Special Report

Thanks to the Army National Guard, 23-year-old Sgt. Stephen Pierce knows everything he could possibly want to know about toilet placement, rats and mosquitoes.

“It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it,” he said, laughing. “I don’t want to kill bugs professionally, but I don’t mind doing it on the weekends.”

Pierce, a psychology major at the University of South Alabama, is one of four preventive medical specialists in the 161st Area Support Medical Battalion in Mobile.

He has learned to build and maintain safe and sanitary living and eating environments for soldiers.

“Essentially we protect soldiers from anything other than a bullet,” he said. “We figure out trash and bathroom placement, spray for insects, kill rodents and check eating areas to make sure food is prepared properly.”

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Pierce was activated for hurricane duty in August 2005 and spent one month in Ocean Springs, Miss. He worked to ensure healthy surroundings for the National Guard units that were there to deliver aid or move debris. He helped set up camps for the soldiers and fought off mosquitoes by filling in holes of standing water.

“In Mississippi the people were very appreciative of our help. It makes you feel good,” he said. “I like it a lot, and I’ve done it so long that I feel like I am good at it. A lot of people depend on you whether they know it or not.”

Yet, sometimes it’s hard to get his fellow soldiers to appreciate his dirty work. This was especially true, he said, during his deployment to Iraq.

In Iraq, he was first on the ground, building base camps and reviewing the safety of existing camps. It was also his responsibility to put hand soap outside the latrines and force Iraqi cooks to wear gloves while preparing soldiers’ food.

“People didn’t want to listen to us,” he said. “In a combat zone, when people are shooting at you, it is hard to make a soldier see the importance of washing their hands.”