Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
Date:Thursday, March 31, 2005
Section:Front Page; Page:1

By Edward Lee Pitts Military Affairs

CAMP CALDWELL, Iraq — With butterflies in his stomach, Spc. Andrew Rogers wanted to make a good first impression in his inaugural mission with his new unit in the 278th Regimental Combat Team.

But the night patrol with 1st Squadron’s Deacon Company turned sour when the 19-year-old’s expensive night-vision goggles fell off his helmet and shattered as he ran across a bridge.

"I was already looking bad," said Spc. Rogers, an Ooltewah resident who began serving with the 278th in Iraq on Jan. 31. "The first night got the best of me."

Spc. Rogers is one of about 200 replacement soldiers who have joined the Tennessee-based 278th since the regiment arrived in December for a yearlong deployment near the Iranian border.

Maj. Charles Southerland, the regiment’s personnel officer, said the influx of replacements should slow. He said the unit will receive a total of nearly 250 new soldiers before its time in Iraq ends.

The regiment now is operating at about 99 percent of full strength, he said.

Replacement soldiers are needed when combat injuries, other medical hardships or family emergencies force veteran soldiers to leave the regiment, Maj. Southerland said. The regiment can lose soldiers for reasons such as chronic back injuries, pregnancies or the death of a spouse that causes a soldier to be the lone surviving guardian of children, he said.

Maj. Southerland said that after a new soldier is requested it takes about six weeks for a replacement to arrive in Iraq.

Pfc. Kevin Stevens, 22, joined the National Guard last July while the 278th was several weeks into its Iraq training at Camp Shelby, Miss.

He said he knew when he signed his military papers he would be coming to Iraq early in his military career.

"My friends told me I was an idiot," Pfc. Stevens said. "But I don’t mind being a soldier, because you get a lot of respect now. It is not like coming back from Vietnam, when you were shunned."

A resident of Sevierville, Tenn., Pfc. Stevens graduated from basic training in November, the same month most of the 278th troops arrived in the Middle East to begin this deployment. He joined the regiment here in February.

Spc. Rogers said he wanted to come to Iraq as soon as his guidance counselor talked him into joining the military during his junior year of high school in March 2003. He specifically asked for combat-arms training, he said.

"When I signed up I wanted to do all the things you dream of as a kid playing GI Joe in the woods," said Spc. Rogers, who finished training at Camp Shelby in December 2004 soon after the rest of the regiment had come to Iraq. "I came over here burning with anticipation, expecting action."

But Spc. Rogers and Pfc. Stevens agreed the action has been light in this sector of Iraq. "The way your drill sergeant makes it look like, you are getting shot at every single day here," Pfc. Stevens said. "But once you get here it is more down time than you are used to."

However, there is plenty of proof Iraq is a dangerous place, Spc. Rogers said.

"You see IED (improvised explosive device) holes all over the road," he said of the roadside bombs many U.S. soldiers consider the region’s most dangerous menace. "You have to be on your guard."

Patrolling the streets of Mandila with Deacon Company, Spc. Rogers said he has learned to be careful about who to trust in the Iraqi community.

"One second they can be your best friend, and that night they are out setting (bombs)," he said.

RETURN TO DUTY

Not all the replacements are new to the regiment.

Sgt. Tammy Hoadley rejoined the 278th in February after recovering from a broken hand sustained during the convoy from Tennessee to Camp Shelby last June. She said she quickly tired of sitting at home while her regiment was serving in Iraq.

"I fought to come back," said Sgt. Hoadley, of Knoxville. "I called all the time asking, ‘When am I going?’"

Her return to the regiment brought her to a different unit, where she has learned a new job and gotten used to new officers, she said.

Spc. Heather Ripley, 29, of Clarksville, Tenn., was working to become commissioned as an officer through the ROTC program at Austin Peay State University when she was shipped to Iraq as an enlisted soldier. She had joined the National Guard before entering the ROTC program. But the college junior, who arrived here about a month ago, said she does not regret the delay in her education and training.

She said her job in military intelligence allows her to shadow officers and gain insights into combat decision-making she could not learn in a classroom.

Once called to serve with the 278th, the new soldiers are shuttled from Tennessee to Camp Shelby to Kuwait and then into Iraq, undergoing a condensed version of roughly the same process the entire regiment followed to get here.

"We crammed all the training that they did into one month," said Spc. Ripley, who spent January at Camp Shelby.

Learning just the basics at Camp Shelby has forced the replacements to master new skills on the job. For Spc. Rogers and Pfc. Stevens, this has meant learning how to communicate silently while conducting foot patrols in potentially hostile Iraqi villages — not the mock villages the rest of Deacon Company practiced in while in the United States.

FITTING IN

Sgt. Mark Byars, platoon sergeant for Spc. Rogers and Pfc. Stevens, said replacements coming into a combat zone have to adjust to a new unit, a new environment and a new mission in which mistakes can cost lives. He said they have to get used to routines the rest of the regiment takes for granted, including carrying a weapon at all times.

"When you bring a new person in, you make sure they know all the do’s and don’ts out there in the war zones," Sgt. Byars said.

All the replacement soldiers interviewed said they had little trouble fitting in and connecting with their 278th comrades. Pfc. Stevens said it did not take long to learn all of his unit’s inside jokes and nicknames.

"They treat us like family over here," he said. "They treat us like we’ve always been there." Chief Warrant Officer Polly Fly, a military personnel technician, said it is easier for replacements in National Guard units to adjust because they usually come from the same state as the rest of the soldiers. "These guys are Tennessee guys, so they fit right in," she said.

Spc. Rogers said he is having the time of his life.

"I’m eating it up," he said Tuesday afternoon while playing video games with Pfc. Stevens during a lull in missions. "I’m going to be proud to go back and say I’ve already served in Iraq. For the rest of my life, it will be something nobody can take away from me."

E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com

ON THE WEB Photos by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika of the 278th Regimental Combat Team are available on the Times Free Press Web site. Visit http://www.timesfreepress.com/kp.

Staff Photo by Edward Lee Pitts - From left, Sgt. Mark Byars, Spc. Andrew Rogers and Pfc. Kevin Stevens listen to a mission briefing Tuesday at Camp Caldwell, Iraq. Spc. Rogers and Pfc. Stevens joined the 278th Regimental Combat Team in Iraq as replacement soldiers.

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