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Battle Stress

Headline: The other battle: coming home
Byline: Ann Scott Tyson Special correspondent of The Christian Science
Date: 07/09/2003

(FORT STEWART, GA.)On his first weekend home from Iraq, Sgt. 1st Class Michael Gilmartin
was driving down a sunny highway in Kissimee, Fla., when something
suddenly felt very wrong.

In a panic, Sergeant Gilmartin stepped on the brakes of his black Dodge
Dakota pickup, jumped out in the middle of the six-lane road and
started searching around the truck. Then it registered: He was looking
for his M-16 rifle.

"I had basically an anxiety attack," Gilmartin recalled. "I was missing
something and needed to do something." A policeman who had served in
Vietnam approached Gilmartin and took him to the side of the road to
sit for a while.

Gilmartin, who returned here June 3 with his 3rd Infantry Division
artillery battalion, is among the first American GIs to trickle back
from the war zone. The troubles he recounts - anxiety, sleepless
nights, depression - represent the mental and emotional toll
experienced by many of those who fought in the Iraq war.

More soldiers have been exposed to more violence in Iraq than during
the 1991 Gulf War. "The intensity and duration of ground combat" in the
latest war may produce more psychological problems, says Charles Engel,
director of the Defense Department's Deployment Health Clinical Center.

Indeed, the trauma from combat, combined with the stresses of long
family separations, often make homecoming the most unexpectedly
difficult phase of a deployment. "It's not easy to return from a place
where you are surrounded by the obscenities of violence," says retired
Army Col. Harry Holloway, a professor of psychiatry at the Uniformed
Services University. He warns against idealizing homecoming, comparing
it instead to the trials of the Greek warrior Odysseus voyaging back
from the Trojan War: "Things go wrong."

To be sure, the majority of returning troops are expected to reconnect
successfully with their families and home communities.

Moreover, the ones who face serious challenges will have more support
than ever.

The Army is mounting its most aggressive, head-on effort yet to deal
with potential reentry problems. All returning soldiers are undergoing
mandatory, face-to-face screenings with doctors and psychologists. A
"cooling off" period is required to help troops decompress. Counseling
and newly created hotlines are also available to soldiers and couples.
Early intervention, officials hope, will lessen the amount and severity
of post traumatic stress, depression, and substance abuse, as well as
domestic violence and marital breakdowns.

Such measures are increasingly vital, given that today's military is
being called on to do more with fewer people. The active duty Army has
shrunk by nearly 40 percent since 1980, while missions overseas have
burgeoned. Nearly 370,000 troops, or 35 percent of the Army's active
duty, guard, and reserve forces are currently deployed in 120 countries
around the world, according to Army figures. The upshot is more
frequent separations from families that are hard on soldiers and their
marriages.

While some troops may suffer severe problems, the need to decompress is
virtually universal, says Lt. Col. Glen Tomkins as he screens returning
troops from Gilmartin's 1st Battalion, 39th Field Artillery Regiment in
a clinic at Fort Stewart. "Just being able to get in a car and drive
around - things like that are a huge readjustment," says Colonel
Tomkins. He says his priority in examining troops like Gilmartin is
simple - "to make sure that this [soldier] isn't someone who I can't
let leave this building today."

The trials of transition

The skating show at Wild Adventures amusement park in Valdosta, Ga.,
was supposed to be a special homecoming treat for his kids. But for
Capt. Bryan Batson, it conjured such vivid images of men from his
battalion killed in Iraq that he broke down in tears.

"It was surreal," says the rural Texan, recalling his reaction to the
handsome skaters, who wore green camouflage leotards and waved American
flags as they glided over the ice to strident, ultrapatriotic music.
Then he heard the lyrics, "My Daddy served in the Army, where he lost
his right eye...."

Instantly, Captain Batson thought of his comrade, 2nd Lt. Jeffrey
Kaylor. Lieutenant Kaylor was blowing up a cache of enemy air-defense
munitions southwest of Baghdad on April 7 when a single piece of
shrapnel struck him just under the right eye, killing him. "It was the
only wound on his body," Batson says.

Feelings of guilt, anger, and frustration nag Batson these days as he
attempts to settle back into life at Fort Stewart. Awaiting screening
at a base clinic, he speaks repeatedly of his inability to save
mortally wounded fellow soldiers.

Just after midnight on April 3, Batson was sorting out pork-free MREs
for Iraqi war prisoners when the ground shook with a tremendous "boom."

"We knew it was way too loud to be enemy artillery," he said. A US
pilot had apparently dropped a 500-lb. bomb less than 500 yards from
his unit's position north of the city of Karbala, demolishing a Humvee
and two other vehicles. Batson rushed to aid the wounded, carrying one
soldier away on a litter.

That soldier and two others didn't survive, a tragic loss he still
thinks about.

"I've trained all my adult life to close with and destroy the enemy,
and here were my guys, and my skills could do nothing for them," Batson
says softly. "I felt so helpless."

It's too early to tell how many of the tens of thousands of US ground
troops like Batson who were exposed to war's horrors in Iraq will carry
mental burdens from the experience. Already, at Fort Stewart, returning
soldiers are getting help for a range of symptoms.

"The referrals have been for mental-health issues, depression, anxiety,
sleep disturbance, that kind of thing," says Rose Mullice, assistant
chief of social work service at the base hospital.

Younger soldiers, those engaged in frontline combat, as well as medics
and mortuary affairs personnel are more vulnerable to post traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD), experts say. Affected troops can relive events
involuntarily, feel detached from their surroundings, or be overly
anxious. Apart from classic combat stress, time in a war zone increases
troops' risk of other problems, from aggression and substance abuse to
shutting down socially.

"War is a terrible breach of innocence," says Brett Litz, associate
director of the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
under the Department of Veterans Affairs. "It's about belief, it's
about morality, it's about right and wrong. For some, it can be
maturing. For others, it has a scarring influence - on how you feel
about your future, your world, your relations with people."

At Fort Stewart, soldiers like those from the 1-39 Artillery Battalion,
which fired missiles and rockets that killed hundreds of Iraqis, are
wrestling with whether they should keep silent about their actions - in
effect isolating themselves - or take the risk of confiding in people
outside their unit.

"Soldiers have come up to me and said: 'I'm worried what my family will
think of me when they find out what happened over there,' " says Susan
Wilder, deployment manager for the fort's Army Community Service. She
advises spouses not to probe soldiers for information, but simply to
listen.

"In war, you are crossing a line you never expected to cross," says Lt.
Col. Spencer Campbell, an expert on combat stress at Fort Bragg, N.C.,
who was wounded as a marine in Vietnam. "So you question, If my wife
knew what I was capable of, would she show affection for me? And having
done what I have done, how do I nurture my children?"

In essence, troops must grapple with the way their role in missions of
death has changed their very identities.

"Grunts are required to kill," Colonel Campbell says. "But in walking
with death, there [still] has to be meaning in life."

Cooling off, and soldiering on

Lt. Col. Gary Mauck, an Army chaplain, looks out a window at the
moss-draped trees of this Georgia garrison and describes "as if it were
yesterday" his March 17, 1969 return from the jungles of Vietnam.

"I got on the jet and in 24 hours I was at Fort Dix, and in another 24
hours I was on the plane home. There was no debriefing and no
decompression," he says with a note of bitterness. Once back in rural
Danville, Ill., the 25-year-old Mauck was at loose ends. "Home wasn't
home anymore, because no one understood."

It wasn't until decades later, during a 1991 parade for Desert Storm
veterans, that Mauck discovered what he had missed. "I marched as a
National Guardsman, and up front they had a bunch of Vietnam vets. I
realized that's what I should have had, a parade. I didn't. Nobody
cared."

Vietnam veterans like Colonels Mauck and Campbell are powerful
advocates for ensuring a better homecoming for US troops in Iraq. Above
all, they want to prevent the sense of isolation and alienation that
they believe contributed to the high rate (50 percent) of full or
partial PTSD reported by veterans from Vietnam.

