Stephen Colbert gets scalped in Iraq

Stephen Colbert high-fives a serviceman after submitting to a military-style haircut in Iraq on Sunday.

In Iraq, Colbert gets military haircut to show his solidarity
Story Highlights
Stephen Colbert tapes first of four shows he'll produce in Iraq this week

Comedian tells guest, the imposing Gen. Ray Odierno, it's like "interviewing Shrek"

At President Obama's taped orders, Odierno cuts Colbert's hair to wild cheering

Sunday show to be televised on the Comedy Central network Monday night

From Jomana Karadsheh
CNN

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq -- Stephen Colbert left no doubt about his solidarity with American troops when he taped the first of four Comedy Central shows he'll produce in Iraq this week.

Colbert, wearing a business suit made of the same camouflaged material used for soldiers' desert uniforms, submitted to a regulation military haircut as hundreds of U.S. troops cheered wildly Sunday.

The comedian, who satirizes conservative TV pundits on his "Colbert Report," began his "Operation Iraqi Stephen: Going Commando" USO tour Sunday in the Baghdad headquarters of the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq.

"It must be nice in Iraq, because some of you keep coming back again and again," Colbert said, joking about the multiple tour many troops have had in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. Some troops had accumulated enough frequent flyer miles to earn them a free ticket to Afghanistan, he joked.
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http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/06/07/colbert.iraq/index.html

Spartans Living the soldier's creed

Living by the Soldier's Creed
Multi-National Division Baghdad
Story by Staff Sgt. Peter Ford
Date: 06.06.2009
Posted: 06.06.2009 02:21

BAGHDAD — I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade.

All Army Soldiers are required to know the Soldier's Creed, but the Soldiers of 591st Military Police Company "Spartans," 93rd MP Battalion, 8th MP Brigade not only know it, they live by it. They always place the mission first.

The Spartans, a police transition team that advises Iraqi police, received a distress call over the radio as they prepared to go home after a long day at al-Awad Police Station, June 3. A Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle had rolled over into a ravine less than three miles away. Without hesitation, the Spartans went to the aid of their fellow Soldiers.
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http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=news/news_show.php&id=34630

Operation Iraqi Stephen: Going Commando

Stephen Colbert lands in Iraq for new shows
Fri Jun 5, 2009

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Making a surprise visit to Iraq is not just for presidents anymore.

Comedian Stephen Colbert has landed in the battle-scarred country to broadcast four episodes of his TV show, "The Colbert Report," which spoofs U.S. politics and culture.

Cable television network Comedy Central on Friday said "The Colbert Report" will be broadcast from Iraq Monday through Thursday (June 8 - June 11) under the banner "Operation Iraqi Stephen: Going Commando."
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Stephen Colbert lands in Iraq for new shows

Sergeant Joseph Huiet is on his sixth tour of duty

Fatal shooting shows stress risk facing U.S. troops
Sun May 31, 2009
By Tim Cocks

COMBAT OUTPOST COBRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Experts say the risk of soldiers suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) goes up substantially on their third tour of duty. Sergeant Joseph Huiet is on his sixth.

The killing of five U.S. soldiers at a clinic in Iraq two weeks ago by a comrade on his third tour, possibly suffering a stress disorder, has led to soul-searching in the U.S. military about the effects of serial deployments.

Huiet, 28, from Modesto, California, took part in the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, just a week after completing basic training. More than six years later, he's still here and on his second marriage.

"Dealing with the stress has been real hard," he said inside combat outpost "Cobra," on the edge of Iraq's violent Diyala province.

"I've had times when I'm extremely angry, when I'm stressed out and so pent up I wanted to shoot or punch something. But I didn't," said Huiet, whose brigade is based in Alaska. A recent hardship: his daughter was born the day he started this tour.

Stress suffered by U.S. soldiers during multiple deployments came under the spotlight when a U.S. soldier shot dead five others at a clinic on May 14. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, suggested stress was a factor.
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Fatal shooting shows stress risk facing US troops
Reuters - USA

National Guardsman Struggles to Find a Job

The Penalty for Serving: After Iraq, a National Guardsman Struggles to Find a Job

This article is adapted from Christian Davenport's book, "As You Were: To War and Back With the Black Hawk Battalion of the Virginia National Guard," which is being published June 1 by John Wiley & Sons Inc. (Courtesy John Wiley & Sons Inc.)

