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Everything goes quiet

Mar- 1-2006 » Filed Under: 172nd SBCT

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By Kimberly Johnson, USA Today

MOSUL, Iraq -- Every evening here, men fill chairs at waiting telephones and internet terminals looking to connect.

They come into the internet cafe on their way back from the gym, still wearing their faded shorts and sweatshirts with their M-4 rifle propped up at their feet, or straight from work, with the grit of their day patrol still sticking to their face. They sit hunched over the keyboards and receivers coated in dust in a vain attempt at creating some physical barrier of privacy. Still, their voices boom.

But when someone here dies, as was the case Sunday, everything goes quiet.

Policy dictates that when a soldier is killed in action, all means of communicating to the outside world are cut at the brigade level until next of kin is notified through official military channels.

It’s a fight against the digital age, one where commanders understandably try to hold off the rumors that can easily swirl among soldiers and their families until military officials are able to deliver the news in person. [...]


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