Rats at rest: Vegas reserve unit returning from Afghanistan
As the saying goes, “Nothing difficult is ever easy.”
So it was during the nine months the Vegas Desert Rats spent fighting the war in Afghanistan.
“It was very, very difficult, physically and emotionally draining,” Lt. Col. Victor Ingram said Monday from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., where 29 of the 32 soldiers from his North Las Vegas-based Army Reserve Delta Company, 405th Civil Affairs Battalion were demobilizing after an intense deployment among the Afghan people.
They’re expected to arrive in Las Vegas this weekend.
“The soldiers are emotionally exhausted. We endured a great deal, and we accomplished a great deal,” said Ingram, 45, a prior-service Marine and soldier who twice served in combat in Iraq.
“It was the roughest deployment I’ve ever had,” he said, adding, “I’m drained. It took me to my absolute limit when it came to being a leader.
“Everybody who participated in this deployment has changed in some way,” he said by phone, two days after arriving at the East Coast demobilization center.
Two of the 32 who arrived in theater on March 17 were sent home early for emotional problems. A third soldier was diagnosed with cancer early on in the tour and is “fighting for his life” at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, Ingram said.
During the deployment, the Vegas Desert Rats, as they are called, split up into nine teams that went on missions to villages in some of the most volatile areas of eastern Afghanistan: Logar and Wardak provinces.
All citizen-soldiers from different backgrounds – teachers, cops, cooks, bailiffs, a masseuse, a gaming agent and a valet parking attendant – their job was to win over the Afghan citizens by providing them with security, stability and freedom from the Taliban.
They were also tasked with taking care of the citizens’ essential needs by providing clean drinking water, medical care, and keeping schools open for girls and boys.
Assigned initially to the 1st Armored Division’s 3rd Brigade and later to the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, they were shot at or shelled every day, Ingram said.
In all, his company reported 320 firefights or incidents of indirect fire from mortars and rockets, including 37 in October.
Five of his soldiers were awarded Purple Heart medals. Members of the company also racked up 18 Army Commendation medals and seven Bronze Star medals for meritorious service.
Ingram said they encountered deadly roadside bombs and truck bomb attacks in and around their forward operating bases at Shank and Sayad Abad, but somehow the Vegas Desert Rats survived.
“We had a soldier 20 meters away from a rocket explosion” and soldiers in an armored truck hit by a roadside bomb that “literally stood it up on its end,” he said.
At times his soldiers had to put their lives in the hands of the Afghan National Army. “Periodically, the rules of engagement would change so when we got fired upon, we couldn’t fire back,” he said.
Occasionally, Afghan soldiers pulled U.S. soldiers out of ditches when they were in harm’s way, acts of valor that are not often reported, he said.
Before his company left in January for a training stint for the overseas deployment, he said his goal was to win over the population “one person at a time.”
“Each person that we win over, the philosophy is that’s one less insurgent, one less person in the Taliban,” he said Jan. 12.
On Monday, he said, “I know we made a difference. If there was one person that understood they were on the right side, I know we made a difference.”
1st Lt. Xiao Sessler said she is looking forward to returning to Las Vegas and being with her husband, Warren Sessler, a Korean War veteran.
“Coming back is really appreciating the life we have, the freedom,” she said by phone. “And the little things we have, like a hot shower and a good meal.”
After completing “a very methodical demobilizing program” in New Jersey, Ingram said, the Vegas Desert Rats are expected to be reunited with their families this weekend at McCarran International Airport.
Tracy Roberson, wife of Cpl. Eric Roberson, a Las Vegas police officer, said she can’t wait to have her husband home after being essentially a single parent for 11 months.
“I’m not a very good dad,” she said Monday, anticipating his return. “I’m so excited. I can’t believe it. It’s like a dream.”
Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.
Vegas Desert Rats by the numbers32 Soldiers
5 Purple Hearts
18 Army Commendation Medals
320 Indirect fire and firefight incidents
Quote: “It was the roughest deployment I’ve ever had. I’m drained.” – Lt. Col. Victor Ingram
