PapaBear
08-31-2010, 07:12 PM
It's probably more relevant to post here.
This story is about my son's unit in Iraq, and how they feel about the "end of combat operations". Andrew was on a mission in the mountains when this report was filmed, so he's not in it. But this gives a good synopsis of what my son does on a daily basis. He emailed me about two weeks ago to tell me about how they were resentful of the news coverage, and how they paint a picture of "no combat".
Bringing the Troops Home from Iraq (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20015078-503543.html#addcomm)
We spent a couple of days with Rish and 27 other soldiers from Apache troop, 3rd Squadron of the 7th U.S. Cavalry in the small town of Zummar, about 25 miles from the Syrian border in northwestern Iraq. They are there with 21 Iraqi army soldiers and 21 troops from the Kurdish peshmerga armed forces to man a control point on the main road from Syria to the city of Mosul. The road runs right along the front line between Iraqi Arab and Kurdish areas in northern Iraq, and has long been an infiltration route for foreign fighters coming in from Syria.
An IED went off in the town two weeks ago, and Rish's commander, Captain Keith Benoit, received intelligence reports that another attack was planned for the coming days. He led a patrol of American, Iraqi and Kurdish troops through the town's market, and even though the atmospherics seemed pretty good, the soldiers didn't let down their guard.
Most of the soldiers we spoke with were pretty resentful about the idea that combat is over. There are still 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. Yes, their main mission is now training and assisting the Iraqi security forces - but every time they step outside the wire with the Iraqis they are assuming the same risks of IEDs and gunshots as before.
<embed src="http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf" scale="noscale" salign="lt" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" background="#333333" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="si=254&uvpc=http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/uvp_cbsnews.xml&contentType=videoId&contentValue=50092323&ccEnabled=false&hdEnabled=false&fsEnabled=true&shareEnabled=false&dlEnabled=false&subEnabled=false&playlistDisplay=none&playlistType=none&playerWidth=425&playerHeight=239&vidWidth=425&vidHeight=239&autoplay=false&bbuttonDisplay=none&playOverlayText=PLAY%20CBS%20NEWS%20VIDEO&refreshMpuEnabled=true&shareUrl=http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6819095n&adEngine=dart&adCallTemplate=http://www.cbs.com/thunder/ad.doubleclick.net/adx/request.php?/can/news/undefined;site=news;show=undefined;undefinedpartne r=news;lvid=50092323;outlet=CBS+Production;noAd=un defined;type=ros;format=FLV;pos=undefined;sz=320x2 40;ord=234205;playerVersion=1.0;&adPreroll=true&adPrerollType=PreContent&adPrerollValue=1" height="279" width="425">
Fortunately, he should be coming home sometime next month.
This story is about my son's unit in Iraq, and how they feel about the "end of combat operations". Andrew was on a mission in the mountains when this report was filmed, so he's not in it. But this gives a good synopsis of what my son does on a daily basis. He emailed me about two weeks ago to tell me about how they were resentful of the news coverage, and how they paint a picture of "no combat".
Bringing the Troops Home from Iraq (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20015078-503543.html#addcomm)
We spent a couple of days with Rish and 27 other soldiers from Apache troop, 3rd Squadron of the 7th U.S. Cavalry in the small town of Zummar, about 25 miles from the Syrian border in northwestern Iraq. They are there with 21 Iraqi army soldiers and 21 troops from the Kurdish peshmerga armed forces to man a control point on the main road from Syria to the city of Mosul. The road runs right along the front line between Iraqi Arab and Kurdish areas in northern Iraq, and has long been an infiltration route for foreign fighters coming in from Syria.
An IED went off in the town two weeks ago, and Rish's commander, Captain Keith Benoit, received intelligence reports that another attack was planned for the coming days. He led a patrol of American, Iraqi and Kurdish troops through the town's market, and even though the atmospherics seemed pretty good, the soldiers didn't let down their guard.
Most of the soldiers we spoke with were pretty resentful about the idea that combat is over. There are still 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. Yes, their main mission is now training and assisting the Iraqi security forces - but every time they step outside the wire with the Iraqis they are assuming the same risks of IEDs and gunshots as before.
<embed src="http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf" scale="noscale" salign="lt" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" background="#333333" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="si=254&uvpc=http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/uvp_cbsnews.xml&contentType=videoId&contentValue=50092323&ccEnabled=false&hdEnabled=false&fsEnabled=true&shareEnabled=false&dlEnabled=false&subEnabled=false&playlistDisplay=none&playlistType=none&playerWidth=425&playerHeight=239&vidWidth=425&vidHeight=239&autoplay=false&bbuttonDisplay=none&playOverlayText=PLAY%20CBS%20NEWS%20VIDEO&refreshMpuEnabled=true&shareUrl=http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6819095n&adEngine=dart&adCallTemplate=http://www.cbs.com/thunder/ad.doubleclick.net/adx/request.php?/can/news/undefined;site=news;show=undefined;undefinedpartne r=news;lvid=50092323;outlet=CBS+Production;noAd=un defined;type=ros;format=FLV;pos=undefined;sz=320x2 40;ord=234205;playerVersion=1.0;&adPreroll=true&adPrerollType=PreContent&adPrerollValue=1" height="279" width="425">
Fortunately, he should be coming home sometime next month.