Finally! Some relatively good Iraq-related news.

Just got this e-mail from my old friend Becca, whose husband Larry is temporarily home from Iraq:


We attended a breakfast Monday; little did we know it would be a room 500 strong with PBS there. This article came out in the Middletown (Connecticut) Press. This war has been hell for us but when groups show support like this it does make it easier. When Larry returned today he had a pit stop, upon departing the plane there was applause for him. As usual he had to be told it was for him. He thought it was for someone else. And some of you wondered why after 7 years I married the man. If any of you know a soldier please pay that individual the respect and kindness that has been paid to my family, every soldier deserves the best this country can offer.

All my best,

Rebecca.


Charmin, a baby, and more yet to be done

By JEFF MILL, Middletown Press Staff

11/23/2004

CROMWELL -- While U.S. Rep. Robert R. Simmons, R-2, was the guest speaker at Monday’s Chamber of Commerce breakfast, the real guests of honor were three area residents who are either serving or have recently returned from Iraq.

They are Capt. Thamus Morgan of Clinton. S/Sgt. Nicholas Baboolal of Middletown, and Staff Sgt. Lawrence Shen of Wethersfield.

Capt. Morgan, a veterinarian, returned from Iraq two weeks ago; SFC Baboolal, a Middletown police officer, came back in August; and S/Sgt. Shen, a computer support technician for Liberty Bank, is home on a two-week leave, and is scheduled to return to the war zone this week.

Shen’s presence had a special poignancy, beyond just his impending return to the war. He brought his wife Rebecca and the couple’s infant son, John, to the breakfast.

The sight of Shen, clad in his desert fatigues, cradling his tiny child in his arms, brought home more clearly and forcefully than mere words could, the reality of the sacrifice military families endure.

Shen is assigned to the 454th Transportation Co., which is stationed in Tikrit, north of Baghdad.

He had come home for John’s birth, and then gone right back to Iraq; two weeks ago, "It was my turn," and he came home on leave. When he returns later this week, he will have four months left on his scheduled deployment -- barring an extension of his tour.

In saluting the Shens, Liberty Bank president Paul McConnell told him the Blue Star flag -- denoting an employee in the service -- will remain flying until his safe return.

When he came home, Baboolal simply changed one uniform -- his fatigues -- for another -- his Middletown PD blues.

A member of the police department since 2001, Baboolal is a military policeman, assigned to the 94th Military Police detachment based in New Hampshire. With the increased use of the Reserves and the National Guard to bolster the regular army, "They send people where they are needed," he said, in explaining his assignment to a Granite State unit.

He was interrupted at one point by Ron Organek, a Vietnam veteran who also served in the Gulf War, and is now a veteran’s affairs columnist for The Press.

He stopped to thank Baboolal, and to tell him, "I was one of those Vietnam veterans who was spit on and called ‘babykiller’. And that’s never going to happen again. I don’t care who the hell they are!"

Baboolal’s unit was stationed near Fallujah in western Iraq. "But we traveled the whole country, up to the Jordanian and Syrian borders and down to Kuwait." The constant moving played havoc with his ground mail service, Baboolal said. "It took six months for the mail to catch up with us."

"The mail was slow, and our other communication was not always there. The Internet connections and telephone services was up and down."

Baboolal described himself as "one of the lucky ones who made it." But, he said, he would willingly go back, if only to help train inexperienced soldiers coming into country.

What Thamus Morgan appreciated most when she got home was "Pizza! There is no pizza in Iraq," she explained. "Pepperoni and mushroom pizza. And a cold beer!"

Morgan was deployed as part of a special operations unit from Kalamazoo, Mich. (see Baboolal’s explanation above). "I was boots on the ground (in Iraq) for nine months," although her "actual deployment was 12 months."

I was all over; I had hundreds of missions and thousands of clients," ranging over thousands of miles. The Harvard-trained veterinarian said her status as a doctor was especially useful: "It opened a lot of doors." In fact, Morgan said, "being a doctor was more of a calling card than being a captain."

Her five-member team roamed far and wide, meeting villagers, establishing clinics, and developing health-care programs. Morgan said she was particularly pleased with the impact on Iraqi women.

She said Iraq is "a very well-educated country," which has essentially been traumatized by 35 years of Saddam Hussein’s rule. So women "knew a lot of this information was out there (about health issues), but they were never allowed to collect it."

"Now, these women are getting together and being involved more in their community. It’s great," Morgan said, adding, "I think we really helped to empower them. So, that part was just fabulous."

Morgan came to the breakfast in the company of her mother, Joyce Brinley, who finds her daughter "more bubbly" since her return.

"I jumped for joy when I heard she was finally coming home," Brinley said. "And how."

Mother and daughter stayed in near-constant communication via e-mail. Brinley said she was "very grateful to the U.S. Postal Service."

"They’ve been a Godsend!" Morgan agreed, because her mother used the postal service to send her "Charmin. Nothing’s better than good, soft toilet paper!"

Morgan had "a very, very, very, very, low-key homecoming. It was a lot harder decompressing than I’d anticipated.

"We were outside the wire; we were very vulnerable," she explained. And, she acknowledged, "I wouldn’t have been able to do this two weeks ago. I wouldn’t have been able to handle this many people.

"You’re on guard constantly," she continued. "On one level, everyone is out to kill you. It’s a war zone, so you an never let down your guard."

If she needs any further reminder of the dangers inherent in her mission, all she needs to do is look down at her right wrist: she wears a silver bracelet that carries the name of Spc. Nicole Frye, who was a member of her unit. A Wisconsin native, Frye was killed by an improvised explosive device (an IED) on Feb. 16 near Bakubah.

Morgan expects she will be ordered back to the war zone perhaps as early as next week.

"I had a fabulous first tour," she said. "I’ve done a lot of work already, and I want to be able to do more." Speaking of the Iraqis, she added, "I really want to see them succeed."

especially nauseating was the closing comment about two dead Iraqis and the Marines who couldn't wait to get back to "work".

:thumbsdown:

I hope he comes home safe and soon! How horrendous must it be for the families to live each moment their loved ones are in that place! To wonder from moment to moment if he/she is safe. I don't know how I would be able to handle it. Youth helps, but not all are young!

Again, may your friends husband come home safe and soon!!!