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Bombing in Iraq Kills Two U.S. Soldiers
By PAUL GARWOOD
Associated Press Writer
TIKRIT, Iraq (AP)--A roadside bomb killed two American soldiers and wounded four others Saturday, the first casualties suffered by an Army regiment taking over security in Saddam Hussein's hometown as part of a giant troop rotation in Iraq.
The bomb destroyed the troops' armored Humvee as they patrolled through downtown Tikrit at around 5 a.m., hours before the outgoing 4th Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment handed over security duties in the area to the 18th Infantry Regiment at a ceremony on Saturday.
In the attack, gunmen opened fire on the rear vehicle in the three-Humvee patrol, then the bomb went off by the second Humvee, said one of the soldiers at the scene.
A Bradley fighting vehicle sped to the scene and strafed the area with heavy machine gun fire. It was unclear if any of the attackers sustained casualties.
After the attack, about 50 soldiers fanned out through the city searching for evidence and asking locals for information about the attack. The four wounded soldiers were evacuated to a military hospital north of Tikrit.
Roadside bombs have become the main threat to U.S. soldiers on patrol in the Sunni Triangle, a region north and west of Baghdad that has seen some of the fiercest guerrilla fighting. Three soldiers were killed and three wounded Thursday by bombs in Baqouba and near the town of Habbaniyah.
Saturday's deaths brought to 560 the number of U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq on March 20, according to the Department of Defense. Of those, 379 died as a result of hostile action and 179 died of non-hostile causes, the department said.
The U.S. military in Iraq is about halfway through the biggest troop rotation in its history, pulling out 130,000 troops--some of whom have been here since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. Soldiers who have been on the front line facing the anti-U.S. insurgency -- believed led by Saddam loyalists and Islamic militants -- have been carrying out joint patrols with the newcomers, trying to acquaint them with the landscape.
Saturday was only the second day that troops from the 18th Regiment have been patrolling alone, without members of the 22nd. Some 700 troops from the 18th Regiment arrived in Tikrit within the last month to replace a similar number of troops from the outgoing unit, which has been patrolling the city, 85 miles north of Baghdad, since it fell to U.S. forces in April.....
AP-NY-03-13-04 0449EST
Copyright 2004, The Associated Press.
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Tikrit-Based Infantry Holds Final Raid
By PAUL GARWOOD
Associated Press Writer
TIKRIT, Iraq (AP)--U.S. infantry soldiers raided one last house Friday as they ended a yearlong deployment in Saddam Hussein's now largely tamed hometown, one of the fiercest battlegrounds in postwar Iraq.
The 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division, based in Fort Hood, Texas, is being relieved by the 1st Battalion, 18th Regiment, attached to the Germany-based 1st Infantry Division. The official transfer is Saturday.
The departing soldiers, commanded by Lt. Col. Steve Russell, took over Tikrit on April 19, shortly after Saddam was deposed. The town was still teeming with support for the dictator, who was captured nearby on Dec. 13.
Through Iraq's scorching summer, Russell's roughly 700 soldiers patrolled the area's meanest streets, confronting, killing and capturing insurgents while losing nine of their own.
During the summer, U.S. forces here were attacked about 20 times daily. Now, clashes are infrequent.
Russell, 40, of Del City, Okla., said the local insurgency was dealt a major blow by the capture of Saddam and the July 22 deaths of his two sons, Odai and Qusai.
"Saddam's supporters started to realize that the old regime wasn't coming back,'' Russell told The Associated Press at a farmhouse near Uja, the former dictator's birthplace, during Friday's raid. Two wanted weapons dealers were captured in the operation, the first conducted by the incoming regiment, led by Lt. Col. Jeff Sinclair, 40, of Grafton, W.Va.
"It is a good feeling to take over command,'' Sinclair said.
Russell's soldiers have arrested several of the 55 most wanted Iraqis and rounded up hundreds of people suspected of attacking U.S. troops and other anti-coalition activities.
They also helped supporters of the U.S.-led occupation form a regional government and establish Iraqi police and civil defense forces.
"But to those who hung on to Saddam's ruthless regime, we were swift, violent and deadly,'' Russell said.
Some of the "controversial'' tactics his forces used included ringing Uja in razor-sharp barbed wire to prevent insurgents entering or leaving, shooting Iraqis dead in the street if they carried a weapon, and strictly enforcing the area's 11 p.m. curfew.
Russell said his Baptist faith has helped him operate under hostile fire and reconcile killing others. "We must see it (killing someone) in terms of for good to happen, evil must be removed,'' he said.
AP-NY-03-12-04 1310EST
Copyright 2004, The Associated Press.
