IRAQ:FOUR YEARS LATER Mainer has spent 22 years fighting fires in USAF

Lee native Senior Master Sgt. Keith Jimmo has spent more than half his life in the military.

Jimmo entered the United States Air Force within a few weeks of graduating from Lee Academy in 1984, and has been with the Air Force for more than 22 years.

Jimmo finished a five-month deployment in Iraq in mid-January 2007 where he served as fire chief at Baghdad International Airport, Sather Air Base.

“Iraq is not a nice place right now,” Jimmo said in a phone interview from his current home at the Royal Air Force Base Lakenheath in the United Kingdom. “What we’re there for is to get [Iraqis] back on their feet.”

Jimmo trained about 20 Iraqi firefighters in how to deal with structural and aircraft fires, and medical emergencies.

“Those Iraqi firefighters became my brothers,” Jimmo said. “They really believe in what they’re doing, and it’s an honor to participate in their training.”

He said the Iraqis he saw work through an arduous three months of training “really want to help their country, but all these outside forces are making it difficult.”

Today, Jimmo lives in Lakenheath with his wife of 20 years, Ella, and two children, Megan, 16, and Adam, 13. Jimmo serves as deputy fire chief at the RAF base and oversees 115 firefighters in all.

He said he expects to return to the United States in July 2008, and that he can’t wait to see his parents, Lynn and Phillip Merletti, when he finally comes back to Lee.