HOUMA – The Iraq War began in March of 2003 with the invasion by an American-led coalition to disarm the government of Saddam Hussein. One of the many called upon to serve was Edward Gil, a Multichannel Transmission Operator stationed in Iraq from 2000-2004.
“We had a mission in White Sands where we actually shot a live patriot missile and then that was the start of the war, basically,” explained Gil. “So we had to run crew drills. We had to run it in 30 minutes and we had to set an array of patriot missiles– six missiles and the control center and the antenna within 30 minutes.”
It’s been 16 years since Gil has been out of the military and he says he uses his time now to mentor the youth and be of assistance to the community.
“I have a couple places I go to: gas stations. I offer my free services of cutting the grass, picking up trash, cleaning around on the outside. I do all kinds of stuff,” said Gil. “Everything worked out perfectly. God had my back the whole time. You sacrifice yourself for the country and for the good of mankind.”