Deployed dental lab tech student keeps in touch

First Lt. Brad Smejkal, 30, with the Texas National Guard, had his studies in the dental laboratory technology program interrupted by a deployment to Iraq, but he found a way to keep in touch with his classmates.

The 12-year member of the guard had earned a bachelor's degree in human development and family sciences from the University of Texas at Austin before he enrolled in the program at this college in 2008 with a class of 16 students who seemed to bond quickly.

"They hit it off instantly," Michael A. Swain, dental lab technician program coordinator, said.

A classmate, sophomore Bryce Tallant, said the students consider themselves a family. Smejkal wrote in an e-mail interview Feb. 19 that they bonded because they were all striving for the same goal of completing the program. "We had friendly competition of trying to one up each other to see who could make the best appliances," he said. "We all knew that learning from each other would make us all better technicians."

Then midway through the program last summer, Smejkal learned he would deploy to Iraq as part of the medical logistics office in charge of the 36th Sustainment Brigade. "Being in the Army is something I decided when I was in high school, and deploying is always an option," he wrote. "I will pick up school where I left off and continue with it. This is my duty, and I will do it as proudly as those next to me."

His classmates missed him. "We were disappointed to see him go," laboratory technician sophomore Paul Reyna said.

Tallant said, "When we hear what he is doing in Iraq, what he does makes him that better of a person."

Sophomore Tho Ha said, "He was like another instructor."

To keep in touch, Smejkal started to write journal entries and send pictures to his class about his daily activities in Iraq. "I thought they would like to know how I was doing and see just what I do on a day-to-day basis," he said. "I sent the journal to all my family and friends to keep everyone in the loop, and to let them know I was fine and no need for them to worry."

Swain calls the journals a life line for someone so far away. "If you were going to be 8,000 miles away from home, you want a record of something," he said. "Staying in touch with someone is a life line."

In his Aug. 18–29 journal entry, Smejkal writes to his class, "Briefing and training in Kuwait. Nothing exciting, so it's all just one big blur.

"I'm glad we stopped here; it gave us all a chance to get adjusted to the climate. It also lets your body get adjusted to the food and water.

"I bought Internet access for a week, but it's been down for four days. I got took for $12. O' well, I tried."

Most of his journal entries explain highlights of his day or things he has seen, such as a salt farmer, camel herds and the Euphrates River. In one entry, he told the class to expect something in a big box after the holidays. A package arrived the first week of classes. Smejkal had sent each of his classmates camouflage dental smocks with a special dental patch on them. "He bought those uniforms out of his own pocket, and those scrubs weren't cheap," Swain said. Smocks for nine people cost about $300.

"Most of all, I wanted them to look like a unified class. All other programs have certain scrubs, and I felt that we should have the same," he said. "It lets everyone on campus know that you are part of the program. I hope that it leaves a lasting impression on the future classes, and they, too, unite as we did," Smejkal said.

Smejkal will complete the rest of the program next fall. He said he is sure they will stay in touch because the "lab world" is small.

"We will use each other down the road to answer questions we are having about a case. Who knows, some of the classmates may end up working together someday," he said.