"The worst thing that can happen is people come back and feel like the
Lone Ranger," says Mauck.

Since the 1970s, the understanding and treatment of postwar trauma have
improved dramatically. Meanwhile, the creation in 1973 of an
all-volunteer military has led to more professional, better-trained and
educated, and cohesive units. All these factors point to "greater
resilience, even in the face of grotesque trauma," says Dr. Litz.

After the brief 1991 Gulf War, surveys of veterans showed an increase
in trauma, depression, and substance abuse compared with those who did
not deploy - but the overall rates were far lower than those among
Vietnam veterans. Estimates of PTSD among Gulf War veterans range from
1 to 8 percent.

Today, a new mandatory, Army-wide program aims to identify at-risk
soldiers early and intervene quickly to lessen war-zone stress. It
involves social workers, mental-health experts, doctors, and chaplains
reaching out to troops and their families at each stage of deployment.
The policy is driven by a stark reality: With today's rapid-fire
deployments, easing stress on soldiers and families is crucial to
retention.

While still in the theater, commanders use a new "Tip Card" to identify
soldiers at risk. The card poses 14 wide-ranging questions on soldiers'
alcohol use, unruly behavior, or conflicts with the chain of command
during deployment, suicidal thoughts, anger, domestic violence or
troubled relationships, financial difficulties, and combat experiences.
Any checked item requires counseling by leaders, the chaplain, or
health professionals.

During a "cooling off" period overseas, soldiers turn in equipment and
may enjoy some R and R. In Kuwait, for example, troops from 1-39 Field
Artillery rotated through a morale, welfare and recreation center known
as the "marble palace" - complete with a pool, tennis courts, and
miniature golf.

Once back home, soldiers remain on duty at the base for two to three
weeks - partly as a "safety mechanism" as they adjust to a less
regimented environment. During this time, they undergo physical and
mental-health checks and attend "couples reintegration classes." Then,
after two weeks of block leave, they return to work for more
mental-health evaluations and stress-management classes.

Staff Sgt. John Dragoo is mostly mum about his wartime experiences as
he files through a clinic signing papers and seeing health workers. A
doctor asks him about his work clearing charred Iraqi vehicles, and
explains possible exposure to depleted uranium. Sergeant Dragoo appears
morose for a reason increasingly common to deployed soldiers: His wife,
Sgt. 1st Class Andrea Dragoo, is still in the war zone.

"I won't really be able to enjoy things until she's home," he says,
sunburned from a weekend building a deck to "keep busy."

Like the Dragoos, the growing number of dual-military couples - now
more than 5 percent of the armed services - face distinct problems and
advantages in deployments. Separations can be even longer, and
providing for children, such as the Dragoos' 7-year-old daughter,
Amanda, is challenging with both parents overseas. Still, shared
experiences help the couples relate to one another. "It's always easier
being married to a military spouse, because they understand what you
have to do," Dragoo says.

Teams of social workers will revisit Dragoo and other returning
soldiers after six weeks, 10 weeks, and four months. "We ask soldiers
to go to war. Then we ask them to come back and push a button and be
loving husbands and fathers again. It doesn't work that way," says Ms.
Wilder. One reason for the aggressive counseling is concern that
soldiers will avoid bringing up problems for fear of jeopardizing their
careers in today's more professional and competitive Army.

"All of these [problems] have enormous stigma associated with them,"
says Dr. Engel of the deployment health center. "Some folks feel
terribly threatened by going through these evaluations. They feel it's
a tremendous invasion of their privacy, with implications for their
future in the military."

At Fort Stewart, some soldiers decline counseling, while others, such
as Sergeant Gilmartin, welcome it. "It's all right to feel depressed or
anxious or unable to sleep," he says. Gilmartin has already sought help
from an Army chaplain, and encourages his soldiers to do the same.

Many are. Chaplain Mauck says that often the soldiers who come to him
have undergone a spiritual awakening in the war zone, strengthening
their inner resources for dealing with problems.

"They've asked the tough questions," he says. "And not surprisingly,
they have the answers."

High heels, high hopes, and high stakes

It was after midnight on June 3. In a heavy cloudburst, a formation of
3rd Infantry Division artillerymen marched from the parade stand across
Fort Stewart's soggy Cotrell Field belting out the division's
"Dog-faced soldier" song played by an Army band.

As the soldiers drew near the hundreds of cheering families clustered
on one side of the field, children began leaping up and down. Wives,
some wearing prom dresses and stiletto heels, screamed and dashed into
the muddy downpour. Seconds later, the troops and loved ones converged
in a drenched mass of hugs, squeals, and tears.

For young troops and their wives, separated by war for the first time,
the homecoming was a moment of pure fantasy and overbrimming
expectations. Yet beyond the lipstick banners and yellow ribbons, the
parades and high-heeled embraces, couples must often struggle to
reconnect and rebuild their lives together after long, hard
separations. For many, a return to normalcy proves elusive.

Army reservist Staff Sgt. Christian Hofeller finally set eyes on his
wife last month after more than a year in Afghanistan and Iraq. But the
brief reunion in Boston ended painfully, in separation. Married in July
2000, Sergeant Hofeller has been deployed virtually nonstop since Sept.
11, 2001, when he was called into action in New York the day the twin
towers fell. "This is the hardest and the worst part of everything,
when it's time to come back," he says in a phone call from Brooklyn,
N.Y., where he is now living with his mother and aunt. "I pictured it
like the movies: They are at the airport with their arms wide and
smiles - and she was. But in the movies they don't tell you what it's
like after that, with the doors closed."

Hofeller had rushed through his redeployment screening at Fort Benning,
Ga., declining to talk with a chaplain or counselor in order to return
more quickly to his wife. But he remains focused in significant ways on
the war zone he left behind. He says he's still on edge, looking up
every time he hears an aircraft. And he is haunted by images of the
dead and wounded from his days in a special task force. "You see the
faces before you go to bed, but you learn to say goodnight," he says.
Now, he prays for a second chance to revive his marriage.

Hofeller's case, though extreme, underscores the challenges faced by
many. Family separation is now the third most important reason - after
pay and benefits - that soldiers consider leaving the Army, says Bruce
Bell of the US Army Research Institute.

Indeed, couples at Fort Stewart say that after a short "honeymoon," the
struggle to readjust begins.

"There's that euphoria and 'I love you - you're safe.' But that stops
pretty quick, and those dishes left on the table after three days start
annoying you," says Laura Batson, who as the wife of Captain Batson, a
battery commander, helps counsel other spouses.

Many men come home exhausted, thinner, hungry, and unable to sleep
normal hours, Army officials say. Women are also tired, and sometimes
bitter about being left alone for months. Add to this unrealistic
expectations about sex, and arguments are almost inevitable, experts
say. "I talk about flight to fight time," says Lt. Col. Jeffrey
Kingsbury, a medical expert who briefs returning Army soldiers. "From
the moment I get off the plane, how long will it be before we have our
first fight."

When Laura Batson's phone rings these days, she says it's often because
reunited couples are in conflict. "Most of the calls right now we're
getting are: "I don't understand. We are fighting constantly. He
doesn't like how I cut my hair.' It's not the hair. It's the fact that
she's changed."

Sitting in her Hinesville living room, Laura explains that just as the
war zone affected her husband, the battlefield at home changed her. "As
a wife, you are doing your own little private war here. You are not
facing Iraqi soldiers and grenades and artillery. But you are facing
rumors, fears, self-esteem issues, finances, and children," she says.

Laura, a teacher, tried to shelter her children, telling 7-year-old
William and 3-year-old Megan that Batson was in Kuwait. But when
William came home one day asking "Is Daddy at war?" she had no good
answer. She limited herself to 10 minutes of television coverage each
morning or night, when the children were in bed. "You will lose your
mind if you don't limit your intake of news," she says.

