A Face of Freedom ~ SPC Tim J Smith

Logistics Soldier

"Can Do!"

SPC Tim J Smith is picking up metal sheets and moving them with a forklift to another location for stocking.

Story and photo by Sgt. Marcus Butler
4th BCT (Abn.) 25th Inf. Div. Public Affairs

ISKANDARIYAH — There are many people in the world that just go about their daily lives and do the job assigned to them without any questions or quarrels. They don’t look for glory or praise; they are quiet professionals.

The folks with Company E, 725th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division say Spc. Tim J. Smith is like that. The Twain Harte, Calif., native is a logistics specialist with the unit.

Currently attached to the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, Smith has taken on numerous tasks for his company such as heavy equipment operator, mail handler and handles the hand receipts for all of Company E’s ammo supply.

Handling various jobs at one time is nothing new for Smith. In high school, Smith was on the soccer and basketball team, played in the band and sang in the choir. Smith also was a tutor for English and math, the salutatorian and vice president for his student class. Handling this work load in high school, it is not surprising that Smith is so well liked with in his company.

“Smith showed immense selfless service by completing each and every mission assigned to him no matter how much of his own personal time it engulfed,” said 1st Sgt. Brian Morrison, Company E’s senior noncommissioned officer. “He never said no to any task and has always had a can-do attitude.”

“Smith is the best Paratrooper that I have,” said Sgt. Ian S. Dalton, Smith’s squad leader. “He is a hard worker and is well liked by everyone.” Despite all the praise Smith receives from his superiors and peers, he insists that it is nothing special and that his is just doing his job.

“I always set the standard high,” said Smith. “It was never in me to complain about anything that I was tasked with. I just did the job.”

Joining the Army straight out of his school, Smith has ambitions of making it a career.

“It was an excellent career choice for me but it is hard now since I am so family oriented,” he said.

Smith, who has been in the Army for seven years, is now on his second deployment to Iraq. “My wife Robbin has been through deployments with me before, so she knows what to expect,” he said. “But that does not make things any easier for either of us.”

Working 12-hour days and always being on-call could push someone to the edge of breaking down, but for Smith, it is a welcomed situation.

“It makes things go by so much faster here,” he said. “All I concern myself with is that when I put on this uniform, I am 100 percent Army. I put aside all other concerns and focus on what I need to do to accomplish the mission correctly and safely,” he continued. “The bottom line is if it is not about the Army’s mission, I do not dwell on it.”