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Barstow soldiers survive in Mosul

Sep- 5-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

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By TRAVIS DUNN,Daily Press

You could think of Army Spc. Angelo Jaramillo as a kind of an exotic truck driver.

But first consider that the cargo he carries is human, that the vehicle he drives is armed to the teeth, and that hidden in the villages he visits are insurgents who want nothing more than to kill him.

Jaramillo, or J. Lo, as his Army buddies call him, drives a Stryker armored vehicle in Mosul, Iraq, for the Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) of the 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division. He deployed here in October of 2004, after about two years of training at Fort Lewis in Washington state. Last January, Jaramillo and his unit had a brush with death when their Stryker hit a roadside bomb. Although the Stryker was virtually destroyed by the blast, no one was killed.

Jaramillo, however, got the worst of it. He broke his left arm and suffered a concussion, and another soldier suffered a burn from battery acid. Everyone else got bumps and bruises.

The Press Dispatch recently spoke in separate phone calls with Jaramillo, a Barstow native, as well as Army Staff Sgt. Brent Koenig, who married a Barstow girl and now considers Barstow his home. Both men are stationed in Mosul.

Jaramillo, 23, recovered from his bomb-injuries in Germany, then back here in the United States. When his arm was healed, he was sent right back to Mosul.

Jaramillo's recovery and return to the battlefield may be remarkable in itself, but even more incredible is Jaramillo's attitude about his injuries. [...]


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