Continuing to serve

"War is hell without the Internet," Kootenai County Detention Deputy Dan Gregg said of trying to communicate with his family during both of his tours to Iraq.

Gregg is currently serving in the Air National Guard based out of Fairchild AFB in Airway Heights, Wash., as a staff sergeant. His unit is made up of about 90 percent law enforcement members.

The Kootenai County Sheriff's Department has 12 members who serve in the military. Currently, three of them are deployed overseas. Coeur d'Alene city currently has three active duty reservists.

Gregg has been deployed to Iraq twice since he has been employed with Kootenai County. He started his military career when he was 18, just two weeks after moving to Spirit Lake from Las Vegas, where both his father and his mother retired from long law enforcement careers with Las Vegas Metro.

Gregg joined the Marine Corp in June of 1984.

At the completion of Gregg's four years of active duty with the Marines, he returned to North Idaho and within two weeks, was employed with the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department as a seasonal marine deputy in 1988. When the season ended, Gregg worked briefly as a Kootenai County reserve deputy and then as a reserve officer with the Spirit Lake Police Department.

He was picked up the following season by the Sheriff's Department's Marine program once again. Gregg was hired full time as a jail technician in 1989. One year later, he tested to become a detention deputy, a position he continues to serve in today.

Gregg completed his inactive service with the Marines in 1990 but signed again in 1997 to begin service as a reservist for 10 more years. During this time, Gregg went on his first tour to Iraq in 2004. This mission was six months long on the Air Base in Al Asad.

In 2007, Gregg left the Marine Corps and joined the Washington Air National Guard with whom he served his second tour in Iraq, stationed in Baghdad in 2009. In both tours, his unit served as base defense.

During his first tour, Gregg typically made contact with his wife and two daughters by telephone, when a phone was available. Gregg said he'd quickly hang up when he knew explosions were going to be heard in the background. He didn't want his wife to worry about him.

He described the difficulty of "blackouts" when communication was not allowed from the base for security reasons. There were different reasons for this, but it didn't keep his family from worrying about him.

Gregg's second tour was easier to get through, in regards to staying in touch. He said the use of Skype and access to email made communicating to those at home much easier.

Returning to work and his personal life was sometimes difficult, especially following his first tour. The sliding doors in the jail slam loudly and were difficult to get used to following his return to work in 2005.

Gregg found this strange because it was a noise that hadn't bothered him the previous 15 years. The Baghdad tour caused Gregg's sense of smell to change. Odors that once were pleasant were no longer enjoyable.

For Gregg, these experiences have strengthened his spirituality and his family is more important to him now than they ever were.

Gregg will be eligible for military retirement in four more years. Although he enjoys his law enforcement career and will most likely continue working for several more years, Gregg will be eligible for retirement in seven years.

Gregg received the American Legion Kootenai Post 14 Law Enforcement of the Year Award for 2010.