Back from Iraq: Officer deals with death
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By Deirdre Cox Baker | Wednesday, July 25, 2007 |
The Army lieutenant wrote six letters of sympathy but didn’t put them in the mail.
The 24-year-old commander of a platoon that lost six soldiers — including a Tipton, Iowa, soldier — in a bomb blast in Iraq is instead focused on returning to patrol in Baghdad, getting back to the dangerous job he loves.
“I have written letters to the families, but I haven’t sent them yet,” Army Lt. Thomas Hickey said last week while on 15-day leave from Iraq spent in his hometown of Stow, Ohio. “It’s because of my position. I’m the Army, and that can be a touchy subject for the families.”
Hickey’s platoon, nicknamed “The Big Top,” suffered a devastating blow May 19 when six soldiers and their Iraqi interpreter died after their Bradley Fighting Vehicle was rocked by an IED, or improvised explosive device.
The men were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division based at Fort Hood, Texas.
Hickey should have been with them that day. He wasn’t. He lived.
A severed tendon in his hand had kept him back at the base. His substitute, 28-year-old Staff Sgt. Christopher Moore, father of three from Alpaugh, Calif., died.
Others killed were Sgt. Jean Paul Medlin, 27, of Pelham, Ala.; Spc. David Behrle, 20, of Tipton, Iowa; Spc. Joseph Adam Gilmore, 26, of Webster, Fla.; Pfc. Travis Frederick Haslip, 20, of Ooltewah, Tenn.; and Pfc. Alexander Ray Varela, 19, of Fernley, Nev.
Hickey knows the dangers of Iraq, but he tries not to think about it too much and keeps his emotions under wrap. “What happens, happens,” he said.
Younger than some of the men in his unit, Hickey is a mature professional, a former Eagle Scout who grew up in Stow. He spoke about his career — “a fulfilling and important profession” — last week by cell phone, while running errands in the company of his girlfriend, Molly.
He graduated from high school wanting to find challenges and change, so he enrolled in Norwich University, a military college in Vermont, and graduated with a degree in political science. He finished Army Ranger school and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the active service.
He and the others were sent to Iraq in October 2006. Hickey, now promoted to first lieutenant, expects to be in combat for a total of 15 months. “I’m about half-way through,” he said.
Vietnam vet helps
Numbing of emotions is a survival mechanism, said Bob Konrardy of Davenport, an Army veteran of Vietnam who was embedded with The Big Top in March.
Konrardy was gravely wounded while in battle in Vietnam, and the soldier who saved Konrardy’s life later died, as did several others in his platoon. Konrardy dealt with the resulting guilt for about 40 years.
Konrardy sought and gained Army permission to go to Baghdad for several days and stay with his former platoon and bunked in Hickey’s tent. He brought gifts and took many photos of the men.
Since May 19, Konrardy has reached out to help the families of the soldiers who died and finds himself in a mentoring position to Hickey.
Konrardy and his wife, Maggie, drove to Ohio last week to meet with the young lieutenant and his family. Ways to stay mentally healthy amid internal grief were among the subjects discussed.
“Until Hickey comes home for good, he can’t really have the luxury of usual emotions,” Konrardy said. “He has to act professional. It looks like he’s being aloof, but he’s not. It’s a survival technique.”
48 hours off
Hickey said that, professionally, The Big Top soldiers recovered quickly from the bombing and were ready to go back on patrol within 48 hours.
“The dedication of the soldiers is immediately apparent, but emotionally, they will carry the memories of the men who died for the rest of their lives,” he said. “They’ll carry the good memories, they won’t let this tear them apart.”
Hickey tries to enable others to lead by setting a good example. Among his group is Sgt. Jason Caudle, who was in Iowa City last week on emergency leave. Konrardy, Caudle and his family, and Behrle’s family met in Tipton on Thursday to talk and visit the soldier’s grave in rural Cedar County.
Dixie Pelzer, Behrle’s mother from Tipton, uses such events to keep healing from the loss. The family also traveled to Fort Hood in June for a memorial service, where they met the families of the other soldiers who died.
“It was hard on all of us, but I’m glad we went,” she said.
The Army conducted the services with great dignity and was open to the needs of the survivors. Pelzer’s daughter, for example, wanted to see the inside of a Bradley vehicle like the one the soldiers were in when they were killed. This is all part of the healing process, Pelzer said.
Deferred emotions
Hickey does plan to get in touch with the soldiers’ families.
“Eventually, I will contact all the families that want to be contacted, and if they want to talk to me, I would be more than happy to,” he said.
