Aug 3, 2003 By Steve Ferris 6 min read

During three weeks in Iraq, Army Staff Sgt. Patrick J. Dunlevy of Uniontown said he led a 10-man weapons squad as they killed 12 Iraqi officers and enemy personnel, captured 18, discovered hidden weapons and ammunition and secured an area for a tactical operations center. Those are just the highlights of his two-month deployment during Operation Iraqi Freedom. His performance earned him the Bronze Star, the fourth-highest decoration in the U.S. military.

He will receive his medal at an Aug. 22 awards ceremony at Fort Benning, Ga., the home base of his unit, which was part of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized).

“We spent a total of 66 days in Baghdad. We saw a lot of combat,” said Dunlevy, a New Salem native. “I got there in January. We crossed over on the 21st into Iraq.”

A narrative of his achievements attached to his recommendation for the medal written by his company executive officer, 1st Lt. Thomas U. Crary, states that Dunlevy served with distinction during three weeks of continuous combat and was integral to the 3rd Division’s success in toppling Saddam Hussein’s regime.

It began with his squad’s March 22 move on its first objective, code-named Firebird, which was an Iraqi air force base.

They cleared several buildings and bunkers and captured three Iraqi officers. Dunlevy’s brief interrogation of the prisoners led to the discovery of weapons and ammunition hidden by the officers.

“I captured three guys on Firebird. Once we breached Iraq, we pushed right through and secured it. It was an Iraqi air force base,” he said. “We shelled it for 12 hours before we went in. That softened them up. I’d say we met light resistance. A lot of guys were waiting to surrender.”

On April 5, Crary said, Dunlevy’s unit engaged and killed a five-man Fedayeen patrol that was conducting a recovery operation around a destroyed Iraqi T-55 tank outside of Karbala.

At another objective on April 6, Crary said, Dunlevy’s squad killed one enemy soldier and captured six others while clearing a large group of buildings under direct small-arms fire from enemy forces.

The report says Dunlevy’s tactical knowledge and skill during the division’s drive on Baghdad resulted in the destruction of six enemy personnel and the capture of nine others.

A 10-year career Army veteran, Dunlevy said he has been deployed three of the last five years. He served in Korea, Kosovo and Iraq. When he was a private, he served in Bosnia.

“I get all the luck,” the 28-year-old sergeant deadpanned.

But none of his previous tours involved the level of fighting he experienced in Iraq.

“That was full-out war,” he said.

Tiffany, his wife of seven years, said she was glued to television coverage of the war initially, but she couldn’t keep it up.

“I watched the news constantly,” she said. “I had to make myself stop after a while. It was too overwhelming, not knowing where he was. I didn’t want to keep putting myself through it.”

She knew the Army would keep her husband away from home.

“I knew he was going to be gone a lot, but we got through it,” she said with the couple’s 5-year-old daughter, Caleigh, sitting on their laps.

They’re going to Walt Disney World before he returns to Fort Benning.

“I told my wife all the champions go to Disney World,” said Dunlevy.

His father, Gary Dunlevy of New Salem, was a soldier in the Big Red One, the nickname given to the Army’s 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam. Dunlevy said his father’s military experience didn’t ease the anxiety he felt when his son was fighting in Iraq.

“He was a wreck,’ said Dunlevy.

A Time Magazine reporter and a war-experienced photographer, Christopher Morris, were embedded with Dunlevy’s squad.

He said Morris previously worked in Chechnya, Bosnia and Angola.

“He was like another soldier in the squad. He was like an extra set of eyes. He picked up a lot of stuff.”

Dunlevy’s photo and a story about his squad appeared in a Time article titled “The Hunt for Saddam.”

Dunlevy said Stars and Stripes newspaper was the main source of news for America’s soldiers in Iraq. The daily paper was usually two weeks old by the time copies reached troops in the field, but it provided coveted news from the world outside the battle zone.

But, not all the news was welcomed.

Reports about war protests angered troops.

“Protesters hurt morale bad,” Dunlevy said. “When you’re over there sweating and bleeding, and they’re over here protesting, I’d like to be on some of those (college) campuses with my squad.”

“I think people should support the troops,” Tiffany added. “They didn’t volunteer for it. They wanted to be home.”

One article about a female college basketball player turning her back to the American flag during the national anthem before a game was especially upsetting.

Like the newspaper delivery, mail also was late. Most of it arrived 30 days after it was sent, but it was worth waiting for.

“Mail from people really helped. People we didn’t know sent us toothbrushes, toothpaste, paper and pens, even pre-paid calling cards. There were no phones, but it was the thought that counted. That’s what makes your job easier: knowing people cared,” Dunlevy said.

Criticism in the media about the initial invasion was way off the mark, he said.

“Our division pushed farther and faster than any other in history. It was well organized. We practiced for a month for Operation Firebird. We had satellite images, knew the buildings. When the enemy doesn’t do what you expect, you adjust on the fly.”

Body armor suits became many soldiers’ best friends. The suits alone stop 9mm bullets, but plates that fit into pockets in the vests stopped the 7.62mm rounds fired by the enemy’s AK-47 military assault rifles.

Thanks to body armor, many soldiers suffered only bruised ribs instead of what would have been serious or mortal injuries. The protection they provided outweighed the discomfort they caused.

He said the vests would cause body temperatures to rise by 10 degrees in the already scorching desert heat.

“It’s well worth it to take a lot of water rather than an AK-47 bullet to the chest,” said Dunlevy.

Chemical suits added another 10 degrees.

With all the sweating and eating mostly MREs (meals ready to eat), Dunlevy lost 24 pounds during his tour.

He said he stands a “great chance” of getting called back to Iraq, since the country does not yet have its own military and Iran or Syria could try to take advantage of the situation.

“I keep my desert uniform hanging in the closet. My division is a rapid deployment division. We can deploy anywhere in the world in 18 to 24 hours,” he said.