Ar Ramadi

Scotton’s journey to Ar Ramadi with Charlie Company, 312th Battalion took her from Kuwait to Baghdad on a C-130 transport, and then to a Chinook helicopter for transport to Ar Ramadi.

Waves of heat billowed out from a desert freckled by meager vegetation, a welcome change from Kuwait.

“We’re still in the desert, but there are also palm trees and shrubs on the ground,” she wrote. “In Kuwait it was flat, and not a speck of green for miles.”

Scotton got a taste of the heat her first week there, stationed with her battalion in temporary tents until the units they had been sent to relieve left. Temperatures climbed to 130 degrees.

“They haven’t gotten AC hooked up yet, so the tents are boiling hot,” she wrote.

As a specialist, Scotton prepared and synthesized intelligence reports for the brigade commander during the day. During downtime, she played video games, watched movies and worked out in the gym. She read romance novels and finally finished J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

Male and female sleeping quarters were separated by a curtain. Six males occupied one side, six females the other. But, she said, the closeness in quarters was never uncomfortable.

“I had a really nice group of guys there with me,” she said. “They were really nice and protective.”

Scotton had access to a phone and e-mail in base Internet cafes. She still wrote letters home. She updated her parents and friends on news of the base. She also requested snack foods, envelopes and toiletries.

“And chocolate!” she wrote April 19, 2004.

One letter, dated April 30, 2004, was special. The day was an important one for the Scotton family.

“Happy anniversary,” she wrote. “Twenty-five years. Wow. That sounds like such a long time.”

Mortar attack

Tina Scotton only shared the positive with friends and family back home.

The closest she came to combat — a mortar attack — was never mentioned in her letters.

The mortar rounds exploded during a softball tournament May 3, 2004, across the street from Scotton’s base. She ran outside just in time to see the wounded being carried to neighboring medical facilities. One soldier pressed his fingers to his neck, holding paper-thin pieces of shrapnel in place while blood spit between his fingers.

“It was pretty terrifying and way worse than movies,” she said.

Six soldiers were killed and another 35 wounded.

Her mother learned of the attack on the news, and it was a few days before Valerie was able to talk to Scotton. The base attack prompted an automatic shutdown of all communication equipment, preventing soldiers from contacting their families until fatalities were confirmed.

“I couldn’t even call them and tell them I was OK,” Scotton said.

Home

Scotton’s stateside arrival prompted another early morning phone call to her parents. They learned of her safe arrival at 4 a.m.

“It was a big relief,” Valerie said.

Scotton arrived back at Fort Hood and took 48 hours of leave before returning to base for a post-deployment health check and retrieval of her belongings. She experienced a bit of a culture shock on her return, especially in the way Americans had conversations.

“The Iraqis really stand close when they’re talking to you,” she said. “It was kind of weird to adjust.”

It was also strange to see Fort Hood’s new additions. Even observing those on base immersed in daily tasks was a strange sight for the returning soldier.

“It was like our lives had stood still and theirs had kept going,” Scotton said. “When we got back, it was like ours were just starting over again.”

Scotton is currently studying abroad at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, on the GI Bill.