Col. Gregg F. Martin walked onto an airfield at a sprawling U.S. Army base north of Baghdad on Feb. 3 with the headquarters company of his command, the 130th Engineer Brigade. The soldiers climbed into a C-17 cargo plane that spiraled upward to gain altitude above the base, minimizing its exposure to enemy fire, before heading for Germany. That ended Martin’s year of service in the combat zone of Iraq and the wildest episode yet of an extraordinary career.
Col. Martin led the U.S. Army’s construction mission in the Iraq campaign with intelligence, energy and courage. As the fighting ebbed, he quickly helped set the stage for reconstruction. He brought an innovative style of flexible organization and management as well as personal inspiration to his command. His responsibilities expanded drastically to include coordination of more than 15,000 engineer-soldiers and their shiploads of equipment from dozens of units called up and thrown into the fight.