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February 9,
2005
[Have an opinion about the issues discussed in this article?
Sound
off in our Discussion Boards.]
By Steve Liewer,
Stars and Stripes, European edition
Christina Shockey welcomes her husband, Spc. Stephen Shockey, with
a kiss as the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry soldier holds 2-year-old
Hannah Monday at Schweinfurt, Germany. (Photo by Kristen Chandler
Toth / U.S. Army)
SCHWEINFURT, Germany – The ground-pounders are coming home.
Three jetloads of infantry and armor soldiers from the 1st Infantry
Division’s 2nd Brigade combat team arrived in Schweinfurt on Monday
after nearly a year of hot, dirty, bloody work battling Iraqi insurgents
in Saddam
Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit.
Hundreds of family members toting signs and balloons trickled into the gym at Schweinfurt’s Conn Barracks to welcome home their troops at two ceremonies Monday afternoon and evening. Two hundred fifty-eight of the soldiers came from the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, and 40 represented the 1st Battalion, 77th Armor Regiment.
It was a happy end to a stressful year.
“It’s long overdue,” said Master Sgt. Jason Travis as he cuddled his 16-month-old daughter, Anastasia. “It’s great to be home.”
The 1-18 Infantry patrolled a relatively calm sector of the Sunni Triangle, a restive region north and west of Baghdad that includes many pockets of rebellion.
That meant soldiers spent more time on constructive efforts such as boosting local governments in Tikrit and nearby villages such as Owja and Wynot while building new schools and health clinics. The area saw voter turnouts of 80 percent to 90 percent during the Jan. 31 elections, said 1st Sgt. John Hatley, 36, of Groesbeck, Texas, the senior noncommissioned officer to return Monday.
But it still meant countering almost daily attacks by insurgents using
roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenades. Six 1-18 Infantry soldiers
died in Iraq, four of them last March in the unit’s first three weeks
patrolling Tikrit. One of the dead was a popular company commander,
Capt. John F. “Hans” Kurth, who died with his driver, Spc. Jason Ford,
in a bomb attack.
“It feels so good not to have to worry anymore,” said Olga Kurviel as she waited for her husband, Sgt. Richard Kurviel of the 1-18 Infantry, with her two children, Alexandra, 8, and Ricky, 4. “Thank God they’re coming home safe.”
Sgt. 1st Class Rachelle Gattenby of the Würzburg-based 67th Combat Support Hospital waited with her 5-year-old daughter, Gillian, for her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Brian Gattenby, a 1-77 Armor soldier who was attached to the 1-18 Infantry.
She, too, just returned from a year in Iraq, during which Gillian
stayed with her grandparents in the United States. Being deployed
near her husband made little difference. Aside from their two weeks
of rest-and-recuperation leave, they saw each other only three times.
“He was eight miles from us, but it might as well have been 800 miles,” Rachelle Gattenby said. “It was hard. We supported those guys from the 1-18 (Infantry). But we prayed every day they didn’t show up in the hospital.”
In spite of the hardships, several soldiers said they had no regrets about their mission in Iraq.
“I was proud to be part of this,” said Richard Kurviel, 26, of San Antonio. “It’s been an experience I won’t forget.”
“I’d redeploy with these guys in a heartbeat,” added Hatley.
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