And while Batson had the companionship of his men, Laura, too, created
her own "family" with close friends Valerie and Kelly. Several times a
week, they had potluck dinners together. They bathed their six children
and read them bedtime stories together. Once, they also kicked up their
heels together. In an evening of escape, Laura and a group of female
spouses watched the Lady Chablis drag show at downtown Savannah's Club
One - an establishment off-limits to their active-duty husbands.

The growing independence of spouses, most of whom are women, can give
rise to tensions when husbands return. He's used to giving orders.
She's been coping alone for months and knows she can make it on her
own. Under such circumstances, arguments can escalate into domestic
violence. Soldiers and spouses meeting with Chaplain Mauck have
acknowledged problems with domestic violence as well as concerns it
might happen, he says.

Divorce is also more likely after a deployment, especially if the
relationship was already troubled. "Dear John" situations are common,
says Mauck, where the wife will find someone else, initiate divorce,
and grant custody of the children to her husband. Indeed, the
percentage of single parents in the military has risen 60 percent since
1990, with most of them men."

"Some of these guys have been gone more than they've been home. What
surprises me is that marital breakups don't happen more," Mauck says.

More widespread than divorce or domestic abuse, Laura says, is a
feeling of bitterness among wives over their husbands' prolonged
absence. "The unfairness of life bubbles up, and the husbands come
home, and the woman says - OK, I'm gone," she says. "They go to have
time for themselves, to the mall, to the movies, and meanwhile the kids
are climbing all over Dad and sucking the oxygen out of him."

To overcome such problems, couples must often "renegotiate" their
entire relationship. Those with sound marriages, such as the Batsons,
are better able to do this. "In the past, I probably didn't do my fair
share around the house," Bryan Batson admits, saying he is willing to
wash more dishes. Laura, also, says she must remember to let Bryan make
decisions regarding the children again, after she's played the role of
mother and father for so long.

Meanwhile, both realize it will only be a matter of time before he
deploys again. "This has to be a calling," says Laura. "I have to make
peace with that, and sacrifice."

A kind of rebirth

Sgt. Maj. Robert Howell shakes his commander's hand, salutes, and steps
off a stone platform following his promotion ceremony. Dew glistens on
the parade field, and the June air feels steamy in the mid-morning sun.
He smiles and embraces his wife, Monique, and their two sons.

It is a proud yet bittersweet moment for Sergeant Major Howell, who
returned from Iraq in early June.

Surrounding him is the "rock garden" of boulder-like monuments to
fallen 3rd Infantry Division soldiers from the last century's major
wars. Soon, Howell knows, another stone will be placed here to honor
men, his comrades among them, who died in Iraq.

Howell carries his share of "emotional baggage" from the war, Monique
says. The fear, the regret for innocent loss of life, the guilt over
soldiers still facing daily attacks in Iraq. And while he's changed, so
has his family. His boys are taller, and his wife more independent than
ever.

Indeed, like many soldiers, Howell realizes that he'll never truly come
home to life as he left it.

Still, having risked death, he and many others return with a deeper
appreciation for living. Gilmartin enjoys watching sunsets over the
beach. Batson is more grateful for the resourcefulness of his wife.
And, today at least, Howell looks ahead to a future full of potential.

"You take a big, deep breath, knowing you hit the ground," he says.

"You appreciate being an American. You appreciate freedom. It's kind of
like a rebirth."





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Support Our Troops
Posted: July 8, 2003 at 5:30 p.m.

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- For troops overseas in Iraq, some important family moments have been passing them by. But one soldier is making the most of a quick trip home to the Bay Area.

Last week, Posted: July 8, 2003 at 5:30 p.m.

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- For troops overseas in Iraq, some important family moments have been passing them by. But one soldier is making the most of a quick trip home to the Bay Area.

Last week, Lt. Josh Krupa was among the American soldiers patrolling the streets of Baghdad and making quick life and death decisions.

These days, the decisions come slowly and aren't quite so dramatic, although certainly important. He and his fiancée, Cyndi Haggerty are picking out their wedding gifts.

What's it like to leave a war zone and find yourself shopping at Bed Bath and Beyond?

"It's weird," Josh says. "It feels kind of naked without my gun."

"He got a little freaked out, out back, with the fireworks going off outside,� Cyndi says. “He's getting better.�

But shopping at a suburban mall is a chance to drop his guard for a few days. "I know I'm not going to take an RPG aimed at me right now,� Josh says.

First Lt. Krupa is second in command of Bravo Company, 13 battalion, 15th infantry, U.S. Army, serving in Iraq’s capital.

But for now he's just Josh, back home in Concord, California for ten days to get married before heading back to Baghdad.

Fresh salads at sweet tomatoes are a treat after the field rations Josh has been living on. War is scary, but so is planning a wedding with only a few days to do it.

"We just found out he was coming home last Tuesday,� Cyndi says. “He was home by Friday. Our wedding is next Saturday. So, it's been a little crazy."

Josh will see old friends, teach a karate class, go to his bachelor party, and play golf with his dad. But the memories of Baghdad aren't far behind. Just before he left, he says, he dodged a Rocket-Propelled Grenade.

"Saw a flash, heard a boom,� he says. “Said, ‘you gotta be kidding me.’ Had enough time to duck down. Heard and felt the whoosh."

And what has war done to their relationship?

"I think the separation forced us to communicate a little bit more," says Josh.

“I think we're closer now,� Cyndi says. “Not taking anything for granted. Every time I got to talk with him I was floating down the halls of my office, for days
was among the American soldiers patrolling the streets of Baghdad and making quick life and death decisions.

These days, the decisions come slowly and aren't quite so dramatic, although certainly important. He and his fiancée, Cyndi Haggerty are picking out their wedding gifts.

What's it like to leave a war zone and find yourself shopping at Bed Bath and Beyond?

"It's weird," Josh says. "It feels kind of naked without my gun."

"He got a little freaked out, out back, with the fireworks going off outside,� Cyndi says. “He's getting better.�

But shopping at a suburban mall is a chance to drop his guard for a few days. "I know I'm not going to take an RPG aimed at me right now,� Josh says.

First Lt. Krupa is second in command of Bravo Company, 13 battalion, 15th infantry, U.S. Army, serving in Iraq’s capital.

But for now he's just Josh, back home in Concord, California for ten days to get married before heading back to Baghdad.

Fresh salads at sweet tomatoes are a treat after the field rations Josh has been living on. War is scary, but so is planning a wedding with only a few days to do it.

"We just found out he was coming home last Tuesday,� Cyndi says. “He was home by Friday. Our wedding is next Saturday. So, it's been a little crazy."

Josh will see old friends, teach a karate class, go to his bachelor party, and play golf with his dad. But the memories of Baghdad aren't far behind. Just before he left, he says, he dodged a Rocket-Propelled Grenade.

"Saw a flash, heard a boom,� he says. “Said, ‘you gotta be kidding me.’ Had enough time to duck down. Heard and felt the whoosh."

And what has war done to their relationship?

"I think the separation forced us to communicate a little bit more," says Josh.

“I think we're closer now,� Cyndi says. “Not taking anything for granted. Every time I got to talk with him I was floating down the halls of my office, for days

Support Our Troops
NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense

No. 493-03
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jul 08, 2003
(703)697-5131(media)
(703)428-0711(public/industry)

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of three soldiers who were
supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Spc. Chad L. Keith, 21, Batesville, Ind., was killed on July 7 in Baghdad, Iraq.
Keith was on mounted patrol when his vehicle drove past an object that exploded on
the side of the road. Keith was assigned to the 2-325th Infantry, Company D, Fort
Bragg, N.C.

Sgt. David B. Parson, 30, Kannapolis, N.C., was killed on July 6 in Baghdad, Iraq.
Parson was conducting a raid on a house when he was shot and killed. Parson was
assigned to the 1-37th Armored Battalion, 1st Armored Division, Friedburg, Germany.

