As I begin to write this evening, rain is pouring down and there is a threat of hail. While the wind pushes up on the walls of the command operations tent and the ground outside is exposed in plain view, conversations are drowned out by the storms downpour on the fabric canopy under which we are working. Just another day here in Mississippi. However, that's not where this story begins. With water streaming across the Hexadeck floor, I keep hearing the words of Major Tangen, Operations Officer for the 205th Embedded Training Team, as he described his commander, Colonel Petrucci, "He is a man who can talk to all ranks and make them feel comfortable without ever losing the respect of the men of any rank that serve along side of him." In soldiers terms, Col. Petrucci is a soldier's soldier.

This task force, Combined Joint Task Force Phoenix V (CJTFP V), is composed primarily of National Guard soldiers. Col. Petrucci, with 28 years in service, is an exception. In his words, "I've been Regular Army my entire career, and not connected to the Guard or Reserve." In fact, prior to this deployment, Col. Petrucci was retired from military service. He continues, "[I]t is a big change... I have been retired nine years." The decision to join this deployment, however, was his alone, fulfilling both a personal goal and an offer extended many years before.

Commissioned in 1968 through the Army ROTC program at West Michigan University, Petrucci was one of the first regular Army officers commissioned through WMU's program. From there he went on to active duty as a Field Artillery officer, later to become an Air Defense Artillery officer when the branches split into their respective specialties. "[A]t the Captain level... I served in all of the normal positions you would expect, [in both] battery and troop commands." Continuing the brief overview of his career, Petrucci adds, "As an O-5, I commanded a battalion of the 18th Airborne Corp at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. I subsequently went to the Army War College, followed by two Brigade level commands, one in the Republic of Panama, [concluding with] my last assignment as a Commanding Officer at Fort Dix, New Jersey. And I retired from that particular position."

Col. Petrucci has been involved in twelve to fourteen overseas tours, including, "[a] combat tour in Vietnam with some subsequent smaller combat actions over the course of my career." As we talked, he placed the current deployment to Afghanistan in context, "I was fortunate enough in my entire career to stay on an operational venue. All that means is that I didn't get taken away to staff positions and schools all of the time and was in major units whose mission was to go and do these types of things all over the world. So this is not unusual for me." Yet I was curious what motivated him to come out of retirement, to join a National Guard task force in one of the countries current war zones. Petrucci reflected on his time at Army War College and revealed the value he holds on keeping promises made. He continued, "General Pritt [CJTFP V Commander] and I are war college classmates. [At that time] I told General Pritt that should he ever think he could make use of my experience... certainly to give me a call and if there was a position for me it would be a privilege to come out and serve with him... I knew he would probably take a command overseas at some point. So when he did call, we called the Department of the Army and here I am."

Col. Petrucci has been tasked with leading a group of ETT's to the southern region of Afghanistan. His mission is in one of the most challenging parts of the country. As we discussed this, Petrucci explained his part in being chosen for this assignment, "I told [General Pritt] that if I was going to come back on active duty that I didn't just want to come back on active duty to serve on a staff or a liaison officer position. I asked him to give me the dirtiest and meanest place that he had in his area of operation and he managed to find [southern Afghanistan] for me."

ETT stands for Embedded Training Teams. This is the primary focus of CJTFP V's mission. The role of the ETT's is to mentor and train the Afghan National Army so that as an army they will have the capacity to function as a self-sustaining fighting force to protect their country and uphold the government. I asked Col. Petrucci how this mission objective worked in with his personal goals for this command over the next fourteen months. His response demonstrated his years of experience in balancing both, "[My] personal goals always [begin with] taking our young men and women over and bringing them home safely. That's a goal for all of us. Personally what I want to be able to do is to take these fine young men and women over and give them an experience that does two things: number one, fulfills our primary mission which is to build the ANA, bringing the Afghan Army up to a position so that the Americans and all of the other coalition forces can come home; [secondly], I want to take them over and give them an experience that later on [in their career] as they build a future army, will be the predicate for that building effort."