Craig Lewis, now a captain in the Army National Guard, found job prospects grim when he returned from Iraq. (Hector Emanuel)

Craig Lewis and Christian Davenport
Captain, Army National Guard; Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 26, 2009; 12:00 PM

Craig Lewis is a helicopter pilot with combat experience and a college degree. So why didn't anyone seem interested in hiring him after he returned from Iraq?


Craig Lewis, a captain in the Army National Guard, was online Tuesday, May 26 to discuss his efforts to find a job and return to life at home after serving in Iraq. Joining him was Christian Davenport, a Washington Post staff writer who covers military affairs and chronicles Lewis's story in his new book, "As You Were: To War and Back With the Black Hawk Battalion of the Virginia National Guard."
Christian Davenport: Greetings,

Welcome to the chat. Craig and I are eager to get to your questions about the piece. But I wanted to first give a little background about how I came to write about Craig and some of his fellow soldiers returning to civilian life after Iraq. I embedded with their unit, the Virginia Army National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 224th Aviation Regiment, for a couple of weeks at the beginning of 2007, then flew home with them and spent the next year following their reintegration. I wanted to tell this story because the National Guard has played such an important role in this war, and yet has been, I think, overlooked.

Unlike the active duty, which returns home to big bases and are surrounded by fellow service members, the citizen-soldiers of the Guard come almost immediately back to civilian life, where they're expected to pick up where they left off. And as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue, they face multiple tours and repeat the jarring process of leaving families and civilian jobs again and again. Then there are the domestic emergencies they respond to, such as Hurricane Katrina.

Craig's story obviously focuses on what can happen to reservists' civilian careers, and let's be clear: soldiers aren't the only ones who sacrifice. The deployments create quite a hardship on employers as well, who often have to scramble to fill vacancies on short notice. But there are often other issues that come up, some of which I explored in the book. For example, one of the soldiers I followed was asked, eight days after he got home, if he would return to Iraq with another unit in a few months -- a decision that weighed heavily on him. Another was a Vietnam veteran, who deployed to Iraq at age 58, a time when his wife thought they should be thinking about retirement, not war. Another was a medic who struggled to get treatment for her post traumatic stress disorder.
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The Penalty for Serving

Troops in Iraq, Afghanistan honor their fallen at Camp Victory

Troops in Iraq, Afghanistan honor their fallen

By Chelsea J. Carter and Heidi Vogt - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday May 26, 2009 8:51:00 EDT

BAGHDAD — American troops on Memorial Day honored their fallen on two battlefields, one war winding down and another ramping up. In Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military remembered the toll so far on the troops — more than 4,900 dead — with the outcome still unclear.

In Iraq, soldiers and Marines stood solemnly during a playing of Taps at Baghdad’s Camp Victory. They saluted a memorial of a single helmet propped on a rifle beside a pair of boots.

Thousands of miles away, in the Afghan capital of Kabul, soldiers left mementos at a similar memorial for two comrades who recently died.

“Memorial Day for us is intensely personal,” Gen. David McKiernan, the outgoing U.S. commander in Afghanistan, told a crowd at Camp Eggers. The training command based there has lost 70 soldiers since last Memorial Day.

“It is the empty seat in the mess hall, the battle buddy who is no longer here, or the friend who did not return from patrol. And it is the commitment to carry on with the mission in their honor,” McKiernan said.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/05/ap_iraq_afghanistan_memorial_day_052609/

U.S. Troops Unfit for Combat

U.S. Troops Unfit for Combat?
Thursday, 21 May 2009 00:28 Dahr Jamail
t r u t h o u t Perspective

This Monday at 2 PM Baghdad time, a US soldier gunned down five fellow soldiers at a stress-counseling center at a US base in Baghdad. Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at a news conference at the Pentagon that the shootings occurred in a place where "individuals were seeking help." Admiral Mullen added, "It does speak to me, though, about the need for us to redouble our efforts, the concern in terms of dealing with the stress.... It also speaks to the issue of multiple deployments."

Commenting on the incident in nearly parallel terms, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that the Pentagon needs to redouble its efforts to relieve stress caused by repeated deployments in war zones that is further exacerbated by limited time at home in between deployments.

The condition described by Mullen and Gates is what veteran health experts often refer to as PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).

