Fighter Wing Members Return Optimistic About Iraq’s Future

By Steve Kuchera, Duluth News-Tribune, Minn.

Jun. 1–MINNESOTA AIR NATIONAL GUARD

For Air National Guard Senior Airman Samuel Lasky, the defining moment of a six-month deployment to Iraq came as he helped provide security during Saddam Hussein’s trial.

Through an interpreter’s booth, the 23-year-old Duluth man watched as the former Iraqi dictator, just 15 feet away, berated the judges.

“At first it didn’t strike me,” Lasky said. “Then it hit me — I just saw the face of evil.”

Providing security at Saddam’s trial was just one of the duties Lasky and five other security force members from Duluth’s 148th Fighter Wing performed in Iraq from October into April. Lasky and three others talked about their experiences Wednesday.

The six men arrived in Iraq on Oct. 15 after 17 days of desert combat training in Utah. They had little knowledge of what they would be doing, the said. They thought they might provide security at Baghdad’s airport.

Instead, they were ordered to the International Zone, home to 30,000 Iraqis, government offices and 12 embassies — a tempting target for insurgents, who regularly attacked the zone with rockets and mortars.

“I think one of the hardest days was our second,” when a barrage of rockets hit nearby, said Staff Sgt. Derek Bertram, 29, of Hibbing.

There was no warning of the attack. One moment the men were sleeping in tents, the next the blasts came and the men were on the floor.

“The way I describe it is that it’s almost like a close lightning strike,” Bertram said. “You’re kind of shaken at first, but reality sets in and you carry on.”

Lasky said they were lucky the insurgents weren’t good shots.

“All they do is aim and shoot and run,” he said.

For Staff Sgt. Daniel Williams, 36, of Duluth, the worst thing was strapping on his gear for their 12-hour-long shifts.

“We probably had about50 pounds of gear a day — or more,” he said.

The gear included an M-4 rifle, 9 mm sidearm, helmet, bulletproof vest and a second vest loaded with gear — including ammunition, radio, cell phone and handcuffs.

“You felt like a turtle, but we felt it was necessary to always be prepared,” Bertram said.

The men’s mission was helping maintain order in the International Zone. They responded to accidents and rocket attacks, cordoning off the area and reporting the location of any unexploded devices to the bomb squad. They escorted visiting VIPs and court officials for Saddam’s trial and helped provide security outside the courtroom.

Much of their work was similar to that of community police officers. They patrolled the International Zone neighborhoods, visiting with Iraqis and sharing tea with them. They distributed toys and clothes that loved ones in Minnesota collected and sent to them.

“We played soccer with the kids a lot,” said Staff Sgt. Patrick Hakes, 27, of Cloquet.

As part of preparing the Iraqis to run their nation without the help of the American-led coalition, they trained Iraqi police to search buildings and vehicles and to safely secure suspects.

“They were willing to learn,” Lasky said.

All four men agreed that progress is being made in Iraq.

“There are a lot of good people over there,” Williams said.

“I look at the local people,” Bertram said. “They want terrorism to go away.”

Bertram recalled visiting with Iraqi governmental officials. He sat and talked with them as informally as he might visit with a new acquaintance in Minnesota.

“That tells me we are doing a positive job over there, all out of the 148th,” he said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Duluth News-Tribune, Minn.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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