Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Daily News
March 18, 2007
By Richard Sisk, Daily News Washington Bureau
FORT DRUM, N.Y. - The Iraq war grinds into its fifth year this week, and during that time the heaviest burden for fighting has fallen on New York's 10th Mountain Division - and its families.
The 10th Mountain is the Army's most deployed division to Iraq and Afghanistan, and the division's 1st Brigade was drilling this weekend in preparation for its third trip to Iraq.
"It's tough, but we have a mission that needs to be accomplished," said Capt. Roberto Sanchez, 34, of Manhattan, a company commander who was running his troops through the indoor firing range on this sprawling base near the Canadian border. "If that means deploying again, we'll deploy," said Sanchez, who has already served two tours in Iraq and expects to lead his company back this summer.
A different message came from some of the families.
"My chances of becoming a widow have just been upped," said Rebecca Spataro-Kearns after learning her husband's tour in Afghanistan was extended at least another 120 days.
Her husband, Staff Sgt. Brendan Kearns, 38, of the Bronx, was due home last month for Valentine's Day. He missed the first birthday of his 22-month-old son, Quinlan, and now he will miss the second. He also has missed his first, fourth and fifth wedding anniversaries while in the Army.
"It really takes strong character to tolerate this. You have no idea of the sacrifices you have to make," Spataro-Kearns, 30, said at a Dunkin' Donuts along a strip of tattoo parlors and cheap motels just outside the base. In the distance, a yellow ribbon was painted on a farm silo for the safe return of the 2nd Brigade from Iraq and the 3rd from Afghanistan.
Staff Sgt. Kearns, a 17-year Army veteran who is on his second tour in Iraq, will likely return to civilian life when he gets back and will give up the pension and benefits that would accrue if he completed 20 years in the Army, his wife said.
"He was a career guy, but he's absolutely changed his mind. He doesn't want to be shot at anymore," Spataro-Kearns said.
War weariness in the 10th Mountain family even extends through generations of West Pointers.
"Right now, we're just trying to hold the sides apart in a civil war. All the junior officers just want to get the hell out," said Bernie Reilly, of Chadds Ford, Pa., a West Point grad who was a combat engineer in Vietnam.
His son, Capt. Bernard Reilly, 28, a Black Hawk helicopter pilot with the 10th Mountain and a 2001 West Point grad, just returned from Afghanistan and had previously served in Iraq.
"My son doesn't necessarily disagree with me, but there's only so much he can say," said the father, now a member of Military Families Speak Out, an anti-war group.
Few thought it would be this way when Operation Iraqi Freedom began on March 19, 2003, with a stealth bombing of Baghdad. The enemy would be quickly subdued, Iraqis would welcome the occupation, and U.S. troops would quickly withdraw.
The record of the 10th Mountain tells another story. The 1st Brigade was the first Army unit on the ground in Afghanistan after 9/11. Since then, the 10th has seen 68 troops killed in Iraq and 50 in Afghanistan - most recently Sgt. Thomas Latham, 23, of Delmar, Md. He was killed in Iraq last week by a roadside bomb. He left behind his wife, Rachel, and two children, Caleb and Ariel.
About half of the 3,500 troops of the 1st Brigade training to go back to Iraq are veterans of previous deployments.
The challenge for Maj. Chris Cassibry, an operations officer with the 1st Brigade, is to get his new troops prepared and keep the veterans from getting complacent. His mantra is that the enemy is smart and constantly changing tactics. "The dumb ones are already dead," he said. "We killed the dumb ones a long time ago."
March 18, 2007
By Richard Sisk, Daily News Washington Bureau
FORT DRUM, N.Y. - The Iraq war grinds into its fifth year this week, and during that time the heaviest burden for fighting has fallen on New York's 10th Mountain Division - and its families.
The 10th Mountain is the Army's most deployed division to Iraq and Afghanistan, and the division's 1st Brigade was drilling this weekend in preparation for its third trip to Iraq.
"It's tough, but we have a mission that needs to be accomplished," said Capt. Roberto Sanchez, 34, of Manhattan, a company commander who was running his troops through the indoor firing range on this sprawling base near the Canadian border. "If that means deploying again, we'll deploy," said Sanchez, who has already served two tours in Iraq and expects to lead his company back this summer.
A different message came from some of the families.
"My chances of becoming a widow have just been upped," said Rebecca Spataro-Kearns after learning her husband's tour in Afghanistan was extended at least another 120 days.
Her husband, Staff Sgt. Brendan Kearns, 38, of the Bronx, was due home last month for Valentine's Day. He missed the first birthday of his 22-month-old son, Quinlan, and now he will miss the second. He also has missed his first, fourth and fifth wedding anniversaries while in the Army.
"It really takes strong character to tolerate this. You have no idea of the sacrifices you have to make," Spataro-Kearns, 30, said at a Dunkin' Donuts along a strip of tattoo parlors and cheap motels just outside the base. In the distance, a yellow ribbon was painted on a farm silo for the safe return of the 2nd Brigade from Iraq and the 3rd from Afghanistan.
Staff Sgt. Kearns, a 17-year Army veteran who is on his second tour in Iraq, will likely return to civilian life when he gets back and will give up the pension and benefits that would accrue if he completed 20 years in the Army, his wife said.
"He was a career guy, but he's absolutely changed his mind. He doesn't want to be shot at anymore," Spataro-Kearns said.
War weariness in the 10th Mountain family even extends through generations of West Pointers.
"Right now, we're just trying to hold the sides apart in a civil war. All the junior officers just want to get the hell out," said Bernie Reilly, of Chadds Ford, Pa., a West Point grad who was a combat engineer in Vietnam.
His son, Capt. Bernard Reilly, 28, a Black Hawk helicopter pilot with the 10th Mountain and a 2001 West Point grad, just returned from Afghanistan and had previously served in Iraq.
"My son doesn't necessarily disagree with me, but there's only so much he can say," said the father, now a member of Military Families Speak Out, an anti-war group.
Few thought it would be this way when Operation Iraqi Freedom began on March 19, 2003, with a stealth bombing of Baghdad. The enemy would be quickly subdued, Iraqis would welcome the occupation, and U.S. troops would quickly withdraw.
The record of the 10th Mountain tells another story. The 1st Brigade was the first Army unit on the ground in Afghanistan after 9/11. Since then, the 10th has seen 68 troops killed in Iraq and 50 in Afghanistan - most recently Sgt. Thomas Latham, 23, of Delmar, Md. He was killed in Iraq last week by a roadside bomb. He left behind his wife, Rachel, and two children, Caleb and Ariel.
About half of the 3,500 troops of the 1st Brigade training to go back to Iraq are veterans of previous deployments.
The challenge for Maj. Chris Cassibry, an operations officer with the 1st Brigade, is to get his new troops prepared and keep the veterans from getting complacent. His mantra is that the enemy is smart and constantly changing tactics. "The dumb ones are already dead," he said. "We killed the dumb ones a long time ago."