From The Associated Press, 7/14/03:
http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=13003
Extended deployment for Fort Stewart troops angers Army spouses
The Associated Press - SAVANNAH, Ga.
The Army dashed hopes for late-summer homecomings for thousands of
Fort Stewart soldiers Monday by announcing the troops deployment in
Iraq has been extended with no return date in sight.
The news outraged families of 3rd Infantry Division troops after both
the divisions commanding general and Defense Secretary Donald H.
Rumsfeld said last week they hoped to have the soldiers home by
September.
Theyve boldfaced lied to us, said Julie Galloway, whose husband, Sgt.
Michael Galloway, deployed in November.
When you get even tentative dates, dont do that to us.
Dont pull on our heartstrings that way.
More than 16,500 troops of the 3rd Infantry, based at Fort Stewart in
southeast Georgia, saw some of the heaviest fighting in Iraq as their
tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles led the assault on Baghdad.
A few thousand troops, most from the divisions 3rd Brigade Combat Team
based at Fort Benning in Columbus, began returning last week with
flights continuing through Friday.
But the 1st and 2nd Brigade teams, each with about 4,500 troops, and
other assorted units have been ordered to stay due to the uncertainty
of the situation in Iraq and the recent increase in attacks on the
coalition forces, Maj. Gen. Buford C. Blount III, commander of the 3rd
Infantry, said in an e-mail sent to Army spouses Sunday.
I wish I could tell you how long that is but everything I have told
you before has changed, Blount said in the e-mail, obtained by The
Associated Press.
Blount said last week he hoped to have 2nd Brigade troops, who began
deploying to Kuwait in September, home by Aug. 1 and the 1st Brigade
soldiers following within a month.
While Blount emphasized that schedule was tentative, Rumsfeld echoed
his timetable Wednesday to members of the Senate Armed Services
Committee in Washington.
Its the second time 3rd Infantry soldiers and their families have seen
the Army back off from a tentative return schedule.
After President Bush declared the heavy fighting over May 1, many
families were told to prepare for homecomings in June.
Its very unfair, said Sabina Coleman, whose husband serves with
Galloways in the 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment.
Our husbands have been there before the war, during the war and after
the war and they dont get any piece of mind or anything.
Coleman, who declined to name her husband, said most of the spouses in
her husbands unit were furious when told of the latest delay at a
meeting Sunday night.
My solution for President Bush and Donald Rumsfeld and all those
people is just keep your mouth shut, said Tasha Moore, whose husband,
Capt. Daniel Moore, deployed with the Division Headquarters in
February.
If you dont know the truth, dont say anything at all.
Moore, who stayed in South Carolina after her husband transferred to
Fort Stewart in January, didnt receive official word of the extension
Monday.
But her husband sent her an e-mail from Iraq that morning saying he
expected to stay longer.
Rising casualties among U.S. troops has kept tension high at home.
The 3rd Infantry, which had more deaths than any U.S. military unit
during the war, saw its casualties rise to 36 Monday when the military
confirmed the first division soldier killed since May 8.
Every time a soldier is shot and killed it comes to mind _ is that my
husband? Moore said.
I dont think the government understands what a husband or a wife or
children are going through every day.
_______________________________________________________
The sad exploitation of our troops by a corrupt, know-nothing
administration.
Harry
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