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By WES ALLISON, Times Staff WriterReturning soldiers say they made things better in Iraq - but they don't miss the escalating danger from guerrillas.
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - For Army Spec. David Gabbert, now was a good time to leave.
His infantry unit of the 101st Airborne Division is based near Mosul, in western Iraq, an area that until recently had been relatively peaceful. In the past month or so, however, U.S. troops have been harried by guerrillas with a knack for detonating roadside bombs as convoys pass.
Soldiers also have been warned to watch out for suicide attacks, he said.
"There's a group of people around Mosul who will do anything to kill Americans," said Gabbert, 22, of Kansas City, Mo., who returned from Iraq Thursday afternoon for reassignment to a new division that will take him first to Hawaii, then Afghanistan in February.
Over his heart he wore the rifle and laurel of his new Combat Infantryman's Badge.
"At first, the war was over, and we were guarding schools and hospital. Now we're guarding our own compounds with the attacks stepping up," he said. "We're trying to keep the peace as best we can."
The 101st Airborne soldiers returning from Iraq for retirement, injuries and reassignment say their creature comforts in Iraq's harsh climate are improving, and most Iraqis are grateful for the Americans' help.
But life also appears to be getting more dangerous, with attacks against U.S. troops increasing in both number and deadliness.
Friday's news included the deaths of eight members of the 101st Airborne, including six soldiers who died when their Blackhawk helicopter apparently was shot down near Tikrit. The attacks brought the death toll for U.S. troops in Iraq to 32 for the first week of November.
First Sgt. Brent Holman, who returned to Fort Campbell several weeks ago to retire, said the sporadic attacks against U.S. troops should not be allowed to overshadow the soldiers' accomplishments.
"I get home and I'm watching the news and all I'm hearing is about the attacks," he said. "I asked them, "Don't y'all know about all the schools we're building? Don't y'all know about all the villages we've helped?' ... At night we may be doing counter-ambush missions, but at day we're in these villages, saying, "What do you need?"'
Holman decided to launch his own campaign to counter the news. He downloaded hundreds of photos he took in Iraq to computer disc. He shows the pictures to church groups, schools and soldiers' families to illustrate the soldier's day-to-day lives and their work in Iraq.
Holman, 39, was the ranking non-commissioned officer in Alpha Company of the Airborne's 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry, called No Slack. He and his men saw combat in Najaf, Hillah and points in between before President Bush declared major combat operations over May 1.
The unit eventually joined the rest of the 101st Airborne Division around Mosul and set up base at a former Iraqi air field an hour's drive south of the city.
Holman's pictures illustrate improvements that the battalion's top leaders, Lt. Col. Jim Johnson and Command Sgt. Maj. Richard Montcalm, have helped make happen. Soldiers now have computers for e-mail, phones and a weight room in a former ammunition bunker.
They sleep in Iraqi aircraft hangars and bunkers. All 635 soldiers in the battalion have cots and foam mattresses, and there's electricity to run TVs and DVD players. Most usually spend 15 days on patrol in the outlying area, but in camp they have hot meals, showers and portable toilets. There's a small store and a cafe where they can buy cold drinks.
In an e-mail interview this week, Montcalm said government contractors have begun delivering modified, 20-by-8-foot shipping containers that will serve as quarters for the winter. Each unit houses four soldiers, and is wired for lights and electricity.
"Morale is pretty good," Montcalm wrote. "No one is happy about being here for a year, but we have a mission and we'll accomplish it."
Meanwhile, the soldiers have been reopening schools, restoring electricity to the city, meeting with local clerics and sheiks, and overseeing the supply of food, clean water, cooking fuel and gasoline.
But there is danger, too. Sgt. 1st Class John Bogle, who also recently returned from Iraq to retire, said gunfire was becoming more common when he left Mosul, and many soldiers in his unit have stopped leaving their compound except when absolutely necessary.
Troops have had trouble thwarting the shadowy guerrillas, who usually "are gone before the smoke clears," he said.
Simply put, it is hard to know whom to shoot.
"There's not going to be any end in site," said Bogle, who has spent 22 years in the Army. "It only takes a handful of people to hit a place, move on, and hit another place. It was effective in Vietnam, and it's effective here."