Below is a Q&A with Larry Morgan, a second-shift soil supervisor for Paris Cos. in Ravenna, OH. As a first sergeant in Iraq, he led sweeps for improvised explosive devices (IEDs), oversaw checkpoint security for part of Baghdad and earned top honors—along with other soldiers in his engineer company—for their efforts to fight back against the threat of IEDs.

Can you tell us a little about your military background?

I joined the U.S. Army in 1983 two weeks after graduating from high school, I attended basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, MO, and graduated as a combat engineer private ...