Spc. Jeffrey M. Wershow, 22, Gainesville, Fla., was killed on July 6 in Baghdad,
Iraq. Wershow was conducting military operations when he was shot and killed.
Wershow was assigned to the 2-124th Infantry, 1st Armored Division, Orlando, Fla.

Support Our Troops
Troops get taste of home
For Fourth, Wyo. man sends steaks to Iraq

By Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News
July 5, 2003

Randy Stevenson got an e-mail Friday morning from an American soldier in Iraq that made his day.

"He said he had steak, and he blamed me for it," joked Stevenson, 49, owner of Double S Livestock, a custom feedlot near Wheatland, Wyo.

"He said the steak was great. They made a barbecue out of a 20-pound barrel and played volleyball."

The e-mail was the first indication that Stevenson's goal of getting steak to U.S. forces in Iraq for the Fourth of July was realized.

"I see on Fox News on their Web site that one of the units that was attacked, that they were going ahead with their steak barbecue," he said. "Whether it's our project or a parallel project I cannot tell."

There's apparently a lot of secrecy surrounding steaks donated to the military.

"I can tell you that they (the military) don't want the world to know until after the fact."

The project started in March, when Stevenson, whose custom lot can feed 6,000 head of cattle, decided to show his support for the troops.

"The idea of me and my wife was to buy them a steak," he said.

The goal was to collect at least $50,000 - enough to buy steak for 6,000 to 10,000 soldiers so he set up a Web site: www.steakonthefourth.com

On Friday a soldier with a 171-member artillery unit assigned to Baghdad International Airport e-mailed to thank him for the steak. It wasn't the first time Stevenson had heard from him. When the soldier learned about the project earlier this year, he contacted Stevenson because, "he wanted to donate (money), and I told him, that this was for him."

Stevenson heard news reports about several steak barbecues Friday and took that as a sign that his plan was a success.

"From talking to old soldiers and Marines, they don't traditionally have steak on the Fourth of July," he said. "They usually have hot dogs."





fongt@RockyMountainNews.com or (303)892-5489

Support Our Troops
======original message============
From: Carolyn
Subject: [SC serviceman requesting our help]

Hello Everybody.
Celeste is a personal friend of mine here in Columbia. Please take time to read this entire message. So unfortunate!! If you have ANY connections with those in position to correct this
situation, I ask that you do so. It's hard to believe that this situation exists. Feel free to pass this on to those in your address book as I am doing. Many thanks.

Carolyn

-------- Original Message --------
Hello.
I am sending this personal E-mail at the request of my coworker, Brian Rivers. Some of you may work with Brian and others of you are hearing his name for the first time. Brian's son is stationed in Iraq and sent the following plea for help to his dad this weekend. Brian shared Matt's E-mail with the rest of our office this morning. Some of you may remember that Matt was an intern in our division before he graduated. For the rest of
you, Matt is a SC native. Matt attended Batesburg Leesville High School, graduated from Clemson University in 2002 and attends Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Lexington.

Please read then follow below:

Good Morning:
If you do not care about the troops in Iraq you can delete this message.
However, if you do care I want to ask for your help for at least some of the troops. I received the following e-mail from my son Matt yesterday.
dad, do me a favor. get as many people as you can to write the governor and senators from SC and let them know that we are not getting enough water. I'm not kidding, I'm down to one bottle a
day, it was 130F on 4th of July here. the soldiers who live at the palace where the general lives are getting 2 bottles a day.

this is not fair. this would really help the soldiers if the politicians would get involved and help us get more water. please email this to people. please do this for us.

love,
matt

Please help Matt and the troops in Iraq. Do what you can. I thank you in advance for Matt and the troops.

Brian

Those of us located in the Farrow Road office are taking donations of water and money and will send whatever has been collected on Friday (7/11/03). We are trying to contact as many companies as we can think of to see if anyone is willing to donate and/or ship a large quantity of water. Some of you are in positions to make things happen.

Or, if you have a connection to someone or some company and feel you can make things happen, PLEASE use your influence to help Matt Rivers and the troops.

Feel free to E-mail me at

ducketcw@dhec.sc.gov

or to E-mail Matt's father, Brian at

riversbd@dhec.sc.gov

Brian's work phone number is (803) 896-4207. Please call him if you need more info to help Matt and the other troops.

Matt's address is below:


2LT Rivers Matthews
HHD 704th DSB
unit # 92662
APO AE 09323-2662

Thanks for your help and for following through on this. Brian, Matt and the rest of their family are super nice people and we keep them in our prayers daily.
Celeste

Body of Ex-Iraqi Envoy Returns to Iraq: "The body of former Iraqi ambassador Nizar Hamdoon, a key international spokesman for Saddam Hussein in the 1980s and 1990s, will be returned to Iraq for burial, Arab diplomats said Monday. (AP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



Sudanese plane crashes killing 116: "A Sudanese airliner crashed early Tuesday shortly after taking off from Port Sudan airport, killing 105 passenger and 11 crew. Only a child survived, Sudan News Agency reported."

In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq



Bush Claim on Iraq Had Flawed Origin, White House Says: "The president relied on incomplete and perhaps inaccurate information when he said Iraq had tried to buy uranium from Africa."

In New York Times: World Special



Banking Overhaul, and New Currency, Planned for Iraq: "The actions were designed to eliminate an unsteady currency and remove the central bank from its longstanding subservience to political leaders."

In New York Times: World Special



Kowtowing to US on Iraq: At what cost? in IraqWar.ru (English)

Support Our Troops


Soldiers recall Australian's death on a routine patrol
July 9 2003





Jeremy Little . . . took advantage of the army's willingness to provide media access.

Jeremy Little's hosts were surprised when he died, Herald Correspondent Ed O'Loughlin writes from Falluja.


The battalion had lost only one man in the war in Iraq, and he was not a member.

As news of the death of Australian television soundman Jeremy Little, 27, filtered through the first battalion of the US Army's ninth field artillery regiment on Monday, reactions varied from surprise to dismay.

Sergeant Andre Legrant, who drove the lead vehicle in the June 29 patrol on which Little was fatally injured, was initially incredulous. "I didn't think he would die," he said. "When I heard he was dead I thought they got the wrong guy, they was talking about someone else."

Little, a native of Sydney, died in a German hospital on Sunday of complications from injuries suffered when a grenade struck the Humvee vehicle in which he was travelling in central Iraq.

A soundman working for the US network NBC, Little was one of a stream of journalists who took advantage of the US Army's readiness to provide media access to units in the field.


On the morning of the attack he was with the 3rd Infantry Division's 1/9 Field Artillery on a routine patrol of the Baghdad highway just east of Falluja, scene of many bloody clashes between local Sunni Arabs and US troops.

His cameraman, Marcus O'Brien, also an Australian, was riding ahead in another vehicle. Little was in a three-seat Avenger, an unarmoured Humvee with guns and missiles for air defence. "We left here on a regular patrol . . . We told the reporters that just there they used to have a sign that used to say death to the USA, but now it's painted over," said Sergeant Legrant, who was driving the vehicle O'Brien was travelling in.

"We continued to come back down and we got another click and we got hit. The reporter with me was just asking when we last had any major action on that road and just then we got hit."

Little's vehicle was struck on the right passenger side by a rocket-propelled grenade, fired from behind a four-metre-high bank of reeds in a drainage ditch 100 metres from the highway.

"I heard the impact and saw the fire and heard him shout and then he fell out of the vehicle," said Staff Sergeant Loney Lee, who was driving.

"We were just talking about the usual stuff, where you from, joking, that sort of thing. We was talking about how hot it was and when I told him my gunner had aircon in his turret he was saying we should get a hose from the turret and pass it back inside."

Witnesses said shrapnel hit Little in the buttocks and backs of his legs but otherwise he did not appear to be seriously injured and did not lose consciousness.

"He was lying on the road and his partner came over to talk to him and he was saying are you going to be all right, are you going to make it, and he said yes, I'll be all right," said Sergeant Legrant.

