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Deaths bring agonizing wait for news

May-24-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

Stryker Brigade families know 3 of their own died, but not their names

Link to Full Article
By MIKE BARBER, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

Families of Fort Lewis-based soldiers braced for the worst yesterday as the Army confirmed that three Stryker Brigade soldiers had been killed in Mosul early Sunday.

Names and specific units of the three, who died in two separate attacks, were not released while Army casualty officers sought out their next of kin. A fourth soldier was injured, according to U.S. Central Command officials.

A reporter from The News Tribune of Tacoma who is embedded with the unit in Iraq said the Army in Mosul imposed a news blackout, shutting down e-mail sites there, so fellow soldiers could not release the identities of the dead ahead of official Pentagon notification channels.

Family members said the three soldiers were members of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division based at Fort Lewis, called the Stryker Brigade Combat Team after the light-armored Stryker vehicles and tactics specifically developed with them.

As the wait continued, hands wrung with worry or clasped together in prayer yesterday, according to messages on the Stryker Brigade News Web site, a clearinghouse of information and support for families of the brigade, which began serving a yearlong tour of duty in Mosul last October. [...]

The article continues with commentary on the impact of the agonizing wait for the DoD announcement of the names of casualties.


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