WESLEY — Capt. Dwayne Eden was photographed in 2003 with the 1133rd flag as the National Guard unit prepared to depart for Iraq.

“I think at the time it was just a matter of going over there and moving equipment around — hauling supplies,” said Eden, 42.

“We had been at Fort McCoy for 2½ months. We were ready to get on to the next step. The big thing was we didn’t have any idea how long we’d be over there.”

Eden, who started as a platoon leader in the National Guard, left a wife, Tammy, and two young children at home, Jake, 8, and Megan, 6.

“They weren’t sure what it all was about,” he said. “They knew I was going to be gone for a while.”

The Guard unit’s job was to haul supplies from a port in Kuwait “to every destination in Iraq that you could imagine.”

He really appreciated that the Globe Gazette sent reporter Bob Link and photographer Arian Schuessler to Iraq to cover the 1133rd to report to the folks back home.

“That was awesome.”

Upon his return from Iraq, Eden left the 1133rd unit but stayed with the National Guard, joining a volunteer agri-business development team out of Camp Dodge.

His team spent a year in Afghanistan, where he said there wasn’t the freedom of movement there had been in Iraq. Most of the supplies were transported by helicopter, he said.

In 2003, Eden was working as a Cerro Gordo County sheriff’s deputy. He left that job in September 2005 for a job with the Kossuth County Sheriff’s Department, which was closer to his home near Wesley.

“I’ve always been a part-time farmer,” he said.

A little over a year ago, he quit the sheriff’s office and began farming full time.

Looking back on the experience in Iraq, Eden said he believes the 1133rd did a great job.

“We did everything we were asked to do. I would say we were probably the best transportation company in the theater at that time.”

Photograph courtesy of Globe-Gazette
Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, November of 2016