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DEL.ICIO.USWatching a friend die cuts deep
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Forward Operating Base Michael, Iraq � Cpl. Jeffrey Vennemann was on a reconnaissance patrol near Yusufiyah this week when he heard the ear-shattering explosion.
As the only soldier with medical skills out that night with Echo Troop, 108th Cavalry, Vennemann hurried to tend to a severely wounded soldier.
He heard someone struggling to call his name: “Jeffrey.”
No one in the Army addressed him by his first name except Spc. Michael Stokely.
In the darkness, Vennemann turned the wounded man over. He looked in horror at the damaged face of his best friend.
“I hadn’t realized it was Stokely,” he said Friday.
Vennemann, an emergency medical technician in the DeKalb County Fire Department, desperately tried to stop the bleeding. He couldn’t. The next step was to put an airway tube into Stokely’s mouth. He couldn’t do that either because of the injuries.
Before the medical team arrived 25 minutes later, Vennemann helplessly watched his best friend take his last breath.
“He was going to be the best man at my wedding. He still is,” Vennemann said, tears welling in his weary eyes.
“I’m going to have a photo of him right there,” Vennemann said of the soldier he befriended over the last few years. “There is no other best man.”
Vennemann plans to marry his girlfriend, Christine Iski, on Aug. 19 next year. He was Stokely’s best man when he got married in May; Stokely was planning to return the favor.
But in the early hours of Tuesday morning, with one blast from an improvised explosive devise hidden in the bushes of a narrow road in central Iraq, all those plans were destroyed.
A kick in the gut
Vennemann knelt over Stokely’s body, unable to contain the pain of losing his sole confidant in the military. Yet the compassion he felt provided a sense of relief that his friend did not suffer long.
Friday afternoon, Vennemann and hundreds of soldiers from the Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th Brigade Team gathered here to honor Stokely, who was promoted to sergeant posthumously, and three members of the 1st Battalion, 108th Armor Regiment, who also died this week.
Sgt. Thomas Strickland, 27, of Douglasville; Spc. Joshua Dingler, 19, of Hiram; and Sgt. Paul Saylor, 21, of Bremen belonged to the regiment’s Headquarters and Headquarters Company, based in Calhoun. They died early Monday morning when their armored Humvee rolled off a road and into a canal.
It was the fifth memorial service the 48th Brigade had held since arriving in Iraq in early June. Sixteen soldiers from the unit have died in bomb attacks and vehicle accidents.
Friday’s ceremony was the first organized at FOB Michael in Mahmudiyah, a small town south of Baghdad.
The battalion is stationed at Michael and two other nearby FOBs, in Lutafiyah and Yusufiyah.
“This is a gut-wrenching experience for all my guys,” said Lt. Col. John King, Doraville’s police chief and commander of the armor battalion.
“The day after it happened, it was tough. But by the end of that day, I started seeing that look in my soldiers, that determination that we’re not going to quit.”
At Friday’s ceremony, a sea of black felt Stetsons and silver spurs — distinctive traditions of cavalry units — filled the vehicle maintenance bay at Michael. Raw emotions surfaced among the cavalrymen, known for their strong bonds and historical traditions.
The scout platoons of the 108th Armor are naturally closer to one another because of the kind of work they do, said Staff Sgt. Sean Sibert. Typically, Scouts run reconnaissance patrols to secure treacherous roads before military convoys head out.
“We go out in small groups to find the enemy,” said Sibert, a landscaper from Martinez, near Augusta. “That makes us a very tight group.”
Part of their closeness, said Echo Troop soldiers, comes from the harsh conditions under which they operate.
Soldiers of the 108 live in Spartan facilities at the three FOBs they occupy. They are not privy to the distractions and entertainment options available at other, more permanent facilities, such as Striker, Liberty or Taji.
“Being here is like going from Manhattan to the wild, wild West,” said Staff Sgt. Joe Wilson, a full-time Guard soldier from Canton assigned to the 108th Armor’s headquarters company.
