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Green Bay native gets break from Iraq

Aug-20-2004 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT

[Link to Full Article]
By Nathan Phelps

The green grass of Wisconsin faded to the dusty earth tones of Iraq.

But for two weeks Pfc. Brian Garner got a respite from Iraq through a rest program implemented by the Department of Defense.

“It was the greatest feeling a person can enjoy — seeing loved ones and friends. It’s just great,” Garner wrote in an e-mail from Iraq following his July leave. “What was a real treat was sitting in my brother-in-law’s back yard seeing the green grass and the blue skies, something that you don’t get to see that much” in Iraq.

Garner, a 32-year-old Green Bay native, is in Iraq with the 127th Military Police Company. [...]

There are about 135,000 U.S. service personnel currently in Iraq. For Garner and others, a big part of the job is training Iraqis to take care of their own security.

Lt. Col. Paul Hastings said he sees progress being made by Iraqi security in Mosul and northern Iraq.

“Our main effort is trying to get the Iraqi security forces to become more and more capable,” Hastings said in a video interview posted on the military’s new Digital Video Distribution System. “We have peaks and valleys as far as our mission goes, but I’d say everyday it’s getting a little bit better.”

Hastings, who is from St. Charles, Ill., is the commanding officer of the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 139th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment. That unit is based out of Madison.

Despite the assassination of Mosul’s governor in July, Hastings says the will of the local Iraqi people is strong and they will continue making progress.

“I’m very confident of that,” he said.


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