They are returning home with a sense of accomplishment, but also with
feelings of anger and frustration, even despair.
They speak proudly about building up the Iraqi security force, restoring
electricity and watching Iraqis walk miles to vote.
But they wonder whether it will be enough to secure Iraq's future, and at
times, express bitterness toward the people they wanted to help.
Members of the Second Brigade Combat Team,
Pennsylvania National Guard, wait to be out processed at Camp Shelby, near
Hattiesburg, Miss., June 8, 2006. The Pennsylvania Guardsmen patrolled Al
Anbar province, a huge swath of land in western Iraq that's a stronghold
of insurgency. [AP] |
"They're using our good will, our good-nature policy against us," says Sgt.
Bobby Walls, a 38-year-old Pennsylvania National Guard member. "The fact that we
fight as the good guys sometimes turns around and kicks us in the can, you
know?"
Such are the swirling emotions for troops returning home from Iraq. Among the
most recent of those returnees are members of the largest contingent of
Pennsylvania National Guard troops deployed to a combat zone since World War II.
Fifteen from their ranks of about 2,000 were killed during the nearly
yearlong deployment in Iraq's Anbar province, a huge swath of land that's a
stronghold of insurgency. Two others are being investigated in connection with
the shooting death of an Iraqi civilian earlier this year.
For the rest of these part-time soldiers, it can be a struggle as they return
home this summer to regain the sort of normalcy they knew before spending a year
with their lives in danger wherever they went. During stopovers at Camp Shelby
in Mississippi on their way home, some talked about their experiences.
Walls felt helpless and furious as he stood at ground zero on Sept. 11, 2001,
one of several Philadelphia police officers who on their own drove New York City
to help. He vowed to become an infantryman and get even, so the father of three
went off inactive status in the Navy Reserves and joined the Army National
Guard.
At boot camp, the other recruits - many just 18 - called him
grandpa. He lost 45 pounds in basic training and scout school that followed.
Then his unit was sent to Ramadi, which he nicknamed the "meat grinder." He
worked as a sniper, usually with just one partner.
At night, they'd sneak into rural villages and urban areas, tracking
suspected terrorists for hours at a time. Sometimes, they'd kill them.