Lashonda Coley, a 25-year old Paralegal Studies major at Middlesex County College has spent the last eight years serving as a member of the United States Army. With one deployment under her belt, being a single mom and working on a College degree, Coley is truly an everyday hero.
Coley grew up in Goldsboro, North Carolina, a small town with a population of 38,023 and home to the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. She attended Southern Wayne High School in Dudley, N.C. about nine miles south of Goldsboro, where her journey with the U.S. military began.
Army recruiters made their way to Southern Wayne H.S. in 1999, her junior year. At the time, Coley had recently learned she would be unable to attend college and that made the army’s offer appealing to her. One year later in 2001 when Coley graduated at the age of 17, she enlisted in the service.
“At the time it was something to do to help me with school and money. I [also] wanted to do something positive for myself and the people around me,” said Coley. “Now the army is a part of who I am. I do what I do to protect my family, freedom and Americans alike.”
Before deploying to Iraq, Coley spent five years stationed at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas as an Automated Logistical Specialist (92A). At Fort Hood, ordering different classes of supplies for the different units ranging from wire to pencils was part of her everyday activities, said Coley.
“While I was there I ran different reports and ordered supplies using the army system. Now I’m in the reserve and I’m an instructor at the 80th in Lodi, New Jersey that teaches new soldiers in the same field as me [how to do] their job,” said Coley.
Coley was first deployed in October 2004 to Balad, Iraq and was stationed at Camp Anaconda, a large U.S. base near Balad, which is spread over 15 square miles. LSA Anaconda, the largest support base in Iraq, is reportedly nicknamed “Mortaritaville” due to the frequency of mortar and rocket attacks on the base, according to Globalsecurity.org.
Camp Anaconda is also known for its intense heat as most days are well above 100 degrees and swirling dust only adds to the misery of carrying a 5-pound helmet and 30-pound jacket which soldiers in Camp Anaconda are required to do, which is an order few other coalition camps have to follow.
“The time I spent at Camp Anaconda it was extremely hot, long hours and at first kind of scary, but unfortunately you get used to it. You are trained to live and survive as a soldier and survival is the first thing on your mind in the morning,” said Coley.
For entertainment, soldiers at LSA Anaconda have several different ways they can spend their spare time should they have any. The base has two swimming pools, which were built by Iraqis before the war. They also have a first-run 35-mm indoor movie theater that shows three free movies a day. The theater is huge, and is one of the most hardened structures on the base, providing one of the best sanctuaries during mortar attacks, also according to Globalsecurity.org.
Before deployment, soldiers are required to attend certain training days to prepare for their time overseas, said Coley. Physical training as well as specific job training is a must. Also on base at Anaconda, soldiers have the opportunity to take language and cultural familiarity classes to learn basic Arabic phrases and customs.
“Our training for deployment was intense and informative. We brushed up on skills we were taught in basic training: first aide, weapons, etc.” said Coley. “We were also taught different customs that the Iraqi people follow; basically the do’s and don’ts of Iraq. There was also a lot of physical training and basic financial common sense stuff.”
While deployed, Coley’s days usually ran from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. every morning. She worked the front gate at the LSA Facility and received materials for camps all over Iraq.
“Different conveys would come in at different times of the night [because it was easier to run missions at night] and we would process the materials whenever they came in,” said Coley.
She would eat dinner at around 11 p.m. and breakfast every morning before going to bed. Between work hours [approximately 7 hours per day], Coley would have the option of shopping, sleeping, writing or calling her family and handling any other personal business she had to attend to.
“I couldn’t wait to get home to see my daughter and my family. I couldn’t wait to not have to carry a weapon everywhere I went. I couldn’t wait to drive a regular vehicle,” said Coley. “[And] to have a regular night of sleep without bomb scares; it was an adjustment to get back into the flow of normal everyday things, but I was more than happy to make the adjustment.”
When returning home in October 2005, Coley and her daughter Diamond, who is currently 7 years old, moved to Edison NJ. Coley is currently working at Emtec Federal in Springfield, New Jersey where they provide technology solutions and products to both government sectors and public sectors.
This coming May, Coley will have eight years of military service under her belt and will hopefully be promoted from SGT (E-5) to SSG before she gives her military career a rest in 2009.
“Not re-enlisting kind of makes me feel as if I won’t be living my normal life because I am so used to being a part of the army. But we’ll see [because] anything can happen,” said Coley.
Since Coley has returned to the states, she’s had a new outlook on life. Coley learned not to take anything for granted because it can all be gone in a moments time. Every day that she wakes up and isn’t there [in Iraq] is a good one. Being in the military has shaped the individual she has become. It has given her discipline, more patience and many opportunities that she might not have had otherwise.
“Being a part of the Army is a very important job. You have to be dedicated and disciplined to do it and for me it’s a lifestyle. It means that I’ve become a part of history and that feels good. It’s a job regardless of how people feel about it you have to do it,” said Coley. “ But when you walk away you feel like regardless of what you are doing now or have done or what peoples words and actions are toward you, you are an important individual and in your heart you know you’re making a difference.”
