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Friday, December 2, 2005
3 from 48th killed in accident
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Three soldiers from the National Guard’s 48th Brigade Combat Team were killed in a vehicle accident near Nasiriyah at about 3 p.m. Friday (Iraq time).
The military said the incident is being investigated and the names of the soldiers are being withheld until next of kin are notified.
Friday’s accident brings the death toll for the Georgia-based unit to 25 since it was mobilized in January. The 4,200-member brigade left Georgia in May for a year-long tour in Iraq.
Memories of Iraq: Camaraderie, candy and a close call
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Louie Favorite/AJC
Spc. Jorge Luis Dumeng-Mendez has an after-dinner cigarette before leaving on a 12-hour patrol mission. He is a member of a Puerto Rico battalion.
I’m home now after reporting on Georgia’s 48th Brigade Combat Team for 10 weeks in Iraq. I made many friends and had some incredible experiences. Thought I would leave you with some of my most memorable moments.
Witnessing a roadside bomb obliterate the front of 2nd Lt. Homer Wright III’s Humvee. Wright and his troops were hunting improvised explosive devices when one found them near the Sunni-dominated city of Mahmudiyah, just south of Baghdad. Wright, of Hazlehurst, bit off a chunk of his tongue when he rocketed out of his seat and smashed his head on the roof. With blood oozing from his mouth and chin, he took cover in the vehicle I was riding in. Wright cradled his head in his hands. He said he was thinking about his two young sons back home, worrying about them growing up and having to serve in a place like Iraq. With tears in his eyes he said, “I love my boys. I would do anything for my boys.�
Going out on patrol with Puerto Rican National Guard soldiers attached to the 48th. They were hunting insurgents near Baghdad International Airport. Before their mission, they gathered around each other in the glow of a Humvee’s headlights and prayed in Spanish. Out on patrol, in the chilly night, we stood around a Humvee, sharing boiled peanuts. Stray dogs were all around us, howling eerily.
Sharing a homemade meal with the Puerto Ricans at Camp Striker, near Baghdad International Airport. In a big steel pot on an industrial size burner in their tent, they made arroz con gandules, or rice and pigeon peas. They also made beef stew, using ingredients mailed from home. They wouldn’t let a war come between them and a good meal. Everyone in their unit got something to eat. They have a real sense of family.
Watching Cpl. Joe Johnson, of Lyerly, hand out candy to Iraqi children in the impoverished, trash-strewn town of Husseiniya. At 48, the Christian missionary came to Iraq out of a sense of duty and for adventure. But he also did it for revenge. Insurgents killed his son, Spc. Justin Johnson, with a roadside bomb in Iraq last year. Justin’s death as well as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks inspired Joe to come to Iraq. And now that he is there, his heart is changing. He said he is working on turning the other cheek.
Touring the ruins of Babylon and the ancient City of Ur, running my fingers over stray cuneiform tablets. I saw the giant Lion of Babylon sculpture. I wandered through the home of the prophet Abraham. I climbed a huge ziggurat the Sumerians built to a moon god around the 21st BC. And I wondered what had become of this once great land.
Hanging out with Maj. Ray Bossert of Douglasville, and the Iraqi officers he was training in Yusufiyah. It was night and the Iraqis had shed their uniforms in favor of athletic sweat suits and sandals. We sat in their small wooden shack, sipping hot tea and watching “The Simpsons� on television. Bossert and I were the only Americans on the Iraqi base that evening. I thought to myself, “Am I really here?�
Observing 1st Lt. Jonathan Fisher preparing for another memorial service for a Georgia National Guard soldier. He paused for a moment near me. He had already led six memorial services for 12 soldiers and one Arabic interpreter. This was the Fayetteville school teacher’s first military deployment and it was clearly wearing on him. He was only 26. I remember him saying to himself, “I hope this is the last one I do. Period. I don’t want to do any more of these.�
Seeing Iraqis bravely wind their way around concertina wire, past armed guards and into polling places. It was Oct. 15 and they were casting ballots in a referendum for their national constitution. I remember Tahir K. Kadhim dipping his finger in indelible ink after voting “yes.� The 63-year-old repairman said he wouldn’t try to conceal the stain or scrub it off, despite threats from insurgents. God, he said, could take his life at any time.
Huge elaborate meals with Iraqi sheiks, soldiers and businessmen. The Iraqis are incredibly generous. They served lamb, chicken, rice and delicious homemade bread. One of their desserts is a pretzel-shaped sweet that tastes like honey. Many soldiers warned me against it, but it was some of the best food I had in Iraq.
Wandering around the sprawling Talil Air Base at night. I nearly got lost in the immense maze of U.S. military tents and trailers, thinking, “When will we ever get out of this place?�
How tender and fatherly the Georgia National Guard soldiers were with their counterparts in the 101st Airborne Division. The 101st lost eight soldiers in less than a week after taking over the Georgians’ area of responsibility in the Mahmudiyah area. The Georgians traveled a long distance on perilous roads to be with their regular army buddies for one of the memorial services. They embraced the 101st troops, told them jokes and gazed at the stars with them that evening.
Sgt. Jess Weatherholt, of Douglasville, calmly telling me to take cover in an armored Humvee as insurgent mortar rounds started raining down around us at his base in Lutayfiyah. I was struck by how calm and collected he was. He said he heard shrapnel hit the back of our vehicle. And then, almost automatically, he and his buddies were rolling out the gate to hunt the attackers.
Staff Sgt. John Conley, an aggressive, shotgun-wielding soldier from the Atlanta area, zooming out of the base in Lutayfiyah on the hunt for the insurgents who fired the mortar rounds. He questioned several people living near the site where the insurgents placed their mortar tube. No one had good descriptions of the suspects. Frustrated, Conley and his platoon started heading home after four hours of unsuccessfully hunting their attackers. Conley growled, “I hate this place.�
Feeling the shock wave of a roadside bomb vibrating through my body. The blast struck a Humvee I was riding in near Ramadi. Three soldiers and I were enveloped in brown dust and smoke. Staff Sgt. Joshua Winchester, of Jesup, commanded the driver to get us out of there. And then he cheerfully shouted, “Well, fellas, happy Thanksgiving!�
After I finished my 10-week assignment in Iraq, I caught a shuttle to the Kuwait International Airport for my flight home. Inside, I saw a giant Starbucks, a Burger King, clothing shops, and brightly lit commercial signs. It felt so strange. I had just been walking through treacherous Iraqi cities carpeted with garbage and plagued with insurgents and abject poverty. And in the airport, there were people strolling along, shopping, apparently with no concern for their safety. It all seemed unreal. As I walked through the airport on my way home, I wondered, “Did I really spend all that time in Iraq or was it just a scary, crazy, beautiful, enlightening dream?”