Emotions are being deferred for now as Hickey wraps up the Ohio visit, when he introduced his girlfriend to family and friends. He’s trying not to think about political maneuverings in the U.S. government or the mood of the country where most Americans polled think the war effort is going badly and want the troops to return home.
Hickey is staying pumped instead.
“I’m looking forward to getting back to Baghdad. I want to be on patrol, share the risks and successes, be an active member of the team.”
The young lieutenant has no idea of how long he will remain in the Army after this tour of duty ends.
“I’m going to have to figure that out,” he said.
Fallen soldiers
The six soldiers killed in the May 19 blast in Baghdad were from all over the United States, but each was based at Fort Hood, Texas. Their Iraqi interpreter also was among the dead.
Staff Sgt. Christopher Moore, 28, of Alpaugh, Calif.
The father of three young daughters, Moore joined the Army right after he graduated in 1996 from Alpaugh High School. The motivated, intelligent Moore earned a degree after his junior year.
He was proud to be a soldier and was on his second tour of duty to Iraq when he was killed, his mother, Martha Moore, said. “I know he was scared at times, but he was always more than proud to go,” she told the Fresno Bee. His father, Tommy Lee Moore, died in 1998.
School officials said Moore’s death was the first of an Alpaugh graduate in combat in Iraq, and it was the first in the community since the Vietnam War.
Sgt. Jean Paul Medlin, 27,
of Pelham, Ala.
The hard-nosed Medlin was an honored Marine in Kosovo, then joined the U.S. Army after the United States invaded Iraq because he wanted to get into combat. The former Marine sniper felt compelled to rejoin the military, his friend, Tommy Tyler, told the Birmingham News. The soldier was a skilled marksman and would have survived the bombing had he not been in a vehicle, his father said.
Medlin would want to be remembered as a Marine, Tyler said, noting his friend seemed to prefer the military service to civilian life.
Spc. Joseph Adam Gilmore, 26, of Webster, Fla.
The young family headed by Gilmore needed more money to survive, and that was his incentive for joining the Army. Gilmore’s friend, Derek Lake, told The Villages Daily Sun that his buddy was supposed to return from Iraq on June 12.
Gilmore was a computer junkie, fun-loving and full of joy, as well as being highly intelligent. Gilmore excelled in the Army as a medic, won a marksmanship award and planned to either stay in the service or become a nurse, Lake said.
The soldier is survived by his wife, Eve, and two young children. “That was his No. 1 concern,” his brother, Sean Gilmore, told the Orlando Sentinel. “He loved his kids.”
Spc. David Behrle, 20,
of Tipton, Iowa
Personable, hard-working, loyal, caring: All attributes of Behrle, who was the second native of Tipton to die in combat operations in Iraq. Behrle thought it would be a good decision to join the Army, his friend, Craig Kreman said. He wanted to go to Iraq, do the best job he could and then return home.
In high school, Behrle was 2005 class president and played sports, including football and wrestling. Behrle raced in the 2006 Quad-City Times Bix 7 and finished in 1:22.43.
Behrle was on leave and returned to Tipton about a month before his death. He said little or nothing to his hometown friends about the action in Iraq.
Pfc. Travis Frederick Haslip, 20, of Ooltewah, Tenn.
The laid-back Haslip got into the Army to pay for college, his father, Fred Haslip, told the Chattanooga Times News Press.
His mother, Lana McDonald, got a Mother’s Day gift from her son just a few days before he died in the bombing. It was an iPod to carry on her walks around Hamilton County, Tenn. He had a generous soul, his mother said.
Members of the Westboro Baptist Church announced that they would protest at Haslip’s funeral, but there was no sign of the group at the actual services on Memorial Day. More than 300 motorcyclists held American flags and circled the premises, just in case.
Pfc. Alexander Ray Varela, 19, of Fernley, Nev.
Varela was born in California but moved to Nevada when he was 12, and enjoyed riding his all-terrain vehicle around the desert. He made friends easily and was comfortable with people of all ages and cultures, his uncle, Kevin DeHart, told the Fernley Leader.
“He was a beautiful kid,” DeHart said, and was always willing to help his uncle and grandfather at the town’s food bank. A neighbor, Cody Ladringan, said Varela was a frequent visitor to the Ladringan home. He loved to eat the oatmeal they served.
Cesar
The unit’s Iraqi interpreter, with a code name of Cesar, also was among the dead. Minimal information is available about him. They don’t use real names as a way to protect their families.
— Compiled by Deirdre Cox Baker
Deirdre Cox Baker can be contacted at (563) 383-2492 or dbaker@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
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