Enemy fire sticks with Army major from the township
By Matt Chiappardi, Special Writer
EAST WINDSOR Even though he’d been deployed twice before to the Middle East, Maj. Terrance Lewis found it tough to get used to being in the line of enemy fire.
”Whether the impact happened several meters away, or if it happens all the way on the other side of the base, you’ll hear it,” Maj. Lewis said last week while home on a four-day pass.
”It has a major impact,” he added. “There’s that low bass sound and concussion. You feel it.”
The 42-year-old East Windsor resident previously had been deployed to Qatar and Kuwait, but from February 2008 until January 2009, he was stationed in Iraq at Joint Base Balad in Diyala province, about 40 miles north of Baghdad.
While his tenure in Iraq came after the most intense periods of the ongoing war, his base was still the subject of mortar, rocket and even small arms fire on a daily basis, he said.
”That base was hit every single day, sometimes 20 or 25 times a day,” Maj. Lewis said. “The stats (the U.S. Department of Defense) put up was that Joint Balad Base was hit 990 times last year.”
That was the hardest adjustment the major had to make for his first time in an active war zone.
Maj. Lewis has been a member of the Army Reserve since 1986 and was deployed to Iraq, commanding the 1179th Deployment Support Brigade. Later, he worked with the 840th Deployment Battalion, serving directly under a lieutenant colonel, he said.
His mission was to supply the influx of soldiers deployed during the so-called surge efforts of the past two years with the equipment and ammunition they needed in order to break the insurgency that gripped the country after the ouster of Saddam Hussein. And for his efforts, the Army awarded him a Bronze Star.
His small team was responsible for getting nearly every bullet or piece of equipment to thousands of soldiers, Marines and Coast Guard personnel stationed in some of the most dangerous parts of Baghdad and elsewhere in the country, he said.
It was a crucial job and one the major is proud of, but his close relationship with the men and women directly in harm’s way came with its share of mourning since Maj. Lewis often would have met many of the troops who were killed or wounded in battle.
”Whenever you heard of soldier being killed, it hurt, especially since a lot were brought through Joint Base Balad,” he said. “They have a hospital there where they do miracles basically. I found myself volunteering to help out there a lot.”
And the news about military casualties, which for a time during the war were happening on a daily basis, made life tense at home as well.
In order to stay in touch with his family, Maj. Lewis took his cell phone with him on his first deployment in Qatar at Camp Snoopy in the Doha International Airport in 2002.
Daily wireless calls got him $600 per month in cell phone bills, and later he invested in a satellite phone to control the cost.
Still, a voice on the phone was no substitute for a father at home.
”My wife took it well, and my son was 4 and too young to understand,” Maj. Lewis said. “My daughter cried when I first left in 2002, but still didn’t quite understand. Now, she’s 15 and saw a lot of what happened on TV in 2004 and 2005. The second and third times were harder for her.”
The dangers didn’t go unnoticed by the major himself.
When leaving the base, he was forbidden to travel in a convoy and had to be transported by helicopter at all times.
”You hear about those helicopters going down so every time you’re in one, that’s always in the back of your mind,” he said.
And there was a distinctively different feel to his time in Iraq contrasted with his time in Qatar and Kuwait.
When first arriving in Qatar in 2002, it was his first deployment after already having served in the reserves for 16 years.
”That was the time I knew that all that training was finally going to be put to use,” he said. “It was a challenge, but a great experience.”
When he first set foot in the Middle East, the crushing heat of the subtropical desert, which in summer can consistently top the 120-degree mark, was the first thing he said he noticed.
”I thought the heat from one of the plane’s engines was hitting me. Then I realized it’s just the weather,” he said.
But neither Qatar not Kuwait were conflict areas. Iraq was something different entirely.
”It was nerve-wracking,” Maj. Lewis said. “I wanted to know how people get used to constant incoming rounds, but, sure enough, you do get used to it. You start to block out the sirens going on. I don’t know if that’s a good thing, but it becomes routine.”
Along with the dangers came some privileges for soldiers serving in what’s been called the front line on the war on terror.
”The food is outstanding in Iraq. There was Indian food, stir fry, Thai food, Italian night, Mexican,” he said. “The food in Kuwait was horrible. There’s even more variety of fast food in Iraq than we have in East Windsor.”
As for Iraqi fare, the base had a large flea market where local merchants would sell their wares. That was practically the only interaction Maj. Lewis was able to have with locals since he was required to be ferried by helicopter everywhere he went.
”They had fridges, microwave ovens, DVDs, pretty much anything,” he said. “The main emphasis with that and a lot of the new contracts in the country was to get money back into the local economy.”
The major said he’s proud of his experience in Iraq. Not only was he able to bring back a multitude of new management skills to his civilian employer, Verizon, but he organized what he said was the largest 5K run in Joint Base Balad history this past Veterans’ Day.
”We had 1,700 civilians, soldiers, sailors and Marines. I had to turn away about 200 people because I only ordered 1,500 T-shirts,” he said.
Now he’s still deployed, but stationed at Camp Atterbury in Indiana. He doesn’t know if he’ll be sent back to Iraq or elsewhere outside the United States.
For the moment, the plan is to try and be promoted to lieutenant colonel so he can retire at that rank.
But in the meantime, Maj. Lewis hopes his time in Iraq not only helped keep the United States safe, he also hopes he’s made a positive impact on the lives of ordinary Iraqis.
”I hope that somehow we’ve changed Iraq for the better. I didn’t directly rebuild infrastructure, but supported those who did,” he said. “I’m just hoping something positive will come out of this.”
Maj. Lewis paused for a moment and said, “I’m sure it will.”