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>From one of our readers in New Jersey (kleenex warning):
My Son Came Home Last Night!
Praise God - my son came home late last night to Fort Hood, Texas!
He called me early this morning and we had a good long talk. It was so wonderful to hear his voice. Thank you for keeping him in prayer - God listens.
He is a SSG with 4th ID 1-22 B Co. They flew straight to Germany from Iraq then on to Bangor, Maine where they were greated by American Veterans who treated them like the heroes our soldiers are. These Vets handed out cell phones for the soldiers to pass around so they could all call home to let their loved ones know they were safe. I've never been more proud to be an American!
I was at an educators' conference yesterday and one of the presentors let us know that his son was in Baghdad where there was an incident and he was worried because he hadn't heard from his son yet. Now that I am an "experienced" mom at this, I let him know what you always told us - no news is good news and bad news travels fast. It felt good to lend comfort and advice. I let him know that my son was due back and I had my cell phone on the table. If it rang - I didn't want him to think I was being rude - it would be my son or his wife with news of his arrival.
Well - the phone rang and everyone in the room was soooo happy for me. They were wiping their eyes and passing out tissues. How wonderful for total strangers to share the depth of my feelings!
In school, I announced on the school speaker system early in the morning to the teachers that my son had returned and people have been stopping by my computer lab hugging with tears in their eyes. I guess I didn't realize how much they knew the amount of stress I've been dealing with. I thanked them all for their prayers and support.
Then, as each class came to my computer lab, I told them that my son had returned from Iraq and each class of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders broke out in applause! WOW!
My son still has a sister-in-law and brother-in-law in Iraq. She will be home in April, we think, but her husband just got there in January - so he has a long haul. I'll visit my son and his wife, over spring break. I told my son that he will have to understand that I will have to give him a long, big hug. He said he thinks he could handle that! He also thanked me profusely for all of the things I did for him and his unit - how
thankful I am in return!
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This is not a story you want to read but since it's in most newspapers today, I decided to go ahead and include it. This does NOT say that our troops will be going back to Iraq but it does explain that our Army is stretched thin and is smaller than it needs to be, in my opinion. Someone has to go back to Iraq in another year and this story explains that.
A little historical perspective. Our WWII 4ID vets were prepared to invade Japan after beating the Germans, but the atomic bomb ended that war and our soldiers didn't have to deploy to Japan. During the Vietnam war, most career soldiers had at least two or more tours before it was over. This is not something new that our career Army families don't understand. It shows that Freedom is not Free - and our military families pay the highest price of all for our freedom.
Spread Thin, Army Calling on Same Units
By ROBERT BURNS
AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON (AP)--The Army is spread so thin around the globe that when it needs fresh combat troops for Iraq this fall it will have little choice but to call on the same soldiers who led the charge into Baghdad last spring.
The 3rd Infantry Division already has been given an official ``warning order'' to prepare to return to Iraq as soon as Thanksgiving. When those soldiers flew home from Iraq last summer to their bases in Georgia, few of them could have known they were, in effect, on a roundtrip ticket.
They are not alone in facing back-to-back deployments to Iraq. Some of the same Marines who teamed up with the 3rd Infantry to topple Baghdad are already assembling again in Kuwait, only a matter of months after returning home, and more Marines will go next year.
Other Army units that recently returned to the United States or are preparing to come home this spring, including the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky., and the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, are candidates for a quick turnaround.
The Army has not announced which units will join the 3rd Infantry in the next rotation, although it has notified three National Guard brigades and a National Guard division headquarters that they are likely to go in early 2005.
When the Saddam Hussein government collapsed, U.S. troops in Iraq figured the war was over, except for some mopping up.
But as the acting secretary of the Army, Les Brownlee, acknowledged to Congress last week, "we simply were not prepared'' for the insurgency that developed in early summer, prolonging the war and taking the lives of hundreds of American soldiers.
One 3rd Infantry soldier, Sgt. 1st Class Eric Wright, put it this way in Iraq last June: "What was told to us was that we would fight and win and go home.''
It's not that simple.
Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said recently that the Marines and the Army are going to share as equally as possible the burden of keeping forces in Iraq for the foreseeable future.
But it has been and will remain predominantly an Army effort.
"At some point we'll go back,'' said Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the 101st Airborne. He said it also was possible his troops would be sent to Afghanistan next instead of Iraq. The 101st played a major role in the initial invasion of Iraq and has only just returned home.
Some are concerned that the Army is being squeezed so hard that soldiers will quit in droves. Statistics on reenlistments and recruiting don't show that to be the case--not yet, anyway. And some who know the Army best say its soldiers are willing to accept the hectic pace.
