society and culture. So it was a
real challenge.”
Malone and her team worked at police stations in Muqdadiyah
and Tikrit. At times, Malone's unit went on patrols with
Iraqi police officers and interacted with Iraqi civilians in
the marketplaces. They also went on special missions with
the 82nd Airborne Division, including a surprise visit at an
Iraqi jail to search for contraband.
Malone said her gender met with varying results.
“Some Iraqi police chiefs wouldn't even talk to me or work
with me at all,” she said. “Others were very friendly. It
depended on how Westernized they were. To many Iraqi police
and civilians, I was a novelty. They were curious about me.
They wanted to take pictures of me on their cell phones.
“But with the soldiers of the 128th,” she continued, “I was
very well respected. They knew me and how I reacted to
certain situations, and they knew I wasn't afraid to do what
I had to do. They knew I wouldn't expect them to do anything
I wouldn't do.”
There were plenty of intense situations that called on
Malone to be at her best as her unit's lead soldier. Twice,
Malone's convoy took direct hits as the lead vehicle
traveling through Tikrit. The impact of the attacks left her
with shoulder, neck and back injuries that cause her daily
pain, and that she hopes to overcome through surgery and
physical therapy.
The first direct hit with an IED happened in November 2006,
when two anti-tank mines wired together exploded and damaged
the front right corner of Malone's Humvee.
“The IED was set off by a command wire,” she said. “The
enemy panicked and set off the command wire too early. If he
had waited, the IED would have been directly under my seat,
and I wouldn't be here right now.”
The explosion left Malone's Humvee severely damaged in the
“kill zone.” Malone, her driver, gunner, interpreter and
Iraqi police logistics officer were evacuated by a quick
readiness force. The attack left Malone with occasional
tingling in her right arm.
In August 2007, a second direct attack occurred as Malone's
Humvee, which was the lead vehicle carrying the platoon
sergeant, was traveling on a main supply route. As they
crossed a bridge, the Humvee traveled over a pressure plate,
with the IED exploding directly on the passenger side of the
vehicle.
“My arm was resting on the window,” Malone said. “Some kind
of slivers went into my arm, and it was injured. We were
only 12 minutes outside the gate. The third truck in our
convoy pulled us home. My gunner also had shrapnel injuries.
We both went to the [combat support hospital]. But I was
more upset that they blew up my truck than I was about what
happened to me. I had just gotten it out of the shop.”
After two days of recuperation, Malone was back out on
missions. She safely returned to her family in October 2007.
But instead of taking time to focus on recuperating from her
experience and addressing physical ailments caused by the
impact of the two IED explosions, Malone accepted an
instructor position at Camp Shelby, Miss. Her days were
filled with training other National Guard soldiers for
deployments through various simulation exercises.
“I was still in Humvees rolling around,” she said.
After the instructor assignment, Malone was required to go
through a medical screening before she could return to her
National Guard position with the 128th. Her shoulder and
neck injuries were identified, and she was sent to Fort
Gordon, Ga., in January 2009 for further medical evaluation.
“I was having numbness and tingling in my fingers and arm. I
had neck and shoulder pain,” she said. “But when you are out
the wire and have all that adrenaline flowing, you don't
think about that. And there was no way I was going to let my
guys roll without me. In that situation, if you take one
piece out of the unit, everyone else has to work twice as
hard. There was no way I was going to do that to my guys.
“Then, when I was at Camp Shelby,” she continued, “the
workload was twice that of the students. As instructors, you
spend a lot of time preparing and then a lot of time
training. I didn't have time to think about what had
happened to me and what was going on with my neck and
shoulder.”
But her time at Fort Gordon made Malone aware that she did
need to address her physical issues. In April, she was
assigned to the community-based warrior transition unit
here, which has worked with her to develop a plan of
surgical treatment, physical therapy and pain management
that will get her back to 100 percent health.
The unit allows soldiers to live at home and work at local
armories and installations while undergoing medical
treatment.
“This is the best thing that ever happened to me,” Malone
said. “I am able to be with my children while at the same
time I am getting healthy and I am able to work. It was like
a sigh of relief for me when I got this assignment, because
I can see a future here for myself as a civilian while still
serving in the National Guard. I want to get healthy. I want
to return to duty with the 128th.”
Malone said she expects the 128th will be deployed again,
possibly to Afghanistan. And she plans to be with them.
“That unit is filled with my brothers and sisters. We went
through hell together. We have a very close camaraderie,”
she said. “I think we still have another deployment in us. I
know I have another one in me. Serving my country, being
with my guys -- it's kind of hard to explain.”
Even with a Purple Heart to her credit, Malone brushes off
any suggestions that she is a national hero.
“I wasn't the only one in a truck that got blown up,” she
said. “And there were the guys who risked their lives to
pull us out of those situations. We all signed up. We knew
what we were doing, what we were getting into. You do your
job and keep going.” |
Article and photo by Kari Hawkins
U.S. Army Garrison Redstone public affairs office
Special to
American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2010 |
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