One thing the Army doesn’t tell you when you enlist and choose your military occupational specialty is that very often, especially on a deployment, a soldier will be ordered to perform jobs very different from the one for which he trained. In my last column, I told you about Staff Sgt. Corinthian Kelly, the expert Army signal and support operating specialist. On intense deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he fulfilled his important duty and kept American units communicating. As a young private first class in March of 2011, Kelly found himself in Iraq, not only keeping various communications systems running, but also assigned to that most time-honored rite of passage for all deployed junior enlisted men: guard duty. And there he encountered that unexpected aspect of war for which no training prepares a soldier: the local children.

Pfc. Kelly was assigned to gate guard duty, a laborious task that requires a soldier to remain alert for attacks or suicide bombers while still interacting with many visitors. Vehicles must be searched for bombs before passing the gate. People must be patted down for bombs or other weapons. Kelly remembered an important Iraqi had been hurt by a suicide bomber. Many Iraqis came to offer their blessings, a nice gesture that meant a lot of extra work.