By Lexi MooreMembers of the Hills American Legion Post No. 399 honored fallen veterans Monday with a Memorial Day program. Chief Warrant Officer Thomas Flint presented the address.Flint is a maintenance technician with the South Dakota National Guard. In January 2004 he was activated with the 1st Battalion 147th Field Artillery to Iraq. He ran the maintenance program from the fall of 2003 to the spring of 2005.His battalion’s duties included convoy security, destruction of captured enemy ammunition and civil support.His team would prepare convoys carrying 40 to 50 loads of gasoline, food and equipment for travel between Kuwait and Baghdad. Each convoy would be escorted by at least seven armored tanks.He oversaw operations at four different sites in Iraq. Each site had its own self-contained service shops."It was kinda like a big huge truck stop," Flint said. "We had hard floors, it was like any other shop — all greasy, we just loved it."During his 14-month stay in Iraq he estimates that he traveled nearly 2.5 million miles with the convoys.His battalion was broken into three groups, one dedicated to convoy security, the third worked on destroying ammunition dumps. (WHAT ABOUT THE SECOND?)"There is ammo stored everywhere in Iraq," Flint said. "Old Saddam must have been the paranoid sort, he had ammo for weapons he didn’t even have."The group would gather the ammunition in 500-ton piles and destroy it.Flint said many of the sites would have 500 to 600 bunkers, each being about the size of the legion hall.He said the most rewarding part of his mission was the civil support the battalion gave to the communities. The built and rebuilt schools and markets would provide temporary security in towns.Servicemen BoardAt the ceremony, Robert Sandbulte, Steen, announced that the post office had assembled a bulletin board with photos and names of local servicemen and women. He encouraged visitors to remember these young men and women in their prayers and thoughts.He also asked that families in the service who are not represented on the board contact him about being added.