scott bartholomew '02: taking the road least traveled
Scott Bartholomew celebrated Christmas at home, compliments of a joint American-Iraqi security pact signed in 2008 and the Iraqi government’s steadfast refusal to extend it past the December 31, 2011, deadline.
“It was a huge morale boost for everyone,” said the 2002 Collegiate graduate, a U.S. Army captain and company commander with the 82nd Airborne Division based at Ft. Bragg, NC.
“I was ecstatic.”
This was Bartholomew’s second stint in Iraq.
During his first (May 2007 through July 2008), he served as a platoon leader responsible for the maintenance of 200-plus vehicles at Camp Liberty.
On this tour, which began May 11 and was scheduled to last a year, he oversaw the training of Iraqi medics, mechanics, and warehouse technicians at the Al-Asad Air Base, located in the Anbar Province about 100 miles of desert west of the capital city.
“Our guys taught the Iraqis what they’d learned in basic and AIT (advanced individual training),” the 2006 Virginia Military Institute alumnus said.
“We had to translate our manuals (into Arabic) and put them on disks so the Iraqis would have something tangible to take back. There were no maintenance manuals for some of their vehicles. We had to build a lot of these manuals from scratch.
“As far as the medical piece went, the Iraqis knew how to treat trauma and gunshot wounds, but they knew nothing about how to run a clinic, operate sick call, or treat a common cold.
“(My responsibility) was making sure they got quality training.”
While his unit faced numerous challenges, Bartholomew’s second Iraq experience was much safer and more relaxed than his first.
“It was a completely different environment,” he said.
“The first go-around, I was in the middle of Baghdad which was more urban with rockets and mortars landing in our general vicinity.
“This time, (the landscape) looked like Tatooine (from Star Wars). The quietness was the largest change.
“If the enemy wanted to attack, they had to get through a lot of open desert, and we had ways of watching them if they got close. They never did.”
Though his unit put in long, arduous hours, his stint definitely wasn’t all work.
The Army sponsored a basketball league at Al-Asad and a series of 5K races. There was even a lacrosse league in Baghdad pitting State and Defense department personnel.
“Then,” Bartholomew said, “there was an increased warning for what they called IRAM (improvised rocket assisted munitions). Someone was basically trying to turn a pickup truck into a rocket launcher.
“The threat of getting indirect fire increased. Organized sports and races were banned.
“That lasted until the Army 10-Miler. Our base was large enough that they could map out 10 miles.”
Word came in September that the 82nd Airborne would depart by Christmas. Bartholomew left with no regrets.
“We’d trained the Iraqis to a point where our guys were supervising Iraqis teaching other Iraqis,” he said.
“I was confident we’d done as much as we could do.
Once his Christmas leave ended, Bartholomew returned to Ft. Bragg where he’ll continue as a company commander. Then, he hopes to land an instructor’s slot at Ft. Lee or with an ROTC outfit.
During his five-plus years in the Army, he deployed three times, celebrated four birthdays in Asia, saw side of life far different from the West End of Richmond, and fulfilled a dream
“I’ve worked with people I never would have encountered and gone to places I never would have gone otherwise,” he said. “It’s been amazing.
“It was the road least traveled that I could find. I can look myself in the mirror and say, ‘I did my part. I served.’
“That’s very important to me.”
