Battle Buddies - Camaraderie Important to Pair of Young Troops

CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq – Despite the many dangers that lurk behind abrupt corners, wait idly underneath the fine sands and come falling from the gray sky, two forward observers with Headquarters Company, Division Special Troops Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division, know why they have their boots on the ground in Iraq: the Soldiers right beside them.

Although it has been said numerous times before by Soldiers throughout history, Pvt. Michael Ferreira agreed that when the rubber meets the road, he doesn’t fight for politicians. He fights for his battle buddies in the dirt right next to him. The native of Springfield, N.J., said that although it’s somewhat cliché, it’s true.

His battle buddy sees things the same way.

“There’s a certain honor that comes with combat; doing everything you possibly can to protect the guy next to you,” said Pvt. Brad Thornburg, a 20-year-old from Denver.

The relative safety of working at the division’s headquarters building sometimes leaves these two young Soldiers wanting something more.
When Thornburg enlisted in August 2005 he wanted to be a combat Soldier. About a month later, Ferreira raised his right hand and swore in straight out of high school.

They both signed up to become fire support specialists despite their recruiters throwing other options onto the table. Before they found themselves in cavalry country, they were at Fort Sill, Okla., where the boom of artillery rounds is commonplace.

Ferreira admitted that, being in a combat arms specialty, he has a certain inner desire to be a part of the fight. The pair now finds themselves working side-by-side in the headquarters of Multi-National Division-Baghdad on the west side of the Iraqi capital, the center of a war zone.

Ferreira said that as someone who wears the Army uniform he worries about the troops that are out of the wire facing the possibility of death each day. Thornburg confessed that although he thinks that it’s terrible that so many Soldiers have made the ultimate sacrifice in this war, he would jump at the first opportunity to go outside the wire.

Ferreira, 19, added that if he could do something that would help his fellow Soldiers get back to base safe and alive that’s what he’d like to be doing.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s an earth-moving mission to deliver world peace or to just transport air conditioners to another (forward operating base),” said the youngest Soldier of the division’s fire support cell. “I just want to be out there.

“I’d probably take a bullet for this guy,” Ferreira said about Thornburg, a battle buddy since airborne school. “(For) most of the guys in my section there wouldn’t even be a thought of whether or not I’d put myself in harm's way in order to save their lives.”

Thornburg said that there is something that pulls combat arms Soldiers toward the heat of battle. The camaraderie is evident.
“It’s the reason we signed up for this,” Ferreira said.