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Soldiers see good coming from the chaos

Nov-14-2004 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT

[Link to Full Article]
By Daniel Witter/Appeal-Democrat

Pvt. Roy Ranum, 21, of Yuba City, was in a war zone. He was fully armed and in patrol vehicle traveling through an Iraqi city, when the cries of a small child diverted his attention. Ranum spotted a boy, no more than 3-years-old fall down in a search for his mother.

"We couldn't just run over there and help him," he said.

Pfc. Travis McCleary, 21, of Port Clinton, Ohio, also remembers children, some in scraps of clothing, roaming the streets drinking water from broken sewage lines and playing in the trash.

After 11 months in Iraq with the U.S. Army 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division based in Forth Lewis, Wash., much of it in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, both men were in Linda, Saturday uniting with Ranum's family and cousins.

"There's no easy way to stabilize that county," said Ranum, who has been in the Army for 18 months. Iraq, both men said, has a long way to go before it's children will have a bright future.

While war and poverty are a reality for children on the streets, not all is a bad as the media has made it out to be, they said.

"There's a lot of people there that love us," said McCleary. "They just can't say it."

Children approached the soldiers and wanted their pictures taken, candy, food or water. Soldiers usually can't help the children, Ranum said. [...]

Things are tough for U.S. soldiers in Iraq, but both men say the media doesn't show all of the good work U.S. troops are doing there. Few in the media mention schools reopening and completed infrastructure projects, for example. Ranum went on several escorts to supply local schools with school supplies.

McCleary attended nearly a half dozen school openings, some schools just for girls, he said.


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