This time, GI’s are proud to be at war

By Thomas Ricks

The Washington Post

LANDING ZONE VULTURE, Afghanistan — Sgt. Troy Tweed, a native of the Bronx, looked down at the sprawled corpse of an enemy fighter at the site of the biggest battle the United States has fought against the al-Qaida terrorist network and its Taliban allies in the six-month Afghan war.

"Tell you the truth, Bosnia didn’t mean anything to me," he said about his tour of peacekeeping duty in the Balkans. "Here, it’s different. It’s about New York, about my city and my country being attacked."

Then the 27-year-old infantryman used a word that U.S. troops here often use when asked about their thoughts on the war. "Being here, it’s payback," he said, cradling his M-16 rifle in his right arm. "I take real pride in being here."

One of the most striking things about this unusual war is the lack of doubt among U.S. troops about why they are in it. This may be the first U.S. military deployment since World War II in which almost no one questions the reason for it. Chaplains, senior sergeants and others knowledgeable about military morale say such clarity of purpose contrasts sharply with recent military missions in Bosnia, Kosovo and Haiti, where troops frequently wondered aloud why they were there.

By contrast, said Capt. Graeme Bicknell, a counselor from the Army’s 528th Combat Stress Medical Detachment, "I think everyone knows why they’re here — they know it is September 11th."

The only noticeable divergence of opinion, the troops say, is over whether the proper response to that day’s tragic events is a call for justice or vengeance.

Sgt. David Haire, a rifleman, said that during Operation Anaconda, the battle for the Shahikot Valley here in eastern Afghanistan, "September 11th played a lot on my mind. That’s the main reason you’re here. Anytime you wonder, you don’t have to think any further."

"Payback," said Spec. James Risinger, a door gunner on a CH-47 Chinook helicopter who fought in the Shahikot battle. "Revenge."

Other troops shy away from such words, and not just because their commanders frown on using that language. They have difficulty articulating it, but rather than seeking an eye for an eye, they talk about restoring balance to the world, of righting a grievous wrong.

Walking the ruins of Landing Zone Vulture, for example, Spec. David Kayal, who grew up in Wayne, N.J., almost within sight of the World Trade Center, said: "For me, it’s good to see — I don’t want to say revenge, but it is good to see an outcome."

In either case, said Col. Kevin Wilkerson, who commanded the regular Army units that fought in the Shahikot battle, "we all have a very keen sense of unity and a clear focus on what we are here to do."

This sense of purpose has manifested itself in concrete ways. "Discipline problems are nonexistent here," with no incidents requiring punitive proceedings since the 10th Mountain Division deployed to Afghanistan, said Lt. Col. Kat Stone, the unit’s top lawyer. And despite the harsh conditions at dusty Bagram air base, the facility 100 miles north of here where the troops are stationed, there have been only a few minor medical complaints, officials say.

Perhaps most strikingly, the two-week Shahikot battle produced only one minor case of battle fatigue, far fewer than is statistically likely, said Bicknell, the combat stress specialist. He said he had expected scores of cases, with symptoms such as sleeplessness, nightmares and jitters.

Thus far, not one of the 4,000 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan has been sent home for psychiatric reasons, he said. "That’s unusual," he said.

Even the nature of support from home is different. Officials say they are seeing fewer Dear John letters — declarations from wives or girlfriends that the relationship is finished — than on other deployments.

The home base of the 10th Mountain Division, the principal unit here, puts an even sharper point on the mission. The division is based at Fort Drum in upstate New York. After a wave of base closings in the 1990s, Fort Drum is the only major Army outpost left in the northeastern United States, so the division has a disproportionately high number of troops from New York City and New Jersey, Hoadley said. The mission, he said, "particularly for our boys … is personal."

Standing at Landing Zone Vulture, a former al-Qaida observation post on a 10,000-foot ridge high above Shahikot, Sgt. 1st Class Roger Lyon surveyed the dead enemy fighters.

"I don’t think there is a bit of remorse up here" among his comrades, he said. He noted that he is from Long Island, just outside New York City. "I myself played basketball with Bill Schroeder in the Catholic Youth Organization in high school," he explained. "He was killed in the World Trade Center."

During the battle, said Maj. Brad Herndon, a 10th Mountain fire support officer, one of his soldiers placed on a rock on the battlefield a photo of a friend who had been killed at the World Trade Center. The soldier then took a photo of the scene. Herndon’s conclusion: "Their feeling is that they are doing the right thing, and they are doing it for the country. It’s not vengeance, it’s justice."