COOLIDGE, Ariz. - When Arizona Army National Guard Capt. Brian Dudley deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom in November 2005, he left behind his wife and six-week old son.
For a year he served as a security force platoon commander in the Arizona National Guard’s 1-180th Field Artillery, Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, coordinating a variety of security-related missions and responsibilities in and around Iraq.
Dudley volunteered to deploy the first time. For this deployment, his response to his unit was: "I have to ask my wife.”
Amy Dudley vividly remembers the conversation. "He asked, and I told him that I would support him in whatever decision he made; command is important and I know how much being in command would mean to him, personally and professionally.”
With Amy’s steadfast support and seasoned with experiences gained during that initial deployment, Dudley seized the opportunity to go back again. This time, he is commander of a unit in a unique and specialized community that he "very much wanted to be part of.”
Dudley leads 24 citizen-Soldiers back to Iraq for a year in charge of an explosive ordnance disposal company. Their job is to provide unexploded ordnance clearance, render safe procedures, protection of dignitaries, ordnance awareness training, range clearance and support, gathering of technical data from and disruption of improvised explosive devices (IED), and other missions as designated.
Dudley is keenly aware that "IEDs are the greatest threat to our service members in theater.”
Combat experience and fatherhood have matured Dudley in ways he never expected. His daughter, Keira, was born almost a year ago. His son, Tyler, will celebrate his fourth birthday during the deployment.
"I discovered during my first deployment that the biggest leadership challenge faced was making the transition from a drilling, one-weekend-a-month guardsman to a full-time, active duty Soldier,” Dudley said.
At that point, he realized that his calling was to "embrace being a Soldier, and that includes internalizing the Army values,” he said.
To that extent, Dudley sees his duties as unit commander and the responsibilities of being a dad providing him with a new and different perspective on this deployment, crystallizing in his mind what his role must be.
"I am more sensitive and attuned to the needs of both my family and my unit, which is really my extended family,” explained Dudley.
He knows that communication between and among Soldiers, as well as with family, is critical to mission success. "Everybody has to be on the same page, in the field and with those at home, so that we know that the emotional and operational support is always present,” he said.
Besides making certain that his troops are properly equipped and well fed, Dudley knows that his absence will impact the development of his young children. "I want my kids to see someone who serves something bigger than themselves; and that someday when they are old enough to recognize the example I hope to have given them that they would be able to say ‘That’s my Dad!’”
Volumes have been written about the privileges and burdens of command and the contributions made toward mission success. Dudley cites the motto of another military specialty, the search and rescue community, who claim "we do this so that others may live.”
He defines his mission’s success on this deployment as "saving lives, and then coming home with all of my Soldiers intact.”
Addressing the family members, friends, fellow Soldiers, and well-wishers who arrived at the armory in Coolidge before the unit deployed, Dudley confidently reassured all present that he and his troops would "Persevere and safely return.”