Biology Teacher Wins Military Award

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ALEX CHADWICK, host:

This is Day to Day. I'm Alex Chadwick.

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I'm Madeleine Brand. Coming up, a peek into a part of Harlem you might not know. It's called Little Senegal.

CHADWICK: First, she was several years out of college teaching high school biology in San Marcos, California, that's right outside San Diego, living a pretty normal life, and she was an officer in the Army Reserve. A year and a half ago, she was called to active duty and sent to Iraq. And today, Laura Peters is getting an award for what she did there. It's not a military medal. This is a big honor from the State Department. This is a story about something gone right. Captain Peters, congratulations.

Captain LAURA PETERS (Civil Affairs Officer, Army): Thank you very much.

CHADWICK: You were a civil affairs officer in an Iraqi province, north central Iraq, and you worked on what's called a provincial reconstruction team with diplomats and engineers and some other soldiers. What did you do there?

Captain PETERS: Well, I was the liaison between that PRT and our brigade combat team and also the liaison between those and our provincial leaders.

CHADWICK: You mean the Iraqis?

Captain PETERS: Yes. So my main role was basically a lot of communication and coordination between the Iraqis, and those are military leaders, and our Department of State officials.

CHADWICK: You were the person that everyone spoke through?

Captain PETERS: That would probably be a good way of describing it.

CHADWICK: The man who recommended you for this award, the leader of this reconstruction team, quotes you as saying, "talking to people is how you learn what's going on." Self evident, he says, but then adds you are the most effective practitioner of this that he's met in his entire diplomatic career. And, of course, diplomats are people who are supposed to be people who talk and listen.

Captain PETERS: It's a very flattering description to what I found to be very natural. Just listening and having the compassion to understand what's truly important to the people and then bringing that message back to the leaders that can actually have an impact. I think that's the greatest value I was able to have.

And what's remarkable about that is, when you gain a sense of trust with these people, they are more willing to actually go kind of the extra mile to employ their own resources, and they almost take a sense of pride in the results that they start to accomplish on their own. They live in this constant life of struggle where their lives are at risk all the time. Their security and basic needs of their family are always in jeopardy. And they need to know that people truly see how much they value just their lives and their security and their families. They're so close knit. And in that sense, I think maybe that maybe the female side spoke a little bit more than the typical military kind of stoic demeanor.

CHADWICK: Tell me one story from your time there, a story of compassion.

Captain PETERS: One of the things I often had to do was, if we were giving medical care to some of their family members in our military medical facilities, I'd bring them onto base, and I could tell that it meant a lot to them, the trouble that I would take to specifically go through all of the different security measures to bring them in.

CHADWICK: You mean, if one of these leaders is in this medical unit, you could try to get their children in to see them?

Captain PETERS: Yes. Their children, their spouses, their brothers so that they don't feel so lonely and that they are able to see a familiar face while they are getting this medical care after sometimes very devastating incidents.

CHADWICK: So if you are dealing with a political leader, that person is injured in the course of helping the Americans. They wind up on this base. If you can get their kids in to see them, you know that the next time you have a meeting with that person outside when they are back fulfilling their duties, whatever they are, that person is going to - they're going to take your call.

Captain PETERS: Absolutely. Consistently, when I worked with the Sheikhs and all of the leaders and friends that work with them, anytime after that there is gratitude in their eyes, their wives would always hug me. There's already a sense of trust.

CHADWICK: Captain Peters, are you going back to being a teacher?

Captain PETERS: Not right now. Right now, I'm actually taking some time to work for a training brigade for the Civil Affairs community. Our job is actually to prepare Civil Affairs soldiers and officers that are going on missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

CHADWICK: Captain Laura Peters, an Army Reserve officer, today receiving the Superior Honor Award from the U.S. State Department for her work in Iraq. Captain Peters, thank you.

Captain PETERS: Thank you so much, Alex.

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