Associated Press

July 16, 2003 Wednesday

HEADLINE: Low Morale Plagues U.S. Troops in Iraq

BYLINE: BORZOU DARAGAHI; Associated Press Writer

DATELINE: HABANIYAH AIR BASE, Iraq

BODY:
Sgt. 1st Class Eric Wright measures the time he's served in the Persian Gulf by the blockbuster movies he's missed on the big screen back home: "Lord of the Rings: Two Towers," "Star Trek: Borg Encounter" and "Matrix: Recounted."

"I used to love going to the movies," he said at the dusty air base that houses his company.

Now, Wright and other members of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division are upset about more than missing movies - their departure has been delayed yet again.

Already deployed for nearly eight months, the Pentagon announced this week it was extending their stay, with a vague promise to get them home by September if the security situation allows.

The decision was met with anger, sadness and longing for home by the division's 9,000 soldiers, who were at the vanguard of the force that overthrew Saddam Hussein's regime and moved into Baghdad.

"You've got soldiers who are already at their mental, physical and emotional limits, and you're going to keep them here another three months?" said Spc. Zachary Watkins, of Ft. Lauderdale , Fla. "It's not a smart thing to do. You're going to have lots of incidents going on."

At the headquarters of Alpha Company, part of the 4th Battalion, 64th Armored Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade, soldiers were called to formation Monday and Capt. Mark Miller broke the bleak news: They would not be going home within days as they had expected.

The announcement was met with silence.

"You could hear a pin drop," said Wright. "But even though not a word was spoken, you could hear the thunder of their thoughts."

Sgt. Paul Roe, 24, of Middleburgh , N.Y. , said he was due to leave the Army in a month and start college. He's given up on those plans and sunk into dreaming about the life that's on hold.

"It's hot and miserable here," said Roe. "Back home, I've got a girlfriend, a family, the beach and freedom."

Busying themselves with games of dominos and pingpong and occasionally watching television, soldiers said they were mostly bored.

"There isn't much going on," said Roe. "Every now and then, they take a potshot at you. I don't see the point of keeping 160,000 men here."

Miller, a native of Timson , Texas , said the Army's talk of sending the 3rd Infantry Division home soon had falsely raised hopes. "We literally thought we were on the throes of going home," he said.

Soldiers of Alpha Company said they felt abandoned by their leadership: almost every commissioned officer, from former Central Command chief Gen. Tommy Franks to the brigade, battalion and company commanders, has already left Iraq .

"What do you possibly say to someone when you're going home and I'm not?" said Wright.

Even gung-ho soldiers who enthusiastically joined the army question whether they're still needed here. Pfc. Jacob Pfister, of Buffalo , N.Y. , joined the Army a few weeks after Sept. 11, 2001, in order to give "some payback" to the perpetrators of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks.

But he said the idle time now makes him angry and gives him too much to think about. "I'm afraid of going back home again," he said. "I don't want to bring the mentality I have here back to my mother and little brothers."