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Thursday, October 27, 2005
Praying for a fight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lutayfiyah, Iraq — U.S. soldiers often hear Muslim prayers as they patrol outside the wire.
Local imams chant the prayers over loudspeakers from their mosques.
Hear the call to prayer in LutayfiyahTo new soldiers who don’t understand Arabic, the sometimes monotone prayers can sound eerie, even haunting.
They have good reason to be worried.
Most prayers are neutral. They encourage Muslims to be faithful.
But some imams announce anti-American rhetoric over their loudspeakers. They call the U.S. soldiers infidels and occupiers. And they urge fellow Muslims to fight them.
Insurgents have fired on U.S. soldiers from mosques. And Arabic interpreters working with the soldiers say insurgents use some mosques to meet, recruit members and store weapons.
Listen to what soldiers from Georgia’s 1st Battalion, 108th Armor Regiment heard as they patrolled through downtown Lutayfiyah with Iraqi Army soldiers one recent evening.
The prayers were announced over a loudspeaker from a local mosque the soldiers deem friendly. An Arabic interpreter who is working for the soldiers and who listened to this recording said the imam was asking Muslims to “Trust in God. Believe in God.”
In the background, you can hear the soldiers’ boots crunching in the gravel near the mosque. Some children are playing nearby.
Home, sweet home
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
FOB Lutayfiyah, Iraq — Soldiers from Georgia’s 108th Armor Regiment live here in what is believed to be an old telephone exchange building.
Louie Favorite/AJC
First SGT. Tony Winters, a residential painter from Dallas, GA, works out in an area called “The Alamo.” • MORE PHOTOS OF FOB LUTAYFIYAH.
They call their base “The Dust Bowl” because of the piles of powdery sand that collect around the buildings
New buddy sorely missed
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Camp Striker, Iraq — Fellow soldiers remember him as the new guy who didn’t act new.
The other Georgia National Guard troops had been here about four months and had already bonded when Staff Sgt. Dennis Paul Merck arrived Sept. 11.
But Merck made friends with them quickly by sharing what he knew from his diesel mechanic work back home. He bragged about his wife and showed photos of his three children. He spent hours hanging out with his new buddies in their tent, sitting with them in white plastic lawn chairs and watching satellite television.
Louie Favorite/AJC
Sgt. Gary Warner of Cochran (right) and Spc. John Price of Metter salute Staff Sgt. Dennis Paul Merck at Wednesday’s service.
“He fell into place like one of the family,” said Staff Sgt. Joseph Williams, 43, of Forest Park, who was Merck’s squad leader.
Williams was one of dozens of 48th Brigade Combat Team soldiers who attended Merck’s memorial service Wednesday night. Merck died Oct. 20 from what the military was calling a “non-hostile gunshot wound.”
Military officials have offered no details about the shooting, saying they are still investigating. But Williams and other soldiers who were in Merck’s tent the evening he died suspect he accidentally shot himself while cleaning his rifle.
“In my heart, I think it was an accident,” said Spc. Estrell Young, 51, of Covington, one of Merck’s tent mates.
Merck’s death was the brigade’s 21st since it arrived in the Middle East in mid-May.
Merck, of Evans, graduated from Stone Mountain High School. He spent 12 years in the regular Army before joining the Georgia Army National Guard’s 878th Engineer Battalion earlier this year. When he got to Iraq last month, Merck linked up with the Statesboro-based 648th Engineer Battalion as a Humvee mechanic.
During Wednesday’s ceremony, seven riflemen fired a three-volley salute to Merck. A recording of taps was played and then, in pairs, Merck’s buddies saluted his boots and rifle, with some reaching out and gently touching his dog tags.
Merck’s friends say that they heard the gunshot around 8 p.m. Oct. 20. At first it didn’t seem real to them. But then a fellow soldier saw Merck bleeding and called for help. Merck’s rifle cleaning kit was spread out next to him on his cot, soldiers said.
Young said he rushed to Merck’s side and applied pressure to the wound in his chest with a towel. Williams said he saw Merck clutching his chest and saying, “Oh God.” A medic arrived within a few minutes, soldiers said. Merck was taken to their aid station, where he was pronounced dead.
A small bullet hole remains in the tent ceiling above where Merck slept. First Lt. Jon Fisher, the 648th chaplain, counseled Merck’s buddies and recommended they move to a new tent. But the men refused to budge.
“We all agreed we will stay here regardless of what happened,” Williams said.
Merck slept in a corner of the tent near the entrance. His buddies could see him every time they walked in and out. Other soldiers came and packed up his belongings the day after he died, leaving his corner dim and empty.