While soldiers returning home are routinely involved in shootings, suicide, and other forms of self-destructive violent behaviors as a direct result of their experiences in Iraq, we have yet to see an event of this magnitude in Iraq.

The last reported incident of this kind happened in 2005 when an Army captain and lieutenant were killed when an anti-personnel mine detonated in the window of their room at a US base in Tikrit. In that case, National Guard Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez was acquitted.

The shocking story of a soldier killing five of his comrades does not come as a surprise when we consider that the military has, for years now, been sending troops with untreated PTSD back into the US occupation of Iraq.
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U.S. Troops Unfit for Combat

CONTRACTORS WORKING IN WAR ZONES UNAWARE OF MENTAL HEALTH RISKS

May 19, 2009 08:01 ET
CONTRACTORS WORKING IN WAR ZONES UNAWARE OF MENTAL HEALTH RISKS
Market Wire (press release) - USA

Attention: Assignment Editor, Health/Medical Editor, Media Editor, News Editor, Photo Editor

TORONTO, ONTARIO, MEDIA ADVISORY--(Marketwire - May 19, 2009) - While there have been a number of studies examining the psychological health of soldiers returning home from war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan, a new study is the first of its kind to take a closer look at the mental health of contractors working in war zones.

"Like soldiers, there is a significant number of contractors who suffer from post-traumatic stress when returning home from a war zone," says Dr. Anthony Feinstein, lead investigator of the study and a neuropsychiatrist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. "Our study shows that there is little in place to educate contractors on the psychological risks they may face in conflict zones and they are not receiving appropriate help when they return home."

After seven years into a war in Afghanistan and five years into a war in Iraq, this study is the first of its kind to present empirical data on this particular group of individuals working in a war zone.

It is estimated that up to 126,000 contractors are currently working in Iraq. Unofficial estimates put their death toll at a little over 1,000, with nearly 13,000 injured in the past six years. The average number of traumatic events faced by this group is double that reported by front-line journalists.
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Camp Liberty shootings leave a lot of questions

by
Chaplain Kathie

The killing of five soldiers at Camp Liberty in Iraq raises serious questions. Sgt. John Russell was reported to have gone to a Chaplain and sent to the stress clinic. It seems he was in denial of having a need for help. Obviously his commander thought differently and took his weapon away from him. Russell's father said the military "broke" his son. After a long career in the military, Russell was on his third deployment. With serving that long in the military, should it be found he was wounded by PTSD, then why didn't it sink in that he needed help to heal? It's not as if he was a new recruit. Has the military been doing a good enough job getting thru to the soldiers that there is nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to PTSD? If they had, would this have happened?

There is also the issue of the report coming out of Afghanistan with 60 Chaplains busy trying to "hunt down" souls for God and proselytizing within the military as well as the people of Afghanistan. Are they so busy breaking military rules and evangelizing that they are not focusing on the spiritual needs of stressed out troops and is this still going on in Iraq as well?

We know there is a shortage of Chaplains in the military. The Navy has offered scholarships to recruit Chaplains. We also know that when it comes to mental health providers, there are not enough psychologist and psychiatrists to take care of the growing need of the troops. Chaplains play a vital role, or are supposed to, when the troops need help. This leaves us wondering if the Chaplains are all trained to do the work and doing it to the fullest of their duties or are they concentrating more on proselytizing instead?

While it breaks our hearts to have the men and women serving this nation die because of combat, it is part of what happens when they serve and we accept the death more easily than we do when they die needlessly. It should never, ever be acceptable for them to die because they lack help. Sgt. Russell shot five people at a Crisis Center, so we know there are soldiers seeking help and therefore the military is addressing the need, but we still have to wonder what was said or not said setting Russell off. As reports come out, this question needs to be answered. If he does have PTSD, then what was not explained to him about it leaving him in such denial he turned around and shot five of his "brothers" instead of getting the help that was available at the Crisis Center?

We know by the fact so many are taking their own lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as back home, that the military is still not doing enough, just as the VA is not doing enough. Who is checking on what they are doing and fully investigating if what they are doing is the right thing or not? The programs the military has been using are clearly not working. Had they been working, would units have to come up with their own programs like the Montana National Guard? If the programs in the VA were working, would there be a need for so many other groups to come up with their own programs to take on the issue? Is anyone finding out what these answers are?

