# Tribute to heroes display honors DLA employees lost, injured in war on terror

/ Published Nov. 29, 2021
FORT BELVOIR, Va., 
Almost two decades have passed since a mortar attack hurled shrapnel past Don Reed’s head and into both his legs. He gives the memory of that evening in Baghdad little thought these days, but Defense Logistics Agency CENTCOM & SOCOM won’t let Reed’s service in a war zone go forgotten. 

A Tribute to DLA Heroes display unveiled Nov. 19 at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, honors Reed, DLA liaison for Special Operations Command Central and Marine Corps Forces Central, as well as three former employees who were injured or killed in the war on terror: Stephen Byus, Krissie Davis and Rob DeLong. Byus and Davis were both killed in Afghanistan. DeLong suffered a concussion in the same attack that killed Davis.

“This tribute is our way of keeping alive the memory of those we’ve lost and honoring the dedication of those who willingly put themselves in harm’s way to carry out DLA’s mission,” said Army Col. Gerard Acosta, DLA CENTCOM & SOCOM commander. “Hundreds of DLA civilians and service members have made selfless sacrifices that make it possible for us to keep our troops equipped and ready to fight. All gave some, some gave all.”

Byus, a civilian employee at DLA Land and Maritime and Navy reservist for DLA Disposition Services, had already completed his required reserve duty with two tours in Iraq but volunteered for a third deployment to Afghanistan. In September 2014, he was headed downtown during morning rush hour in a two-vehicle convoy to brief dignitaries at the Afghan Ministry of Defense when a red Toyota Corolla appeared in the rearview mirror. At a crowded intersection, the driver pulled between the two vehicles and detonated 250 pounds of explosives. Byus died instantly.

Davis died in June 2015 on her second deployment. She and DeLong, her “battle buddy” and fellow DLA Disposition Services employee, were driving to the chow hall on Bagram Airfield when a 105-mm rocket slammed into their Ford pickup. DeLong recovered within seconds despite a concussion, but Davis’ lower-extremity injuries were too severe for basic first aid. When the ambulance arrived, DeLong crawled in behind Davis. He held her hand on the bumpy ride to the hospital, listening as she talked about her husband, daughter and grandbabies. She died as surgeons fought to save her. 

Constantly ringing ears remind DeLong daily of Davis’ sacrifice, he said before retiring in May. He opened up about his struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder and the four years of psychiatric therapy that helped him find peace amid his yearning to understand why he survived the attack and Davis didn’t. 

“I was a wreck, physically and emotionally, many times, for a long time,” DeLong said.

Reed was deployed as a DLA warfighter support representative with the 1st Armored Division Nov. 25, 2003, when insurgents fired eight mortars into the south Baghdad camp where he worked. He’d just finished dinner and was resting in his cot when the attack began. Shrapnel skimmed the back of his head and landed in his legs as he headed for a nearby bunker. 

“The thing that messes with you more than anything is half an inch one way or another and I might have died,” he said, admitting that while he understood the dangers of deploying, he didn’t dwell on them.

“I kind of had an ‘in the rear with the gear’ mindset, especially since I spent my days working on a computer, taking phone calls. The danger is something you’re always aware of, but it gets pushed to the back of your mind because there’s so much work to get done,” he continued. 

Reed has lingering tinnitus like DeLong but said it rarely bothers him, and despite metal still lodged in his lower right calf, he has no aches or pains. Though he’s proud of his deployments, he’s humble about having his face framed on a wall at DLA CENTCOM & SOCOM Headquarters.

“I was at the right or the wrong place depending on your point of view. There was nothing brave in my actions,” he said. Coming out of the attack alive trumps any possible award or recognition for Reed. 

“As far as the hero thing goes,” he said, “I don’t really know what that means.”

There are still 108 DLA employees deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.