Thomas McGuire

Dr. Maxwell

English 413

Veterans’ History Project Feature Article

20 November 2014

LTC Brace: A Veteran’s Story of Service, Courage, and Sacrifice

Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Keith Brace greeted me warmly. With a friendly hello

and a smile on his face, he extended his right hand towards me, of which only four fingers

remain—a permanent reminder of this man’s courage and sacrifice, both on and off the

battlefield, in his 20 years of service with the United States Army. In the hour I spent

interviewing him, my understanding of courage and sacrifice deepened and grew. Rather than

discussing these lofty ideals theoretically in the classroom, I was given the opportunity to put a

face to them and learn firsthand what it means to embody these characteristics. We took our seats

and began the interview; in it he recounted his key assignments, deployments, and other

memorable experiences.

“I was born March 9, 1969, in Silverspring, Maryland, to Diane and Ken Brace,” he told

me. I started the interview by asking basic information about his childhood and what drew him to

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the Army. “My dad coached football and baseball, so athletics were always a big part of my

life…that definitely had a part to do with it from a very young age. I liked the competition and

the challenge and the teamwork, all of which really built a toughness in me.” He went on to

explain how he became involved in Army JROTC at his high school, where his instructor

inspired him to pursue a career in the Army. “I just looked at him [and thought], ‘Wow, I really

want to be like him.’ He was the one that got me interested in starting a military career.”

Although LTC Brace never spoke of his JROTC instructor again in the interview, I could tell the

significant impact this man had made in his life, given the jobs LTC Brace took later on in his

career—two of which placed him in charge of mentoring young college students in preparation

for their careers as Army officers.

From there we dove into LTC Brace’s Army career. After graduating from The Citadel,

The Military College of South Carolina, in 1991, LTC Brace commissioned as an infantry

officer. After completing the Infantry Officer Basic Course and Ranger School, he was assigned

to the 82nd Airborne Division, 1st Battalion 505th Infantry Regiment, in Fort Bragg, North

Carolina, where he served as a platoon leader for four years before completing the Infantry

Officers Advanced Course in Fort Benning, Georgia. In 1994, his unit was tapped for a combat

deployment to Haiti, and for the next three weeks, everyone was locked down to prepare and

plan for the mission. They departed from Pope Air Force Base in full combat gear, but after

reaching the halfway point, the planes turned around midflight. Upon returning back to base, his

unit was told that the mission had been cancelled because the Haitians had agreed to negotiations

initiated by former President Carter. As LTC Brace remembers it, “The Haitians capitulated. The

word we got was that they heard the 82nd Airborne was on the way, and they wanted nothing to

do with that!”

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In 1996, LTC Brace was assigned to Schweinfurt, Germany, where he initially served as

the assistant operations officer of a mechanized infantry unit. Upon his arrival in Germany, his

unit was called to deploy on a peacekeeping mission to Bosnia. After spending a couple of

months preparing for the mission, his unit deployed to Camp McGovern in Brčko, Bosnia. For

six months, LTC Brace’s unit patrolled to help control sectarian strife in the region and worked

to ensure that conflicting sides honored their existing peace agreements. Halfway through his

deployment, the Army allowed LTC Brace two weeks of vacation leave to return to Germany for

the birth of his son, “the most memorable experience of my time in Germany,” as he describes it.

After returning to Germany, he received his first company command position with the 1st

Infantry Division. He first served as infantry commander of a mechanized infantry unit of

Bradley fighting vehicles, and later, he served as the headquarters company commander.

After four years of service abroad, LTC Brace was reassigned to Charleston, S.C., where

he served as an active duty advisor to a National Guard unit there for four years. While in

Charleston, LTC Brace returned to his alma mater and earned a master’s degree in business. As

an active duty advisor, LTC Brace drew heavily on his experiences as a company commander

and helped the National Guard unit, which included several Citadel graduates, to prepare for

future deployments. Towards the end of his time in Charleston, LTC Brace was promoted to

major and reassigned to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he attended the Army Command and

General Staff College for one year. With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan unfolding during his

time in Kansas, LTC Brace knew that he would be deploying sooner or later to one of those two

locations. He described his year at the Command and General Staff College as an important time

of scholarly research and learning about the two wars, which would prepare him in his future

deployment.

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From there he was assigned to Fort Carson, Colorado, where he served as an operations

officer in a cavalry squadron in the 2nd Infantry Division. In 2006, he deployed with that

squadron to Iraq, where he spent just under a year. In Iraq, he also served as the Military

Transition Team (MIT Team) leader of a 21-person group composed of infantrymen, cavalry

scouts, field artillerymen, medics, cooks, and mechanics, and which was embedded within an

Iraqi Infantry Battalion in Baghdad, Iraq. The MIT Team drew on the expertise of LTC Brace’s

battalion in order to help the Iraqi battalion do its job better by filling in every area with needed

support. While team leader of the MIT Team, LTC Brace had the opportunity to engage the local

populace and lead alongside Iraqi military leaders.