So how much time are we going to tolerate being wasted when lives are on the line?

We don't know yet how Sgt. Russell was treated by the Chaplain, what the Chaplain told him or what Russell understood. We do know he was breaking and this was in an email to his father. If he talked to a Chaplain was he forced to do it or did he do it because he wanted to? Was he on any medication? If not then why not?

Commander Charles K. Springle Died in Iraq

DoD Identifies Navy Casualty


The Department of Defense announced today the death of a sailor who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.



Commander Charles K. Springle, 52, of Wilmington, N.C., died May 11 from injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident at Camp Victory, Iraq.



The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation.

http://icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx

Camp Lejeune Navy commander is 1 of 5 killed at a stress clinic in Iraq

Posted: May 12, 2009 04:54 PM EDT

Updated: May 12, 2009 06:56 PM EDT

Reported by Claire Simms - bioemail
Posted by Debra Worley - email

WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) - A national tragedy hits home as the United States Army is trying to understand what drove a solider serving in Iraq to kill five people at a stress clinic in Baghdad Monday.

WECT has learned that 52-year-old Commander and Dr. Charles Springle of Wilmington, who was based out of Camp Lejeune, was one of the vicitms killed in the shooting.

Springle was one of two doctors in the group who died. He was a Navy Commander who was based out of the community counseling center at Camp Lejeune before he was deployed to Iraq in 2008.

"[He was] a terrific individual, engaging, fun to be around," said Bob Goodale with the Citizen-Soldier Support Program. "I missed him when he left and now I'm sick at the prospect of not seeing him again."
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http://www.wect.com/Global/story.asp?S=10349412

Update on soldiers killed at stress clinic at Camp Liberty

Baghdad Shooting Spotlights Combat Stress
Suspect In Murder Of 3 Soldiers, 2 Doctors Was On Third Tour In Iraq, Sources Tell CBS News

BAGHDAD, May 12, 2009



(CBS/AP) An American Army sergeant shot and killed five fellow soldiers following an altercation at a military counseling center in Iraq Monday, officials said. The attack drew attention to the issues of combat stress and morale among soldiers serving multiple combat tours over six years of war.

The suspect had been disarmed after an incident at the center but returned with another weapon, according to a senior military official in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation into the shootings was ongoing.

The U.S. military charged the suspect with five counts of murder, and one count of aggravated assault in the killings. Maj. Gen. David Perkins told reporters Tuesday that the charges were filed against Sgt. John M. Russell of the 54th Engineering Battalion based in Bamberg, Germany.

Perkins said the dead included two doctors, one from the Navy and the other from the Army. The other three dead were enlisted personnel.

Sources tell CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier the suspect was on his third tour of Iraq.

A recent Army study found soldiers on their third or fourth deployment are twice as likely to suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Caught early enough, the symptoms including nightmares, sleep disturbances and rollercoaster emotions and hypervigilance, can be treated. But often troops won't ask for help, reports Dozier.
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Baghdad Shooting Spotlights Combat Stress



UPDATE from CNN Sgt. Russell was on his third tour of Iraq.

Soldier charged in deaths of 5 U.S. troops
Story Highlights
NEW: Official identifies suspect as Army Sgt. John Russell

NEW: Soldier faces five counts of murder, one of aggravated assault

Soldier allegedly fired on, killed five comrades at counseling center near Baghdad

Defense official: Suspect had been a patient at stress treatment center


BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. soldier who fired on fellow troops in Iraq has been identified as Army Sgt. John Russell, and he's been charged with five counts of murder, a military spokesman said Tuesday.


U.S. troops get a safety briefing before departing Camp Liberty, Iraq, in December 2008.

Russell killed five people when he fired on other troops at a stress clinic at Camp Liberty, near Baghdad International Airport, U.S. officials said.

Along with five counts of murder, Russell also was charged with one count of aggravated assault, said Maj. Gen. David Perkins, who briefed reporters in Baghdad.

Russell is on his third tour in Iraq. He's with the 54th Engineering Battalion, based in Germany. He is in military police custody at Camp Victory.

There are no immediate insights on a motive, Perkins said.
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Soldier charged in deaths of 5 U.S. troops

5 US soldiers shot at Camp Liberty in Iraq

Five US soldiers shot dead at Iraq base
51 minutes ago

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Five US soldiers were killed in a shooting at American base Camp Liberty in Baghdad on Monday, the military said in a statement.

