Cody Strong, a 2002 MPA graduate, has spent the last year working as a public servant—not as a city or state administrator—but as a second lieutenant with the U.S. Army in Iraq.
Strong joined the military in high school. Since January 2003, he has served the U.S. Army as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Strong is in Baghdad, Iraq, in support of the Iraq Survey Group (ISG), the organization looking for Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.
“I joined the military because I felt it was something I needed to do,” he explains. “I stayed in the military because I have always felt like there was something significant I could contribute to our country through serving.”
Strong serves as a Second Lieutenant with the 142nd Military Intelligence Battalion (Linguist) Utah Army National Guard as a mobile collection team chief. Strong has been leading groups of five to forty soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, and civilians on missions across Iraq supporting the ISG and has been doing this since June 2003.
“I’ve seen Saddam’s grand palaces and his luxurious accommodations. In contrast, many of his citizens live in mud huts. I’ve seen the torture chambers and prisons cells that housed many innocent Iraqis,” Strong says. “The wars this country has been through have wreaked havoc on the male population. Few families have not been impacted.”
During the war, Strong served in Northern Iraq and ran an interrogation facility for detainees and POWs taken by Special Forces teams in Northern Iraq. He says the quality of life has improved for most people since the U.S. troops arrived.
“Kids are returning to school, roads are being repaired and rebuilt, hospitals are functioning, and Iraqis are generally very appreciative of all we have done for them here,” Strong explains. “I am proud to be serving here, and I know that because Saddam is no longer in power, the United States is a little bit safer.”
Strong expects to return to the United States in April 2004. He plans on moving to Washington, D.C., with his wife, Heidi, and daughter, Kjersti, and finishing his Presidential Management Internship with the U.S. Department of Transportation.
