Faces of the Fort: Focus on FLW veterans, part I

By Mrs. Melissa Buckley (Leonard Wood)October 23, 2014

Faces of the Fort: Focus on FLW veterans, part I
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Faces of the Fort: Focus on FLW veterans, part I
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Nearly half of the more than 3,200 Department of the Army civilian employees on Fort Leonard Wood traded in their military uniforms for civilian attire.

One of those is Orville Wilson, a training support center technician and Army veteran. He can usually be found in one of Fort Leonard Wood's engagement skill trainers.

The ESTs are simulators that provide firearms training to troops, and Wilson said there is no place he would rather be.

"This is my life. It is all I have done for almost 30 years now. I'm still training Soldiers -- just in different role," Wilson said. "I feel proud that I am still able to contribute to the training of Soldiers."

Wilson served as a combat engineer for the U.S. Army from 1985 to 2010.

He said he joined because he wanted to follow in his father's and grandfather's footsteps.

During his career, Wilson participated in several conflicts including Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Bosnia, Kosovo and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Wilson said he rarely talks about his time spent at war, but he is thankful for the experience of travelling to different countries and all the friends he made along the way.

During Desert Shield and Desert Storm he was deployed out of Germany with the 78th Engineer Battalion.

"We went to Saudi Arabia, then moved north to Iraq when the ground war kicked off," Wilson said. "I remember sitting around among buddies and talking about the wait to go north for the ground war."

Wilson said his mission in Bosnia was to supervise demining operations.

"I was just amazed on how many mine fields were in the country. We also performed route clearance to ensure roads were safe after the war," Wilson said.

He said he was deployed to Kosovo as part of a stabilization force, and he also helped to rebuild the infrastructure.

His next deployment was to Baghdad and Mahmudiyah, Iraq.

"I was responsible for different missions throughout the area of responsibility. There are so many memories; I guess the one that stands out was the amazing camaraderie built during these tough times and just how close the unit became in a time of war," Wilson said.

He said being away from his Family and missing events like anniversaries, birthdays and holidays was the hardest part for him.

This Veteran's Day he said he is looking forward to making up for some of that time lost by spending quality time with his loved ones.

"I'll probably be in the woods hunting and spending time with friends and Family," Wilson said.

(Editor's note: This is the first of a series of stories leading up to Veteran's Day, highlighting just a few of the thousands of veterans working on Fort Leonard Wood.)

Related Links:

Fort Leonard Wood GUIDON Newspaper

Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and Fort Leonard Wood