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Thursday, October 13, 2005
48th provides protection for the election
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Baghdad, Iraq — The old man with the penetrating green eyes watched approvingly as a convoy of Georgia National Guard soldiers pulled into his neighborhood.
Louie Favorite/AJC
Sgt. David Bell (left), a corrections officer from Camilla, and Lt. Michael Zellous, a schoolteacher from McDonough, who was in charge of the mission, watch security barricades being put in place for upcoming elections.
From the side of the road, Hassan Abd-Alah could see the soldiers unloading concrete barriers at the neighborhood elementary school.
The 48th Brigade Combat Team is fortifying the school and other polling places nearby in advance of the historic Oct. 15 referendum. Iraqis are set to cast ballots that day on a proposed national constitution.
Abd-Alah, a farmer with deeply weathered skin and a bushy gray mustache, said he will vote for the constitution despite the threat of violence from insurgents. Disaffected Sunnis are mounting a campaign to reject the document.
“We need a constitution for safety and for living in peace -anything good for the future,� said Abd-Alah, a Sunni, who spoke through an Arabic interpreter working for the U.S. soldiers.
Abd-Alah’s wife, Shukria Fathel, stood behind him, nodding in agreement. She plans to vote, too. Neither has read the constitution. But they have faith it will help their largely Sunni neighborhood.
Piles of trash and rubble litter the ground all around them. For many days, residents here have not received government rations they have come to rely on.
Insurgents broke into their homes after the U.S. invasion, they said, busting holes in the walls and stealing the metal piping. Some neighbors have no potable water and only a few hours of electricity each day.
Louie Favorite/AJC
Teams from the 48th Brigade set up security barricades for upcoming elections in Iraq.
While Abd-Alah observed the soldiers, a man stepped outside a crumbling house to see what was going on. A Shiite, the man said he will vote for the constitution along with his Sunni neighbors. He identified himself as a bricklayer but asked that his name not be published for fear of insurgents.
“I am afraid to work outside because maybe they will kill me,� the man said as his frightened two-year-old daughter clung to his leg. “The insurgents kill anybody without care for the kids. The soldiers give us the peace and the safety.�
As the man talked about the election, 1st Lt. Michael Zellous and his men set up a dozen concrete Jersey barriers along the road. They are meant to protect voters from small arms fire and suicide car bombers.
The American soldiers plan to keep a low profile on Saturday and stay away from the polling places. They don’t want anyone to think they are influencing the voting. However, they say they will be ready to reinforce Iraqi soldiers in case of insurgent attacks.
“All right, gentlemen, are we ready to do this one more time?� Zellous asked his fellow soldiers from the Dublin-based Alpha Company of the 148th Support Battalion. “Let’s get out and do the work.�
At 6-foot-4, the 40-year-old ex-Marine cuts an imposing figure. He rides around in Humvee that has survived some close calls, including an explosion from a roadside bomb, in this dangerous region where Americans are not always welcome, He points out the different parts that have been replaced in recent days: a headlight, a side mirror, the windshield. Part of the hood is missing over the right tire, leaving a jagged edge where his men bumped a speeding car away from their convoy.
Hanging in front of Zellous’ passenger seat is a green-hooded toy dwarf from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.� Zellous can’t remember which dwarf he is, but he is sure it isn’t Sleepy.
“You see the smile on his face? When he turns around, we know there is some trouble coming,� said Zellous, who taught math at Riverdale High School before he came to Iraq.
Zellous said he has been outside the wire on missions more than 50 times since arriving in Iraq this summer and has grown desensitized to the sound of explosions. As he walked through the neighborhood, he didn’t flinch when a suspected mortar round exploded on the horizon.
Several young Iraqi boys stood nearby, curiously watching Zellous’ men. They have grown accustomed to receiving handouts from the soldiers. But nine-year-old Majdy Sa’ady complained the soldiers no longer let them come near for security reasons.
“They are good, but for a long time the soldiers have not let us talk to them as much,� Majdy said.
Moments later, Zellous motioned for the children to come near his Humvee. He opened his trunk and started to hand out bottles of lemon-lime Gatorade. Some children grabbed as many as two or three.
The children kept calling “Mister! Mister!� but their words sounded like “Ista! Ista!�
Zellous ran out of drinks. So, he closed the trunk and hopped in the Humvee. It was time to go. He could still hear the children pleading for more as he pulled away.
Families gather for festival
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Saturday was about face painting, hay rides and heroes.
More than 100 people with loved ones serving with the Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th Brigade Combat Team came to Canton for a Homefront Heroes Fall Festival.
As families arrived at the farm of Ann and Tom Earley, some gathered around to share news and to give hand squeezes and hugs. Families from Canton, Calhoun, Dalton, Rome and Douglasville were invited to the grass-roots event. Most of the soldiers are scheduled to come home in May.
Michelle Wardell, of Euharlee, is the family readiness group leader for the Canton Guard unit. She is a sympathetic ear and sounding board for many people in the area.
“We can share our stories and uplift each other,” Wardell said. “We call one another and share the joys and trauma.”
And that’s vital to the families’ morale. These wives also worry because their men from the 108th Armor Battalion are on forward operating bases outside Camp Striker in Baghdad.
“Every time I know he’s gone out on patrol I get sick. He’s training the Iraqi soldiers,” said Alecia O’Keefe, mother of five children ages 5 to 13. Her husband, Sgt. John O’Keefe, is a heating and air-conditioning repairman back home.
Saturday’s event was “a very much needed social outlet. Nobody but these people know how we feel,” she added.
Patricia Stipe of Snellville said she stays busy running her two sons, 9 and 12, to activities.
“I stay too busy, and with a full-time job,” she said as she watched her younger son ride a horse. Her husband, Sgt. Samuel Stipe, has been in Iraq since May. When he’s not soldiering, he works at a packaging company in Villa Rica. Patricia was glad she heard about the festival through an e-mail from Wardell.
Ben Waldrop, a Guard recruiter in Canton, said he, too, appreciated the event.
“To have somebody who genuinely cares — it does wonders for them,” Waldrop said. “The soldiers see someone’s helping out at home, and they can focus on the task at hand. The guys overseas get to see what the community did for them.”
Waldrop said it was hard to stay here while the Canton group went to Iraq.
“Forty percent of the Canton unit is kids I recruited,” he said.
At Saturday’s event, families were given a variety of gift certificates donated by area merchants. Ann Earley estimated about 150 people attended along with 50 volunteers.
Lindsay Kidson, 17, is a member of Sequoyah High School’s Air Force Junior ROTC. Kidson and members of the ROTC volunteered at the festival.
“It’s good to get in touch with people and find out what it’s like,” said Kidson, who plans to attend Clemson University and join the Air Force after graduation.
