Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Houston Chronicle
December 17, 2006
Pg. 24
By Russ Bynum, Associated Press
FORT STEWART Ga. -- With two combat tours under his belt and an unprecedented third fast approaching, Army Sgt. Steve Butcher gets a lot of questions about Iraq from his 6-year-old daughter, Molly.
Do men use guns? Yes.
Do people get killed? Yes.
"Daddy, that's stupid," she told him when he returned from his second deployment about a year ago.
Recruits in Butcher's infantry unit have questions as well. Why are U.S. troops still in Iraq? Should they be going back?
Butcher, 27, sees the war in terms of simple economics: time, money and effort spend by terrorists fighting American forces in Iraq leaves them with fewer resources to plot another Sept. 11 back home.
"That's really all the justification I need," says Butcher, a squad leader from Rochester, N.Y. "I don't really worry about the politics of it. I can't do anything about that anyway."
While U.S. policymakers weigh bleak assessments of Iraq's future and Americans question the war's slow progress, the Fort Stewart-based 3rd Infantry Division will begin deploying in January for its third tour.
With its latest deployment orders, the 3rd Infantry has been called to duty in Iraq more than any division in the Army. Its tanks and armored Bradley vehicles were among the first to rumble into Baghdad in the 2003 invasion.
The Fort Stewart-based troops have either been at war or training for it ever since. They deployed a second time in 2005 as Iraq elected its first democratic government. Now, a year after soldiers came home to their families, they'll be saying goodbye again.
That's not what Staff Sgt. Julius Moton expected after he deployed to topple Saddam Hussein's regime nearly four years ago. He'll be among the first wave of more than 4,000 troops with the division's 1st Brigade to depart next month.
"I thought that was it," said Moton, 27, of Cleveland, recalling the end of his first tour. "Now this time, it's almost less than a year from the last time. It's pretty stressful."
Most troops expected after returning from their second rotation that they would have to go back to Iraq, said Lt. Paul Fleming, a platoon leader in the 1st Brigade.
December 17, 2006
Pg. 24
By Russ Bynum, Associated Press
FORT STEWART Ga. -- With two combat tours under his belt and an unprecedented third fast approaching, Army Sgt. Steve Butcher gets a lot of questions about Iraq from his 6-year-old daughter, Molly.
Do men use guns? Yes.
Do people get killed? Yes.
"Daddy, that's stupid," she told him when he returned from his second deployment about a year ago.
Recruits in Butcher's infantry unit have questions as well. Why are U.S. troops still in Iraq? Should they be going back?
Butcher, 27, sees the war in terms of simple economics: time, money and effort spend by terrorists fighting American forces in Iraq leaves them with fewer resources to plot another Sept. 11 back home.
"That's really all the justification I need," says Butcher, a squad leader from Rochester, N.Y. "I don't really worry about the politics of it. I can't do anything about that anyway."
While U.S. policymakers weigh bleak assessments of Iraq's future and Americans question the war's slow progress, the Fort Stewart-based 3rd Infantry Division will begin deploying in January for its third tour.
With its latest deployment orders, the 3rd Infantry has been called to duty in Iraq more than any division in the Army. Its tanks and armored Bradley vehicles were among the first to rumble into Baghdad in the 2003 invasion.
The Fort Stewart-based troops have either been at war or training for it ever since. They deployed a second time in 2005 as Iraq elected its first democratic government. Now, a year after soldiers came home to their families, they'll be saying goodbye again.
That's not what Staff Sgt. Julius Moton expected after he deployed to topple Saddam Hussein's regime nearly four years ago. He'll be among the first wave of more than 4,000 troops with the division's 1st Brigade to depart next month.
"I thought that was it," said Moton, 27, of Cleveland, recalling the end of his first tour. "Now this time, it's almost less than a year from the last time. It's pretty stressful."
Most troops expected after returning from their second rotation that they would have to go back to Iraq, said Lt. Paul Fleming, a platoon leader in the 1st Brigade.
