Ryan Gallucci’s URI education was put on hold in 2003 when he was deployed to Iraq for nearly a year.
Ryan Gallucci wears a Boston Red Sox cap, a big grin, and a metal bracelet engraved with the name of a soldier who was killed in action fighting in Iraq.
Gallucci’s URI education was put on hold in 2003 when, as a specialist in the U.S. Army 443 Civil Affairs Battalion, he was deployed to Iraq for nearly a year.
Back home and back in the classroom for a year, Gallucci was surprised but pleased to receive a Bronze Star for extraordinary performance of duty in a hostile environment: “It makes you feel so much better. There’s such validity in getting the award.”
Iraq was a mixed bag. “It was,” he says “a hell of a learning experience, but it gave me a better work ethic and a new world perspective. It let me see how the rest of the world lives and experience another way of life.”
His civil affairs unit acted as a liaison between the military and civilians to help re-establish order. Working on a six-person team, Gallucci was put in charge of restoring water, power, and public works.
A bit overwhelmed with the task, he discovered that by applying knowledge gained from his summer in-ground pool jobs, he could restore water. “The filtration systems were just the same, only on a grander scale,” he says with a smile.
Overseeing the water treatment plant and electricity infrastructure rehabilitation in four Iraqi cities, he proposed, planned, coordinated, and managed projects totaling over $4.7 million.
Danger was never far away. His team encountered mortar rounds, small arms fire, rocket propelled grenades (one landed within five meters of him), and improvised explosives devices. Two of the team members were injured by shrapnel.
Gallucci was instrumental in maintaining the security of headquarters during several protests, some numbering over 2,500 people, remaining calm and cool when several protestors broke the line and advanced toward the entrance of the building.
It took time to readjust to life back home. At 24, Gallucci feels older than his classmates and more comfortable living off campus in Newport. He doesn’t share his war stories often, feeling a sense of disconnect with the hustle, bustle world of the average college student. However, when Political Science Professor Gerry Tyler, former Political Science Professor Marc Genest, and Journalism Professor Linda Levin encouraged him to talk about his experiences in their classes, he was grateful for their interest and input.
Promoted to sergeant, he will complete his enlistment in 2007 and then get out. “I’ve had enough fun,” he says with a weary grin.
By Jan Wenzel ’87Photo by Michael Salerno
