SOUTHWEST ASIA -- There are a variety of reasons civilians decide to join the ranks of our military family. For some it's the honor of serving their country, for others it can be the education benefits or the chance to see the world and travel.

For Master Sgt. Renee Fullard, 386th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron, it's simply about tradition.

"My grandfather was a retired chief, my dad is a retired Senior Master Sgt. I have three uncles that were in the Air National Guard, an aunt that retired after 20 years active duty in the Army and another aunt that's still in the Air National Guard," said Fullard.

Fullard is the night shift supervisor of the vehicle operations control center deployed from Pope Field N.C. to the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing.

"Our main mission is supporting all the aircrews and making sure they get through C-130 and C-17 ops to get them off on their missions," she said.

Fullard's deployment résumé reads like a battle tested field commander and she has memories to last a lifetime.

"My first deployment was to Morón, Spain when Kosovo kicked off," she said. "It went from a 100 man base to a 1500 man base in 24-hours."

"My second was to Prince Sultan Air Base in 2001," she said. "I was the quality assurance evaluator which was pretty unique for a female because you had to drive vehicles to an off-base point and you had to go through a Saudi checkpoint, so talk about looks."

"My third was base support to COB Adder also known as Tallil also known as Ali Air Base in Iraq," she said. "I was the element chief over vehicle operations for six months from 2008 to 2009."

"My fourth was convoys from February 2010 to October 2010, she said. "I was based out of Camp Arifjan and we convoyed up to Iraq."
Fullard's fourth deployment was by far the most dangerous yet rewarding in her career.

"It was exhilarating, empowering and scary but it gave you a sense of responsibility that you will never find at home station," she said. "It's a sense of mission accomplishment and job satisfaction to go outside that wire and come back with everybody still intact."

Her constant state of awareness during the nine months of convoy duty forever changed Fullard.

"You're in such a state of readiness all the time," she said. "You're driving in an up-armored truck, with 210 rounds and a M4 strapped to you and you have to do your checks anytime you stop to make sure there are no bombs or IEDs out there."

Fullard was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after returning from convoy duty.

"Sometimes as you come home as my doctor likes to put it 'your inner brain has a hard time readjusting to what is reality'" so when you go out on the road, your inner brain takes over and you think you need to get somewhere safe and fast and you might not even realize you are doing it," she said.

Fullard described how her mission in Iraq was similar to the life of a long-haul trucker in the United States, only far more dangerous.

"We were normally on the road anywhere from six days to 17 days, it really depended on how far north we were going," she said. "I went as far north as Q West which is an hour from the Syrian border. That was on my first mission."

Fullard recounted her first mission into Iraq as one she will never forget!

"Anything that could go wrong on that mission, it went wrong," she said. "We had a HMMWV rollover on that mission and I was first on scene. I had to provide combat life saver for the gunner, the driver and the truck commander and all three of them had to be MEDEVAC'd via helo up to Mosul because it was that serious of an accident."

"We were probably boots on ground for another eight hours until QRF came out to get the HMMWV and all the debris that was everywhere."

Fullard was thankful for the additional training she received prior to that deployment.

"We have a specialized vehicle operations Basic Combat Convoy Course, BC3, at Camp Bullis, Texas," she said. "The Tech. Sgts. and above go through a two week leadership course first and the main body comes in after that, so we go through some pretty intensive combat life saver and convoy operations training there."

She explained that while it got rough at times in Iraq, the highs far outweighed the lows.

"My driver was a female too and at first it was a pretty rough relationship, but at the end of it I wouldn't have wanted anybody else in that vehicle with me but her," she said.

"That person is your second set of eyes for anything that's going on with that truck or outside that truck. That's basically your bread and butter when it comes to your life. We built a bond that will last forever," said Fullard.

While convoy operations are not a part of her duties during this deployment, she explained it wouldn't bother her if the mission ever stood up again because she would be ready to go.

"If I were to go outside these gates, I would want to be going to K-Crossing to go back into Iraq," she said. "It's really hard to explain but once you experience a mission like that you miss it, even if it kind of messes you up. You have experienced a one of a kind mission that you share forever with your fellow Combat Truckers. 2T1's have created a part of history and that is something to be proud of."