The Crittenden Press printed edition featured two area natives in this week's coverage of the five-year anniversary of the fall of Baghdad in the Iraq war. This is one of those stories. Sgt. 1st Class Scott Hurley grew up in Iuka on the Cumberland River and spent a great deal of time running around the hills and hollows on his grandparents' farm in the Forrest Grove community of Crittenden County.
Since graduating from Livingston Central High School in 1996, Hurley has seen a whole lot more of the world. He joined the military 12 years ago and was deployed to Bosnia in 1998, Albania in 1999 and to Iraq from October 2006 until this past December.
For a boy whose childhood centered around baseball and hunting and fishing in western Kentucky, Hurley's military career has broadened his understanding of world dynamics. He spent time in Balad, Iraq in the Salah al-Din province where his 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry unit provided security. He watched as Iraqis found the courage to go back to work and restart their lives and businesses following the height of insurgency in the country.
"I believe progress was being made," he said, pointing out that attacks were reduced and Iraqi citizens started returning to normal routine over the past year.
"The training of the Iraq Army and police forces improved as well," he said.
Because of his experiences abroad, Hurley has become a savvy observer of people. His survival has often hinged on his own ability to judge a situation quickly and accurately.
Like most Americans, Hurley watches closely the candidates and their campaigns for U.S. president. He says that despite the pre-election rhetoric, the options in the Middle East are limited.
"It's hard to say about the elections affecting deployments. What politicians say in the campaign and what they do after the election usually doesn't match up," he said.
Hurley understands the need for proper transmission of messages. As sergeant first class in a communications platoon, his job is to ensure that headquarters is able to talk to all of its troops in the field. His battalion is half armor, half infantry – known as a combine
Hurley plans on staying in the U.S. Army for another eight years, at which time he will be vested for full retirement. Right now he's at Fort Hood in Texas, but understands that another deployment to the Middle East is virtually certain.
"The thing I miss the most about home is the time with family, and I miss all of the hunting and fishing seasons," he said.
