Franklin Township resident Tim Jeffers (left, in the sunglasses) served as a Public Command Officer for General David Petraeus during his 2004-2005 tour in Iraq. In addition to meeting with the media, he fought alongside Iraqi soldiers. (Photo provided.)
By HANNAH GUNNELL
Not many 40 year olds get called up to the line of duty, but Franklin Township resident Tim Jeffers found himself in that position in 2004.
“I was ‘04-’05, and to be honest with you, it’s kind of like a dream,” he said.
The Scecina Memorial High School alumnus had served in the National Guard, then resigned to handle family affairs. When a soldier resigns, they sign a resignation letter for both the state commission and federal commission — but he didn’t sign for his federal commission at the time, so five years after resigning, he had orders to go back.
“I got these orders and at the time was Chief of Staff to the Commissioner of the State Department of Transportation,” he said. “I took it to my boss and he was like, ‘Whaaat?’ But I was single at the time, I was almost 40 years old, so I figured it was better I went than a guy with a family.”
Jeffers, and other members of Individual Ready Reserve like him, were placed in the 98th division out of New York. They landed in Iraq on Christmas Eve, 2004. They had been stuck at the Baghdad airport for three days because of the shelling and machine gun fire. When he finally made it to base, he almost immediately met Three Star General David Petraeus.
“He was a three star general in charge of training Iraqi police and army,” Jeffers said. “His command was ‘Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq.’ I served as his public command officer for six of the nine months I was there.”
Jeffers’ work included supporting the commanding general through writing press releases, meeting with media members, and setting up congressional delegations. Jeffers met former politicians Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and John McCain; and well-known journalists such as David Ignatious (The Washington Post), Dan Rather (CBS), Brian Williams (NBC Nightly), among others.
He was always in the highest level briefings, and he was just a 40-year-old captain, he said.
“It was kind of crazy,” he said. “That’s why I say it seemed like a dream.”
When Jeffers came home, he got married and had five kids within three and a half years. He worked briefly for Verizon in government affairs, and now works as Director of Business Development for CSO Architects. He also volunteers for the fire merit board, the citizens police complaint board, and serves as a precinct committeeman.