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DEL.ICIO.USWorking the beat in Iraq
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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| Louie Favorite/AJC |
| Sgt. Jason Strometz of Warner Robins looks through a video camera attached to night-viewing scope. It’s one of the tools used on the western fringes of Iraq by the soldiers of Company H, 121st Infantry (ABN) (LRS). |
• Click here for more photos from the border
Ninevah province, Iraq — Through the ballistic glass of an up-armored Humvee, Sgt. Jeff Stewart sees a brilliant night sky: diamond-bright stars that are impossible to see with the naked eye in urban Atlanta.
The constellation merges with the twinkling lights of Syrian villages on the other side of the border. It is just past midnight and yet the glow gives the appearance of dawn. Stewart almost does not need his night-vision device.
With his three-man team, he sits and waits.
And waits.
• SECOND OF TWO PARTS
Stewart is used to passing time like this. The 9-year veteran of the Atlanta Police Department has participated in enough crime operations back home to know how patience pays off.
“It’s like fishing,” he says.
Right now, he’s on the shore, scoping out the waters — or in this case, a rugged terrain of sand berms and snaking wadis that cut the land like dried-up riverbeds.
Stewart grew up in upstate New York but moved to Atlanta right after college when he was hired by the city police. Since then, he has driven a patrol car or his Kawasaki looking for lawbreakers.
Here on the western fringes of Iraq, Stewart and the soldiers of Company H, 121st Infantry (ABN) (LRS) work in tandem with the Iraqi Border Patrol in an effort to stop illegal border crossers and the flow of smuggled goods. Both, they believe, keep afloat the venomous violence of Iraq.
Company H soldiers leave a nearby Iraqi fort each night and drive to various locations along the border. They sit in the Humvees for five, six or more hours, until they spot illegal crossers or a surveillance plane hovering overhead tips them off.
“It’s the same … just with heavier stuff on,” Stewart says, comparing his task here to what he does in Atlanta. The body armor, Kevlar helmet, ballistic eyewear and ear protection make it impossible to forget that he is in a combat zone.
You have to know the streets
Not that the Georgia Army National Guard soldier is unaccustomed to wearing gear. His police flak jacket saved his life when he went down on his bike.
Police officers specialize in “working their beats,” Stewart says. They have to know the streets, know the little guys in order to catch the big criminals. It’s the same out here. To arrest the men who oversee weapons smuggling, Stewart knows he has to get the man crossing the berm on his mule and work up the chain.
“The problem is that the people we are trying to catch are equally as smart as we are,” Stewart says of the cat-and-mouse game that goes on every night on the porous borderline.
The quiet of the night is deceiving. It’s far removed from the menacing streets of Baghdad, Ramadi, Baqubah, Mahmudiyah. But Stewart knows at any moment all hell could break lose. He never lets down his guard.
Still, the soldiers take turns scanning the landscape; all must figure out ways to pass the long hours.
Stewart is a voracious reader, gobbling up everything from Kurt Vonnegut to grocery store paperbacks. Tonight he has “Seal Team: Combat Missions” illuminated by a headlamp with a red bulb, which gives off less ambient light. Spc. Gary Stanley, whom Stewart calls “Minion,” fumbles with a Boom box in the back seat. He keeps the volume low enough so it can be heard only inside the Humvee.
“Hey, Minion,” Stewart says, asking the 21-year-old from Calhoun to pass a can of Copenhagen.
Stanley is busy looking at photos of his newborn.
The minutes tick by slowly. The desert temperature drops quickly.
In the still of the night
Stewart and his men peer through binoculars and thermal devices that detect anything or anyone giving off heat. Company H has a high-tech Long Range Advanced Scout Surveillance System, which enables the soldiers to see the fur on a dog’s back up to seven miles away.
Tonight, everything is still.
There’s a lot of time to reflect.
