We were driving around in our Humvee when we were hit,” former Army Sergeant Adam Bell remembers. “We came to a secure site and the tank commander and I started to walk. We both stopped and looked three feet in front of us and saw a wire. We followed it about 100 meters and behind a pile of bricks was the end of the wire and a remote control. It never detonated. Someone was watching over me that day.”
Since the invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003, roughly 3,980 U.S. soldiers and between 82 and 89,000 Iraqi citizens have lost their lives. According to a March 19, 2008 article in The New York Times, the government has spent $600 billion dollars on the war, but other accounts are closer to the trillions.
The American invasion set off a civil war between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, the two major Muslim sects in Iraq. American soldiers and the Iraqi people have been striving to make progress in a deeply divided nation. On April 9, 2003, less than a month after the beginning of the war, a statue of Saddam Hussein in central Baghdad was torn down and demolished—a small gesture with powerful significance within the nation. By October of 2005, Iraqi citizens had secured a new constitution, nearly rebuilt the army that had been previously demolished, and voted in the first governmental and parliamentary election since U.S. involvement. That election put a predominantly Shiite regime in control, grossly exacerbating the conflict between Sunnis and Shiites.
Saddam Hussein, the country’s dictator, was executed for crimes against humanity.
Today, many Americans say they support the troops regardless of their stance on the war in Iraq, yet few are aware of how soldiers in Iraq actually spend their days.
Sergeant Bell is from Utica, New York. Marine Lance Corporal Mark Flack and former Army Staff Sergeant Aaron Delmonte are from Hamburg, a suburb to the south of Buffalo. They all agree that the public seems unaware of what is really happening on the ground in Iraq. They also think that Americans don’t realize how detrimental the consequences of an immediate U.S. withdrawal would be. They share their stories to shed some light on the situation and talk about the positive changes they saw during the time they spent serving their country.
Bell joined the military in March of 2004 and was on active duty as part of the Third Battalion, 67 Armored Division for three years. He returned from a one-year tour of duty in Iraq in November of 2006. After being stationed at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Rustamyiah in Baghdad he explains that his experience in the military gave him a different perspective on life. He now feels that the small things are not as important as they once were. His initial reason for joining the military was to continue the long family tradition of military service, but says he really joined for the same reason so many other Americans did. “9/11 solidified my opinion on joining.”
Bell’s unit regularly performed combat missions and roadside bomb sweeps. “Most missions lasted about eight to 12 hours,” said Bell. “The majority of our missions were focused mainly on securing territory.” He and his fellow soldiers, referred to as “tankers,” also worked with Iraqi officials. Bell’s unit would ride around patrolling their section of the city and conduct “meet and greets.” These were discussions with Iraqis aimed at building rapport with the local governments, finding out what they needed, and gathering any information possible about terrorist threats that would put civilians in harm.
Throughout the year Bell was in Iraq, his tank was hit about 13 times by roadside bombs. On one occasion, Bell was in the loader station of the tank when it was struck. “My helmet was blown off and my tank commander was hit in the face with shrapnel.”
Bell recounts one of the most frightful moments he experienced while serving in Iraq. “The tank commander in my platoon was shot in the head and killed by a sniper; that was the worst day.” He and his comrades slept with their weapons every night, and were constantly aware of the danger they had to face.
“Around 100-125 bodies, mostly tortured and executed were found each day,” explains Bell. During the months he was there the violence throughout Iraq was at its highest level. On average, 64 Iraqi civilians were killed each day as a result of executions and car bombings.
U.S. Army officials have continuously stressed how important it is for the Iraqis to be able to secure their own country. Recently, however, power has begun to shift, and more responsibility is being placed in the hands of the Iraqis.
The civilian affairs division of the army is charged with the task of conducting the transition in a smooth manner. Delmonte was in the Army Reserves for eight years, and returned home in April 2007 from his second tour in northern Iraq. His military occupational specialty was civil affairs, which entails working with local authorities and the civilian population. “We serve as liaisons between Iraqi officials and Army commanders.”
