For Sgt. Stephen Greene of the 1st Cavalry, it’s all part of the job.
It will be the second trip to Iraq for Greene, who went with the division in 2006 as part of the initial surge ordered by President George W. Bush to quell sectarian violence.
“Our mission changed about halfway through our last deployment,” Greene said.
That is when effects of the surge began to manifest, he said.
It was the summer of 2007 before they began to see the government take more control as the Iraq National Police began to take on more missions, and volunteer groups, such as the Sons of Iraq, emerged.
“Pretty much, we’ll be standing by and watching everything,” Greene said.
In military terms, it is known as tactical oversight, and the leaders within the division expect they’ll be doing much the same throughout 2009 and into the early part of 2010.
During a 1st Cavalry Division farewell ceremony Friday morning, commander Maj. Gen. Daniel Bolger praised the division’s accomplishments in helping the Iraqi people with the country’s first democratic election, and with participation in the surge in 2006
“We are going to go back this time and build on the accomplishments of those first two trips over,” Bolger said.
Bolger went to Baghdad last month to meet with military leaders on the ground and, after receiving their report, came back encouraged by the direction the mission seems to be taking.
“Two out of the three people who will be working with us in Baghdad province are actually Iraqi soldiers and police, so that is a big improvement from the start of the war. We’ve got a lot of Iraqis with us who will go out on patrol.”
Lt. Col. Andy Shoffner, who will be going on his third tour of Iraq - the first with the 1st Cavalry Division - said the training for this mission was a little different because the division held more cultural training classes.
“It was a lot more than what we’ve had previously,” Shoffner said. “We’re ready to go.”
After two trips to the desert, Shoffner said the anxiety associated with deploying is a lot more manageable than it was the first time.
“About 60 percent of my troopers right now are combat veterans who are going back for their second, if not third, and I’ve got one and it’s going to be his fourth trip over to either Iraq or Afghanistan,” he said. “We’re ready to get on with the mission.”
Of course, there is also the family separation issue.
For his wife, Kim, and their two children, there is a level of apprehension that comes with every goodbye kiss, but she and the kids have learned to cope.
“I support him 100 percent,” Mrs. Shoffner said. “He loves what he does. He is passionate about it. I don’t think it gets easier, I think you get more experienced on how to cope and how to deal with it.”
Mrs. Shoffner said having an extended family of Army services and other Army wives help make coping easier.
She also finds ways to volunteer while her husband is away, and that helps ease the pain of separation.
“The more I can help others, the easier it is on me,” she said.
