Shawn Gilliard Returns

Shawn Gilliard recently returned home from duty in Iraq. He is a police officer for the Quinlan Independent School District Police Department.

Gilliard shared the following experiences during his absence from Quinlan.

Over the past 13 months, while activated in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, I was assigned to Police Transition Team 20 as the Operations Chief. From Feb. 2008 to June 2008, I was at Camp Pendleton, Calif., where I met my 13-man team and started training in preparation for deployment to Iraq. The training consisted of all aspects of ground warfare. We deployed for Iraq on July 3,

Once in Iraq, our primary mission was to advise, train and mentor our district level police in Rawah, located in the northwestern sector of Al Ambar Province. Over the first three months, we were embedded with the Iraq Police living in the station. As the Operations Chief, it was my job to coordinate all movements and missions with supporting units to ensure appropriate air and ground support was available to us if needed.

As an advisor my job was working with the Iraq Police Investigators, Internal Affairs Officer, and the Operations Officer assisting them with investigations and case files as well as training them on proper tactics, techniques and procedures.

Toward the end of September, we were moved from the station to a Combat Outpost. Once moved, our operational tempo picked up dramatically.

The adjacent Army unit in Anah was relocated. At that time, we gained Anah as a second district. Between the two districts, we covered seven cities with a total of five police stations and more then 650 Iraq Police.

In mid-October, my main focus turned to preparing for the upcoming elections to be held on Jan. 31, by developing a security plan in conjunction with the Iraq Police. The proposed security plan developed by myself and my Iraq counterpart was a success and was distributed to the whole Al Ambar Province as an example. On Election Day, the countless hours of work and coordination in developing the security plan paid off with no major incidences.

After the completion of elections, my tour came to an end, and I returned to Camp Pendleton, Calif., on Feb. 9 in preparation to return home. I arrived home on March 15

On another note, while I still have your attention I would like to thank the entire Quinlan ISD and community for your support and prayers.