"Five coalition forces members were killed in a shooting at Camp Liberty in Baghdad today at approximately 2 pm (1100 GMT)," the statement said.

It added that the incident was under investigation, without providing further details on who may have been behind the attack.
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Five US soldiers shot dead at Iraq base


UPDATE

Officials: U.S. soldier in Baghdad kills 5 troops
updated 3 minutes ago
Story Highlights
NEW: Official now says it's unclear if gunman is among dead

Source says U.S. soldier opens fire on fellow troops

Five killed and three others wounded in incident

Shootings took place at Camp Liberty in Baghdad
U.S. soldier in Baghdad kills 5 troops

UPDATE 5-11-09 2:25pm

Official: U.S. soldier kills 5 at Camp Liberty

By Robert H. Reid - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday May 11, 2009 13:17:53 EDT

BAGHDAD — A U.S. soldier opened fire at a counseling center on a U.S. base Monday, killing five fellow soldiers before being taken into custody, the U.S. command and Pentagon officials said.

The shooting occurred at Camp Liberty, a sprawling U.S. base on the western edge of Baghdad near the city’s international airport and adjacent to another facility where President Barack Obama visited last month.

A brief U.S. statement said the soldier “suspected of being involved with the shooting” was in custody but gave no further details. Nobody else was hurt, the military said. It was unclear what provoked the shooting.

In Washington, Pentagon officials said the shooting happened at a stress clinic, where troops can go for help with the stresses of combat or personal issues. It was unclear whether those killed were workers at the clinic or were there for counseling. No details were released about the gunman.
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U.S. soldier kills 5 at Camp Liberty

UPDATE
9:48 p.m.

Soldier kills at least 4 in clinic shooting
By Michelle Tan - Staff writerPosted : Monday May 11, 2009 19:53:35 EDT

An American soldier got into a verbal altercation with staff at a combat stress clinic on Camp Liberty, Iraq, returned to the clinic and shot five people Monday, killing at least four soldiers, said an Army official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The soldier, whose identity had not been released Monday evening, was in custody, officials said.
The shooting occurred at Camp Liberty, a large U.S. base on the western edge of Baghdad near the city’s international airport.
According to the Army official, details of the incident continue to emerge as investigators continue their work, but preliminary reports show the soldier was was being escorted to the clinic, for reasons not yet explained. Once inside, he got into a verbal altercation with the staff and was asked to leave. The soldier and his escort got back into their vehicle and began to drive away, according to the Army official.
At some point during the drive, the soldier got control of his escort’s weapon and ordered the escort out of the vehicle, the Army official said. The soldier then drove back to the clinic, walked in and began shooting, the official said.
Army reports show five people were shot; four of them, all soldiers, were killed. Their identities have yet to be released, pending notification of their families.
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Soldier kills at least 4 in clinic shooting

Contractors Using Military Clinics in Iraq and Afghanistan and not paying!

Contractors Using Military Clinics
Civilians Also Are Not Paying, Audit Says
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 7, 2009

Military clinics and field hospitals in Iraq and Afghanistan have supplied more than $1 million a month in health-care services to civilian contractors during the past two years without seeking reimbursement from their employers, as provided by law, according to a new audit by the Defense Department inspector general.

The report, issued Monday, noted that all costs associated with both emergency and primary medical care are reimbursable to the government and are the responsibility of the contingency contractor personnel, their employer or their health insurance provider.

Yet the study found that Army, Navy and Air Force clinics and hospitals were not billing contractors because there was no unified system for doing so. Moreover, more than half the contracts were vague about who pays for the medical treatment of employees, although the law is clear on this point, the IG found.

Investigators cited cases in which contractors were hospitalized with heart problems, pneumonia, an accidental self-inflicted gun shot or injuries from a blast, but the medical facilities did not bill the patients' employers for $141,340 for their stays. At the time, the military did have rates of $2,041 a day for nonmilitary inpatients and $195 per visit for outpatients.


Two contractors, Blackwater Worldwide, now known as Xe, and KBR, operated medical facilities for their own personnel and for other nonmilitary people. The cost of those facilities was included in their overall contracts, but the IG investigators said the contractors did not break out what they were charging the Army overall for the medical treatment they were providing.