The forward operatin bases are in an area of lawlessness and insurgent activity. At Michael, the 118th Field Artillery Regiment’s Alpha Battery, from Springfield, has four Paladin 155 mm howitzers ready to fire in any direction. Capt. Jeff Schneider, the battery commander, said the guns were fired almost every day to counter insurgent fire or thwart potential attacks.
Soldiers at the three bases are required to wear body armor and helmets at all times because of the frequent attacks.
Danger never lets up
King said his soldiers were under constant enemy watch. At other camps, he said, soldiers behave one way when they are “inside the wire,” in the relative safety of the base, and go into war mode when they exit the gates. At his FOBs, however, there is no “on-off switch.”
Communications, too, are sketchy for the 108th soldiers. At Yusufiyah, the Internet connection is far from reliable. Soldiers there live inside an old potato factory, share two wooden shower facilities, and have salvaged a Ping-Pong table for relaxation. They tend to rely more on each other when they cannot talk to loved ones at home.
“It’s a morale kicker,” said Spc. Joshua Oxford, an Echo Troop soldier who works as a code enforcement officer in the Griffin Police Department. “It’s hard being under these conditions. When a soldier dies, it’s not like a friend dying — it’s like losing a family member. All we have here is each other to depend on.”
A few days earlier, Oxford had heard from Spc. Rodney Davidson, a friend who is assigned to Alpha Company of the 2nd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment, which lost eight men from the same platoon within six days in late July. Davidson witnessed both tragedies.
Oxford and Davidson often hunt deer and wild turkey together in Thomaston. Davidson talked about the deaths of his friends. Oxford said they “hit him hard.”
Now it was Oxford’s time to feel that kind of grief.
“Before, you’d think [about the danger] real quick on your way to the vehicle,” Oxford said. “Now you actually stop and take a minute to pray.”
After the deaths this week, Oxford said, Echo Troop soldiers became a little more cautious about what they said or did. They took the time to sit down and talk to one another. They went to eat meals as a group more than before.
“This makes it harder to keep going,” Oxford said. “But we know we still have missions we have to do here.”
After the tears Friday afternoon, Vennemann and Spc. Jason Buice traded stories about Stokely. They were known as a trio. Each had ignored Army regulations about hair, and the three launched a contest to see who could grow his hair the longest.
“There’s no barbershop where we are,” said Buice, who lives in Cumming.
They remembered their fallen friend as “one of a kind,” someone who always spoke his mind. They remembered, too, the prankster in him.
“Stokely put a mousetrap in my bunk once,” Buice said.
He laughed as he described how the trap got him in the behind when he was wearing just his Army-issue black shorts.
The soldiers said the Yusufiyah base is being renamed FOB Stokely to honor the citizen soldier. As disheveled and tired as he was, Vennemann found it in him to make one last joke about the only military man with whom he shared his fears and frustrations.
“Yeah,” said Vennemann, “they’re going to name a crap-hole after a great guy.”
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By pamela bentley
August 20, 2005 06:57 PM | Link to this
Thank you once again for keeping it real. My husband, SPC Russell Bentley is currently serving with the 108th CAV and agrees with the tight bonds between the soldiers. He has told me time and time again that these guys are is brother in arms not just men bunched together to accomplish a simple task. It is also great to hear that these guys are not taking life for granted. PRAYER alot of times is all that we have to keep us going. More importantly none of us ever know when our time isup so it is good to know where were going when we die. This isnt a religion thing but a GOD thing. My husband is a christian and it tore him up as well as our family to hear the news about the men that died. Lets continue to lift them and their families up in prayer. Freedom of speech is great but the only reason why we have it is because of the sacrifice our troops are making for it. Lets not dishonor what they are doing for all of us back here. Like i said before, my husband is under scary conditions but that isnt what i hold onto. What i hold unto is that the Lord has him on a mission and the good work he began in him he will see it through…(Phillipians 1:3-6)God Bless all of you and no that the loss they suffer was not in vain Pam Bentley
By R Nored
August 20, 2005 07:46 PM | Link to this
I do very much appreciate this blog, but this article cuts too deeply. There is no reason on earth to tell the families that their soldier died so slowly. Twenty-five minutes is an eternity to watch a man struggling to die. I don’t fault the young EMT. He had to be hurting, but somewhere in the chain of editing his grief should have been screened in order to shield the family. I realize that AJC is a liberal rag, spouting opposition to the war; but somewhere humanity should reign.
