Exchange employee honored for war wound Posted On: Saturday, Mar. 15 2008 04:21 AM By Amanda Kim Stairrett
Killeen Daily Herald

FORT HOOD – One day before she was to return from Iraq, Bety Desil was injured by an incoming mortar round at Camp Cuervo.

The Fort Hood Army and Air Force Exchange employee received the Defense of Freedom Award at a ceremony Friday afternoon. The medal is equivalent to the Purple Heart and was created after Sept. 11 to honor civilian Defense Department employees who are injured or killed in the line of duty.

Desil deployed to Iraq in January 2007, where she worked at the Rustamiyah Post Exchange at Camp Cuervo. The camp was hit by mortar rounds on July 27, 2007. As she was going into a bunker for cover, Desil was struck by shrapnel in the right foot. July 28 was her 30th birthday. After the incident, Desil was evacuated to Landstuhl, Germany, and then Fort Hood.

She returned to work at Fort Hood on Oct. 1, 2007. A naturalized U.S. citizen who is native to Haiti, Desil began working for the Fort Hood exchange in October 1999.

Desil, like all exchange employees, volunteered for the deployment. She is the fourth employee given the medal in the 113-year history of the exchange, said its commander, Brig. Gen. Keith Thurgood. All have been given since 2005 for service in Iraq.

Currently, 16 Fort Hood exchange employees are deployed, and 31 have previously deployed.

Daniel Schmidt, Fort Hood's exchange general manager, said his first response to hearing about Desil's injury was, "Really?"

Employees know the danger of working in a combat zone, but "you just don't think it happens," Schmidt said of the incident. It's not an award he wants to see people win, but it is good that civilian workers are being acknowledged for their service, he said.

"We're not at the front line ... But we're there," Schmidt said. "We are there."

Thurgood called Desil an exchange legacy and hero, a title she was reluctant to accept.

"I'm not a hero, but I'm glad to be alive and here," she said.

Desil felt like she has a mission and that it isn't done yet, adding that she is going to go back as soon as possible. She enjoyed being there for the soldiers, putting smiles on their faces and making friends.

"They loved me over there," she said, with a big smile, adding that they hated to see her leave.

Contact Amanda Kim Stairrett at astair@kdhnews.com or call (254) 501-7547