Addison, Ill., native earns Bronze Star Medal

Marine Corps News ^ | Jan 19, 2006 | Cpl. Matthew K. Hacker

[SandRat]

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Jan. 20, 2006) -- Major Paul T. Deutsch of Addison, Ill., the disbursing officer for Camp Lejeune, was awarded the Bronze Star Medal during an awards ceremony Jan. 18 for his service while deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 04 - 06.

Deutsch deployed with Headquarters and Service Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, and served as the Service Company commander. He oversaw five platoons including disbursers, postal clerks, exchange salesmen, dental technicians and mortuary affairs specialists.

Service Company covered the entire Al Anbar province during their seven-month stay, and achieved amazing things, according to Deutsch.

“The Area of Operation was working great when we dropped in and took the command from [I Marine Expeditionary Force,] but we tried our best to make great even better,” said Deutsch.

Exchange sales opened five more stores, while preserving and maintaining the existing eleven stores.

They built three more dental clinics in addition to the three original clinics as well.

“We had thirty sailors spread out over six clinics, and we still managed to treat more than 15,000 patients during our time there,” said Deutsch.

The company was also responsible for a widespread increase in the Motomail program, according to Deutsch. They used Motomail astronomically.

“When we got here, Motomail wasn’t being used as much as it should have been,” Deutsch added. “After we spread the word, encouraged people to use the program and made it easier to access, the number bottomed out at 409,814 Motomails accessed during our deployment.”

Deutsch was proud of all of his platoons during the deployment and was very humbled by the fact they were able to complete so many tasks in record time without discrepancies, according to Deutsch.

One platoon in particular had a very important job. A job they carried out very professionally and successfully, according to Deutsch – the Mortuary Affairs Platoon.

The platoon consisted of reservists who had two weeks of training on the subject before they were tossed into the mix. Mortuary Affairs’ job is to assess casualties of war. They inventoried and identified every service member who came through their tent, and provided search and recovery operations in situations where the latter two were more difficult.

“The Mortuary Affairs Marines processed 219 coalition and insurgent casualties, while we were there,” said Deutsch. “And they did this without one mistake. They truly completed their mission and then some.”

Overall, the company’s performance and professionalism has done the Marine Corps a great service, according to Deutsch. Service Company was the only company in the MLG that provided support to all the elements of the MEF throughout the entire battlefield.

“A lot of these Marines in support occupations are often taken for granted here in a garrison environment,” said Deutsch.

Most Marines get their dental taken care of once a year. They expect their mail to be there on time everyday. And when it’s time to deploy the support units do what must be done to complete the mission just like everyone else – whether it is a garrison or combat environment.

[SandRat]

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Jan. 18, 2006) -- Major Paul T. Deutsch of Addison, Ill., the disbursing officer for Camp Lejeune, describes his thoughts after being awarded the Bronze Star Medal during an award ceremony Jan. 18. Deutsch was presented the award for outstanding meritorious performance during his seven-month deployment to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. His wife, Jennifer, his son, Trevor, seven, and his daughter, Riley, five, look on proudly.
Photo by: Cpl. Matthew K. Hacker