The IG found that military medical units had incomplete or inaccurate records. For example, in a sampling of about 200 records, 13 percent incorrectly identified patients as contractors, 22 percent had duplicate entries, and 25 percent showed discrepancies between computer and paper records.
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Contractors Using Military Clinics

Hernando County women use stars to thank troops and veterans

Hernando County women use stars to thank troops and veterans
By Beth N. Gray, Times Correspondent
Monday, May 4, 2009


BROOKSVILLE — Stars that once fluttered from flagpoles flying the nation's red, white and blue are now going into the pockets of military men and women.

Four women from across Hernando County who have been providing goods from home and moral support to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for several years have launched a new effort, called the Star Project.

From U.S. flags that have worn out their colors and fabric, the women and their friends are cutting from them the fields of blue, then scissoring off the embroidered stars.

Into a plastic bag goes a star and a wallet-sized card with a flag background explaining: "I am part of our American flag that has flown over a home in Florida. I can no longer fly. The sun and winds have caused me to become tattered and torn. Please carry me as a reminder that you are not forgotten."
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Hernando County women use stars to thank troops and veterans

Funeral for Army Command Sgt. Maj. Benjamin Moore Jr

Services set for highly decorated Waycross soldier
Funeral for Army Command Sgt. Maj. Benjamin Moore Jr. to be in Blackshear
By Teresa Stepzinski Story updated at 1:05 PM on Monday, May. 4, 2009

Services for Army Command Sgt. Major Benjamin Moore Jr. of Waycross will be Saturday in Blackshear followed by burial May 12 at Arlington National Cemetery, family members said.

Moore, 43, died April 24 at U.S. Army Contingency Operating Base Speicher in northern Iraq of noncombat injuries received in Salah ad Din province, Army officials have said.

His funeral will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Emanuel Baptist Church, 217 W. Carter Ave. in Blackshear, one of Moore’s sisters, Teresa Brakes, told the Times-Union today.

“We still don’t know what happened, but we are grateful that we have his body here, and we can get some closure,” Brakes said.

Known affectionately as “Benny” to his 17 siblings, Moore will be buried May 12 in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., she said.

The Army is flying all Moore’s siblings as well as his wife and children to the burial, Brakes, 50, said.

Investigation continues into his death, and no additional information will be released until it is concluded, Loran Doane, public affairs officer for the U.S. Army Garrison in Hawaii, where Moore had been stationed.

Noncombat deaths can result from vehicle or other accidents or natural causes, Army officials have said.

An expert infantryman, Moore earned 55 medals including a Bronze Star with Valor during his nearly 26-year career, with overseas service in Korea, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq. He also was air assault and airborne qualified.

Moore was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. His most recent deployment to Iraq began in October 2008.
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Services set for highly decorated Waycross soldier

Gunman in Iraqi uniform kills 2 U.S. soldiers, 3 wounded

Gunman in Iraqi uniform kills 2 U.S. soldiers

By Brian Murphy - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday May 2, 2009 14:49:46 EDT

BAGHDAD — A gunman wearing an Iraqi army uniform opened fire on a U.S. military team Saturday, killing two American soldiers and wounding three others at a combat outpost in northern Iraq, the military said.

A military statement said the attacker was killed after the ambush-style assault 12 miles south of Mosul, which is one of the last urban strongholds for Sunni insurgents.

In the past, attackers have used military and police uniforms to bypass checkpoints and gain access to heavily guarded bases. But Iraqi military officials said the gunman was an Iraqi soldier who also served as a Sunni Muslim preacher for an army unit.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
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Gunman in Iraqi uniform kills 2 U.S. soldiers

Command Sgt. Major Benjamin Moore Jr passes away in Iraq

Decorated Scofield soldier dies in Iraq

The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Apr 27, 2009 11:38:11 EDT

ALBANY, Ga. — A decorated Army soldier from south Georgia has died in Iraq.

The Department of Defense said Command Sgt. Major Benjamin Moore Jr. of Waycross died Friday of injuries that were not combat-related.

He was 43.

Moore was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Combat Brigade Team, 25th Infantry Division, based at Scofield Barracks, Hawaii.

Moore earned 55 medals and had served in the Army since June 1983.

