TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Military Unit Forged By Fire

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

Published: March 15, 2009

FORT HOOD, Texas - On his first morning home from Iraq, Lt. Rusty Morris woke at dawn next to his wife, their son tucked between them. Loyal, who was just a baby when Morris deployed 15 months earlier, touched his father's face and ears as he drifted in and out of sleep.

Spc. Nathan Stopps expected to feel liberated after he arrived home safely. He didn't feel any different.

Sgt. Jon Fleenor was pinned with the Purple Heart, a medal he never wanted to earn and never wanted to wear.

Nearly six years after American troops invaded Iraq, the men of "Killer Blue" were coming home - matured, scarred, looking forward to resuming their lives, finding themselves startled by what used to be routine. Associated Press photojournalists lived with their unit for over four months, chronicling their combat and their return home.

The unit's motto is "Baptized by fire, came out steel," and it fits, because the men of Killer Blue are not broken. They count themselves better soldiers now and think they will be better dads, husbands and sons, masters of their fate. Yet the struggle to be average Americans again plays out in different ways, some stark, some subtle. Stopps wonders why the sight of a fallen comrade's coffee mug brought a torrent of tears, while the death of another has left him dry-eyed. He can't explain it.

Another sees his fellow citizens back home and instinctively wonders whether they can be trusted, simply because they are not in a uniform. "It's like going to the zoo," said Sgt. Cole Weih. "And it's overwhelming."

They offer insights about serving in war:

"War is the fundamental flaw of mankind." - Morris.

"War is the biggest case of denial in human history." - Stopps.

"Just a job to bring everybody home safe." - Fleenor.

They wonder how life will be after experiencing excitement and fear at a higher level than they expect to encounter again.

"Now I can say for the rest of my life that I walked across a tightrope," said Stopps, 24, of Deerfield, Ill.

Living Life To Fullest

Not everyone made it home. For those who did, their lives in Iraq and the deaths of men who became family have forever shaped their goals for the future.

"I think I've matured and become more aware of how valuable life is and how quickly it can be taken away," said Spc. Derek Griffard, 22, of Santa Maria, Calif. "I just think I'm trying to live my life to the fullest before something else happens."

"I just don't want to waste the great opportunity that I got from Iraq," said Morris, 28, from Sumter, S.C., who served as Blue Platoon's leader for half of the tour. "I learned a lot about myself. I learned a lot about what's important."

Killer Blue - a unit of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment's 3rd Squadron - was one of the last Army units to serve a 15-month combat tour in Iraq, in its most dangerous city, Mosul. While the unit was still in Iraq, the Pentagon cut combat tours to 12 months.

It was a time when hearts were broken, blood was spilled, resolve was tested. Two of the two dozen Killer Blue soldiers died. But it was also a time of deep camaraderie and loyalty, of adventure, of growth.

The unit was hit by roadside bombs, small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades countless times, earning the platoon 13 Purple Hearts.

"There wasn't a mission we were scared to do," Morris said. "We were used to working with each other so we were very confident, I think."

A plywood table outside the big room the Killer Blue men shared became their gathering place. Around that table, they forged a bond over military rations and cigarettes.

"That was our chance, that was our moment to know each other," said Weih, 28, the platoon medic, from Dubuque, Iowa. "I think from that point forward we were family."

Deaths Hit Hard

On April 30, the family started to break up. First, it was Staff Sgt. Chad Caldwell, killed by a roadside bomb. The dismount squad leader and a two-time Iraq veteran from Spokane, Wash., 24-year-old Caldwell had an iTunes playlist that ran the gamut from bubblegum pop to heavy metal. With a small, wiry build and a two-pack-a-day habit, Caldwell had the names of his two young sons, Trevor and Coen, tattooed on his forearms.

Sgt. Jose Regalado, 23, of El Sereno, Calif., was next. The two-tour Iraq veteran's first child was born while he was deployed, but he made it home on leave to meet the little girl. His wife, Sharri, wrote him a letter every day. Shortly after his return to Mosul, he was killed Nov. 12 by an Iraqi soldier who opened fire on U.S. soldiers visiting an Iraqi army base.

"Before Sgt. Caldwell died, there was a lot of laughter," Weih said. "A lot of jokes, a lot of people having fun. After he died, it was very serious. Music wasn't played out loud much anymore. I think the seriousness of the situation came home and it never left."

Morris, the platoon leader, was a fixture at the table as much as any of the enlisted soldiers. He joined the Army at 25 - later than most lieutenants - after leaving a job at a credit union. Caldwell's death shaped the rest of Morris' deployment and his resolve to come home and be a better man.

"Anyone that you've fought with or bled with, you don't want to disgrace their memory," Morris said. "So I don't want to be a bad father or husband or be financially irresponsible or drink too much. For people that won't ever get to see their kids again, I'm trying to treat my kids a little better than I ever did and take care of them as best as I can."

For Weih, the deaths crystallized his goals for the future. He'll serve more time in the Army, but eventually he plans to teach.

"You have to do them honor by moving forward," he said. "Part of that process is re-evaluation of what you have to offer to yourself and to the people around you. You owe it to the person you lost, people around you and yourself to move forward.

"With that sort of evaluation, it's impossible to not come out of it changed, to become more aware. To become more directed."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT