Iraq Veteran Speaks To Newtown Lions Club

Captain Sean Pond recently spoke to the Newtown Lions Club about his experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq. Captain Pond spent a year in each country. He described Afghanistan as a country without many highways, cities, or communications, and Iraq as a much more sophisticated country with highways, school buildings, government buildings, and a number of cities. Capt Pond’s comments largely centered on his duties in Iraq. He returned from Iraq in early November.

While in Iraq, Capt Pond was part of an 11-man unit that was embedded with squads of Iraqi police. He described these units as similar to a US Army Infantry squad. Their mission was to secure the city where assigned.

The first city in which Capt Pond served was Mosul in northern Iraq. In that assignment, the American soldiers lived with the Iraqi police, spent most of their time with their Iraqi counterparts, and became friends.

When Mosul was secure, Capt Pond was reassigned to Baghdad. The mission in Baghdad was the same as in Mosul but the soldiers did not live with Iraqi police. That factor made the accomplishment of the mission much more difficult. Capt Pond indicated that the 24 hour per day contact with their Iraqi counterparts helped reinforce the cross training for the Iraqi police.

A number of questions were directed to Capt Pond about morale, mission achievement possibilities, Iraqi citizens, Iraqi soldiers, and terrorists. He fielded each question in his quiet demeanor with informative answers.

He thanked the Lions for the care packages the club sends to the troops in the Mideast with a description of just how the troops share the contents of each package. The Lions responded with great enthusiasm.

In attendance during Capt Pond’s presentation were his parents, David and Katherine Pond of Sandy Hook, and his fiancée, as well as members of World Help Foundation.

Capt Pond is a 1997 graduate of Newtown High School. He then graduated from Western Maryland College on May 26, 2001, and was commissioned into the Army on the same day as a second lieutenant.

He was stationed at the home of the Tropic Lightning and the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, on the island of Oahu. He earned his Air Assault wings in February 2002 and spent a year as a platoon leader with the 25th Transportation Company, which is currently conducting convoys on the roads of Iraq.

He was promoted to the rank of captain on January 9, 2005. Capt Pond’s promotion ceremony took place in Khowst, Afghanistan, at Forward Operating Base Salerno, during the ninth month of Capt Pond’s yearlong deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He was promoted by General John Abizaid, the commander of the US Central Command, who was visiting the soldiers at Camp Salerno.