Photo By Sgt. Mike MacLeod | Spc. Ojumiri Mammah, a food service specialist with 307th Brigade Support Battalion,...... read more read more
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By 1st Sgt. James Gillem
AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq – A warm breeze gently blows from the Atlantic Ocean, whispering as it moves through the palm trees in the backyard of the Mammah household. Palm trees strain under the weight of coconuts, and neighbors stop by to purchase those coconuts for the milk.
The place is Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, West Africa, and the former home of Spc. Ojumiri Mammah, now a food service specialist assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 307th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division (Advise and Assist Brigade).
On Feb. 15 Mammah was sworn in as a citizen of the United States at the Al-Faw Palace at Camp Victory in Baghdad, while deployed as a Paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division.
"The majority of people born in the United States have no idea how many opportunities are out there [in the U.S.] to make something of oneself," Mammah said as a newly-minted citizen.
His father constantly pushed him to find his own way, and his mother always instilled in him to go out and get what he wanted. In spite of Sierra Leone's sometimes idyllic tropical atmosphere, Mammah knew that creating a fulfilling life would be much easier in the U.S.
Sierra Leone is bordered by Guinea in the north, Liberia in the southeast and the Atlantic Ocean in the southwest. The country's main source of income comes from minerals found all over the country, the primary mineral being diamonds.
Life was not always as calm as young Ojumiri would have liked it to be. In May 1997, when he was 12, a military coup attempted to overthrow the government. Members of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council would come to a home, knock on the door, take a person outside, ask him what hand he voted with and cut it off. During the coup, Mammah's father hid him underground for two days to avoid being taken by the AFRC. Mammah's grandfather walked over 50 miles to Freetown, pushing his grandmother in a wheelbarrow, to escape the AFRC soldiers. The coup was eventually overthrown by a Nigerian-led force in 1998, and the democratically led government was reinstated.
Mammah immigrated to the U.S. in 2005 to attend college at the University of Virginia, majoring in music. He worked his way through college by teaching music at a high school and playing organ for a local church.
Mammah became interested in joining the Army through his roommate, who was in the Army Reserve. Just 45 days after graduating from college, Mammah attended Basic Combat Training at Fort Jackson, S.C. He entered the service to pay off extensive college loans, to have a steady income, and for the challenge, he said.
After basic training, Mammah attended Advanced Individual Training at Ft. Lee, Va., to train as a food service specialist. Upon graduation, Mammah was assigned to 307th BSB at Fort Bragg, N.C. In August 2009, he deployed to Iraq.
Mammah plans to serve 20 years in the military, to attend both Airborne training and Officer Candidate School, and hopes to eventually serve in the elite U.S. Army Band, "Pershing's Own."
| Date Taken: | 02.15.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 04.28.2010 13:59 |
| Story ID: | 48836 |
| Location: | AL ASAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 284 |
| Downloads: | 159 |
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