"He said, I'm going to be OK but I'm thirsty. Can you get me some water, so I got him some water . . . The doctor didn't think [the shrapnel] had hit any major nerves."

On Monday, another patrol went to burn the reed bed.

"We are burning this stuff down so they can't hide in there next time, and it also sends a very important message to the people here, that we will do whatever it takes to protect our people," said First Lieutenant Herb Leggette, commanding the patrol. "Most of what we are doing now is force protection, making sure that our people do not get hurt.

"We want to fight the enemy on our terms, not his. If he wants to fight us here, we will change this area to suit ourselves."

A military tanker worked along the 300 metre-long ditch, pumping hundreds of litres of diesel onto the reeds.

A crowd of silent men and excited children emerged from huts to watch the flames. Conversation did not get far - like many US units, the 1/9 does not have Arabic-speaking interpreters accompanying all its patrols.

"Most of these people are friendly, and most of them can come up and talk to us," said Lieutenant Leggette.

"At least, they're friendly to us in the daytime."

Support Our Troops
Urban Combat Frustrates Army
Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Molly Moore

When you're in the middle of a city, it's impossible to tell friend from foe," said Sgt. Lawrence Adams of the 1st Armored Division, whose field artillery unit has been attacked seven times since it arrived in Baghdad in early May to patrol a two-square-mile sector along the Tigris River. The incidents included mortar fire from a nearby neighborhood, a drive-by shooting, a rocket-propelled grenade launched from a bus stop and hand grenades tossed at soldiers' Humvees as they drove through a congested market.

The daily volley of attacks that use the urban landscape for concealment and flight have frustrated and frightened U.S. forces in Baghdad, many of whom have to drive through the city in open-sided Humvees, stand in front of government buildings and walk through public places every day. On a mission to restore public order and rebuild a war-scarred nation, soldiers regard themselves as particularly vulnerable to resistance fighters who take advantage of the fact that not all U.S. troops are hunkered down in sandbagged bases or driven around in armored vehicles.

"If we have to be peacekeepers here, we're going to be exposed to all kinds of attacks," said a military police officer. "Sure, we have our flak jackets and our helmets -- and we're always on the lookout for suspicious activity. But the depressing thing is that there's not a whole lot we really can do about those guys who are determined to try to kill us."

U.S. military commanders had hoped to avoid urban combat in the earliest days of the war and relied on airstrikes and a strategy of drawing the Iraqi army outside this sprawling city of 5 million people. But since Hussein's government collapsed and the war was declared over, unpredictable guerrilla-style attacks against U.S. troops have escalated.

The death of Pfc. Edward J. Herrgott of Shakopee, Minn., illustrates the everyday dangers confronting U.S. troops. On Thursday evening, Herrgott was manning the gunner's hatch of an M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle parked in front of the entrance to the Baghdad Museum, facing an eight-story building that has stores on the first two floors and an abandoned parking lot on the upper floors. Around 8:30 p.m., as the sun was setting but there was still enough light to spot a target, a sniper fired three rounds at the Bradley, killing Herrgott, said Habib Saleh, a guard at the shopping center who witnessed the shooting.

"They should be somewhere else," Saleh said of the soldiers at the museum, which houses unremarkable wax figures in displays that depict life in Baghdad a century ago. "It's not safe where they are."

The day after the shooting, members of Herrgott's unit stood behind the Bradley, nervously scanning the parking lot every few minutes. When a visitor approached on the sidewalk, they refused to talk, saying that walking toward a nearby razor-wire barricade would put them at risk.

But one of the soldiers, who would not provide his name, shouted that the troops in front of the museum had been shot at before. "This happens all the time," he growled.

Although no soldiers from Adams's unit -- Alpha Battery of the 4-27th Field Artillery -- have been killed, none of the unit's attackers has been apprehended either. "If we've got somebody firing at us from a bus stop across the street, you can't automatically open fire on them," said Adams, 46, of Kansas City, Mo. "And you don't always want to chase them in a Humvee."

On Sunday night, a U.S. soldier was killed in Baghdad's Adhamiyah neighborhood after he and other soldiers pursued two gunmen who had ambushed a patrol, military officials here said. A few hours later, insurgents threw a homemade bomb at a U.S. convoy in northern Baghdad, killing another soldier, the officials said.

Those two fatalities brought to 30 the number of U.S. military personnel killed by hostile action since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1. U.S. officials blame the attacks on fighters still loyal to Hussein, Islamic extremists and others disgruntled with the occupation of their country.

The attackers have become bolder, often striking in broad daylight. At the same time, they have become more selective in their targeting. Instead of attacking large, armed convoys, they now plant homemade bombs along streets where foot soldiers frequently patrol, attack convoys of light vehicles and catch victims off-guard with random, point-blank shootings in public places.

"We're hit more now that the war is pretty much over," said Spec. Justin Keeney, 22, of Oregon City, Ore., who drives a heavy equipment truck between Baghdad and military encampments northwest of the city. "When we haul tanks or artillery, they don't mess with us. If we have engineering equipment, we get lit up. It's almost guaranteed."

Pfc. Kyle Clark, 20, of Kent, Wash., a gunner on a military police Humvee who patrols Baghdad, said his unit was "shot at two times in the last two days." In one instance, a sniper fired from a school. Soldiers returned fire, then cordoned off the area around the school, but the assailant leaped over a wall and escaped, Clark said.

"Two or three weeks ago, we used to be hit only at night," said Spec. Heath Montensen, 28, a driver with the 11th Transportation Company who travels throughout the area northwest of Baghdad. "Now we get hit during the day."

Such urban combat not only poses an immediate threat to soldiers' lives, it has the potential to stir resentment toward occupation forces at a time when the U.S. government is attempting to focus attention on its efforts to rebuild Iraq. The deaths of innocent civilians trapped in crossfire or explosions have inflamed emotions among Iraqis who question the ability of the troops to bring stability to the country and have undermined support among those who have chosen to work with the occupiers.

When a bomb exploded in the median strip of busy Haifa Street on Thursday, killing two Iraqis and injuring 12, angry residents held U.S. troops responsible for all the deaths and injuries, even those caused by the Iraqi-laid bomb rather than the spray of bullets that American troops fired in response.

"I blame the Americans," said Ahmed Midhat, 12, whose legs were shredded by flying shards of metal from the explosive device. "You know why? The Americans started to shoot randomly."

Many soldiers say they are not surprised by the increasing attacks or the displays of anger among Iraqis.

"They're getting tired of us," said Spec. James McNeely, 48, a member of the D.C. National Guard's 547th Transportation Company. "Wouldn't you be mad if they invaded your country?"

McNeely said his unit has had little chance to interact with Iraqis or play a part in the nation-building operations that Washington hopes will win the support of Iraqis.

"We're just trying to survive, trying to make our lives a little more pleasant," he said during a stop at a roadside vendor to buy soft drinks for the men on his truck before heading into the military compound at Baghdad's international airport.

For others, the attacks have become not only frightening, but disheartening.

"We get so much resistance, we hear so much about different military people getting killed, it seems like people don't want to be helped," said Spec. Julian Snelling, 21, of Fredericksburg, Va., a member of the 307th Military Police Company. "Many Iraqis love us, but the bad apples alter your thinking."

For more news, or to subscribe to the newspaper, please visit http://www.washingtonpost.com


© Copyright 2003, The Washington Post

Support Our Troops

Posted on Tue, Jul. 08, 2003

Army orders 3rd Brigade's ride home
Families start decorating gym for soldiers' return
BY MICK WALSH
Staff Writer

The 3,700 soldiers of the 3rd Brigade are coming home.

The signs are everywhere.

Fort Benning's public affairs office says the brigade's arrival is imminent.

Family members convened Monday night to decorate the Kelly Hill gymnasium in a "Welcome Home" motif.

Col. Steve Salazar, the brigade's commander, says the "Sledgehammers" will be back as early as this week.

