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Mixed emotions among soldiers in Iraq

As another summer of searing heat bears down on Iraq, many soldiers say they remain as committed as ever to winning the war, however long it takes. Others fret about missing newborns’ first words or precious time with young wives.
IRAQ
Marines Steve Haas, left, of Ohio, and Staff Sgt. Lance Cpl. Mouad Belahoussine of Virginia, both assigned to the Third Brigade, 25th Marines, search men and boys from a family riding together in a truck outside Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, Tuesday.Jacob Silberberg / AP
/ Source: The Associated Press

Sgt. Shawn Biederman is simply trying to survive the next two months and make it home. His unit mate, Spc. Brent Short, has just signed up for a one-year extension.

As another summer of searing heat bears down on Iraq, many soldiers in this troubled Sunni-dominated region of central Iraq say they remain as committed as ever to winning the war, however long it takes. Others fret about missing newborns’ first words or precious time with young wives.

Still others worry about the slow pace of creating an Iraqi force to relieve them, and say they aren’t sure they are accomplishing anything real.

“We want to hand it over to them. But when it comes down to it, the (Iraqi police) we’re hiring are all bad,” said Army Sgt. Nicholas Radde, 21, of LaCrosse, Wis., as his soldiers took a break from the heat in the parking lot of an abandoned storage area.

Two years on
Despite two interim Iraqi governments, a national election and the graduation of thousands of Iraqi soldiers, U.S. troops remain the ultimate security force in most of Iraq, more than two years after the U.S.-led invasion.

Earlier this month, when U.S. Marines led a major assault against insurgents near the Syrian border and lost nine troops, the Iraqi forces played a secondary role.

As the elected Iraqi government tries to coax a wary Sunni Arab population into joining the new political system, American soldiers continue to raid homes, patrol neighborhoods and hurriedly train Iraqi soldiers — the faster the better if they are to get home soon.

But a resilient Sunni-led insurgency has effectively stalled progress, killing thousands of Iraqis.

In Shiite- and Kurdish-dominated areas, some Iraqi forces are starting to operate independently, but at a frustratingly slow pace. In Ramadi, capital of Iraq’s most troubled province, Radde and his soldiers have seen a tougher fight.

Deciding to stay
Radde decided against re-enlisting in the Army, saying he has barely seen his wife since they exchanged vows. But even after deployments in Afghanistan, Korea and nearly a year in Iraq, he still clearly enjoys soldiering, quickly hopping out of his Humvee to set up a sniper position when a report comes in of suspicious people along a road.

Other soldiers are eagerly re-enlisting, and some are even asking to stay in Iraq longer. Short, 22, of Odessa, Texas, who has already served 10 months in Iraq, requested a one-year extension.

“I think it’s going well here,” said Short, dismounting from a gunner’s turret atop a baking Humvee after his unit detained a man suspected of making fake Iraqi passports.

A fellow soldier called Short “insane” for asking to stay longer in Ramadi, but Short said he wanted to put his knowledge of the city of 350,000 to use — and acknowledged that the death of his best friend influenced his decision.

“If I leave here, I think it’ll be unresolved,” he said in hushed tones.

'Just trying to survive'
Short and Radde belong to the Army’s 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division, which served in Korea for nine months before being sent straight to Iraq.

That means most have been home only about a month since autumn 2003.

The soldiers have about two months left in Iraq — barring an extension — before they hand off to the Pennsylvania National Guard.

“A lot of us are just trying to survive and make it through the next two months,” said Biederman, 27, of Philadelphia, riding in the back of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle. He has an infant daughter back home.

To some soldiers in the 1st Battalion, the mission in Iraq is critically important to the United States.

“Every day that we’re here it makes the region safer and it makes the U.S. safer,” said Sgt. 1st Class Jefferson Pridgen, a career Army soldier from Lakeland, Fla.

Unease in Ramadi
But other soldiers in the same unit express unease about the state of Iraq, particularly around Ramadi, where many Iraqis are either sympathetic to the insurgency or too afraid of retribution to tip off the military to the presence of fighters.

IRAQ
**ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND EDITIONS, MAY 28-30** U.S. Marines Lance Cpl. Mouad Belahoussine, left, of Alexandria, Virginia and Staff Sgt. Steve Haas of Cleveland, Ohio, both assigned to the Third Brigade, 25th Marines, inspect a taxi during a random vehicle search along a highway outside Haditha, 220 kilometers (140 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, May 24, 2005. The U.S. believes foreign fighters are entering Iraq across the Syrian border and traveling through this region to Baghdad. (AP Photo/Jacob Silberberg)Jacob Silberberg / AP

A stable city council has yet to be formed in Ramadi and U.S. soldiers suspect insurgents have infiltrated the police department.

“I really don’t think that we can finish this anytime soon,” said Spc. Matthew Reba, 24, of Venice, Fla., bouncing in the back of a Bradley on the hunt for insurgents who had just fired at a U.S. base. Reba lost his best friend in Iraq and has decided against reenlisting.

Other 1st Battalion soldiers said they just focus on their assigned tasks, look forward to returning home and hope Iraqis will soon turn against the insurgency.

“There’s a lot of bad things happening, but our platoon is pretty good at keeping our head in the game,” said Sgt. Chris Lambert, 25, of Cincinnati, guarding the front of an apartment building while U.S. and Iraqi solders searched inside.

“I like to think we’re doing some good,” Lambert said. “But it’s hard to tell.”