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Monday, March 13, 2006
Homecoming delay hard on 48th
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Curtis Compton/AJC
Strain shows on the face of Sgt. Michael Flynn, a Paulding County corrections officer at home but a gunner in Iraq. "You really have to readjust yourself," he said. And not just him. His wife has made and canceled five hotel reservations in anticipation of his return.
They were planning a “last patrol” celebration this week. After almost 11 months in Iraq, Gainesville-based soldiers of the 48th Brigade Combat Team were ready to go home.
But over the weekend they were told they would have to put their celebration on hold.
The soldiers who won acclaim in December for finding Baby Noor, the Iraqi child with spina bifida, and helping get her to Atlanta for critically needed medical treatment learned they would be staying in Baghdad at least one more month.
Capt. Anthony Fournier, 38, commander of Charlie Company of the 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry, said military officials told him the unit was needed to help combat escalating violence in the capital.
Charlie Company was anticipating leaving Baghdad later this week for reassignment to an area in Iraq considered less dangerous before being sent home about April 15.
Instead, on Sunday the Georgia Army National Guard unit of about 130 soldiers began patrolling treacherous neighborhoods in western Baghdad. About 70 Iraqis were killed that day across the country, including 58 who died in the capital in an assault in the Shiite slum of Sadr City. At least 11 more people died Monday.
Fournier said the timeline for Charlie Company’s return was “still up in the air.”
There was no indication from brigade officials that Charlie Company’s delayed departure would have any impact on the return dates for other 48th units, which are expected to begin coming home around April 20.
Fournier, a social sciences teacher from Augusta, said his soldiers were still motivated to do their job but that several changes in their date of departure had left them frustrated.
Sgt. Michael Flynn, 34, a Paulding County corrections officer from Jasper, said the delay was difficult for the Georgia soldiers, who have been constantly patrolling in their Bradley Fighting Vehicles since they arrived at Baghdad’s Camp Liberty in June.
“You really have to readjust yourself,” Flynn said. “I really don’t think the guys are so much stressed out [from combat]. It’s more of an aggravation with the date change. That’s the worst part for me.”
Flynn said his wife had made and canceled five hotel reservations in the Fort Stewart area in anticipation of his return.
Although Charlie Company is part of the 48th, it has been separated from the brigade and attached to active-duty battalions since the start of the deployment. It currently falls under the 10th Mountain Division’s 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, which patrols in armored Humvees and relies on Charlie Company’s Bradleys for various types of mission.
“It’s good to feel needed, but eventually we’d like to get back home to Georgia,” said 1st Lt. Billy Chau, 30, the company’s executive officer and a fulltime Guard soldier from McDonough.
Fournier said the Iraqis requested a stronger U.S. presence in Baghdad neighborhoods hit especially hard by violence after the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra on Feb. 22.
“Those Bradleys are a powerful presence out there,” said Staff Sgt. David Squires, 47, who works for a hearing aid company in Gainesville.
The Baghdad neighborhoods are new to Charlie Company, which operated mostly in the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad during its first eight months in Iraq. The streets are more congested and there are more buildings in the capital.
“It’s hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys,” said Flynn, who constantly scans the road from his gunner’s turret. “That’s really stressful.”
Starting all over again in unfamiliar territory has been nerve-racking for soldiers so close to going home.
Sgt. Terry Hawkins, 35, a deputy sheriff in Forsyth County, pondered that very thought in the back of a Bradley.
“If I get killed after the rest of the brigade goes home, I’m going to be [angry],” he said.
