“He wanted to see more,” says Gary, now a longtime Missoula resident. “The reason he enlisted in the Army was so he could travel.”
Gary Marbut laughs at the story, because you know where Scott was stationed after joining the Army?
Sgt. 1st Class Scott Marbut has seen lots of places since.
Now 42 and stationed in Okinawa, Japan, his father says Marbut travels to places such as South Korea, the Philippines and Madagascar in his job with U.S. Army Special Forces also known as the Green Berets.
But it was a six-month tour of duty in Iraq last year that earned Marbut a Bronze Star, one of the highest military awards.
Between March and October, the Army says, Marbut “built a comprehensive intelligence link analysis and database of eastern Mosul, the Tigris River Valley and Za’ab Triangle,” enabling Operational Detachment-Alpha 121 “to target and capture key Al Qeada ... and anti-Iraqi Force leaders.”
“I’m reading between the lines, but it sounds to me like he put together a computer program that could handle intelligence data, make sense out of it and share it with other people,” Gary says. His son had switched from serving as a Special Forces engineer to an intelligence specialist, and “he became kind of a computer geek with a degree in computer science, and used that background” in Iraq.
“Marbut faced a unique challenge in providing ODA 121 with an accurate intelligence picture of Al Qeada and anti-Iraqi forces in the area of operations,” the Army says, “as well as the presence of Iranian infiltration and clandestine activity in Irbil, Iraq.”
Marbut, the Army says, was directly responsible for ODA 121’s ability to find, fix and detain 15 “high-value individuals” operating in the area.
Marbut’s intelligence guided ODA 121 in disrupting two large Islamic Army of Iraq networks, the U.S. Army says, and countered coordinated attacks against Forward Operating Base Marez in 2006 and the May 13, 2007,
Makhmur suicide vehicle bombing that killed 45 civilians and injured 115 more.
“His actions are in keeping with the finest traditions of military service and reflect distinct credit upon him, Special Operations Command Central and the United States Army,” reads the Bronze Star commendation.
Reporter Vince Devlin can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at vdevlin@missoulian.com.
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