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| America's tired troops just want to go home |
| June 23 2003 at 09:36AM |
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By Shino Yuasa
He is lying. Continues Below ↓ "I wake up in the middle of the night just to look around. I am always half-asleep," said Cruz, one of 4 000 United States soldiers assigned to keep the peace in this conservative Sunni Muslim city, which has often been a flashpoint since US troops shot dead at least 16 civilians during protests in late April. Graffiti on one of the walls along the main road of the city reads: "God bless the resistance fighters of the City of Mosques." Sergeant Robert Meadows, one of six doctors at the brigade's compound, said he treats one soldier a day on average for illnesses related to combat fatigue.
Meadows has seen soldiers suffering from symptoms of combat stress including depression, agitation and short temper and said a majority of them are men in their early 20s. "The most common symptom is depression. Not knowing when we're going home is the worst part," he said. He has prescribed anti-depressants but said the best treatment is just talking to soldiers. "I just talk to them and tell them to get some sleep," Meadows said, adding that soldiers can rest for three days under the treatment. Private First Class Miguel Balderas, 22, said he sleeps inside the compound most of his off-duty time. "I'm tired. I sleep most of the time," said Balderas from Santa Maria, California. His friend, Private First Class James Mierop, 20, from Joliet, Illinois, described the mood as grim. "I think a lot of people here are at the breaking point," said the baby-faced blond. "I think everybody's had enough. Everybody is just ready to go home. I'm definitely ready to go home," Mierop said. Morale, soldiers said, is low since their roles have changed from waging war to postwar peacekeeping. "It went down rapidly shortly after they said 'we got more missions for you guys to do'," said Specialist Adam Nuelken, 23, from Columbia, South Carolina. "Morale is never gonna be sky-rocket high, like when we rolled into Baghdad. I think only the victory of that scale could ever boost morale that high," Nuelken said. "I don't think you can ever get near that level unless you won another war," he said. Cruz agrees morale plummeted after the war. "We need morale so that we can do our job. But everyone is down and depressed. It's hard for us to do our job. We need to be boosted up." Soldiers also said they were frustrated with their peacekeeping roles. "I think that the transition is somewhat difficult. We came with a war mentality, not with a peacekeeping mentality," Balderas said. Mierop nodded. "I find it hard. One day you are shot at and next day you're out there to pass soccer balls to little kids. It's just two different jobs," he said. First Lieutenant Herb Leggette, 23, from Andrew, South Carolina explained: "The most difficult part (of peacekeeping) is simply figuring out that not everybody wants to kill you," he said. Despite President George Bush declaring military operations effectively over on May 1, US troops have been under constant attack by members of the Iraqi resistance, losing 17 soldiers in hostile fire since then. When asked what he would like to say to the president, Leggette said he wanted Bush to know everyone here was tired. "I would tell him that his soldiers over here are doing a very good job, but we are a little bit weary, a little bit exhausted," he said. For Balderas, the message is simple. "Get us out of here and get new troops here," he said. - Sapa-AFP
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