"We've got an Army and we're using it,'' says retired Gen. Gordon Sullivan, a former Army chief of staff and currently president of the Association of the U.S. Army, a booster group.
Yet Sullivan, who recently visited U.S. troops in Iraq and Kuwait, acknowledged that sending war veterans back for a second tour of duty means the Army is stretched tighter than it has been in decades.
"Loosely, in a historical perspective, it's not dissimilar to what you saw in World War II in Europe,'' he said in an interview. "We're just going to keep using them.''
The Army has 10 active-duty divisions, and parts or all of each have been in Iraq or Afghanistan or are heading there this spring.
To make the challenge even greater, even as it struggles to provide enough active-duty forces for Iraq, the Army is quietly undertaking a fundamental reorganization of its combat divisions, starting with the 3rd Infantry.
That infantry division will have four combat brigades, of roughly 3,800 soldiers each, instead of its traditional three, by the time it completes its training this fall and heads back to Iraq. It will get that extra firepower by acquiring some elements, such as artillery, military intelligence and military police, from its division and corps headquarters.
A similar transformation is planned during the course of this year for the 101st Airborne and the 10th Mountain divisions.
The Army also is relying more heavily on the National Guard and Reserve to maintain a combat force in Iraq. Brigades from North Carolina, Arkansas and Washington state are there or soon will be en route, as part of the 2004 rotation of forces.
Another three brigades, from Tennessee, Louisiana and Idaho -- plus a division headquarters from the New York National Guard -- have been alerted that they probably will be sent to Iraq in the next rotation, in early 2005.
AP-NY-03-12-04 1607EST
Copyright 2004, The Associated Press
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>From Chaplain Dewayne Brewer:
TF Ironhorse Prayer Breakfast - Fort Hood - Wednesday, March 17
COL Shanahan has directed we hold a Prayer Breakfast to honor our returning
soldiers and to continue to pray for their safe return and also for those beloved soldiers who have given everything for our freedoms.
We will host a Prayer Breakfast on 17 March 04 at 0645 to 0730 hours at the
Theodore Roosevelt Dining Facility with the theme of Religious Leadership. The uniform will be duty uniform and breakfast will be served by the DFAC in accordance with normal meal procedures for all eating at the DFAC.
Please come and join us as we seek to pray and ask God to bring our beloved
soldiers home safely to us. I am attaching a flyer for you to use in distributing and advertising this Prayer Breakfast for all who would like to attend. (I have not included the flyer).
Thanks for your continued support and may God bless you and keep you safe.
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Keep sending me your memories - I'm getting some good ones. I'm saving them and will use a few each day over the next six weeks or so.
Memories of a Year Ago - Waiting for Deployment to Turkey through the Early Days in Iraq
1) I remember flying down to Ft. Hood last February to see my brother off. On the way back from the airport he told me a little about his job and told me a lot about the young soldiers he was preparing to take to war. He talked about the mothers of some of these 18-19 year soldiers that were in complete panic. I told him I would be one of them for sure! He reassured me these young men would be fine. He was unbelievably confident in each of them.
As our visit continued, we ended up sitting in his room talking even more about what he was being asked to do for his country. We talked about where he would sleep, what he would eat. What he thought the enemy would be like. He laughed a lot when he talked about some of the horribly frightening things he may encounter. I couldn't understand how he could laugh, so I asked him. He said, "Sis, I either laugh or freak. I think I am going to laugh." The one thing I remember most, was how he picked my hand up and he was holding it as he talked. I honestly don't think he even realized he did that. I asked him if he was afraid. He said "Hell ya, who wouldn't be. But I have a job to do that I trained my whole life for. I am ready to go and get this done so I can get back home to my family."
I went home back home and it was another several weeks before his unit boarded that plane to go off to war. I remember sitting on my couch when my mom called to tell me he was leaving. A feeling of incredible pride and sickening fear rushed over me all at the same time. I will never forget it.
He is almost home now. Through this deployment I have learned wonderful things about my brother, that I may have never known. I have received shining letters from his superiors talking about his greatness. I have seen him take time out from his busy day, to respond to letters and packages sent from children and adults alike from all over the country. He has allowed so many people to touch his life and him touch theirs. As horrible as this war has been, I have gained an incredible new understanding of the man my brother really is. It's hard to believe it has been a year since this all began.