By Stimpy
August 21, 2005 03:09 AM | Link to this
Matty May God bless you in all that you are doing and dealing with. You are my life, and I am your wife. Your girls are safe and long for your leave visit so that they can make sure Daddy is really okay. I try to screen the news to keep the older one from encountering the rough stuff, but I do let her know what’s happening with you at her level as best I can. Itty Bitty answers her play phone with “DaDa?” and the toothiest grin you can have with only 6 tiny teeth. I believe in what you guys are doing; keep on handin’ it to ‘em!! I love you always.
By 1LT Adam Bailey
August 21, 2005 04:49 AM | Link to this
RIP Brother.
1LT Bailey Kandahar, Afghanistan
By A.T. in Iraq
August 21, 2005 09:15 AM | Link to this
Congratulations to the AJC for telling everyone how it is. I’m currently with the Army in Iraq, and I spent five months near where Michael was. This is daily life down there.
We want people to know how incredibly nasty this is, especially in that region of the country. Soldiers want two things.. 1. Give us a massive and adequately trained and protected force so we can win and win quickly, or 2. Let us cut our losses and come home please. The status quo isn’t working, and it shows in soldier morale
By mike Greeson
August 21, 2005 03:21 PM | Link to this
R Nored
There can be a benefit if this blog accurately portrays the experience the kids are having in Iraq.
Before blogs, the home folks couldn’t understand the experience, thus the kids couldn’t talk about it.
We just sat in a dark corner drinking and thinking. Been there, done that.
If the families and friends understand what returnees have experienced, they can help de-mobilize the kids next year, not feel helpless when Johnny won’t talk about it.
SFC Greeson RA (ret)
By J ledgister
August 21, 2005 09:00 PM | Link to this
this was heart touching and my husband is now serving duty in iraq…I wouldn’t want to go through the thought of losing my husband but you never know only God knows, God bless all the soldiers that are fighting for our freedom and may God keep everyone at war safe.
By mccain j
August 22, 2005 04:04 AM | Link to this
all i can really say is i love you stokely and i will miss you dearly. people should know the whole truth of your sacrifice and not get the short sweet side of it. Stokely was a hero of heroes and i know it cause i served with him. He was a great friend and soldier. People need to know what it is we really do over in iraq and how hard our sacrifices are. i will always remember you stoke….love joe
By Rodney Brown
August 22, 2005 09:22 AM | Link to this
Tonight, Monday, I will do my part and help honor Paul Saylor from Bremen by doing sound at his funeral. It will be held at the football field he played on. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and the family he left behind in Iraq. My thoughts and prayers are with my son, Sgt. Lance Brown from Bremen, as he wrestles with the fears and thoughts of losing friends. There are no words to express what these men and women must truly feel. God Bless each and everyone and every family member. We are in this together. We will win.
By Debora Everett-Walston
August 22, 2005 05:32 PM | Link to this
As wife of Spc. James Walston @ Michael, I want ALL OUR SOLDIERS to know how proud everyone at home feels and also know prayers are with you daily…Please remember the angel on your shoulder! It’s always there! GOD SPEED.
By vickey kessinger
August 22, 2005 07:37 PM | Link to this
to the family of Spec. Stokley my prayers and sympathy go out to yall at this time. My son expressed what a fun and good friend Sp. Stokley was to him and will miss him. My heart is heavy for all of the troop. Stay safe razersharp we are all thinking of you love mom & brie
By Chad A Vicknair
August 23, 2005 10:34 PM | Link to this
All of the men in the war are the best. This is what America is…. When people discuss the why and how of this country, I simply tell them you can’t understand it till you been in it. This is why I was proud to serve and why I am proud of all the men in country. Thank you for carrying on the tradition laid before you. Stay wired tight and come home safe.