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Profile of the commander of 202 BSB, 4/2 SBCT.
On war-rattled Iraqi streets, a son of Haddon Heights has watched life resurface.
Lt. Col. Kenneth E. Evans said he sees the vital signs in Taji city and Diyala province, both north of Baghdad. The streets were all but deserted when Evans and his U.S. Army battalion arrived 13 months ago, he said, because "you just didn't know what was going to happen."
These days, though, markets are open again. Children are out and about. Security, buoyed by new and better Iraqi security forces, has helped instill a fresh confidence, Evans said in a phone interview last week from Diyala province.
Iraqis "want to learn; they want to improve," he said. "They want to take charge of their own destiny."
Evans, 43, seized his own destiny at a young age. Born at Fort Bragg, N.C., he was still a tyke when his father, Ken Evans Sr., was discharged from the military.
The family soon moved to Haddon Heights. By seventh grade, Evans Sr. recalled, his son had already set his sights on enlisting.
"He absolutely adored the Army movies that were on television then -- black and white," said Evans' mother, Dorothy. She and her husband still live in Haddon Heights. "He's kind of been a regimented person . . . maybe since he was 8 or 9 years old. He just loves the structure."
Now, several decades later, Evans sits atop a structure of 650 men and women -- all members of the 202d Brigade Support Battalion.
[...]