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Tuesday, November 15, 2005
48th troops comfort their replacements
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Forward Operating Base Mahmudiyah, Iraq — They thought they were through with this deadly place. And then it drew them back.
Soldiers from the Georgia National Guard’s 48th Brigade Combat Team spent months here in sustained combat, surviving repeated insurgent mortar and rocket attacks as well as roadside bombs. On Halloween, they packed up and headed south to a new base and new missions.
But they decided to come back recently to grieve with the regular Army soldiers who replaced them.
Jeremy Redmon/AJC
Cpl. Rodney Bettis, of McDonough, hugs Staff Sgt. Grant Wilson, of Annandale, Va. Wilson lost three soldiers from his unit with the 101st Airborne
Division during a Nov. 2 bomb attack.
Since Georgia’s 1st Battalion, 108th Armor Regiment, left last month, eight soldiers from the Fort Campbell, Ky.-based 101st Airborne Division have been killed in the area known as the Triangle of Death. Seven were killed by roadside bombs. The military says it is investigating the eighth as a possible “friendly fire incident.”
During the nearly six months the Georgians were stationed in this area south of Baghdad, they lost six soldiers, three in a vehicle accident.
“Mahmudiyah can humble the best of people,” said Lt. Col. John King, 41, commander of the 108th’s 1st Battalion.
King cited a number of possible reasons for the increase in violence: The insurgents might be reacting to the change in U.S. soldiers, they might be responding to aggressive attacks by the 101st, or they might be trying to disrupt the Dec. 15 election of a permanent national assembly.
“This is an enemy that is very tenacious, very smart and very unforgiving. The enemy is always adjusting to our tactics,” said King, Doraville’s police chief. “I refuse to think this is anything the 101st did wrong. This is combat.”
After a recent memorial service for three of the 101st soldiers, King and his interpreter met with some of their former intelligence sources from the surrounding area. Then he offered some advice to his counterpart with the 101st, Lt. Col. Tom Kunk.
“I told him to stick to what he is doing. It is a battle of wills, and he is not alone,” King said.
During the memorial service, Kunk sat in the front row, quietly observing the proceedings, his head bowed. The three men who were killed were members of Kunk’s personal security detachment: Spc. Joshua Munger, 22, of Maysville, Mo.; Spc. Benjamin Smith, 21, of Hudson, Wis.; and Pfc. Tyler Mackenzie, 20, of Evans, Colo.
“They were three incredible American soldiers,” Kunk said. “Where that happened — we have been on the ground and we have kept pushing forward. No one in this battalion is backing down.”
The Georgians grew close to the 101st soldiers last month as they showed them around the Mahmudiyah area before their move south. Sgt. Joe Picon, who helps guard King, immediately sought out his counterpart when he arrived.
“I want to see my brothers in arms. I know they’ve got to be hurting,” Picon said as he sought out Staff Sgt. Grant Wilson.
When Picon finally spotted Wilson, he gave him a big hug. Picon later told him: “We are brothers. We love you guys. I mean that.”
“It’s probably the first time I’ve smiled since Wednesday,” Wilson, of Annandale, Va., told Picon that evening over dinner.
As they ate, Wilson talked about the previous week and predicted, “This is going to be a hard, hard 12 months.”
Then he quietly told Picon he was turning 40 on Nov. 14: “If I live that long, I’ll be happy.”
“This place makes you older,” Picon said.
Just outside the mess hall, Sgt. Michael Wells was catching up with his friend from the 101st, Spc. Devin Dishner. Wells handed him his lucky knife, the one he had with him when he survived a roadside bomb in September near where Dishner’s buddies were killed. Wells, 35, of Jasper said Dishner reminded him of his younger brother.
As the two talked, Spc. Nicholas Jordan of the 101st stood in the darkness nearby, asking the Georgians to sign his American flag. He had it spread out on the hood of a Humvee. Jordan said he was in the convoy with the three men who were killed. He still remembers the bomb’s shock wave.
“My earplugs blew out of my ears and all of a sudden it was black in front of me,” said Jordan, 20, of Warren, Ohio.
Spc. Darryl Wilson, 37, of Jonesboro signed Jordan’s flag. He encouraged Jordan to drive his Humvee aggressively to scare away insurgents in Mahmudiyah.
“You are like a blocking fullback. You have to block them out of the way,” Wilson told him. “Drive this vehicle like you stole it. My training video game was ‘Grand Theft Auto.’ You can be a madman, but be a thinking man.”
As they talked, Wilson and the other soldiers noticed the clear evening sky. They pointed out various constellations, noting Orion’s Belt, the Big Dipper and the North Star.
And for just a while, they stopped talking about the violence that is all around them.