Stewart just got back from two weeks leave. The 31-year-old soldier didn’t tell anyone he was going home because he wanted to spend uninterrupted time with his wife, Tara. He thinks of the small moments that add so much to life’s memories, like taking Tara to eat at Bella’s pizza around the corner from their apartment in Vinings. Bella’s has the closest thing to New York pies that you can find in Georgia, Stewart says.
“I wish the deployment went by as fast as my 15 days at home did,” he says. But there’s no sense dwelling on that which cannot be controlled. He abruptly shifts gear, hollering at a comrade:
“Hey, Sarah, make sure you close the turret tonight when we get back in so the cat doesn’t get in here and do crazy things,” he says to his gunner, Spc. Jonathan McLaughlin, whose nickname comes from the Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan, even though their last names are spelled differently.
A stray cat at the Iraqi border fort ate a soldier’s sandwich the day before and, even worse, relieved itself on a canvas backpack.
‘Missions’ around grandmother’s house
McLaughlin just crossed 20 last month. When he gets back home to Kennesaw, he wants to finish a degree in international relations. He loves traveling and hopes to visit China. In his hand is a book about an English missionary’s adventures on the mainland. And Sun Tzu’s military treatise, “Art of War.”
He has picked up enough Arabic to communicate with the Iraqis. His platoon mates call him a sponge — he soaks up stuff fast.
McLaughlin grew up playing soldier with his cousins and ran “missions” around his grandmother’s house. But he was the only one in the family who enlisted.
“I knew Iraq would be a life experience,” he says. “I’ve learned to be a lot more open to new ideas.”
Stewart is like a surrogate father to his young team. Every morning at 5:30, he rouses them from bed to exercise together. Stewart’s driver, Spc. Stephen Robertson, goes running again after the team has finished. That’s why Stewart nicknamed him “Crazy.”
“It’s because I have a lot of anger,” says Robertson, an electrical engineering major at Columbus State University.
“Do you know who Charles Whitman was?” Stewart says about the Texas man who in 1966 killed his wife and mother and then went on a shooting rampage atop a university tower. “He had a lot of anger issues.”
Stewart laughs. He is amused, too, by the suggestion that he is the acting dad for his guys. “My God, I would kill myself if they were my kids,” he says.
“One day, Sergeant Stewart, you’ll like me,” McLaughlin responds from the turret.
“Yeah. I’ll keep you posted,” Stewart says, returning to his book.
Bonds that last a lifetime
War has a strange way of creating the bonds of a lifetime. Stewart’s men are close. The friendships are especially important to McLaughlin, so young and for the first time without his brother Andrew, only 22 months apart in age. “When we were younger, people asked if we were twins,” he says. “Now, they can’t believe we’re brothers. He’s the brains; I’m more athletic.”
At Christmas, McLaughlin’s mother, Karen, sent everyone on her son’s team gifts. The sergeant and Minion received chewing tobacco. Crazy was happy with his Nutter Butters.
As the hours drag by, Stewart monitors the talk on the radio. Each night, a surveillance plane hovers nearby, sending information to Company H men sitting on the border.
“We have not seen anything tonight but one rabbit,” the pilot calls in.
“A rabbit,” Stanley says. “Hey, let’s go catch it.”
It would make for some fine eatin’ in the middle of nowhere.
“We can get you some business further north,” the pilot says.
The soldiers cannot be everywhere at once. Iraq’s border with Syria stretches 400 miles through Ninevah and Anbar provinces.
With morning fast approaching, the Georgia soldiers ride back to the fort with their headlights off, negotiating the bumps and crevices of the gullies until they reach the main road.
Maybe it’s the brightness of the night sky that kept people away. Maybe tomorrow night, they’ll see more action.
Another night of nothing
Day 2. Stewart learns it’s his team’s turn to guard the fort while the rest of the platoon heads out into the wilderness. His men are disappointed — until bad weather moves in.
Unlike the night before, the stars are gone; the sky is black as tar. A Georgia-style thunderstorm is fast approaching. Dust devils spray sand everywhere. In the central courtyard, plastic tables and chairs whirl through the air.
