Strandell not ready for retirement

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Army Reservist Robert Strandell of Morris, a military careerist, is once again saying goodbye to friends and family, like his grandniece Kacie Parks. Having served 14 months in Afghanistan, returning to Morris in September 2008, Strandell will be shipping out this weekend for another 14-month tour, this time in Iraq. (Herald Photo by Adam Nekola)

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After 34 years, many people would be thinking about retirement.

Robert Strandell of Morris, instead, left this week for a 14-month (400 days) tour of duty in Iraq.

"I joined during the Nixon administration," Strandell said of his career in the U.S. Army and Army Reserve.

Strandell just completed two weeks of training at Fort Leonard Wood, near Rolla, Mo., and spent a few days in Morris before leaving for Kuwait.

He is a member of the 739th Multi-role Bridge Co., a reserve unit based in Granite City, Ill.

"We will only be in Kuwait a short time," he said, "before we go to Iraq, north of Baghdad."

Strandell, who expects to return to the United States in February 2011, said his company will be repairing bridges in Iraq.

Strandell previously spent 14 months in Afghanistan, returning in September of 2008. He then worked for the Illinois Department of Transportation for several months.

On Oct. 10, the 739th was mobilized and sent to Fort McCoy, Wis., where they completed three weeks of training in routine tasks and skills used by soldiers. Strandell said they then spent two weeks at Ford Leonard Wood, training on bridge construction and repair.

Part of their training included construction of a Mabey Johnson medium girder bridge, a type of bridge the Army constructs often in Iraq and Afghanistan.

They also trained on the stress points of the bridge and what is most likely to fail, to get a good understanding of what they will probably have to repair in Iraq.

The 739th includes soldiers drawn from other Reserve units and their time at Ford Leonard Wood was the first time many of them had worked together.

Strandell is normally part of the 416th Engineers unit in Darien.

While in Afghanistan, Strandell said, he trained the Afghans in how to deal with improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

"Someone from Boston and from Minneapolis trained me," he said, "and after three months in Afghanistan, the Army said I was now an instructor."

In addition to training Afghan soldiers and police, Strandell said, he briefed then-First Lady Laura Bush during her stop in Afghanistan in June of 2008, and candidate Barack Obama in July of 2008.

"I also trained President Hamid Karzai's bodyguards in September 2008," he said.

Strandell sattended high school in Aurora and received a bachelor's degree in history from Southern Illinois University, where he was a member of the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC).

He was part of the 82nd Airborne Division in the 1970s. He served in Panama shortly after Manual Noriega was overthrown in 1989.

Strandell said he took graduate courses at Lewis and other universities, but because of being transferred by the Army, it took a long time to complete a degree. He received his master's in Public Administration from Indiana State University in 1997.

Strandell, who will be 55 in February, said he will remain in the Army Reserve to age 60.

His mother, Lollene Jones, lives in Morris, and his father, Robert Paul Strandell, lives in Aurora.
















 

 

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