Army Unit’s Second Iraq Deployment

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June 18, 2008 Special Report With Brit Hume (FNC), 6:00 PM
BRIT HUME: In Iraq, members of the U.S. Army’s 1st Battalion 68th Armored Regiment are once again in the line of fire. This is the second deployment to Iraq for the Silver Lions, as they’re called, and for the second time correspondent Malini Bawa is traveling with the troops. She reports tonight from near the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City.
MAILINI BAWA: Bakubah, September, 2006, soldiers from the 168 Silver Lions jumped from helicopters in a daring raid against suspected insurgents. Eighteen months later, the same unit prepares for a mission in Bagdad’s Sadr City. I embedded with the 168 both times as they served two deployments in two volatile areas.
1st LT. MATT VIGEANT [U.S. Army]: Bakubah you had that sectarian mix of Sunni-Shi’a, a lot of al Qaeda fighting there.
BAWA: Al Qaeda fighters tend to use hit-and-run tactics, targeting markets and mosques with major explosions and ambushing U.S. troops with roadside bombs. In eastern Baghdad, Shiite militias use EFPs – explosively formed penetrators – the deadliest roadside bombs, but they also employ more conventional weapons like mortars and machine guns.
CAPT. RYAN BROWN [U.S. Army]: These guys are actually facing us in the streets and shooting at us and letting us shoot back. Kind of a nice change.
BAWA: Two years later it’s a different enemy, a different location, but with back-to-back deployments taking the soldiers away from home so much, there’s also a personal cost.
The Pentagon worries about retaining young captains like these three, part of the 168 mustache club. They’ll be away from home for two out of three years, a major strain on families with young children. And they have mixed views about their futures in the Army.
BROWN: It’s real tough. I mean, you’re home for not very long and you’re right back on the bird coming back over. I personally – I’m not planning on staying in.
CAPT. DREW LORENTZEN [U.S. Army]: If the economy keeps going down like it is, I’ll have no problem staying in the Army.
BAWA: For some, repeated deployments to Iraq have affected their politics.
CAPT. TWILLEY: My personal feelings about being here, and if there’s a future in Iraq for the U.S., and would probably influence my vote very heavily.
LORENTZEN: My main issues back home, higher taxes, national healthcare. I’m against both those.
BAWA: For those who won’t return again, their presence will be sorely missed.
BROWN: It definitely makes a difference having the same guys, I mean, because we’re used to working with each other. We’ve been together for so long. We know each others strengths and weaknesses.
BAWA: Near Sadr City, Baghdad, Malini Bawa, Fox News.
 
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