A Father-Son And Brother-Brother Reunion In Iraq

Soldier Receives A Surprise Visit From His Father -- War On Terror News

06.09.2010 CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Delighted to see his son, Command Sgt. Maj. Jorge Soriano, the 412th Aviation Support Battalion's senior non-commissioned officer, flew from Contingency Operating Base Adder to Camp Taji, Iraq to meet Spc. Diego Soriano, here, May 21.

Father and son had not seen each other since the summer of 2009. Deployments have kept them apart, but despite the operational pace, Command Sgt. Maj. Soriano was able to take time off to see his son in Taji.

"The opportunity to visit my son has been the best part of this deployment so far," said Command Sgt. Maj. Soriano. "It has been a very special couple of days; I appreciate the company leadership giving my son time off to spend with me," he added.

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Brothers Reunite in Afghanistan After Five-month Separation -- War On Terror News

06.09.2010 FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHER WALI, Afghanistan – Like many twin brothers, Lance Cpls. Aaron and Adam Voelker do everything together.

As children and throughout high school, the two played on the same sports teams. When one joined the Marine Corps, the other decided he was going to do the same. They are both machine gunners. The brothers even deployed to Helmand province, Afghanistan within weeks of one another to partake in Operation Moshtarak with their respective battalions.

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My Comment: We sometimes forget how some families have many love ones serving in the military. This post is just a small reminder of that fact.

Soldier's Parents Want His Death Treated As A War Crime

From Houston Chronicle:

SAN ANTONIO — After spending weeks studying the results of the autopsy of their son who was killed in Iraq, the parents of Spc. Byron Wayne Fouty believe he was tortured by his captors.

"We think they held him for up to four months, and those four months must have been hell," Charles Meunier, Fouty's stepfather, told the San Antonio Express-News for its Sunday editions.

When the autopsy results arrived a month ago, there was a word of caution for his mother, Hilary Meunier, who lives with her husband just outside of San Antonio.

"I strongly recommend that you read this in the presence of people that can provide you with emotional support during this time such as your minister, family friend or a counselor," Navy Capt. C.T. Mallak, with the Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner in Washington, wrote in a cover letter.

Meunier read parts of the autopsy report to his wife, omitting graphic details and trying to shelter her from them.

"I've mourned and I've cried," he said. "The worst-case scenarios have gone through my mind."

It is not known how Fouty was treated before he died and severe decomposition of his remains made it difficult to reach conclusions.

But the one-page autopsy report and its four-page supplement offer clues that the 19-year-old may have been beaten and dismembered before he and Staff Sgt. Alex R. Jimenez, 25, were killed and buried in a shallow grave. The report's last page said that Fouty's nose had been broken but had "well healed prior to death."

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My Comment: Prayers to the family.

Welcome To Iraq, And A Long Separation: Part II

Sgt. John Kriesel talks to Staff Sgt. Kelly Jones at the St. Paul National Guard Armory in St. Paul, Minn., Monday, April 7, 2008. Kriesel lost both of his legs in a roadside bomb attack while patrolling near Fallujah, Iraq in December 2006. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

From Yahoo News/AP:

The phone call surprised Katie Kriesel, so soon after her husband, John, shipped out.

"Where are you?" she asked.

"I am where I need to be," he answered cryptically, not wanting to disclose his exact location in Iraq. He probably would have waited to call home to Minnesota, but April 8, 2006, was special — it was Katie's 26th birthday.

Kriesel was at Camp Fallujah, just east of the city where U.S. contractors had been hanged from a bridge, where Marines had battled insurgents in some of the bloodiest battles of the war.

Soon after his arrival, Kriesel saw a tent near his living quarters that had been hit by enemy mortar fire, twisting the metal support beams and shredding the canvas.

Welcome to Iraq.

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My Comment: For most Americans the war does not hit home at all. For others, because of technology and immediate access to information .... the intensity of war is greater, especially on the homefront