LTC Brace described his service with the MIT Team as one of high action and intensity.

“It was an incredible experience. It was a time I will always remember. Very exciting, pretty

dangerous, but probably the most rewarding year I spent in the Army.” In the interview, he

recalled one ambush he and his men experienced, in which every vehicle in his convoy was “lit

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up” with small arms fire. The convoy made it out of the danger zone without taking any

casualties, and LTC Brace called in air support to finish the job. Although they did not lose a

single man or woman that day, LTC Brace’s unit inflicted forty casualties on the insurgents.

He also described the war as being one in which identifying enemies proved to be

extremely difficult. The enemy hid amongst the populace in towns and cities across Iraq and

Afghanistan. During patrols, LTC Brace and his men regularly encountered families seeking a

degree of normalcy in their war-torn regions, and they were often extremely appreciative of the

United States’ efforts in bringing them peace. “You knew who the enemy was when they were

shooting at you,” he said. “And that was pretty much the way it worked.” LTC Brace explained

that camaraderie evolved in these firefights between the American and Iraqi forces:

“Here we are in the fight alongside these Iraqi soldiers, not only fighting with them but bleeding with them and protecting them. So for us that was one of those experiences that just formed this solid bond between that unit and us. We were one team. They knew at that point that we weren’t here for ourselves. We were willing to sacrifice for their good. We were willing to sacrifice to give them a better way of life. We wanted what was best for them and we wanted them to have safe and secure areas. The majority of the Iraqi people wanted the same peace and security we enjoy at home. It was an extremely rewarding experience. Did we make a difference in Iraq? Looking back on those experiences, I know we did. But like many wars, we probably won’t know the true impact we had in that country for another 30 to 40 years down the road.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 McGuire 6

LTC Brace told one story in particular that illustrates the impact that he and his men

made in the cities and towns for which they provided security. After a roadside bomb in a nearby

market had killed more than 300 people, LTC Brace, his team, and their Iraqi counterparts

entered the town and walked through the market, showing the people there that America was

there to help and provide security. While in the middle of giving an interview to members of the

Iraqi media on site in the market, he felt someone grab hold of his arm.

“I look down and it’s this young girl and she’s just hooked into my arm while I’m talking to the media. I had no idea who this girl was, and I had no idea why she felt the need to enter this busy intersection to grab hold of my arm, but I finished the interview and had my interpreter ask the girl who she was. After talking with her, he told me that she was a girl from the town that we had rescued from insurgents and provided protection to for a month, and she wanted to stand with me because she knew we were friends. She recognized us and knew who we were. What also makes it so memorable is that she was the same age at the time as my daughter was back home. We took a picture there together, and it’s probably my favorite picture of the entire deployment, because that’s what it was all about. It wasn’t about the fighting or anything other than the fact that we were making life better for people there.”

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Although LTC Brace and his team had made significant headway in their mission, his

service in Iraq was cut short on August 22, 2007. “We were out on a routine patrol. I was coming

back from a meeting with some of the political and military leaders to try to improve security.

We were almost back to our combat outpost when we were attacked with an Improvised

Explosive Device (IED). So that ultimately shortened my 15-month deployment to 11 months.

My driver, my gunner, and I survived what is considered to be the greatest killer on the

battlefield. And that was the end of my story in Iraq.” I asked him if he could walk me through

the events of that day, a day he described as his “alive day,” and one of mere “snapshots” of

what he can actually remember.

“I was coming in and out of consciousness. I was pulled out of the vehicle at some point and came back to consciousness on the side of the road. My vision was messed up and wouldn’t really allow me to focus. My battalion and squadron commanders were there walking around, but I didn’t recognize them. Honestly, my first thought was, ‘I’m about to be captured.’ I didn’t know that the people around me were my guys until my medic got down on one knee to start treating my wounds. When he got close enough to me to when my eyes could focus on him, I recognized him immediately, and was then at ease. They put me on a helicopter and got me to the green zone in Baghdad, where I was for about 24 hours. Within 12 hours, my brigade and squadron commanders were there pinning the Purple Heart on me. From there they sent me to Germany and then to Brook Army Medical Center in Texas. So from the time of injury to the time when we made it back to Texas was three days.” LTC Brace pointed to his faith in God as the main reason that he still lives today.

“I leaned very heavily on my faith prior to the deployment, during the deployment, and after the deployment. Everyone is going to lean on something in combat, and that was certainly what I leaned on. I also prayed a lot—everyday before every mission. You ask God along on the mission. You don’t call for Him in the middle of a firefight. He’s already there if you ask him to come along before you go.”

