"He's not scared," Farr says. "That's one thing that's really good about him. He's going to attack the zone. There is no fear there, and I think a lot of that comes from his background, which is tremendous."
Opportunity arises
Learning to control your fears and live in the moment is something Steelman - who was raised by a single mother in what he calls a "pretty rough neighborhood" - had to learn early in his military career. In Iraq, he worked as a military police officer in a maximum security prison called Camp Cropper, which is near Baghdad International Airport and houses about 2,000 detainees. It held former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein before he was executed.
There were times when Steelman had to show patience and compassion to men he knew had been responsible for killing fellow soldiers and friends.
"We worked with the bad of the bad," Steelman says. "When you see videos on the Internet of guys blowing up Humvees, that's who we worked with. A lot of bad dudes over there, we worked with on a daily basis. It was tough. You just learn to deal with it."
He found the best way to deal with the fear was just to block it out.
"I thought of my family a lot," says Steelman, who has an older sister and a younger brother. "I thought about my friends. I knew I was in Iraq. I wasn't going to be naive about the situation, like, `Oh, this is a great place to be.' I knew I was there, regardless, for 15 months."
Christmas was probably one of the most difficult times. Steelman remembers opening presents his relatives had sent him in a bathroom, just so he could be alone. His mom, Sharon, put out word that everyone should send him at least one bag of Skittles, his favorite candy. Steelman says he received nearly 100.
"I think my family bought up all the Skittles at every store in Hagerstown," Steelman says. "My teeth hurt from chewing them by the time I came home."
Sharon Steelman, a cake decorator at Martin's Food, made him a scrapbook full of pictures and notes from his friends, just to give him something to remind him of home.
It comforted her son, but it didn't do much for her.
"Baghdad at that time was just a horrific place to be," Sharon Steelman says. "It was really just a mother's nightmare."
Every night, she watched the news or surfed the Internet until the early-morning hours. She was terrified to read news about another car bombing in Baghdad, but she was unable to stop reading. Because of the sensitive nature of Steelman's work, he often couldn't call her or e-mail her for long stretches.
