Raider Soldier masters odd jobs

Courtesy Photo | Sgt. Sherrie Cooper, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, works on a tanker pump unit on Forward Operating Base Speicher. (photo by Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Mills)  

12.07.2005

Courtesy Story

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Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Mills
1st BCT PAO

Flexibility is the key to being a Soldier in today's Army, especially for non-commissioned officers.

For Sgt. Sherrie Cooper, a fuel handler with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, being flexible is her main occupation.

If you ask Cooper what she does for a living the answer isn't as simple as it would seem. She holds, Cooper said, "odd jobs" around the company.

The list of odd jobs is long: HHC equal opportunity small group facilitator, safety NCO, weight control NCO for females, hazardous material transportation NCO, combat life saver, mail handler and all around helper in the motor pool. While the 1st BCT was headquartered at Forward Operations Base Dagger, a small palace just south of Tikrit that was recently turned over to the Iraqi Army, Cooper ran the tiny Post Exchange as well. Occasionally she'll handle fuel, said Cooper.

"I refuel the refuel van, keep the (tanker pump unit) full, and we go to bulk fuel to pick up fuel," said Cooper. But day to day there isn't much to do, said Cooper, hence the odd jobs.

"There's not much of a mission for fuelers here," said Sgt. Frank King, HHC 1st BCT motor NCO. King said Cooper is a big help in the motor pool because she takes care of a lot of the extraneous things, which frees up he and his mechanics to turn wrenches.

Cooper also sees her roll there as moral support. "They (the Soldiers in the motor pool) work really hard," said Cooper, "and I try to be the one who brightens their day."

Cooper's sense of humor is something that sets her apart.

"She's very funny," said Ray Williams, Department of Army Civilian, 1st BCT safety officer. "She has an honest way of speaking that is kind of shocking because she'll say something outrageous in a normal tone and it'll stop you."

"She's hilarious," said Sgt. 1st Class David Hoag, 1st BCT Air Defense, Airspace Management Cell non-commissioned officer-in-charge. Hoag should know. Recently he fractured his right foot in an accident and Cooper has become his nurse of sorts.

Cooper has made sure Hoag gets to breakfast, lunch and dinner each day while he recuperates. "She won't let me sleep," joked Hoag.

Williams said Cooper's sense of humor doesn't take away from the fact that she likes to stay busy.

"I think the thing with her is that she seems to be trying really hard to improve herself all the time," said Williams.

Always industrious, Cooper has two degrees, medical assistant and medical transcriptionist, from the Atlanta College of Medical and Dental Careers. Cooper joined the military in Atlanta at the age of 26, she said, to see the world.

"When I joined the military I was trying to get away," she said. Since then she's gotten away to Korea, Fort Lewis, Wa., Fort Drum, NY, and twice to Iraq.

During Operation Iraqi Freedom I Cooper was with the 528th Quartermaster Battalion from Fort Lewis, April 2003 to April 2004. The 528th QM worked mainly out of Logistic Support Area Anaconda near Balad during OIF I where Cooper helped set up the Fuel Supply System Point, a huge field of fuel points, which is still in use. The FSSP, Cooper said, serviced the endless trains of resupply convoys during OIF I.

Cooper said the difference between OIF I and III has been significant.

"During OIF I, I really had to do my (military occupational specialty)," Cooper said.

On top of that during OIF I Cooper was stuck on LSA Anaconda. With her current unit, 1st BCT, 3rd ID, she spent much of her time on tiny FOB Dagger near Tikrit.

There Cooper had to pull guard duty and go on combat patrols outside the wire, a big difference from life on LSA Anaconda.

Because of that Cooper said that the leadership in 1st BCT has been much different than her old unit during OIF I.

"With this unit you have to soldier harder," Cooper said. Despite the differences Cooper said she really can't complain. "Both have been good deployments. So far this has been a good deployment."

Cooper said she fully expects to come back to Iraq in the future. "I feel like it'll be a lot better next time," she said. "I'll have a lot more knowledge next time."

Though she expects the next deployment to Iraq to be a good one, it won't be easy because, Cooper said, "There's always something you'll have to overcome."

• Date Taken: 12.07.2005
• Date Posted: 12.07.2005 09:07
• Story ID: 3977