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Senator salutes soldier's courage

Dec- 8-2005 » Filed Under: 172nd SBCT

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By STEFAN MILKOWSKI, News-Miner

Spc. Timothy Stewart has been through a lot in the past three weeks, but you wouldn't know it from hearing him talk about it.

Stewart was one of a handful of soldiers in the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team called in during a raid on a house in Mosul, Iraq, that turned out to be an explosives factory. Stewart was shot in the left arm after going into the building to get others out.

A roommate in his 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry platoon, Pfc. Christopher Alcozer, was shot and killed just outside the building.

Stewart, 21, returned to Fort Wainwright last week. Since then he has been living in a small, simple room on the fourth floor of Bassett Army Community Hospital with a television and a window that looks out over the mountains. Sometimes he watches "America's Funniest Home Videos" for hours. He jokes with the nurses, and is a self-described pain in the butt.

Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who was at Fort Wainwright to tour the new hospital, dropped by his room. When she asked him what the soldiers in Mosul needed from her, Stewart answered, "Just the support."

Stewart's right arm is thick and solid. He has a military haircut and thin metal-frame glasses. He was wearing sweat pants and a gray Army T-shirt with the sleeves torn off when the senator arrived.

"I'm so proud of you, sir," she said. Cameras snapped off shots as the senator and specialist shook hands, and Stewart started to laugh. [...]


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