At right: U.S. Army Specialist David Durm of Moran Township poses next to a Shadow 200, a remotely controlled reconnaissance plane he operated while on duty in Iraq. The spherical object beneath the plane is a camera capable of detecting where bombs are planted near highways. The camera is also used to provide the Army with information regarding where to send backup troops to soldiers who come under fire. David Durm, U.S. Army specialist and 2004 graduate of LaSalle High School, has returned to the St. Ignace area to spend the holidays with his family. He is assigned to the 4th Infantry Division, 3rd Brigade, 3rd Special Troop Battalion. From December 2005 to November 2006, he was stationed at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Warhorse, near the city of Baqubah, Iraq.

Spc. Durm is the 21-year-old son of Annette and Jim Durm of Moran Township, where Mr. Durm serves as township supervisor and the family runs Sunset Motel on US-2.

In Iraq, his unit worked in twoperson teams operating Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (TUAVs), remotely operated reconnaissance planes called Shadow 200s. Operating from a Humvee, one soldier flies the TUAV while another controls a camera mounted beneath it. Spc. Durm is qualified to do both.

While in Iraq, Specialist David Durm lived in one of these dormitory-style buildings called “chus” (pronounced “choose”). Two soldiers inhabit each building. There are about 50 or 60 chus per “pad” and several pads within a base, Specialist Durm said. (Photographs courtesy of David Durm) For much of the time, Spc. Durm scanned the Iraqi highways across the region’s vast deserts, searching for homemade bombs called Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). He detected several.

A TUAV’s camera is equipped with infrared scanning capabilities which can detect disturbed soil. This works during the cooler months, he said, because disturbed soil appears warmer than surrounding soil, revealing where bombs may be buried. It is much less effective in the summer months, when the surface and subsoil are the same temperature.

TUAVs are also sent over battles to record combat and direct reinforcements.

Spc. Durm’s job kept him in relatively safe territory, he said, with the exception of one day last spring when he awoke to the explosions of mortars outside of his quarters, which soldiers call a CHU, another military acronym that stands for Containerized Housing Unit. He heard rocks and shrapnel hitting the metal walls, which are reinforced with sand bags from the outside.

U.S. Army Specialist David Durm is flanked by his parents, Annette and Jim, Wednesday, December 20. He is home for Christmas, after spending about a year serving in Iraq. He spent what others told him was a “cold summer” in Iraq. Summer temperatures ranged from 115 to 130 degrees Fahrenheit. During the rest of the year, daytime temperatures averaged 110 to 115 degrees, falling to the 60s and 70s at night.

“It rained all winter,” he added, making it impossible to fly the TUAVs until March.

Laptop computers are popular with soldiers in Iraq, he said, and in their free time, soldiers play video games and watch a lot of movies.

While in the Middle East, he had very little contact with the Iraqi people, he said, but did talk to locals employed at his base to do maintenance work.

“They’re just regular people,” he said, and “they spoke some English.”

Spc. Durm also met several Georgians while on duty, but he wasn’t referring to people from the American south. Georgians, from a nation in the Caucasus region of Eurasia, were providing military support to the United States, mostly by manning guard towers, he said.

On his way home from Iraq, he spent a week in Kuwait, which was hotter and more sandy, he noted.

He is now stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado, near Colorado Springs, where he enjoys the mountains, although running is more difficult in the thin mountain air. As for future assignments, he said, “You never know what’s going to happen.”

Spc. Durm joined the Army October 7, 2004, because he wanted to serve his country and earn tuition for college.

“We’re very proud of him,” Mrs. Durm said. “We’re hoping and praying that he does not have to go back to Iraq.”

While in St. Ignace, Spc. Durm said he is “hanging out with the family and waiting for friends to come back” for the holidays. He is relaxing and enjoying driving around in his new car. He also plans to visit family members in San Diego, California.

He will return January 15 to Fort Carson following his 30 day leave.