Bryant Herlem was born on August 6, 1968 in California. As a toddler, his aunt gave him a gift of green plastic soldiers which he carried around with him wherever he went. Bryant was only 3 years old when he first showed interest in wanting to be a soldier, and he never wavered on that dream! Bryant's siblings consisted of a younger brother and 2 younger half sisters. Bryant and his brother were raised by their maternal grandparents. His half sisters, who share a father with Bryant, were raised by their maternal grandparents also. When they moved away to live with their grandparents, Bryant lost contact with them and spent 16 1/2 years looking for them. He found them the August before he was deployed and was able to get to know them through e-mails and IM's. Bryant was not really interested in school and only graduated so he could join the Army. He graduated from California High School in 1986 and joined the Army a month later. Bryant was a Combat Engineer and after attending basic training and AIT at Fort Leonard Wood, was stationed in Schweinfurt, Germany. After re-enlisting, Bryant was stationed at Fort Ord in California. In August of 1989, Bryant was introduced to LaNita Hall by his roommate. Both were dating others and were just friends to start. With a weekend pass from PLDC for Thanksgiving and everyone in his unit training at Travis Air Force Base, Bryant called LaNita to see if she wanted to have dinner. By Christmas they were engaged and by January, married! This whirlwind courtship went on to last 16.5 years. LaNita said that Bryant made her laugh from day one and continues to even after his death. Not all those years were easy. The first year, they were separated because she was stationed in Texas. Then, when she got out, he was sent to train at NTC in preparation for the Gulf War. In 1992, when the military started downsizing, Bryant got out to try civilian life. He finished his Individual Ready Reserve time as an infantryman with the Virginia National Guard. Bryant really missed the Army and wanted to go back in, but it was not possible due to the cutbacks. In an attempt to transfer to active duty, Bryant joined the reserves as an MP. Finally, in 1998, Bryant returned to active duty as a Combat Engineer at Fort Hood. The 5 years as a civilian had not only been hard on Bryant but had put a strain on the marriage also. With divorce looming, Bryant asked LaNita to move to Texas with him and try again. She says it is the most important and best decision that she ever made. Bryant worked many jobs with many units during his career with the Army:1986-1989 -Schweinfurt, Germany 10th Engineers/ 3ID -Combat Engineer1989-1992 -Fort Ord, California 14th Engineers/ 7ID Support -Combat Engineer1993-1994 -Martinsville, Viginia 29th Infantry, Virginia National Guard -Infantry1994-1997 -Martinsville, Virginia 2174th GSU, Army Reserves -Military Police1998-1999 -Fort Hood, Texas 8th Engineers/ 1Cav Div -Combat Engineer2000 -Camp Howze, Korea 44th Engineers/ 2ID -Combat Engineer2001-2002 -Fort Riley, Kansas 70th Engineers/ FORSCOM -Combat Engineer On September 11, 2001 he was part of an advanced party sent to NTC, California to prepare for his unit's training there. He was out in the desert all day and did not know about the attack on the Towers until nighttime. Bases went on lockdown and NTC training was cancelled. One week later they were put on alert for Afghanistan. In 2002, Bryant got out of the army in order to transfer into the Air Force as ParaRescue, but unable to receive a waiver for hearing loss, he returned to the army in 2003. 2003 -Fort Bliss, Texas AIT for his new MOS as a Bradley Linebacker Crewman2004 -Camp Casey, Korea 5-5 ADA/ 2ID -Bradley Stinger Fighting Vehicle Commander2004-2005 -Fort Hood, Texas 1-44 ADA/ 4ID -Bradley Linebacker Squad Leader2005-2006 -Fort Hood, Texas 8-10 Cav/ 4ID -Cavalry Scout, Bradley Fighting Vehicle Commander 8th Squadron, 10th Cavalry was decommissioned after Vietnam but was being brought back as a part of a new brigade combat team that was being built from the ground up. Within 1 year, the whole unit was ready for deployment. Bryant was very proud of the part he played in the building up of this unit. In December 2005, Bryant and his men were deployed to Iraq. They would be part of PSD (Personal Security Detail) which meant patrolling the streets of Baghdad. On April 28, 2006, Bryant and his men were out on patrol. Bryant was in command in the lead vehicle when the second vehicle was hit by a small IED. Some damage was done to the vehicle (all men were safe). They pulled over into a small market area and set up a perimeter to wait for back-up. The area seemed safe: there were kids playing and people all around. After about 10 minutes, an IED went off that had been hidden under a large palm tree trunk. Bryant, SGT Jose Gomez (his gunner), a little girl that was sitting on the tree trunk, and an Iraqi adult were killed instantly. A 5-year old boy named Mostafa Wahop died in route to the hospital. There may have been more casualties since parents were running over and carrying their children away. The killer would have been able to see everything, including the children, when he remotely detonated the bomb. Several men were captured in connection with the bombing, but it is unknown if the actual killer was among them. Heroes were lost that day and they deserve to be remembered. Bryant could build anything with wood. He