10 soldiers from Utah complete duty in Iraq

If Iraqi terrorists know Chief Warrant Officer Brian Stearmer has left their country, they might be breathing a little easier.

Stearmer, 30, was at Fort Stewart, Ga., Tuesday and is expected to arrive at Salt Lake City International Airport this morning with nine other Utahns from the 142nd Military Intelligence Battalion.

The Layton man's full-time job is as a linguist with the Army National Guard's counter-narcotics program. Stearmer helps federal agencies bring down drug traffickers. He was deployed in January 2005, leaving behind job and family.

In Baghdad and Balad, the tools of Stearmer's trade were headphones, radios and "lots and lots of computers."

His job was to work with contracted Iraqi civilian translators to intercept radio signals, interpret them and then give a PowerPoint presentation to the soldiers who were poised to capture terrorists. Those soldiers needed to be absolutely sure Stearmer knew his stuff.

"If it's not presented well enough, then the infantry guys aren't going to go out there and hit your target," Stearmer said on the phone.

The intelligence he and others in the 142nd gathered led to the capture of several "pretty high, important active" terrorist cells in Iraq. Due to the secretive nature of Stearmer's job, he would not say how many terrorists or how high ranking the captives were.

"I can tell you we came back pretty well decorated," he said.

And all 10 Utahns with the 142nd who left their jobs and families almost 18 months ago are coming home uninjured.

Stearmer's group was deployed with the 48th Brigade Combat Team, which he recalled lost more than 20 soldiers to improvised explosive devices. IEDs are common hazards around Baghdad — many U.S. soldiers have died as a result of the cleverly hidden bombs.

Stearmer spent his final six months in Balad, where attacks on his base by mortars and rockets were more common. One landed in a tent, injuring seven soldiers — one man lost his eyesight in an attack, Stearmer said. More soldiers were hurt when a rocket interrupted a barbecue gathering.

At 6 a.m. one morning, a mortar round landed just 30 meters from Stearmer's trailer.

"It woke me up, that's for sure," he said.

Stearmer said that despite talking to his wife, Leandra, nearly every day on the phone while in Iraq, he never told her about the attacks.

"They're not real good shots," he said about the random enemy attacks. "It's just normal life — it's just one of those risks you get used to."

Leandra Stearmer will get to hear all of her husband's war stories in person.

"People drive down the interstate every day," he added. "There's people who get injured every day on I-15."

Stearmer paused, "We're all fine."

That's good news for his sons, Tyler, 4, and Alec, about 18 months old, born just before Stearmer deployed.

And Stearmer is not the only one in his group missing a newborn.

"We have five dads that don't really know their children," he said. "It's tough — it's really tough on married guys."

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com