Funeral arrangements are pending.
Decorated Scofield soldier dies in Iraq

Fallujah was not a game. Video game is wrong

To say they want to show the realities of war in a video game is ridiculous! If they want to show the "reality" of war, then why turn it into a video game? They would have turned it into a documentary showing respect for the men and women serving, risking their lives, getting wounded and killed in the line of duty. A game? That is supposed to show the reality of what they went thru? There are too many video games where keyboard warriors do battle with the bad guys making all of it unreal. These real warriors deserve to have their stories told with care, respect and honor.

Support, criticism greet Fallujah video game

By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Apr 27, 2009 5:10:22 EDT

A video game based on a real battle in Iraq is drawing volleys of criticism — and it won’t even be released until next year.

But it was Marines from 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, at Camp Pendleton, Calif., who came up with the idea for a historically accurate video game based on their experiences fighting in Fallujah in November 2004.

“They want to tell their story. Video games are their medium,” said Peter Tamte, president of Atomic Games, the developer of “Six Days in Fallujah.”

But before anybody has fired a shot in the game’s battles, “Six Days in Fallujah” is facing controversy.

Gold Star Families Speak Out, an organization of families with loved ones who died in Iraq and Afghanistan, say they are outraged that a video game will graphically recreate the Fallujah battle. They are part of the larger Military Families Speak Out, which opposes the war in Iraq.

Gold Star mother Tracy Miller said she was “stunned” when she heard about the video game. Her son, sniper Cpl. Nicholas L. “Nick” Ziolkowski, was killed by a sniper Nov. 14, 2004, in Fallujah.

“This is not a game. His life wasn’t a game, and the fact that he died wasn’t a game.

“I think [the game] trivializes it. And so many of these games dull sensibilities to violence,” she said.

“For every Gold Star parent, no matter how we feel about the war, what we want is that our kids be remembered. I haven’t seen this game, but I suspect they’re not going to be remembering our kids or even what happened historically.”

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Support, criticism greet Fallujah video game

8 U.S. soldiers wounded by Iraq bomb

8 U.S. soldiers wounded by Iraq bomb

By Brian Murphy - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Apr 20, 2009 9:03:51 EDT

BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber wearing an Iraqi military uniform struck a U.S. military delegation visiting the mayor of violence-wracked Baqouba on Monday, injuring at least eight American soldiers and nine others.

It was not immediately clear whether the attacker was a member of the Iraqi military or in disguise, but U.S. forces have faced both types of assaults.

Bombers have used police and military uniforms to clear checkpoints in the past. In February, two police officers opened fire on U.S. soldiers in the northern city of Mosul, killing one soldier and raising worries about insurgent infiltration in security forces.
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8 U.S. soldiers wounded by Iraq bomb

Houston Iraq vet heads to Afghanistan as an aid worker

A return to harm’s way
Houston Iraq vet heads to Afghanistan as an aid worker
By LINDSAY WISE
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
April 19, 2009, 9:21AM

Elizabeth Vallette still remembers the faces of the Iraqi men staring down the barrel of her gun.

It was a Friday evening in 2004 and the Army captain from Spring was riding in an armored convoy south of Baghdad, an area considered friendly to U.S. troops.

“You drive by a mosque pointing your rifles at them, and the men, they were not happy,” Valette said. “Just silent. Just watching. Just, like, expressionless. And you can only imagine what’s going through their heads.”

The question nagged Vallette after she returned home to the Houston area at the end of her yearlong deployment. For all the time she’d spent in Iraq, she realized she knew little about Iraqis, except that they were suffering.

Vallette finished her six-year stint with the Army in April 2005 and dedicated herself to a new mission: to help victims of the conflict she’d left behind.

In between graduate business classes at the University of Houston, she volunteered with refugee resettlement organizations and launched a local chapter of The List Project, a non-profit founded in 2007 with the belief that the U.S. government has a “clear and urgent moral obligation” to help Iraqis endangered by their work with Americans. Now the 31-year-old former soldier is headed back in harm’s way, this time as a humanitarian aid worker in Afghanistan.

“It’s hard to come back and just settle down and watch it on the news — for me at least,” she said.

Vallette will draw on her experience as a logistics officer to work in Kabul with the Peace Dividend Trust, a Canadian foundation that supports economic recovery in post-conflict countries by facilitating the international community’s purchase of local goods and services.
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