From April through August 2003 in Iraq, Major Daniel Segura commanded the 63rd Engineer Company (Combat Support Equipment) - a horizontal construction company - their principal task being road repair and construction. Based on Tallil Airbase, a main project was the construction of Convoy Support Center Cedar II. "We leveled out the ground," he explained, "we created a road network, we bermed the entire area and then we created berms for the fuel points. Being a horizontal, we did all the horizontal and other assets that were there, the vertical, built the tents." Then, in June, Segura's company was moved down to Kuwait for the remainder of their tour and worked on a number of facilities there: Camp Pennsylvania, Camp Virginia and the Udairi Range Complex. Among the company's biggest challenges was force protection, which Segura discusses in detail. He also cautions against deploying and redeploying units as separate companies, as his was, and says that a chance availability of two slots for which two of his guys were trained in HAZMAT procedures prior to deploying ended up paying big dividends in theater. This is the first of two interviews Segura gave regarding his Global War on Terrorism experiences.

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