Angela Munson, who serves as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, was the guest speaker at the October 18, 2016 meeting of the Coweta County Safety Council.

Munson spoke to the group about the training that prepared her to go to Iraq in 2011 and serve as the resident legal advisor at the US Embassy in Baghdad. As a federal prosecutor, Munson said, her role usually consists of overseeing an investigation, presenting findings to a grand jury, and then following the case through the justice system. But when in 2010, the Department of Justice asked for attorneys willing to go to Iraq and help establish the rule of law, "I raised my hand and volunteered to go," Munson said.
 
She spoke repeatedly of "the patriots that I had the privilege to serve with" and said she will forever consider it an honor that she was able to serve in Iraq. Her father is a veteran and she has long supported the troops, but after working with and being protected by so many fine soldiers, "I came home a much different person," she said, adding that it was a humbling experience.
 
In addition to completing weapons training, Munson had to be sworn in as a Special Deputy US Marshal, and her training with the US State Department included combat medical training; counter-terrorist driving; firearms and explosives identification; and training in Arabic, customs and protocol. Munson praised the training she received and said "the State Department has a lot of really talented, amazing people."
 
So what did she learn in Iraq? "You've got to have a plan," Munson told the local safety professionals. She emphasized that while she does not claim to be a safety expert, she did learn that it was important to train, plan, and then train some more.
 
In her slide presentation, Munson showed images of some of the different housing where she lived in Iraq as well as some of the people she worked with, including a few Iraqi judges. Munson said she considers the judges "patriots" in Iraq, and one of the men had also served as a judge during the trial of Saddam Hussein.
 
Munson's own service in Iraq was not without danger. She told of several times she had to run for cover in one of the many bunkers, and she also spoke of some of the security precautions she and other Department of Justice staffers were careful to observe, such as never staying in the same spot for very long and never speaking in public about their itineraries.
 
Since returning home, Munson said, she has a much greater appreciation for her family, her immediate community, and also her freedom of religion, all thanks to her time serving at the US Embassy in Iraq. "It has profoundly changed me," she said.