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Webster Articles

Aug- 3-2008 » Filed Under: 2/25 SBCT

Nathan Webster, currently embedded with the 1-14 INF, 2/25 SBCT, has two new articles.

Shreveporter shares his Iraq experiences - The Times

Cutchall, with Alpha Company, 1st/14th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division, said he can't hold a conversation in Arabic and his language skills don't rise above basic pleasantries. The Iraqis, on the other end, have about the same level of English skills — not much, but it's something.

"I can ask hello, how are you, things like that. Basic stuff," Cutchall said. "If they start asking me questions, I probably can't answer them."

"Shaku-maku," is a favorite Arabic greeting, he said — basically, an informal "what's up?"

In Pictures: US and Iraqis in Tarmiyah - The Long War Journal

Soldiers with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion/14th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division interacted with Iraqis in Tarmiyah, Iraq, in a variety of settings during the month of June. The company commander engaged the local tribal leader at dinner. Enlisted soldiers talked to Sons of Iraq members during patrols of their citywide positions, but still searched and questioned those Iraqis they encountered in the less-stable countryside. Most of their days are not spent on typical infantry missions, but as one Alpha Company platoon sergeant put it, “infantrymen haven’t been doing typical infantrymen’s jobs for a long time.”

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