South Alabamian

Soldier glad to be home and to return to serving community





From left, Ella, Samantha and Brian Clark

From left, Ella, Samantha and Brian Clark

Jackson Police Officer Brian Clark who recently returned home from Iraq, is glad to be back with his family and is ready to begin serving his community.

A U.S. Army Reservist, Clark spent the last 12 months in Iraq with the 478th civil Air Batallion working with Iraqi police officers, judges and lawyers. Much of his job included working with a prevential reconnaisscance team (PRT) and foreign service officers inspecting courthouses and police stations to see if they met safety standards.

“We helped establish the rule of law in what is known as the Rule of Law area or Green Zone in Baghdad,” he said. “It was a very unique situation with civilian and military personnel working together.”

While there, Clark’s unit would also go on missions to the Red Zone, with a U.S. National Guard field artillery unit from Maryland. “We would drive out and walk around, checking things out,” he said. “The Guard unit we were with was very good. We never had any major incidents while in the field.”

Clark said he had quite a bit of contact with Iraqi citizens while there. “Most of them want to have normal lives,” he said. “There are a lot of good opportunities for them to earn a living.”

An Iraqi judge who worked closely with the soldiers would serve as an interpreter in many cases. “That helped us with the language barrier,” added Clark.

Although he never encountered any major uprisings, there were some instances when he did experience Green Zone. Because of the sensitive nature of the situation, Clark was unable to elaborate on that subject.

He explained that he got lucky when it came to his living arrangements. He shared an air conditioned trailer with one other soldier. It was equipped with a bathroom and running water.

Clark, who served in the Army as a military policeman (MP) for five years, was 1-1/2 years into a three-year inactive ready reserve (IRR) commitment when he was reactivated in November of 2006. He and his wife, Samantha, had just welcomed a new addition to their family, their newborn daughter, Ella, who was born that October and is now 1-1/2 years old. last year and she began to walk the week after I left,” said Clark.

Last Friday, which was Clark’s first full day back home, his wife and daughter appeared very happy to have him back permanently. “His honey-do list is pretty long at this point,” said Samantha, smiling.

Clark said he is looking forward to returning to work, helping protect the citizens of Jackson. He met with Police Chief Charles Burge, Monday, to go over the specifics of when he will be back on the job.

As a MP, Clark served a oneyear tour of duty in Iraq prior to leaving active duty and becoming a civilian police officer in Opelika, where he worked for a year before coming to Jackson.

“It will be nice to get back into a regular routine,” he added.

Clark still has a 4-1/2 year committment to the National

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