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4ID Exclusive Magnet Memento
Magnet developed exclusively for 4ID soldiers and their families. 4ID Emblem, the colors of the American Flag, and the words, "We Got Him!", Operation Red Dawn, December 13, 2003. Let others know that you are part of the 4ID that 'Got Him', as well as keeping a collectable memento. To view ribbon: http://hometown.aol.com/dianapbhatia/myhomepage/profile.html To order or for further inquiries please email: FRGF110CAV@aol.com
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What Our Families Are Hearing From Our Soldiers in Iraq:
1) Just got the greatest news of all. My husband (3-16 FA) is on his way home. He will be with the first 15 from his battalion to come home. He did reenlist in Iraq and he did not take mid-tour leave, so they let him come home first. I can't tell you how excited I am. It was a hard year for all of us...... My prayers go to all families whose loved ones won't be coming home and of course to all the guys still down there and newly arrived.
2) I am the mother of one of the soldiers that got to come home today (Thursday). He is a SSG with HHC 3-66 4th ID. He also told his wife about the group greeting the troops as they come into Bangor, Maine. It meant so much for him as he was finally on American soil and had someone there to greet them. I can not put into words what this last year has been like for our family. I do know that when I heard his voice on the phone and knew he was back at Ft. Hood this afternoon, it seemed to put it into perspective. I told him I was proud of him and he told me he was just doing his job. That's how he sees it. I also told him the job he has chosen is what makes me proud of him. It has been hard to explain to other people what it feels like to have your son in harm's way, when they don't have someone over there and don't understand. I like to remind myself that if not for my son and all the other men and women in the military, they would not have the privelege of not understanding.....God bless the ones and their families that have given the extreme sacrifice. A very thankful Mom.
3) My husband just wrote me and told me that this would be my last email for he is coming home soon. I am excited yet nervous for the long trip he has ahead of him. He left me in Ft. Hood a year ago, pregant with twins on the way. I am so excited that he is coming home to meet his twin boys. Even though they are eight months old they are going to love him.
4) I received a phone call from my boyfriend tonight (Thursday), YEAH. His unit is safely in Kuwait. He is with E Company 704th DSB from Fort Hood. I know he is in a safer location now but the phone connection was better in Tikrit, how is that for irony!!
5) Bob, my husband (Ft Carson) should be on his way home very shortly. I thought it would be a really nice thought to adopt one of the single soldiers from the unit that is replacing my husband's unit. So I had my husband get the name and address of a single soldier in Samarra. We are going to send care packages to this soldier throughout the following year. I am excited to see my husband soon, we have been apart for most of the past three years. I just want everyone to rememeber that although our guys are on their way home let's not forget that we still have many troops serving in Iraq and they will need our continued support and always our prayers.
6) I received a phone call on the 11th at 10pm, shocked me cause he never calls at night. He sounded very happy and excited. He said he would soon be on his way out of Iraq and home earlier then I expected...He also told me to be prepared for the call to come in that he was coming home..He asked how all of us were doing, and wanted to make sure that I really got the hint he would be home. He is going to try to call once he gets to Kuwait but his last sentence was, "I will see you when I get home, and I love you." Now I'm all excited, just waiting for the phone to ring again with more info on his exact return. Thank you Bob for all your updates, it has been helpful for me to read other stories and know I'm not alone. These updates will be something for our two children to look back on and know what happend while they were young, and how all the soldiers were heroes.
7) just wanted to clarify that the soldier that died on Wednesday, Pfc. Bert. E. Hoyer, was from the 652nd Engineering Company...not the 625th. Very mournfully, he is the 4th fallen soldier from this small army reserve bridge building unit. My fiance is with this unit that are attached to the 4th ID. Prayers go out to Hoyer's friends and family. I guess those who have loved ones in the 652nd thought there was light at the end of the tunnel since our soldiers should be moving out soon...they've been in the theatre since April, activated since last February...then comes this crushing news. All that is left is to hope, pray, and keep our fingers crossed. And to remember the fallen, and to also remember that even when my soldier gets to come home, someone is taking his place in Iraq. We must all remember to continue to support our troops!
8) This past year has been long and full of adventure, sleepless nights, and worry, but it will soon be over with. My fiance called to tell me that he would be leaving shortly for home. When he gets here we will be waiting and for the first time he will get to hold his 3 month old daughter. When she was born he was unable to come home for leave and has only seen pictures and listened to her on the phone and it has been really hard for him. Even though she won't remember this, it will be quite a story to tell her when she gets older, that her daddy was fighting for freedom when she was born. This is the day we have been waiting for since he left, even though my hopes and prayers will be with the soldier's that have not returned. A piece of my heart that left a year ago will finally return home to me.
