By Matthew Cate

Imagine a typical day at work.  It probably shapes up something like this: Phone calls, staff ad client meetings. E-mails. Lunch.  Then more meetings, a break or two around the water cooler and the drive home.  Except for the other cars on the highway, and maybe a backstabbing co-worker, most people’s jobs are pretty tame,  relatively safe.  Now imagine a day in the life of Staff Sergeant Brooke Ardito  during one of her typical work days in Iraq five years ago.  Sniper fire, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and sweltering heat were everyday realities for this young woman from Smithfield, RI. 

On Monday evening, Brooke was the honored speaker at the Varnum Armory where she addressed a small group of patrons about her experiences in Iraq. 

Don Marcum, the curator at Varnum, said he felt inspired after reading Band of Sisters by Kirsten Holmstead, which discusses the experiences of female soldiers who have served in Iraq, and felt it would be fascinating to invite a female Iraq War veteran from Rhode Island to speak about being a woman in the military.  Brooke addressed approximately 30 patrons and friends of the distinguished armory in a lounge room containing a 16^th-century crossbow, Civil War muskets, and early 19^th-century cavalry sabers that exemplified the building’s commitment to military history. 

Brooke Ardito (neé Carney) joined the Rhode Island National Guard in 2000 after finishing her freshman year at Rhode Island College.  She knew she wanted to pursue a degree in criminal justice, but she also craved law enforcement experience that only the military could offer her.  Brooke was assigned to the 119th Military Police Company in Rhode Island.  Less than two years later she provided security at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

It was in February 2003 when the young staff sergeant was ordered to serve with her unit in Iraq.  After two months of intense training at Fort Drum, Brooke landed in Kuwait in March.  By April, she was in Baghdad patrolling highways for improvised explosive devices (IEDs), insurgents, and other activity intended to disturb her main supply route.       

In Baghdad, the 119^th members built their own camp from scratch including bathrooms and showers.  “We roughed it,” Brooke said of her first few months in Baghdad.  Even though she was one of only five women in her company, Brooke said she never felt uncomfortable with the men around her.  Everyone was treated equally and fairly for the most part.   The staff sergeant drew laughs from the audience when she recalled creating her own corner of the tent out of two tarps.

It was Brooke’s job to provide security to supply conveys traveling from Kuwait to Iraq from all types of threats.  More specifically, she was the gunner of her team.  Each team drove around in Humvees (stuffed with flak jackets and sandbags) alongside the vehicles they were assigned to protect.  A typical day’s work ran anywhere from ten to twelve hours beginning at sunrise and ending at sunset.  Brooke rarely went out at night.  Each solider typically received one day off per week to do laundry, read a book or just “veg” unless they were called in for immediate duty.  These individuals comprised a Quick Reaction Force, or QRF. 

When a member of the audience asked the staff sergeant if she had ever received enemy fire, Brooke said that she had seen sniper fire but was never the target of an IED.  Unfortunately, two soldiers in a sister company lost their lives to an IED.  Even though Brooke made it out of Iraq relatively unscathed, there were several frightening moments she recalled with spellbinding quietude. 

While on patrol in an off-road vehicle one day, Brooke noticed a white box truck stopped on a nearby highway.  She drove over to the truck operator who was shaking and sweating profusely.  The man could not speak English.  When Brooke and her squad opened up the back of the truck, she found a treasure trove of mortar rounds and other types of explosives.  One can imagine the truck’s driver had a bit of explaining to do.

One of the closest calls Brooke had was when an insurgent fired an RPG that exploded right next to her vehicle.  She recalled seeing a large white blast and gratefully realized that she was still alive.  “We were very fortunate,” Brooke said of herself and her company. 

Another member of the Varnum Armory audience asked Brooke how the people of Iraq treated her as a woman.  She said she had little interaction with the Iraqi people in general, but some men saw fit to wink, make lewd gestures and throw rocks in her direction.  Then there were times when the Iraqi people cheered the Americans as they rode through the streets of Baghdad.  Those were some of the happiest times in Iraq for Brooke, aside from sharing stories with fellow soldiers. 

“You wake up every day [and] you don’t know if you’re going to live,” Brooke reflected.  Indeed, the constant threat from hostile insurgents, extreme weather conditions, and equipment malfunctions made for a rocky year in the life of Staff Sergeant Brooke Ardito.  Despite the hardships, there was always something to look forward to - mail.  Initially, care packages and correspondence from the United States trickled in every few weeks until her company became more organized.  In Iraq, receiving something in the mail once a week was a godsend.   

Before leaving Iraq, Brooke managed to obtain several unique items including some dinar notes (old Iraqi currency), a sewn Iraqi flag, two berets, Iraqi stamps, and even a few photos of the illustrious Saddam Hussein.  The staff sergeant drew laughs from the Armory audience when she mentioned how some Iraqis would run up to stopped convoy vehicles to trade their items for American products.  At the end of her half-hour talk, Brooke also drew applause and gratitude when she donated an Iraqi bayonet to the Armory to add to its relatively new Iraq and Afghanistan collection. 

After returning home in May 2004, Brooke finished up her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice along with her military contract.  She currently works as a police officer and provides training to new National Guard recruits.  When asked about her plans for the future, the recently-married staff sergeant said she could not speculate.  It is almost certainly a future that holds great promise. 

As for the Varnum Armory, Mr. Marcum hopes to raise awareness of both American military history and the experiences of soldiers from all generations.  He especially encourages all schools and youth groups to bring their pupils down to take a look at the hundreds of historical items on display at Varnum.  History may not exactly repeat itself, but we can always learn something valuable from its patterns.