Saturday, September 29, 2007

Spend 15 months in Iraq and what do you get?

15 months older and changed in so many ways. Damien Cave talked to troops of the 10th Mountain Division’s Second Brigade as they prepare to return to the US after 15 months south of Baghdad. They have seen and done things that soldiers have done in every war, but through it all is a sense of loss. The loss of important time in their lives and of friends.
Specialist Barranco-Oro remembered him as a joker, a wiry leader from Standish, Mich., who was nicknamed Ski. He had been close not just with Sergeant Wisniewski but also another soldier shot that same day by a sniper, Pfc. Matthew Bean of Pembroke, Mass.

Private Bean later died. Specialist Barranco-Oro, a medic, said he still wished he could have been there to help. He was in another patrol area at the time.

The shock, he said, has flooded back as his return home approaches. “You would never, never think one of your friends won’t be there with you,” Specialist Barranco-Oro said. “Never.”

“You make so many plans: ‘We’re gonna go to Bean’s wedding and live it up; we’re going to Standish with Ski and go hunting and to party it up.’”

He leaned forward and stared straight ahead.

“We’ll still go see the families and stuff,” he said. “But it’s going to be different.”

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