Articles 9.25.2005 - 9.29.2005

The Colorado Springs Gazette and the Rocky Mountain News report on a memorial service held at Ft. Carson for 4 fallen Soldiers of the 1-9th Infantry. Spc. Brian Vaughn, Spc. Nicholas Idalski, Spc. Nicholas Wilson, and Spc. Christopher Hoskins were eulogized by fellow Soldiers. Over 500 people attended the ceremony, including the 1-9th battalion commander, Lt. Col. Joseph Southwell. This was the final memorial for the 68 fallen 2nd BCT Soldiers.
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The Westchester Journal News, NY, has an article on a memorial built by the father of fallen 1-503rd Soldier Pfc. Michael Arciola, who was killed on 2.15.2005 in Ramadi. Robert Arciola built a 4-foot-high rock memorial with a bronze plaque on top with the names of all local fallen Soldiers and Marines killed in Afganistan and Iraq. The memorial is located in his back yard. Mr. Arciola, who is unable to travel, built the memorial so that he could pay tribute to his youngest son. A dedication ceremony is scheduled for Veterans Day, Nov 11, 2005, and the local Mayor is helping coordinate the ceremony.
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The Colorado Springs Gazette and Denver Channel 7 report that a 2nd BCT soldier was killed in a hiking accident on 9.25.2005. Sgt. David Paredes and a friend were hiking in Cheyenne Canyon near Colorado Springs when he fell more than 100 yards to his death. He had recently returned to Colorado after spending block leave with his family near Chicago. Sgt. Paredes received his promotion to Sgt. posthumously. According to an 8.4.2005 Stars & Stripes article, Sgt. Paredes was with HHC, 1-9th Infantry. Our hearts go out to his family.
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There are more reports that Ramadi has been a deadly war zone in recent weeks. The Associated Press reports that "the U.S. military announced the deaths of five U.S. soldiers Wednesday in a roadside bombing during combat in Ramadi" on Thursday, 9.29.2005. The Salt Lake Tribune has two reporters embedded with Utah National Guard Units, and they have a very informative feature on the present situation in the Anbar Province. A few quotes:
- "Gunbattles have erupted here [in Ramadi] lately, at least once a week. Mortar and rocket attacks are common. Meanwhile, the work of building a government continues inside walls protected by the U.S. Marine Corps. A City Council has been formed. Tribal sheiks meet with military and municipal officials once a week. And the provincial governor of Al Anbar Province, one of the most heavily guarded - and targeted - men in the nation, each day arrives at work to try to restore order to a land that is, by all accounts, in chaos."
- "So even as patience wears thin in the United States, Al Anbar Governor Ma'amoun Sami Rashid al-Awani won't so much as entertain the thought of an American pullout. Even the idea of an American withdrawal, without a substitute, somebody to replace it, this is not good idea at all," al-Awani said in an interview in his Ramadi Government Center office. "They cannot withdraw."
- " The Iraqi Security Force is seeking to place 5,000 soldiers in Al Anbar. But two years into the building of this nation's new military, it has met less than two-fifths of that goal."