Bristol soldier on his third tour of duty in Iraq

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Joshua Dillard was in Mahmudiyah, Iraq, on Friday readying his platoon for security patrol.
The 26-year-old is stationed stateside in Fort Campbell, Ky., but calls Bristol, Tenn., home. He took a few minutes from his day Friday to talk to the Herald Courier about his experiences in Iraq.
He began his third tour of duty in September 2007 and plans to return home next month.
“I signed up to serve my country in 2002 – mainly because of what happened on 9/11 [the September 2001 terrorist attacks],” he said through a phone that crackled continuously. “I think just about every soldier over here now knows that after that, we were at war.”
Dillard, 26, is a graduate of John Battle High School in Washington County, Va. He is married to Cammy Dillard, and has two step-children, Rebecca, 10, and Dylan, 6. The three have been waiting for his return to Fort Campbell.
“I’ve spent the last six years going back and forth to Iraq,” he said. ‘My first tour was the most violent. I was in downtown Baghdad, and I had a couple friends killed near the area where they found Saddam Hussein. Our platoon lost 13 people. It was awful – very violent. I saw a lot of death and a cowardly enemy that would shoot and run. There were also children tossing grenades at you.” 
Dillard, an artillery specialist and leader of a 25-man platoon with the 101st Airborne, 3-320th Field Artillery Battalion, conducts security patrols in an area south of Baghdad once known as “The Triangle of Death.”
“There used to be no peace in this region whatsoever,” he said. “The Iraqi peace-keeping force at that time really didn’t care much about what we were trying to do. I saw so many people get hurt. But now, this is one of the quietest regions in Iraq.”
Dillard and his soldiers spend much of their time locating enemy activity, and they are doing so alongside the Iraqi army.
“We do assaults and look for people trafficking weapons from Iran and Syria,” he said. “Now, the Iraqi army is right there with us. I don’t know what the papers say back there, but things are getting better. The Iraqi government – well that’s one thing. But I can tell you their army is stepping up.”
Dillard said it has been a long and drawn-out battle in Iraq, but he’s proud of the American troops who, to him, are now showing a higher level of pride in their mission. 
More and more, he said, the mission has become one of giving humanitarian aid.
“For someone that’s never been in a Third World country – the people, and especially the kids – they always ask you for something,” he said. “It’s always something – water, food – they’ve even asked for the boots on my feet.”
As for Dillard being a humanitarian, his cousin, Jimmy Ray Dillard, a Bristol Virginia Sheriff’s Office deputy, vouched for him.
“He’s made the family proud,” said Jimmy Ray Dillard. “He’d give you the shirt off his back. He’s outgoing, loves the outdoors – he’s the guy who always wants to put a smile on your face.”
When the soldier was asked what he has learned while in Iraq, he answered, “patience.”
“I’ve learned that things take time, and I’ve seen the progress that’s come from being patient,” he said. “I’ve also learned to appreciate human life. And I’ve also learned to love my wife. For somebody to wait for me for years like she does …” 
He also was asked what he misses most about the Bristol area and America in general.
“My wife and pizza,” he said with a chuckle. “I also miss the mountains. It’s flat and hot here. Last month, there was one day where it was 130 degrees. But it’s back into the high 80s now.”
He also wanted to give his love to his grandmother, Elizabeth Dillard, of Bristol, Va.
The U.S. Department of Defense helped set up the telephone interview with Dillard.
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