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Soldier takes positive view

May- 6-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

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By PAUL FATTIG, Mail Tribune

Not long after Sgt. Chad Woodward arrived last fall at the U.S. military compound at Mosul, Iraq, insurgents fired mortars at the base.

One round killed a major in Woodward’s unit, the Army’s 1st Stryker Brigade out of Fort Lewis, Wash.

"I don’t think he ever went outside the wire, but if it’s your time, it’s your time," said the Grants Pass resident in a telephone interview from Mosul Thursday morning.

"Outside the wire" is this war’s military parlance for venturing outside the compound.

The incident demonstrated to Woodward, 23, a 2000 graduate of Cascade Christian High School in Jacksonville, that all Americans in uniform in Iraq have the potential to be in harm’s way.

The Medford-born son of Joel and Loretta Woodward of Grants Pass, he is an intelligence analyst with the unit. He joined the Army in May 2001.

The soldier was one selected by the Defense Department to speak to the hometown media about his experiences in Iraq. The soldiers are not screened, according to Nan Clarke, a spokeswoman for the unit charged with connecting each soldier with the local media.

Woodward’s day begins at 5 a.m. and six hours of tower guard duty, followed by six to seven hours’ work in tactical operations.

"After that, I can barely stay awake through a full movie," he said of evening recreation.


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