9) I have been in contact with our son almost daily for the last month through email and IMing. He is B Co 4th Engineers 1/8th TF, 3BCT from Ft. Carson. He is still in Balad, but hopeful that they will soon be rolling south, he has already said goodbye to several of his fellow soldiers who left the country and are somewhere on their way home. He is doing well but knows he will be pulling extra detail in Kuwait. I would
like to "ditto" the father who says this has been the toughest year of his life. It is very difficult to always present yourself positively to people when no matter how hard you try you cannot concentrate on anything because your mind is thinking only of your child. I am extremely proud to have been a part of this extraordinary time in our
history, this is my first military experience and it has taught me a lot. I have always supported our armed forces but never realized the sacrifices that the spouses and children of our soldiers must make on a daily basis, they truly are the ones who give the strength to their soldiers. Thank you "everyone" for sharing the small parts of your lives with us so that we could make it through another day. All my thoughts
and prayers to all in need. Steadfast and Loyal 4ID.
10) My daughter is attached to the 4ID out of Ft. Hood and has been in Iraq since the end of March, 03. Unless something has changed , she should be on her way down from Tikrit to Kuwait as I am sitting here! While I am thrilled that she will soon be back in the States and coming "home" (Kentucky), it is also a bittersweet time for me. My other daughter has just arrived in Kuwait. She is with the 1st Cav. ... Maybe they will have an opportunity to get up with each other before they leave Kuwait! We are all hoping that can happen. They have never been separated this long from each other's company, as they both graduated from West Point (2001 and 2002) and are both stationed at Ft. Hood. But, I have much to be thankful for and am grateful for all the help you have given every morning when I wake up.
11) We received an email from our son yesterday, after 2 long months of no word from him. He is with C/2-8 IN (M) and is on his way home. He moved from a previous, remote location to a place where they have better communication equipment. He and 8 others were all that was left from his platoon, waiting for their convoy chalks. The rest have already moved toward home. He is one of the lucky ones that will not have to go to Kuwait. He will get a direct flight (sort of) home from Iraq, and will arrive soon. He told us not to meet him, but he will call us when he arrives at Ft. Hood. We can't wait to hear his voice! Thanks so much for the support you and all of those writing in gave us during this time. It was the only connection we had to families experiencing the same things we were.
12) He's home! My son called me yesterday from Chicago and said his flight would land at Fort Hood about 3 PM. I only had a few more hours to worry........I was not going to be satisfied until he was there. When he called later from his home, with his name coming up on our caller ID, that was the moment that changed my life back to normal. I know he's back, I know he's safe. This morning, for the first time in a year, I woke up without that cold hand of fear gripping my heart.... If he didn't have a wife and children anxiously waiting for him in Texas, I would have been there when his plane landed. I realize he needs this time with them more than with "mom", so I was completely satisfied just knowing he's home.... Like all other mothers, I had tons of phone calls to make, letting family & friends know that he's back. With mixed emotions (how can a person be so completely happy, yet so horribly sad at the same time), I called my sister-in-law, whose son is never coming home from this war. She cried, I cried. She said this was all she's been waiting for, now maybe she can put his memory to rest.
13) I opened your newsletter tonight and when I saw 19 days and a wake-up I started thinking....what do we do when we get to 1 day and a wake-up? lol I can't wait! Also the advice from the spouse of a soldier to not get yourself worked up was well taken here. I could almost see myself doing what she was doing, (for my son). I think I will probably spend more time finishing the photo albums, etc, rather than try to get the bathroom painted. We are anxious and excited and waiting for that phone call and happy that soon it will finally be our turn to say Welcome Home.
14) Our son has made it to Kuwait safely and our other boy will be following shortly. Such a relief to have at least one of them out of the combat zone. To all those with soldiers deploying to Iraq, it will seem like forever but it will be over one day. Just hang in there one day at a time, or even one minute at a time, and you'll get through it. With lots of prayers and Kleenex, but there will be an end to it. Keep the faith, everybody!
15) Bob--our son (E/1-10 CAV) called just as I was heading out the door for work Thursday morning. He was in Kuwait!!! What a relief it was to hear his voice and to know that he is relatively safe. He said he was bored. Guess after all the Adrenalin surges of being "on" for a year it must be a let down to just sit around. Think he likes the action. Anyway, he has no idea of when he will be heading to Ft. Hood but it does this mother good to know that he is no longer flying Kiowas in Iraq! And his younger brother returned home the last of February so now they will both be in the USA again. It's been a very long year and when it started we all wondered how we would make it 6 months. Just shows you how prayer, family, friends, and support systems can carry one in times of deep anxiety, fear, and reality. May God be with those families who will not have the opportunity to welcome their loved ones home--those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. We are eternally grateful for their service to our country.
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