Another Central Point man was lifeguard in Iraq

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October 12, 2009

By Paul Fattig

Mail Tribune

Dennis DelliGatti has never met Reggie Lane, but he has a lot of respect for the former truck driver wounded in Iraq.

"You think about climbing into a truck, knowing there were IEDs (improvised explosive devices) out there and driving down the road," said DelliGatti, also of Central Point. "There isn't any other word but 'brave' to describe those guys on the road. The money was an enticement, but you had to have courage to do that."

DelliGatti, 59, knows about the danger facing contract workers in Iraq: He spent 18 months as a contractor near Kirkuk beginning in July 2004. He worked as a swimming pool lifeguard at a forward operating base that was periodically attacked by mortars or rockets.

But the truck drivers were the civilians who were most in harm's way, he said.

"How much money would it take you to risk your life driving down a highway, knowing there was probably a bomb somewhere ahead of you?" he asked. "You are in one of five trucks and you know it will hit one of those trucks. How much money would it take for you to do that?

"Most of these guys were old truck drivers," he added. "But they were tough guys. It was more than money driving them to do that. My hat is off to those guys."

An employee of Kellogg, Brown & Root (a subsidiary of Halliburton), DelliGatti worked at an untamed site some 100 miles north of Baghdad and roughly 60 miles from Iran. He had retired from the Navy where he spent 24 years, serving most of his time as a corpsman with the Marine Corps. He served in the tail end of the Vietnam War as well as in the Gulf War before getting out in 1993 as a hospitalman first class.

He was employed as a lifeguard at the Medford YMCA when he decided to head to Iraq to work as a lifeguard. He and his wife, Kathy, have seven children, all grown.

While in Iraq, he worked seven days a week, 12 hours a day. He worked in a unit known as Morale, Welfare and Recreation, which operated gyms, telephone centers and computer centers and provided recreational activities such as dances.

The pool where he worked was in-ground, made of cement, measuring 15 meters by 8 meters. It was located in a small park within the base.

DelliGatti had planned to return for another tour but while having arthroscopic surgery on his knee it was discovered that he was diabetic.

"The contractors I worked with were excellent people, hard working people," he said. "They were from all walks of life. I had college kids that worked with me as well as kids that came there rather than go to college. We had old guys who had been carpenters for years."

Most of the contractors were well screened before they arrived in Iraq, he said, although noting that some refused to even step out of the plane when they saw the lay of the land. Those workers were sent home, he noted.

Like the other civilian employees, DelliGatti stayed in a small trailer equipped with air conditioning.

"We were very lucky — we had very nice facilities," he said. "When I was in Tikrit, we lived in a tent."

He kept a journal of his stint, placing stars next to incidents in which mortars or rockets rained down on the base.

Consider the night of Aug. 13, 2004.

"Another call to the bunkers (at) 10:30 p.m. The big speakers in the camp begin with a 'whoooo whoooo.' Then a woman's voice comes over the loudspeaker, 'Alarm red! Alarm red! Personnel report to bunkers.' I don my helmet and bulletproof vest, put on my swim trunks and shoes, grab my radio and flashlight," he wrote.

"There were times they came in a couple of times a week but there were also times when we went a couple of months without any," he said. "But the danger was there. I had them land within a few hundred yards."

Car bombs exploded at least once a week.

"And we could also hear running gun battles around the base," he said.

Contractors make a point of shielding family members from worrying about the danger, he said.

"You don't want anyone back home to know what is going on," he observed. "I was on the phone once with my wife when I heard the 'whump wheee' sound. My wife said, 'What was that?' I told her that somebody dropped something outside. Then the alarm went off. She asked what that was. I told her somebody was making noise outside and that I had to go. She didn't find out what happened until I got home."

His job was to help boost the morale of the young soldiers serving far from home.

"There was one young soldier who came into the pool all the time," he said. "She was a very nice young lady. She got killed."

He looked away for a moment.

"But those things you just have to put in the back of your mind," he said.

Looking back on the experience, DelliGatti said he will never forget his contract work in Iraq.

"I was going over there more for the adventure, the flag waving and all that," he said. "Did I get paid enough? I made a lot of money, far more than I dreamed of before I went over there.

"It was definitely tough work," he added. "But the truck drivers, those guys were out on the road every day, always susceptible to IEDs. That took real courage."

Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at pfattig@mailtribune.com.

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