It was midnight local time March 26 when the 221st Military Intelligence Battalion arrived in Kuwait. The war was in its seventh day. 

Command Sgt. Maj. Lance T. Rygmyr remembers that despite suffering from jet lag, the excitement and apprehension everyone seemed to be feeling filled the air.

"After arriving at Camp Wolf near the Kuwait International Airport, we linked up with the Army’s 513th Military Intelligence Brigade," related Rygmyr. "Part of the battalion remained at Doha while the remainder boarded busses and traveled 42 miles north to Udairi, the northernmost staging base in Kuwait."

With the war already underway, the 3rd Infantry Division was streaking its way to Baghdad, and the 101st Airborne was moving out when the Georgia unit arrived at Udairi. Rygmyr said the 221st rolled up its sleeves and went to work.

Some of the members of Company A were among the first soldiers of the 513th to set foot in hostile territory. Their days and nights were spent gathering intelligence from enemy combatants and providing support to other government agencies, Rygmyr explained. The remainder of Company A stayed at Udairi continuing to train.

The soldiers of Company H, realizing they weren’t going to get a conventional long range surveillance mission, immediately went into a training mode and "retooled" their efforts to fit the need for other missions.

"They spent an enormous amount of their energies on live fire training, and close-order combat drills," Rygmyr said. "The unit also provided other units with tactical and force protection and convoy security training.

"At the same time, they mounted a quick reaction force that supported Udairi, and later a platoon became the main security force for elements of the 513th at Talill Air Base and Baghdad," he said.

LRS soldiers would also provide site and convoy security for teams working for the multinational Joint Captured Material Exploitation Center (JCMEC).

Mechanics from the unit’s Headquarters Service Company immediately went to work repairing equipment for other units so those elements could accomplish their missions, he added. Cooks from the 221st set up shifts, working out of Mobile Kitchen Trailers (MKTs) to keep the units at Udairi fed. An earlier fire, he explained, had destroyed Udairi’s dining facility, making it necessary to use the MKTs.

Meanwhile, back at Camp Doha, Company B was working long hours doing screenings and investigations on the counter intelligence side of the house, Rygmyr said. Company B became the Southwest Asia task force for Human Intelligence.

"There is definitely no rest for the weary when it comes to war," he added. "I doubt there was one idle soul, at any time, among those soldiers.

"Besides, idle time wasn’t a luxury we had or really wanted," Rygmyr added. "Time off was good, when it came, but staying busy meant time passed that much quicker."

Eventually portions of Company B joined with Company A and joined the Coalition Joint Task Force-180’s (CJTF) intelligence gathering efforts in Afghanistan, he added. They support multiple missions under command of the 10th Mountain Division and are expected to remain there until sometime in 2004.

Somewhere, at sometime, someone is going to be injured or killed in a war, Rygmyr said. "Sometimes, despite everything a soldier does to prepare himself for risks of combat, the enemy is determined to inflict injury and death," 

"I’m always anxious at moments like this because many of our soldiers were in combat for the first time, and much was expected of them," he said. "You never truly know what’s inside a soldier until something happens, and you hope the leadership has done all it could to prepare him for what may happen."

And it did happened many times to the 221st MI Battalion during its deployment.

The first incident occurred near the end of June while a group of LRS soldiers were escorting a convoy to a base north of Baghdad, Rygmyr recalled. All of Company H was now in Baghdad, many of them providing security for JCMEC teams, which regularly came under fire by enemy combatants, he said. On one particular mission one of the JCMEC teams was heading out to one of its target sites. 

As the convoy moved north, insurgents attacked it. During that assault, the enemy detonated an "improvised explosive device" near the rear of the convoy and the LRS vehicle, Rygmyr said. He was told the explosion’s shockwave shook the ground beneath the vehicle, lifted it on two wheels, and threw shrapnel in every direction.

Three of the six soldiers suffered minor shrapnel wounds, while a fourth received a minor third-degree burn on one of his hands. Two others were luckier and escaped the explosion unharmed. 

" Being confident, well-trained Airborne infantrymen, the six shook off the initial shock of what had happened, regained control of the situation and returned fire," Rygmyr said.

The CSM was in Afghanistan visiting the troops working with CJTF-180 when he got word about the battle. By the time he returned to Baghdad five days later, all four had their wounds treated and were back on duty.

"For me, being a senior NCO is like being a parent," he said. "I feel a great sense of responsibility toward my soldiers. I knew they were all OK, but I still worried.

"Visiting the troops in Afghanistan was important…I needed to be there, at the same time, I wanted to be back in Baghdad.

Rygmyr said he missed the Purple Heart Ceremony when the group was honored, but they knew how proud was, and still is, of them. "They handled themselves well, stayed focused on the mission and did what they had to do."

Fate struck Company H again, and this time a soldier would pay the ultimate sacrifice. "It was a bad day and a long day for everyone involved," he said.

It happened in late July near Baghdad Airport an hour after he had returned to Camp Doha from a second trip to Afghanistan. A motor vehicle accident claimed the life of Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Willoughby and seriously injured another soldier.

"Willoughby represented, to all of us, the future of Company H. He was a humble, quiet, very well-trained professional and motivator that we all admired," Rygmyr said. "I don’t say that just because he’s gone. He was a key player in the company, and when a unit loses a soldier, especially one like Sergeant First Class Willoughby, it causes a ripple effect within the unit."

It’s especially true among the leadership, Rygmyr said.

"When you’re a leader in a combat area, you know that, unfortunately, there’s always the potential for something like this to happen, and you’ve got to be ready for it when it does," he said.

"If you’re not prepared, if you’re not able to pickup, carry on and help your soldiers get through and move on with the mission, then you need to step back and take a long, hard look at why you’re a leader," Rygmyr said.

In late August, another LRS soldier suffered a minor injury when his convoy was attacked in downtown Baghdad. He was the company's fifth soldier to receive a Purple Heart.

So far, soldiers of the 221st Military Intelligence Battalion have earned five Purple Hearts, 11 Bronze Stars, 48 Army Commendation Medals, 11 Joint Services Commendation, 13 Joint Services Achievement Medals, 114 Combat Infantryman badges, and one Combat Medical Badge. And more awards have been recommended for those soldiers still deployed. The battalion was also nominated for a Meritorious Unit Citation and Company H has been nominated for a Joint Meritorious Unit Citation.

After seven months Headquarters Company came home mid-August followed by Company H in September. Both elements of the 221st came home to hero’s welcome, their heads held high and filled with the knowledge of a job well done, Rygmyr said.

"Our hearts and prayers are with them," Rygmyr said. "They will have some great stories of their own when they get back."