Interactions with Iraqi authorities were routine. “We met with local officials to foster cooperation,” said Delmonte. Their unit would speak with the leaders to find out if they required any help in regards to basic utilities, such as water and electricity. They would also go to specific areas where a large number of attacks occurred, and speak with the local leaders to obtain any relevant information.
“We rebuilt everything,” Delmonte says of his missions in Iraq. The crippled Iraqi infrastructure and looting left schools and other businesses stripped. He added that his unit worked to rebuild the damaged schools by helping to supply them with needed materials. They handed out school supplies to the Iraqi children, fixed power lines and power plants, provided medical supplies, held local elections in Basrah, and carried out other work to “fix economic programs.” They handed out books, coats, pencils, book bags, teddy bears, and soccer balls to Iraqi children. “The kids are happy,” Delmonte said. “They love us.”
Less than two years into the war the first free elections were held in Iraq for the first time in over 50 years. Bell felt this was a great step forward, “While I was there two elections were held, there was an extremely good turnout at both and a lot of women were voting.”
The new Iraqi Army is still in the development stage, and has not yet fully come together. “It takes a lot of time to get a working Army running,” said Bell. “This Army is not divided anymore; Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds are all working together.”
During his second tour, Delmonte and his team’s purpose had changed. He discussed the difficulty of the power transition; the U.S. Military had to guide the Iraqi Army and Police to take more responsibility. “We are trying to help win support for the Iraqi forces,” he said.
Although units like Delmonte’s were attempting to help the people of Iraq and rebuild the country, insurgent groups like the largely Sunni Mahdi Army or Al-Qaeda in Iraq continued to foster violence between Sunnis and Shiites. “One big problem is that they aren’t attacking Americans, they are attacking the local population,” said Bell. “They are trying to scare them into not rebuilding.”
Last year, 20,000 more marines were sent to Iraq in a troop surge pressured by George W. Bush. Flack was deployed into Iraq as a part of this hotly debated troop surge on April 13, 2007. He explained that a battalion typically composed of 15,000 Marines doubled in size to 33,000, which took a lot of the pressure off of him. “The more marines in Iraq made my job safer. [That’s why] I came home,” he said.
Flack was already a volunteer fire fighter when, like Bell, the 9/11 attacks inspired him to enlist. He reflects on his time spent in Iraq as a conflicting experience. “The good was helping people in another country. The bad was seeing shit no one else should see.”
Since the surge began, violence seems to have decreased, Bell says. “Most of the people I spoke with said the situation is still improving. Slow and painful, but getting there.”
Bell wishes Americans had a different perception of the war in Iraq. “For the most part, the people there don’t mind us being there, they know we are helping out.” He feels that if the government withdrew all troops, the problems occurring in Iraq right now could come to America. “I’d rather see soldiers fighting and dying in Iraq than American civilians dying here,” Bell said.
He believes that if the U.S. were to pull out now, all of the soldiers who lost their lives would have died for no reason, saying that Americans must be more than supportive of troops. “If you’re going to support the troops, you have to support the mission,” he reasoned.
Delmonte knows that the majority of Americans don’t favor war, but says they don’t understand the consequences of troop withdrawal. He says the media doesn’t portray the progress the U.S. Military is making. “No one likes to see life loss, but [the U.S.] started it and now have to finish it.”
“It takes more time than people have patience for,” Delmonte added. “It is worse to make an unpopular mess and leave it for someone else to clean up than worsen the U.S.’s unilateral image.”
Members of the U.S. Armed Forces in Iraq are there because it’s their job, and they wanted to serve their country. These men witnessed the ups and downs of this difficult situation first hand. Bell thinks that there is hope still left for this war, but it’s going to take time. “If we do this right, we are going to be there for a long time.”