McLaughlin covers his head and face with a scarf, puts on his rain gear and forces his way to the rooftop guard tower.
“I always wanted to be a tornado chaser,” he says.
Stewart and his men take turns up in the guard tower. It’s another night of nothing. The rest of Company H return to the fort early because of the storm.
In the morning, the sun has dried the desert mud. Stewart gets his men and equipment ready to head out again later in the evening.
In the past, Company H has confiscated fuel, cigarettes and other smuggled goods. They have caught and detained people crossing from one nation into another.
Stewart believes the Georgia soldiers’ presence has acted as a deterrent. Perhaps tonight will be quiet again on this distressed nation’s border.
That in itself is a rare, tangible measure of success for Stewart and his team. Progress is often difficult to chart here in Iraq, where circumstances can change with the flick of a detonation device.
Inside the fort, Stewart takes a few free moments in the afternoon to relax atop his Humvee.
Seven months, he says. That’s the time Company H has been running these missions since arriving in Iraq on August 14.
“I never lose track of the 14th of every month.”
Stewart hopes he will only have to count five more ’14s’ before he gets back on the downtown connector, chasing down speeding Atlanta drivers or just writing a parking ticket.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Reports from Iraq
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By Tara
March 27, 2007 6:36 PM | Link to this
I am the wife of SGT Jeff Stewart and I want to say how proud I am to have him as my husband. Everyday he makes sacrafices and sees that his guys safety and well being comes first. Stew is someone you can depend on and know he has your back just like he has mine. I was able to give my husband exciting news a month after his return from his two week leave, I found out I was expecting. Our uninterrupted time had been sucessful, we have a little one on the way the first of November, I’m 8 weeks along and have already seen the little peanut and sent Jeff the picture. It’s times like this that make it hard but you have to be strong and know that they will be home soon. It’s family and great friends that get you through and know that you have a loving husband that is doing what he loves and does best. Just want to thank all the troops and all the love and support from the families. Be safe and know we all are praying and thinking of you.
By Kelly Brunner
March 27, 2007 7:12 PM | Link to this
I am the sister of SPC Gary Stanley, and I also would like to say how proud I am of these guys! I would like to say a special thank to SGT Stewart for taking care of my brother and the guys and I will be gald when you all return HOME… you all are MISSED by your families and LOVED so much. I have so much respect for my brother now, he is a husband and a father, and a damn fine US Soldier! To Company H 121st Airborne Infantry (LRS) thank you for everything you have done, to the families of those soldiers…You are in my thoughts and prayers,be proud of your soldier, because I know I sure am. Company H 121st….I salute you! God Bless you all!
By Big Daddy in Dville
March 28, 2007 5:49 PM | Link to this
I don’t know him, but I’m extremely humbled by what he is doing for my family and this country. May God continue to bless him and his loved ones. (Psalm 91)
By Wanda
March 28, 2007 6:06 PM | Link to this
Thank you so much to Company H and all our soldiers & their families. My son is finishing Airborne this week and will be a part of Company H 121st Airborne. What are honor! Congrats to SGT.Stewart and his wife. Also Thank you for watching the backs of H Company. Proud Mom of an American soldier. You are always in our thoughts & prayers. Hooah!
By Janet Hardy
March 28, 2007 8:41 PM | Link to this
Hello Wanda, I have a son in the 121st,, and these guys are great. Believe me they will watch his back, as he will watch theirs. They are a great group, and will be proud to have your family member.
By Andie
March 28, 2007 9:09 PM | Link to this
Tara, congrats to you and husband - I know you must be ecstatic. Also, congrats to Stanley and his wife on their new arrival. We’ve got a great group of guys over there - Godspeed to all of them.
By By Lynn
March 28, 2007 9:24 PM | Link to this
My son Spc.William Deaver Army servered two years in Iraq. I am blessed to have him at home but you are all still in our prayers for your safely. God Speed you home safely and soon.We love and are proud of you all.