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By KEITH EDWARDS, Kennebek Journal
KENTS HILL -- While television broadcasts of U.S. soldiers in Iraq tended to focus on violent combat with insurgents, much of the work of the Maine National Guard's 133rd Engineer Battalion focused on building schools and security checkpoints and organizing Iraqi contractors to help rebuild the country.
Lt. Col. John Jansen, commander of some 600 soldiers who returned from duty in Iraq last month, presented Kents Hill students with a summary of troops' activities Thursday. [...]
"You're going to see some things you didn't see on the news," Jansen said before starting a slide show of 133rd soldiers and some of the work they did in northern Iraq.
"The greatest experience for many soldiers was our humanitarian projects in the Kurdish areas," he said. [...]
The hardest days in Iraq, he said, were when soldiers were killed. Three 133rd soldiers were killed in action in Iraq, and a fourth died of illness in New York while on his way home. The battalion also had 42 people injured in Iraq.
The best day in Iraq, for Jansen, was election day. He said that in the days before the election, insurgents spread the word throughout the large city of Mosul that citizens who voted would be killed. Usually an optimist, Jansen said even he didn't have many expectations that Mosul residents would vote in force.
"We sat back and watched that day and, in Mosul, 56 percent of the people came out and voted," he said. "It surprised me how emotional that was for me. It hit me, this is an amazing thing. That people who were afraid they could be killed went out and did something for the future of their country. Think about that the next time you have an opportunity to vote."
Keith Edwards -- 621-5647