Most importantly, 3rd Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen. Buford Blount said Monday that the 3rd Brigade Combat Team will return to Fort Benning between Friday and July 18.

And yet, some spouses of 3rd Brigade personnel are taking a "we'll believe it when we see it" attitude.

Shannon Secules, whose husband Bill Secules is first sergeant of Alpha Company, 317th Engineer Battalion, says she's excited about the news.

"But, I remain a little bit cautious," she said. "We've been told a couple of times that they were supposed to be coming home and they didn't. I hope it's true, but I don't want to get my hopes up too much."

In a weekend e-mail message to the brigade's Family Readiness Group, Salazar said aircraft have been requested for a redeployment of the entire 3rd Brigade Combat Team between the dates of July 9 and July 13.

"These are the target dates," he wrote, "and don't necessarily reflect when the contract carrier will be able to provide the aircraft. Could happen a day early. Could be a few days later. In any case, we will be home soon."

Public Affairs spokeswoman Monica Manganaro said Monday that no arrival dates or times for the brigade have been set. "But this is good news. The window for their arrival has been set."

Troops will fly into Robins AFB in Warner Robins, Ga., and will be transported on buses to Fort Benning.

"We'll have welcome home ceremonies for each of the units," Manganaro said. "They'll be brief. We don't want to get in the way of a family and their loved one."

The brigade, one of three in the 3rd Infantry Division, left Fort Benning for the Persian Gulf in early January and was heavily involved in fighting on the road to Baghdad in late March and early April. It had also been deployed to Kuwait last year.

Among the units in the brigade are the 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery; the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry; 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry; 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor; 317th Engineer Battalion; 203rd Forward Support Battalion; D Troop, 10th Cavalry; and Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Brigade.

The division's other two brigades, both stationed at Fort Stewart, are expected to return to the United States in August

Support Our Troops
Death By Slow Burn -
How America Nukes Its Own Troops
What 'Support Our Troops' Really Means
By Amy Worthington - The Idaho Observer
How America Nukes Its Own Troops


Ironically, support for our troops will extend well beyond the war in Iraq. Americans will be supporting Gulf War II veterans for years as they slowly and painfully succumb to radiation poisoning. U.S and British troops deployed to the area are the walking dead. Humans and animals, friends and foes in the fallout zone are destined to a long downhill spiral of chronic illness and disability. Kidney dysfunction, lung damage, bloody stools, extreme fatigue, joint pain, unsteady gait, memory loss and rashes and, ultimately, cancer and premature death await those exposed to DU.

Award-winning journalist Will Thomas wrote: "As the last Gulf conflict so savagely demonstrated, GI immune systems reeling from multiple doses of experimental vaccines offer little defense against further exposure to chemical weapons, industrial toxins, stress, caffeine, insect repellent and radiation leftover from the last war. This is a war even the victors will lose."(6)

When a DU shell is fired, it ignites upon impact. Uranium, plus traces of plutonium and americium, vaporize into tiny, ceramic particles of radioactive dust. Once inhaled, uranium oxides lodge in the body and emit radiation indefinitely. A single particle of DU lodged in a lymph node can devastate the entire immune system according to British radiation expert Roger Coghill.(7)

The Royal Society of England published data showing that battlefield soldiers who inhale or swallow high levels of DU can suffer kidney failure within days.(8) Any soldier now in Iraq who has not inhaled lethal radioactive dust is not breathing. In the first two weeks of combat, 700 Tomahawks, at a cost of $1.3 million each, blasted Iraqi real estate into radioactive mushroom clouds.(9) Millions of DU tank rounds liter the terrain. Cleanup is impossible because there is no place on the planet to put so much contaminated debris.

Bush Sr.'s Gulf War I was also a nuclear war. 320 tons of depleted uranium were used against Iraq in 1991.(10) A 1998 report by the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances confirms that inhaling DU causes symptoms identical to those claimed by many sick vets with Gulf War Syndrome.(11) The Gulf War Veterans Association reports that at least 300,000 Gulf War I vets have now developed incapacitating illnesses.(12) To date, 209,000 vets have filed claims for disability benefits based on service-connected injuries and illnesses from combat in that war.(13)

Dr. Asaf Durakovic, a professor of nuclear medicine at Georgetown University, is a former army medical expert. He told nuclear scientists in Paris last year that tens of thousands of sick British and American soldiers are now dying from radiation they encountered during Gulf War I. He found that 62 percent of sick vets tested have uranium isotopes in their organs, bones, brains and urine.(14) Laboratories in Switzerland and Finland corroborated his findings.

In other studies, some sick vets were found to be expressing uranium in even their semen. Their sexual partners often complained of a burning sensation during intercourse, followed by their own debilitating illnesses.(15)

Nothing compares to the astronomical cancer rates and birth defects suffered by the Iraqi people who have endured vicious nuclear chastisement for years.(16) U.S. air attacks against Iraq since 1993 have undoubtedly employed nuclear munitions. Pictures of grotesquely deformed Iraqi infants born since 1991 are overwhelming.(17) Like those born to Gulf War I vets, many babies born to troops now in Iraq will also be afflicted with hideous deformities, neurological damage and/or blood and respiratory disorders.(18)

As an Army health physicist, Dr. Doug Rokke was dispatched to the Middle East to salvage DU-contaminated tanks after Gulf War I. His Geiger counters revealed that the war zones of Iraq and Kuwait were contaminated with up to 300 millirems an hour in beta and gamma radiation plus thousands to millions of counts per minute in alpha radiation. Rokke recently told the media: "The whole area is still trashed. It is hotter than heck over there still. This stuff doesn't go away."(19)

DU remains "hot" for 4.5 billion years. Radiation expert Dr. Helen Caldicott confirms that the dust-laden winds of DU-contaminated war zones "will remain effectively radioactive for the rest of time."(20) The murderous dust storms which ensnared coalition troops during the first few days of the current invasion are sure to have significant health consequences.

Rokke and his cleanup team were issued only flimsy dust masks for their dangerous work. Of the 100 people on Rokke's decontamination team, 30 have already "dropped dead." Rokke himself is ill with radiation damage to lungs and kidneys. He has brain lesions, skin pustules, chronic fatigue, continual wheezing and painful fibromyalgia. Rokke warns that anyone exposed to DU should have adequate respiratory protection and special coveralls to protect their clothing because, he says, you can't get uranium particles off your clothing.

The U.S. military insists that DU on the battlefield is not a problem. Colonel James Naughton of the U.S. Army Material Command recently told the BBC that complaints about DU "had no medical basis."(21) The military's own documents belie this. A 1993 Pentagon document warned that "when soldiers inhale or ingest DU dust they incur a potential increase in cancer risk."(22) A U.S. Army training manual requires anyone who comes within 25 meters of DU-contaminated equipment to wear respiratory and skin protection.(23) The U.S. Army Environmental Policy Institute admitted: "If DU enters the body, it has the potential to generate significant medical consequences."(24) The Institute also stated that, if the troops were to realize what they had been exposed to, "the financial implications of long-term disability payments and healthcare costs would be excessive."(25) For pragmatic reasons, DOD chooses to lie and deny.

Dr. Rokke confirms that the Pentagon lies about DU dangers and is criminally negligent for neglecting medical attention needed by DU-contaminated vets. He predicts that the numbers of American troops to be sickened by DU from Gulf War II will be staggering.(26) As they gradually sicken and suffer a slow burn to their graves, the Pentagon will, as it did after Gulf War I, deny that their misery and death is a result of their tour in Iraq.

