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A soldier's homecoming

Apr-10-2004 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT

[Link to Full Article]
BY TOM TOLEN
News Staff Reporter

A soldier from Livingston County who has been stationed for five months in Iraq, where death and destruction are part of each day, will be returning to the war-torn nation this weekend.

Capt. Ken Hardesty, son of Ken Hardesty Sr. and Joanna Hardesty, commands the 1st Squadron, 14th U.S. Cavalry, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. His mother is the Hamburg Township clerk and his father is employed by Eastern Michigan University. [...]

Hardesty has been in Iraq since last November as a squadron leader, putting him in charge of 100 soldiers. His unit was involved in a major offensive south of Tikrit. "It was the old west, it was a rough town," Hardesty said. "My troops did the initial reconnaissance in Samarra, and were operating just 20 miles away, when (Saddam) Hussein was captured."

His unit has been attacked several times and under fire from automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. Weapons are easy for Iraqis to get because of a thriving black market, he said. Two soldiers in Hardesty's squadron have died in the fighting: One was killed, and five others injured, when a mortar round detonated while they were moving ordnance in Sinjar, and another soldier was fatally injured from a roadside bomb in Mosul.

Besides peacekeeping duties, Hardesty's unit has been involved in the reconstruction of schools, hospitals, police stations, government buildings and community wells.


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