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Patrol can range from quick cash for poultry to wheelchair roundup

Jan- 7-2006 » Filed Under: 172nd SBCT

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By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER, The News-Miner

MOSUL, Iraq--The going rate for a duck in this northern town is about $5.

That's what Sgt. 1st Class Michael Steffey and his platoon found out while patrolling the neighborhood of Al Ahmil on Friday.

As Steffey walked the street with the 2nd platoon, Alpha Co. of the 1st Battalion, 17th Regiment, asking about the safety of the neighborhood, a woman came out of a gate and said a Stryker vehicle had run over one of her ducks recently.

Steffey didn't argue or press the point, but asked how much it was worth. The woman said $5. Steffey only had 20-dollar bills, but Pvc. John Follman passed over five singles.

"That one was on me," Follman said.

It's not clear who with the 1-17 of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team ran over the duck, though it wasn't Steffey's platoon. But it was probably a driver who either didn't realized he squashed a duck or didn't have time to stop to reimburse the owner, as soldiers often do when they occasionally hit livestock in the busy streets.

The duck dilemma solved, Steffey and his platoon continued walking the neighborhood. Al Ahmil is in a poor section of Mosul with lots of mud, trash and animals in the streets. But Steffey said it's also quiet.

"It's the safest neighborhood in all of Mosul. I'd take my kids down there. In fact, I do take my kids down there everyday," he said motioning to the soldiers of his platoon lingering around their Stryker vehicle. [...]


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