It is said that the depth of ones leadership is reflected in the strength at home. I reflected again on Col. Petrucci's decision to leave retirement. How was his deployment impacting his life at home? With a candor that has come to define his leadership, Petrucci shared his thoughts on this deployment from a very personal perspective, "Well, it is an interesting discussion. [My wife and I] have been married 37 years now and she's very supportive. [After] following me around all the years and on all the deployments, we had gotten into the retired life. She's making a tremendous commitment, probably more of a sacrifice than I am in a lot of ways. [I]t is just that way when the Army wife is at home, but she is extremely supportive... looking forward to me going and to me coming home."

As we continued to discuss family, Col. Petrucci talked of his son. "Our son is a serving Marine. He's been in thirteen years, he has [been on] two Iraqi tours, both Iraqi Freedom I and II, and he's got three combat tours in other areas of the world also with the Corps." He continued, "[W]hen he was growing up I tried to show him a lot of things other than the military because he was living it. And [even though] I'm tremendously proud of what I've done and proud of what his is doing, I wanted him to set his own life goals. We happened to be in Panama at a particular point in time when we lost our personal freedoms, he was in high school and one day he said to me that, 'freedom isn't free.' [A]lthough it sounds trite, the next thing I [knew] he was actively pursuing getting a commission through the ROTC program at the University of Minnesota."

I have noted that military service is often influenced by family histories; sons and daughters often choosing to follow the path of either of their parents. I was curious if Col. Petrucci, like his son, had chosen to serve as part of a family tradition. "I think I did. And the only reason I say that, [is that] my father was in WWII and was a National Guardsman who served here at Camp Shelby during the Louisiana maneuvers when the unit came down from Pennsylvania. He had been in the Guard, went to World War II, got out after WWII, and then came back in the Korean War for a stint. So he was not a career officer... but he always spoke very, very highly of [the military]." He paused for moment, and then smiled, "[I]f you listen to my wife who claims I was brainwashed from youth to become a military member, I think it was always instilled, it was always there. Dad always spoke very highly of his service and the commitment to nation, and it even came from my Italian heritage. My Italian Grandparents were tremendously proud that as immigrants they had a grandson that was going to serve the country."

As we finished our conversation, I turned the focus back to Afghanistan and the challenges that lie ahead for his unit. Reflecting for a moment, he responded with a focus that made it clear that he had already walked this road many times before, "I think part of the biggest challenge we face right now is getting what we call 'ground truth,' or 'situational awareness.' We get a lot of input, we think we know what is going on but we really don't at this point in time because it is a very fluid situation. So it's being able to capture the interaction of all of the resources and forces around us and molding that into our mission so that our mission requirements are in line with what the expectations are on the ground. Because once you do that the application of resources and the execution of your plan is not very difficult. It's capturing the predicate for how to build that plan."

Col. Petrucci will be part of the first group to deploy to Afghanistan. I consider myself fortunate to be able to follow him into the country as part of that first wave. He is a leader that instills confidence, expects perfection, and has the experience to champion success. Unlike some, Col. Petrucci has nothing to gain from this deployment. He has already given his years of service, re-entering active duty for reasons that one can only frame as personal. Closing our discussion, he took a final moment to share his thoughts, "My personal goal was to come back on active duty and lead young men and women one more time. So that has already been met here. It'll be more fulfilled, or more reinforced if you will, by the fact we're going over and coming home, but that goal has already been met... Many of the people [under my command] know each other from [past] assignments. So the personalities [are] pretty well set and the working relationships established. [They are] a cohesive unit focused on mission accomplishment. I [have] walked into an environment that was already running well, so... I [am] particularly pleased." As are the men that serve under him. It is that level of commitment that will make the difference in Col. Petrucci's success.

Videos: Click here for video page

Archived blogs:
Click here for April blogs

Click here for March blogs

RSS feed: Click here

Copyright, Scott Kesterson- 2006

---