Dr. Rokke's candor has cost him his career. Likewise, Dr. Durakovic's radiation studies on Gulf War I vets were not popular with U.S. officials. Dr. Durakovic was reportedly told his life was in danger if he continued his research. He left the U.S. to continue his research abroad.(27)

Naive young coalition soldiers now in Iraq are likely unaware of how deadly their battlefield environment is. Gulf War I troops were kept in ignorance. Soldiers handled DU fragments and some wore these lethal nuggets around their necks. A DU projectile emits more radiation in five hours than allowed in an entire year under civilian radiation exposure standards. "We didn't know any better," Kris Kornkven told Nation magazine. "We didn't find out until long after we were home that there even was such a thing as DU."(28)

George Bush's ongoing war in Afghanistan is also a nuclear war. Shortly after 9-11, the U.S. announced it would stockpile tactical nuclear weapons including small neutron bombs, nuclear mines and shells suited to commando warfare in Afghanistan.(29) In late September, 2001, Bush and Russian president Vladimir Putin agreed that the U.S. would use tactical nuclear weapons in Afghanistan while Putin would employ nuclear weapons against the Chechnyans.(30)

Describing the Pentagon's B-61-11 burrowing nuke bomb, George Smith writes in the Village Voice: "Built ram tough with a heavy metal casing for smashing through the earth and concrete, the B-61 explodes with the force of an estimated 340,000 tons of TNT. It is lots of bang for the buck, literally two apocalypse bombs in one, a boosted plutonium firecracker called the primary and a heavy hydrogen secondary for that good old-fashioned H-bomb fireball."(31)

Drought-stricken Afghanistan's underground water supply is now contaminated by these nuclear weapons.(32) Experts with the Uranium Medical Research Center report that urine samples of Afghanis show the highest level of uranium ever recorded in a civilian population. Afghani soldiers and civilians are reported to have died after suffering intractable vomiting, severe respiratory problems, internal bleeding and other symptoms consistent with radiation poisoning. Dead birds still perched in trees are found partially melted with blood oozing from their mouths.(33)

Afghanistan's new president, Hamid Karzai, is a puppet installed by Washington. Under the protection of American soldiers, Karzai's regime is setting a new record for opium production. Both UN and U.S. reports confirm that the huge Afghani opium harvest of 2002 makes Afghanistan the world's leading opium producer.(34) Thanks to nuclear weapons, Afghanistan is now safe for the Bush-Cheney narcotics industry.(35) ABC News asserts that keeping the "peace" in Afghanistan will require decades of allied occupation.(36) For years to come, "peacekeepers" will be eating, drinking and breathing the "hot" carcinogenic pollution they have helped the Pentagon inflict upon that nation for organized crime.

As governor of Arkansas during the Iran-Contra era, Bill Clinton laundered $multi-millions in cocaine profits for then vice-president George Bush Sr.(37) As a partner in the Bush family's notorious crime machine, President Clinton committed U.S. troops to NATO's campaign in the Balkans, a prime heroin production and trans-shipment area. DOD's campaign to control and reorganize the drug trade there for the Bush mafia was yet another nuclear project.

For years, the U.S. and NATO fired DU missiles, bullets and shells across the Balkans, nuking the peoples of Serbia, Bosnia and Kosovo. As DU munitions were slammed into chemical plants, the environment became hideously toxic, also endangering the peoples of Albania, Macedonia, Greece, Italy, Austria and Hungary. By 1999, UN investigators reported that an estimated 12 tons of DU had caused irreparable damage to the Yugoslavian environment, with agriculture, livestock and air water, and public health all profoundly damaged.(38)

Scientists confirm that citizens of the Balkans are excreting uranium in their urine.39 In 2001, a Yugoslavian pathologist reported that hundreds of Bosnians have died of cancer from NATO's DU bombardment.(40) Many NATO peacekeepers in the Balkans now suffer ill health. Their leukemias, cancers and other maladies are dubbed the "Balkans Syndrome." Richard Coghill predicts that DU weapons used in Balkans campaign will result in at least 10,000 cases of fatal cancer.(41)

Support Our Troops
$2,500 Reward For Tip-offs On Resistance
Tuesday, July 08 2003 @ 02:18 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Contributed by: Admin
Views: 3
BAGHDAD, July 8 – The U.S.-led forces in Iraq announced Tuesday, July 8, rewards starting at $2,500 for information leading to the arrest of those behind a spate of attacks on U.S. troops and local police in Iraq, as a new audio tape ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was aired.

"Coalition forces will give a 2,500 dollar-reward to those who give us information leading to the arrest of people responsible for killing or shooting coalition soldiers or Iraqi policemen," Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported according to the newspaper of the "coalition."



"The minimum reward is $2,500 and will be greater for more important information," the Arabic language Al-Sabah said.

Members of the public were invited to call two satellite telephone numbers, printed in the newspaper, with occupation forces promising to treat all information in confidence.

The announcement said people could also directly approach any Iraqi police officer or "coalition soldier" with information and that it would be treated in confidence.

Iraq's telephone system is still barely functioning, nearly three months since the fall of Baghdad to U.S.-led forces.

At least 29 U.S. soldiers have been killed in hostile incidents since President George W. Bush declared major combat over on May 1, while seven Iraqi policemen were killed in a bomb attack at the weekend in Ramadi, west of Baghdad.

The United States has put up separate rewards of $25 million for information leading to the capture of Saddam Hussein and $15 million for each of his sons, Uday and Qusay.

Another Message

Meanwhile, a tape attributed to the toppled Iraqi president and broadcast Tuesday by Aljazeera called on Iraqis to unite and throw out the occupying U.S.-led forces from their country.

The voice on the tape, which could not immediately be verified, told "Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens, Shiites, Sunnis, Muslims and Christians" that "your principal mission is to throw out the invaders by uniting your ranks."

The speaker on the 14-minute tape said it had been recorded "inside Iraq", adding that "undercover action" was the best way to ensure the departure of the U.S. and British troops from Iraq.

"The glorious Iraqi people will never agree to welcome the armies of the invaders," he said. "The Iraqis are all brothers, they are one people. The invaders came in the hope of being welcomed as liberators but their hopes have been dashed."

It was the second broadcast message in four days to be attributed to Saddam. The earlier one, put out Friday by Aljazeera television, was deemed to be probably authentic by experts of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency

Support Our Troops
Iraqi Insurgents Assault U.S. Troops, Supply Depot
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, July 8, 2003 – Anti-coalition insurgents mounted several attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq July 8, and dropped mortar rounds on an American supply depot north of Baghdad July 7, a Coalition Joint Task Force-7 spokesman said today.

The first attack occurred July 8 on Highway 8 on Airport Road in Baghdad, the CJTF-7 spokesman said, when an improvised explosive device was dropped from a bridge onto a U.S. Army 1st Armored Division convoy. Two U.S. soldiers were injured. One soldier returned to duty, while the other was evacuated for medical attention.

In a separate incident, a U.S. 1st Armored Division vehicle struck a landmine in Baghdad July 8, according to the CJTF- 7 spokesperson. Two 1st Armored Division soldiers were injured; both were evacuated, the spokesman said. The vehicle was destroyed. The incident, the spokesman said, is under investigation.

And, U.S. Army 173rd Airborne Brigade soldiers patrolling the town of Kirkuk in northern Iraq were hit by a rocket- propelled grenade attack July 8, the spokesman reported. The American patrol returned fire. The spokesman said three U.S. soldiers were injured in the attack, and are receiving treatment. No Iraqis were detained or killed or wounded in the incident.

Iraqi insurgents also dropped mortar rounds on an American military supply depot in a July 7 night attack, according to the CJFT-7 spokesman. There were no American casualties. The depot is located near Balad, which is more than 50 miles north of the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad.

Twelve suspects were detained after the depot attack, officials said. The incident is under investigation.

Names of the injured U.S. soldiers are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Support Our Troops
Two Blasts Wound Three U.S. Soliders in Iraq
Tue July 8, 2003 08:34 AM ET




By Daniel Trotta
KHAN DHARI, Iraq (Reuters) - Two separate blasts in central Iraq wounded three U.S. soldiers on Tuesday in an increasingly bloody guerrilla campaign against occupation forces in the Sunni Muslim heartland.

