Bombing in Bagram Brings out the Best in Associate
Jerome Melillo has been deployed to Afghanistan since 2015.
Late last year, Jerome Melillo, Exchange general manager in Afghanistan, witnessed a deadly catastrophe that few people see.
On Nov. 12, he and his team were setting up Exchange tables for Bagram Airfield’s Veterans Day 5K run. As he was greeting Col. Shawn Wells at the sign-in table, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, a thunderous explosion from a suicide bomber behind the Exchange concession area shot black-and-red smoke dozens of feet into the sky.
“The commander started moving in that direction, and I followed right behind him,” said Melillo, who deployed to Afghanistan in 2015 from his job as food court manager at Fort Carson, Colo. “I soon lost him in the crowd, but a Soldier then ran past me, screaming that they needed mass casualty support. We had to follow ground-attack protocol and took cover in the bunkers.”
The attack killed two American service members and two military contractors. Another 16 U.S. service member and one Polish soldier were injured.
Defense Department officials said Taliban militants have targeted Bagram in the past, but this was the first time a bomb had exploded inside the largest military installation in Afghanistan. The attacker snuck onto the installation with a group of Afghan laborers who had entered the heavily guarded and fortified base early that morning.
When you deploy, you must be very flexible regarding job performance and living conditions, for you may have to take on tasks that you are not thoroughly trained to do. On-the-job training and your built-in intestinal fortitude will help you drive on.
Such harsh realities of deployment, Melillo added quickly, shouldn’t discourage Exchange associates from deploying. The sense of accomplishment and duty far outweigh the risks.
“You should deploy in support of the overall mission, and that is to take care of the troops,” Melillo said. “It’s part of the Exchange’s ‘We go where you go’ mission statement. Keeping your focus on that statement helps you realize why you are here.”
In contingency locations like Afghanistan, Melillo’s recipe for success is flexibility mixed with the courage and determination to help carry out the Exchange mission.
“When you deploy, you must be very flexible regarding job performance and living conditions, for you may have to take on tasks that you are not thoroughly trained to do. On-the-job training and your built-in intestinal fortitude will help you drive on,” he said. “You also could be staying with six members or more or you could have the luxury of being by yourself.
“You must always remember that deployment situations are very fluid: it can go from a sunny, beautiful day to taking cover in a bunker from incoming ammunition.”
