David Brouillette Returns to Dracut from Iraq
Dracut Fire Capt. Dave Brouillette, 41, was with them. For months, the U.S. Army National Guard captain acted as an adviser to the Iraqi Army, living as an Iraqi, eating their food, wearing their clothes, and gaining an understanding of the differences between American and Iraqi culture.
Members of the Iraqi Security Force entered a home and stayed inside for hours and hours, drinking chai with the residents, but this was no social call.
They emerged with the names and locations of five dangerous insurgents and that night went on a raid.
“Americans would have just kicked down the door and probably would have gotten nothing,” he said. “The Arabic culture is much more relaxed, built on trust. It takes a lot of patience to get used to it.”
Not to mention getting used to the food.
“As long as you had a lot of Imodium, you were OK,” he laughed. “I really would have loved a real steak, a prime rib. I don’t know what it was that they were calling steak. It might have been the loser of the Kentucky Derby.”
On one mission in the city of Tammin, Brouillette’s unit uncovered an impressive cache of weapons: M-16s, high-test sniper rifles, bomb-making materials, silencers and Iraqi Army uniforms that were likely procured by killing the men who had been wearing them.
They also discovered a tall stack of DVDs showing beheadings, used by the group as propaganda.
“After that, the game was on,” Brouillette recalled. “After we confiscated those items and took those guys in, most of the sniping and IEDs (improvised explosive devices) stopped in that area for three months.”
Six “bad guys,” as Brouillette calls them, were roped in on that raid. Brouillette later had to go to Baghdad to testify against them at trial.
“I later found out that one of them had killed Mike,” he said.
Mike was the 19-year-old Iraqi interpreter assigned to Brouillette’s team. Engaged to be married, his goal was to go to America and become a U.S. Marine. That dream ended with a sniper’s bullet.
“He was sitting in my car, in my seat, when he was killed,” Brouillette said. “A lot of the guys took it really hard.
“Living with the Iraqis was a great fit for me,” he added. “Those guys were always smiling even though they didn’t have crap. I wouldn’t have wanted any other job.”
Brouillette particularly enjoyed interacting with the Iraqi children, giving them candy and toys, watching American doctors treat them, watching them play.
“It reminded me a lot of home,” said the father of four. “If we can give them a better life, treat them with dignity and get schools built, that is how we will end this.”
He added that what Americans see on television every day is the worst of what is going on in Iraq, with the residents of 15 of the country’s 18 provinces living normal lives, going to school and work.
“Until the Iraqi government is stable, we need to have a presence there,” he said. “For whatever reason we are there, we are there now and if we back out, as Americans we are nothing.”
Lisa Brouillette knows exactly how long her husband was in Iraq.
“Nineteen months and one day,” she said with confidence, as he pleaded with her to let him take on another tour in October or join the Special Forces.
“No, you are all done, you did your part,” she said sternly. “You are staying right here.”
“We’ll talk about that later,” he smirked.
But right now, Brouillette is enjoying spending time with Lisa and their kids: Kyle, 14, Hunter, 10, Gage, 9 and Hailey, 5, and looking forward to going back to work at the fire station in a couple of months.
“You can’t get back what you missed,” he said. “When I left, Hailey was in diapers. Now she is 5-year-old, and the boys are all so much taller.”
Thank you Dave.
October 20th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
hey,
my name is david brouillette to.