He went on to talk about how surviving an IED ultimately depends on a “game of inches.” Just a

few days earlier, his driver had found a way to recline the seats in his Humvee to accommodate

for the bulky body armor they wore.

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“Sure enough, I had been sitting straight up in my seat, but now I was two inches back. Had I been sitting two inches forward, when that IED came cutting through our vehicle in two different places, I probably would’ve lost both arms, and it probably would’ve hit me square in the head instead of hitting just my helmet. So it was miraculous that all of us survived the way we did. I certainly give credit to God.”

His faith also helped him during the recovery process—a time when many veterans feel

the most out of touch with reality.

“I don’t think it’s any coincidence that an infantryman without a trigger finger found out while he’s laying in the bed in Iraq, still in the hospital during the first phone call with his wife, that he had been assigned as the professor of military science at Wake Forest. So here I am laying in a hospital in Baghdad Iraq missing my trigger finger, thinking what am I going to do now, when I realized that I wouldn’t need a trigger finger to teach class. So definitely God’s timing. It was exactly what I needed to hear at that time. It immediately put me at ease and allowed me to focus on getting better.”

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Additionally, he acknowledged his family as a major factor in his recovery. “Getting back to

Texas meant having my wife and my two kids by my bed. That, for me, was the best medicine.

That’s when the healing started.” Although the finger took time and several surgeries to heal, he

identified his head injury as the most difficult from which to recover. The blast of the IED blew

his helmet completely off his head, leaving it vulnerable to secondary shock and shrapnel. LTC

Brace explained that it took a full six months before he started to feel himself again.

About three months after he was wounded, LTC Brace resumed working for the Army,

where he served in the rear detachment of his brigade.

“I was given the task of receiving the brigade back when they finished with their deployment. At the end of those 15 months, I had the privilege of standing at the bottom of the stairs of the ramp of every plane that came back with our guys. So for me, although I didn’t have the closure of returning with everyone, I did have the closure of being there to shake their hands and hug them. What’s also really neat is that my driver, my gunner, and me were the last injuries for our unit. From the time of our evacuation, we didn’t have another loss in our squadron, which was also huge for me. To know that all my buddies made it home. We did lose nine from our squadron that year. They gave the

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ultimate sacrifice. Bur for me, being there as the receiving party was the closure I needed to lift my spirits.” After his service in Iraq, he was assigned to be the Professor of Military Science at Wake

Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he finished his career. After his

retirement from the Army, LTC Brace returned to The Citadel as the 2nd Battalion Tactical

Officer. “I take great pride in being able to do what someone did for me 20-plus years ago,” he

said regarding his decision to return to The Citadel. “Helping these young men and women get

off on the right foot with their military careers is spectacular.”

Before concluding the interview, I asked him to reflect on his career as a whole—the

advice he would give himself as a young, newly commissioned lieutenant, his thoughts on

success, and the thankfulness he has for life. The first piece of advice he gave, although stated

from a military career-minded point of view, applies to everyone. “Get your pride out of the way.

Humble yourself and learn from those around you.” Similarly, he encouraged people to “get

comfortable being uncomfortable.” Anyone undoubtedly can learn from LTC Brace’s advice in

remaining humble and taking on the difficult tasks. He then went on to comment about the true

essence of serving in the military, and what aspiring service men and women should aim to be.

“The military is all about the people. People are everything. It’s about making sure they’re cared

for. And that means for anyone going into leadership, you have to give it your all. Our young

men and women deserve the best leaders we can give them.” Lastly, LTC Brace reflected on his

career and expressed the thankfulness he has for the many experiences he’s had over his 20 years

of service. “I consider myself very fortunate to have had the experiences I’ve had, the career I’ve

had, and to have been surrounded by the people I was surrounded with. I spent 20 years and four

days in the Army, and every bit of it was spectacular.”

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After the interview, LTC Brace and I talked a little longer, mainly about Citadel life,

before he left to catch a meeting. After he’d left the room, I packed up my things extremely

slowly, doing my best to digest the last hour of conversation. I’d spent two years at The Citadel

under his charge as my battalion TAC officer, yet there was so little I’d known about him. That

reality alone struck me as a symbol of greatness. To have graduated from The Citadel as a

Summerall Guard and company commander, and to have served his country with such distinction

and sacrifice, how had I not heard LTC Brace’s story until now? In short, LTC Brace had taken

his own advice to heart: “get your pride out of the way and humble yourself.” Here was a man of

greatness, a man of courage, and a man of sacrifice, who truly knew what it meant to serve. My

words here provide an inadequate tribute to a man of such stature, yet I hope this interview will

provide others with the same opportunity to learn from LTC Brace’s story.