was very talented and learned this from his Grandfather. He graduated from Central Texas College with a Certification in Building Trades in 2003. He collected 12" G.I. Joe's and for relaxation, built military models. Working on a model was the only time he could sit still for more than 5 minutes and not go to sleep. He was constantly on the go. He loved spending time in the gym, lifting weights and on his PT tests, he would max out his push-ups and sit-ups in the first minute. Bryant was dark skinned and dark haired (Cherokee, French, and Mexican heritage) and had a "strong nose". Many Iraqi men asked if he was Egyptian. Once, as a joke, his fellow soldiers introduced him to some local Iraqi men as SSG Herleem. All these men then went and stood around Bryant as he stood guard during a PSD mission. Bryant knew how stressful the Army was and was a practical joker. He would secretly put stink bombs in bathrooms or place rubber spiders and snakes in drawers. There are many stories involving practical jokes and dares. Story #1: When Bryant was getting ready to leave for Iraq he came home with a swollen finger. All he would tell LaNita was that he got it stuck in a mousetrap. After his death she found out about the "Mousetrap Wars". As his friend SSG Kevin Albrecht tells it, "As we were nearing the deployment date we really had nothing to do in the S-3 shop. So being the crafty ones that we were, Bryant, Joel and I started to put mousetraps under SFC Curnan's desk to mess with him. It was great to watch the reaction when it snapped. We were also super gluing his stuff to his desktop. Once we started going with the traps all of us ended having a mousetrap fight. That will be a moment in time that needs no picture to capture it, because all I have to do is close my eyes and I will see us all there. This brought us closer to each other in that moment than all the gunneries and ftx's ever did. Not because the training didn't matter or didn't bring us all together, because it all did, but in that moment we all were just being ourselves (childlike) horse playing, roughhousing. Like brothers." LaNita was later told that someone offered Bryant $1 (in nickels) to stick his finger in a mousetrap!! That was how he hurt his finger. Story #2: While with the 8th Engineers the men were daring each other to put a stun gun to their own legs! Bryant had to do it! Story #3: The second time he was in Korea, his squad was taking the tracks off of a Bradley. Huge bolts holding the tracks on were hot to the touch. The men were seeing how long they could keep them on their skin. As their squad leader, Bryant had to outdo his men and had it on so long it melted onto his skin!! He was left with a perfectly round scar on his forearm. Story #4: While in 8th Engineers, Bryant was out in the field, when he looked down to see a snake biting his boot. He got mad and cut off the head of the snake. Another soldier said, "That's a Copperhead. Hard Core!" When LaNita went to pick him up, all the soldiers were telling her about him killing the snake and calling him "Hard Core Herlem". LaNita asked him on the way home, "You didn't know it was a copperhead, did you?" Bryant's answer? "HELL NO!!" Bryant was the type of NCO that repeatedly heard from the men he had worked with in the past~thanking him for what he had done for them as their NCO. SSG Albrecht talks about his service with Bryant, "Having the Honor of Serving alongside Bryant from the get go of standing up 8-10 CAV was a challenge. Not because he and I had differences, on the contrary, Bryant and I saw pretty much eye to eye. What a relief it was because so much leadership has gone to the mentality of I, Me, Mine, which does not benefit the Soldiers or the Mission. . . . I know that I was supposed to serve with Bryant, not only because we could learn from each other, but we always tried to give all that we had to those whom we served with. It was because we could work hard and play hard with the Soldiers without compromise. Boy did we play hard! " They were also two men who knew how lucky there were, "I think that Bryant and I had both came to the realization that some of us are right where we need to be, not because we figured it out all by ourselves, but of course because of the woman that each of us married, who have to put up with us and our moronicness. " : And LaNita also knows how lucky she was. She knew what she had and appreciated it while she had it. She said for 16 1/2 years (and especially the last 8), she had what a lot of people never have. She has a lot to be thankful for. She spoke to him 3 hours before he was killed. That night she woke up freezing cold and looked at the clock. 1:10 a.m. That is the exact time that Bryant died. SSG Albrecht says, "It will take time for the wounds to heal for many. Some are visible but most are not. I can tell you, remembering those times that we all shared, is good for healing those wounds not visible. Bryant, I love you brother. God be with you till we meet again. Never Forget" LaNita says, "His death is one insignificant second compared to the rest of his life and he was a hero long before he was killed. I want him to be remembered not for how he died, but for who he was... not for what was taken, but for all that was given." SFC Bryant Herlem lived his life as he gave it: as a hero.
LINKS TO SFC Bryant Herlem Patriot Guard After Action Report
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