In the first incident two U.S. soldiers were slightly wounded when an explosion damaged their Humvee vehicle on the outskirts of Baghdad, a U.S. military officer said. The second blast in Khan Dhari, some 20 miles west of Baghdad, was set off by an anti-tank mine, a rare tactic in a land where the rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) is the weapon of choice, soldiers said at the scene.

U.S. forces were distributing water and propane gas in Khan Dhari when the anti-tank mine exploded under a Bradley fighting vehicle in an open field near the propane station. The ruined Bradley was left in a ditch, motor oil strewn about.

The blast whipped up a dust cloud and rained mud on the convoy for several seconds. Panicked residents fled the scene with their just filled propane tanks. Soldiers barked out orders to clear the area, pointing their M-16s when English failed to make the point.

The Bradley's driver, Specialist Justin Howard of Georgia, sustained back injuries and was taken away on a stretcher.

"I feel very lucky. Scared, too," he said.

A purported audio tape from ousted President Saddam Hussein broadcast on Tuesday told Iraqis covert guerrilla attacks were the best way to end the U.S. occupation.

"Returning to covert attacks is the appropriate means for resistance," said the voice, which sounded like Saddam, although there was no immediate independent confirmation of the speaker's identity. Two vehicles drove over the mine first without triggering it, one a Humvee carrying a Reuters reporter embedded with the artillery battalion and the other a truck that had just distributed 3,000 gallons of drinking water.

"It split the hull of the Bradley. Imagine what it would have done to us. There would be no more Humvee," said Specialist Leo May, the vehicle's driver.

"They know we come here every day to try to do good things for the people. They say patterns make you vulnerable but we can't move the propane station every day," battery commander Captain Matthew Payne told Reuters at the scene.

HIGHWAY BOMBS REVISITED

Twenty-nine U.S. soldiers have been killed by hostile fire since President Bush declared major combat over in Iraq on May 1. In the last week, guerrillas have resorted to heavier weapons such as mortars.

In the earlier blast, two soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division suffered minor wounds when an explosive device blew up as the Humvee drove on Highway Eight between Baghdad and the international airport.

The Humvee had its trunk blackened and blown off.

"We've actually found some (explosive devices) in the past couple of days and caught them before they blew up," Major Ed Bohnemann told Reuters on the scene. In a separate incident, a U.S. military base near the town of Balad, 60 miles north of the capital, came under mortar attack shortly before midnight on Monday for the second time in less than a week, a U.S. spokeswoman said.

There were no American casualties, she said, adding that 12 suspects had been arrested over the attack. A similar attack last week wounded 16 soldiers.

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For soldiers in the field, life is filled with uncertainty
Notes from Iraq
By JAIME NORTH





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Editor's note: Public Opinion reporter Jaime North of Chambersburg is a specialist in the U.S. Army Reserves, serving with the 443rd Military Police. He contributes occasional dispatches about his experiences in Iraq. This one focuses on two days and nights during a 300-mile trip from Camp Virginia, Kuwait, to Baghdad, Iraq.

10 p.m., June 3

Mass confusion has just hit our company as word came down from the higher-ups that the bulk of the unit has one hour to pack, load up and head to the airport to fly to Baghdad.

This group, 80% of our 120 people, wasn't supposed to leave until the 8th. Our mission has become a higher priority, and we must move quickly. The commander said he doesn't know what to expect for us when we all get up there.

This last-minute change doesn't sit well with me. I was assigned a few days ago to ride on the convoy, which is scheduled to leave, as planned, at 4 a.m., June 4. About 40 of us will ride alone in 10 vehicles 300-some miles through enemy territory.

It's been very quiet today as many of the company looked at us full of concern and fear. It's ironic watching them running around frantically getting ready to leave before us. Many of them expressed a desire to see us off in the morning.

Now disappointment is setting in for both groups. The convoy doesn't know where the company is heading and we don't even know where we're supposed to meet them. There's so much uncertainty floating around. I don't think this bodes well for our trip.

11:30 p.m.

I just said my good-byes to my friends who were leaving with the company. I tried to wish them well, but our greeting was dominated by their concern for me. I was very touched. A few of us have really grown close as a result of an experience last year in Texas, and of course these past few months.

I'm getting ready to call my girlfriend for the last time in who knows how long. I'm certainly not looking forward to this. I don't know what to say. I can't lie about how scared I am or how much danger I will be in. I definitely cherish the opportunity to hear her voice, which gives me a few minutes away from this hell.

I've taken a lot of time thinking about my assessment of Kuwait as being like hell. What is going to be my perception of Iraq? I'm a gunner, so I will be riding on top of the Humvee. A position they call "sniper bait" -- touching, huh? Those stressful moments working under deadline at the Public Opinion seem like a picnic now.

11:30 a.m., June 4

We're sitting at a fuel stop 100 miles into Iraq. I'm still a little in awe of the moment we officially crossed the border. There was a military checkpoint with soldiers and weapons everywhere. Sitting on top of the Humvee gives me the perfect vantage point to view everything.

You can clearly see the poverty and wretched conditions these people live in. As soon as we crossed into the country, families lined up along the road to greet us. The children are so cute, yet sad looking. They yell "America Number One" and give us two thumbs up.

I guess the majority of the Iraqis want us here, but I couldn't help but notice that a few Iraqis sat back off the road and gave us a cold stare. It was spooky. A few older kids tried to jump up on our large truck carrying our water and food. We were prepared for that. We put barbed wire along the truck. The kids learned their lesson the hard way, I guess.

For the first leg of the trip, I didn't see too much other than small, run-down clay houses every 100 yards or so. Some of the more advanced families have goats and donkeys, but not much else. Everyone I saw were barefoot and dressed in filthy clothes. I saw a few buildings that were blown up.

3 p.m.

We're setting up camp for the night here at an abandoned airport in Talil. This is supposedly the town where Saddam Hussein was born. Iraq is much different than Kuwait in respect to the amount of vegetation I've seen. I've even seen a few small river beds.

This last leg was easier than the first. We were mostly on paved highway. It's a little funny, because their highways are in better shape than those found in Pennsylvania and this is a war-torn country. I guess PennDOT should come over here and take notes, but I know the real reason is the dry weather. But it tickled me to think of that.

The biggest trouble we've encountered so far has been maneuvering through villages. The locals hug the roads and try to grab loose cargo. They also line the roads trying to sell us whiskey, Iraqi money, blankets, ice and soda.

We passed a few convoys that stopped along the road partaking in tourist-like activity. I guess it's important for us to make a positive presence, but how far do you let your guard down? It only takes one ambush, and I don't want to be that one example of why not to stop!

9 p.m.

I'm lying here beside my Humvee under a sky of millions of stars. I can't get over the fact that less than three months ago this airport was under heavy airstrikes. What a sight that must have been. Directly across me, about 100 yards away, sits a building with a huge gaping hole where an artillery missile must have hit it. A burnt skeleton of a van sits in front, staring at me. It's finally hitting me that I'm officially in Iraq and a part of this Operation Iraqi Freedom.

I have a sense of fear thinking about our next leg of the convoy. We were briefed that day two will be more difficult, more dangerous and more rugged. The first leg is an 89-mile stretch called "Ambush Alley" by units that already made the journey.

The name alone doesn't sit well with me. I have seven hours to get my mindset straight and get focused for the most intriguing journey of my life.

It's awkward to think that all I've accomplished and worked for up to this point of my life will rest on an 89-mile stretch of road in a foreign country thousands of miles away from home. This is not where I pictured myself being when I signed up for the military reserves during my senior year of high school. I'm the only one still awake. I assume everyone is either dead-tired, ready for tomorrow or not willing to take precious time to worry about it.

I can't help but think about all the consequences that I may face. That's my makeup. I over-analyze everything -- good and bad. My obsessive behavior got me through 25 years of life. I'm sure it will carry me safely through 24 more hours.

It's ironic how peaceful this night is with such a clear sky and silence beckoning all around. This m