Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Deployment Guessing Game

Adam: The name of the Detachment Commander of the 307th Psychological Operations Company in Ramadi, Iraq is seriously ?Captain Caesar Millan??that?s right, just like the ?dog whisperer?.

Millan4 :14
I guess it started probably about 3 or 4 years ago when he started to become popular and I?d get an email or a text message or someone would call and say ?there?s a guy on TV that has your exact name?.

Adam: Millan lives in Soulard, he just passed the Missouri Bar Exam before being remobilized.

He?s already served a tour in Baghdad in 2005 and was supposed to have the option of "volunteering out", or choosing not to go back on the next deployment. That was before last January?s troop surge.

Millan1: 45
Adam: Did you volunteer out?
Capt. Millan: Yes
Adam: So you weren?t expecting to be over hear.
Millan: No, not at all, not at all, not at all. And even with the surge being implemented I kind of believed that my battalions? already gone, there?s no way they?re going to be coming back to us looking for bodies.
Adam: How did you feel? Were you upset?
Millan: Not necessarily upset, but? not even disappointed?but would I prefer to be at home practicing law?yes.

Adam: PysOp soldiers like Millan are in particular demand in Iraq for their competence at establishing trust and communication with Iraqi civilians?in many cases just as they re-integrate into their old lives, they get called up again.

Wilson1 :03
I?ve been home a total of 9 months since 2004.

Adam: Jerry Wilson is Major with the 10th PysOp Battalion. His family lives in Festus...he in the process of getting a divorce.

Wilson3 :15
She knew what she was getting into, but this was just too much for her, she just said ?I can?t do this anymore and so enough was enough. So it just kind of pushed us in that direction?we?re still married but we?re in the middle of a divorce so I should say that?s supposed to be finished by the time I get back.

Adam: Staff Sergeant Logan Griffith is from Pacific Missouri?he?s currently on this third deployment.

Griffith3 :10
My wife and I, we thought I was going to be a home a little bit longer so we went ahead and got married because we didn?t think I would be gone right away and then a couple months later here I am.

Adam: Griffith says if he?d know that he would be redeploying they probably would have postponed the wedding.

Griffith4: 14
Its something I kind of cringe when I see a lot of the younger soldiers getting married right before deployment. We didn?t want to spend our first year of marriage with me being gone?.and you know it?s the Army, it?s the way it turned out anyway.

Adam: But its not just families and marriages that bear the burden of extended tours in Iraq?soldiers also put careers on hold, ones that in some cases are not always easy to get back.

Drago4: :14
I was on the job for three months, I?m an operation supervisor. Caterpillar is a great company to work with as reserve or guard, they?re very supportive, but I?m sure by now I would have had a promotion?and maybe even moved off night shift to day.

Adam: Captain David Drago has four children and lives in Festus.
He?d just landed a new job working for Caterpillar?three months later he was in Iraq.

Drago3 :29
I want my government to tell me as far out in advance as possible how often I will deploy?no problem with deploying?its not an issue. But, what I feel like every reservist and I?m speaking as Dave Drago?what do I want from my leadership and my politicians? That they make it as seamless as possible for reservists to be alerted, mobilized, trained, deployed and then demobilized.

Adam: The entire Missouri 10th PsyOp Battalion is now deployed in Iraq?the most recent company to go over, the 307th, landed in country in September?hopefully they?ll return home in the fall of 2008

For KWMU, I?m Adam Allington