Sgt. Adam Pfeifle’s proudest day while serving in Iraq was the first election.

Streets were closed down days before, so everyone who wanted to vote had to walk to Mosul.

“People would walk 10 miles to vote. That tells me people wanted change,” he said.

Many would shake his hand, thanking him for making it safe for them to vote.

“That was a good feeling,” he said.

Pfeifle, an Army medic with the National Guard, served in Iraq from late 2003 to 2005 and is heading back for another tour later this year.

“What helps me out is the violence is down in Iraq and we’re more prepared this time,” he said. “Things are going a lot smoother this time.”

Pfeifle, who lives with his wife Shelly in Mount Vernon, is a member of the Anacortes Fire Department. While Pfeifle is deployed, Brandon Lowry, a volunteer firefighter, will take his place.

Pfeifle recently spent a month in Texas getting combat medical training and will go to Fort McCoy in Wisconsin for more training. He will likely leave for Iraq with his unit, 81st Brigade Bravo Troop 1st/303rd Cavalry, sometime in October.

In Wisconsin he will get more specific training for his mission.

“A lot of focus is on what the Army is doing in Iraq,” he said. “Our mission’s going to be supporting the missions outside the base.”

Pfeifle said his job will be to take care of Bravo troops at a medical clinic, when they go on a mission and when patrolling.

“Every mission that goes off the base requires a medic to go with them,” he said.

The medical clinic treats soldiers’ basic needs — things like sniffles, rashes, fungal infections and strep throat.

“You name it,” Pfeifle said. “It’s just baby stuff we can treat there.”

If more serious treatment is required, soldiers are sent to a hospital nearby.

He said medical conditions in Iraq are top-notch.

“It’s great medical facilities over there,” he said. “Military trauma surgeons are the best you can get.”

Living conditions weren’t too shabby either when he was last in Iraq. And he expects the same conditions this time around when he is stationed in a populated area of Baghdad.

“It’s going to be fairly nice,” he said. “It used to be tents and sleeping on dirt and now there’s trailers with air conditioning.”

But there is no mistaking it for home, with concrete barriers all over to help protect the soldiers.

“If a mortar comes through it only kills one person instead of 15,” he said. “You have to think of the glass as half full.”

Pfeifle joined the National Guard Oct. 21, 2002. His six-year contract with the reserves is up in October but because the country is at war he is being held longer.

He joined after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

“I wanted life experience and to serve my country after 9/11,” he said.

Pfeifle feels better about deploying a second time because the violence is down and he will have better equipment, including Humvees with armor, improved body armor and a new rifle.

“We got shelled 10 to 15 times a day on the base I was at (last time),” he said. “When I was there it was pretty dangerous. The tide of the war has changed.”

During his first deployment, he had an M16. This time he has a smaller M4, which is easier to carry. He also has a 9mm handgun so if he has to get someone out of a situation he can leave the heavier gun behind.

His previous experience has also helped him better prepare as a medic.

Pfeifle bought a vest with pouches for his medical supplies rather than the larger aid bag he carried last time.

“I’ve been over there once and know what I did use and need,” he said.

The pouches will be filled with trauma-specific items. He plans to leave other equipment, like blood pressure cuffs, behind when he’s on a mission.

“You’re not taking blood pressure when you’re getting shot at,” he said.

A box of his personal items is already on the way and will be in Iraq when he gets there. It includes necessities like a coffee maker, expensive coffee, an Anacortes map (to study for fire fighting), his favorite pillow, photo albums of his wedding and vacations, a new laptop computer and CDs.

Most of the Iraqi people Pfeifle interacted with during his last deployment were friendly.

“Ninety-nine percent of them are really nice and the other 1 percent want to kill us,” he said.

He ate lunch one day in a mud hut with a lady farmer who invited some of the soldiers in. They were treated to cucumbers, salt and warm goat milk.

Pfeifle said she had tattoos up her arms, missing teeth and chain smoked.

“She looked like a biker. She looked tough,” he said.

Through an interpreter they found out her crops were selling for less and she couldn’t sleep at night because of the helicopter noise.

Pfeifle also saw a lot of kids and was able to help out the locals.

“We did a lot of hearts and minds stuff,” he said.

They delivered medical supplies to hospitals, school supplies to schools and handed out candy.

He recalled one boy who walked by saying he was thirsty. Pfeifle handed the boy a cold bottle of water — which the boy proceeded to dump on his head and then use the empty bottle to hit his friend.

“Then they go drink out of the muddy water,” Pfeifle said.

Kids also ask for meals ready to eat by number and flock around when soldiers are giving away candy.

“You have to make sure you have enough candy for all the kids or it turns into a rumble,” he said. The boys push each other and the girls stand on the sidelines.

But Iraq is still a war zone. On one mission, Pfeifle had a close call.

He was out with engineers using mine detectors to find IED bombs. If they passed over metal objects, they would hear squeaking in their headsets.

While walking they came across a big area of squeaking.

It turned out to be an IED that, if operational, had a 100-meter kill radius.

“My footprints were all around it,” he said. “If it had been detonated I would have been disintegrated immediately. I was a little more aware after that.”

While he is deployed, Pfeifle plans to keep in touch using Web cams, e-mail, Yahoo messenger and good, old-fashioned care packages.

“There will be a lot of packages,” said wife Shelly. “He wants me to take pictures of daily life like our garden.”

With a nearly year-long deployment, the couple said they break it up into chunks so it’s not overwhelming. Two months in Wisconsin, a four-day break, four months in Iraq, a 15-day R&R, four months in Iraq and then home.

“I think the hardest times are our anniversary and Christmas,” Shelly said.

Until he leaves for Wisconsin later this month, Pfeifle is spending time with family and friends and enjoying civilian life.

“We’re eating at all of our favorite restaurants,” Shelly said.

Once he gets back, Pfeifle will reassess whether to sign a new contract.

“Two years is enough for me over there,” he said.




Support the troops

Sgt. Adam Pfeifle, an Army medic with the National Guard, said one way people can show support for the troops is sending care packages.

“There are lots of people who don’t get anything,” said wife Shelly. “Any kind of support like that is good for morale.”

Packages sent to an unidentified service member are not accepted by the military for security reasons. If you don’t know someone serving, there are several groups that let people register to connect with a soldier.

• Adopt a US Soldier at http://www.adoptaussoldier.org

• Adopt a Soldier at http://adoptasoldier.bigjohnmiska.com

• U.S. Troop Care Package at http://www.ustroopcarepackage.com

• America Supporting Americans at http://www.asa-usa.org.