Submit your comments on this article | ||
Iraq | ||
Town Clerk Brings Democracy to Iraq | ||
2004-01-12 | ||
Snips of the article. Upstate NY soldier During David J. Shenk’s assignment to Iraq with the 1982nd Forward Surgical Team, the Boston town clerk’s compatriots spent most of their time at Camp Warhorse, waiting between the times when their services were needed. Shenk, meanwhile, drove a white sport utility vehicle into downtown Baqubah, where he went to work trying to help the provincial governor and assistant governor set up a government. "I felt safer in an SUV than in a Humvee, because a Humvee is more like a bull’s-eye," said Shenk, who returned to Western New York in late November. "With a white SUV, you could blend right in."
The surgical team ended up treating captured Iraqis who were fighting the Americans after the local hospital refused to take them. "Once the hospital administrator heard they were the bad guys, he said, "If they shoot at Americans, I won’t treat ’em. Don’t bring ’em to my hospital,’ " Shenk said. "So then we had to treat them." Shenk said that he was tempted to volunteer to stay in Iraq to see the projects through but that when his company was scheduled to come home, he came. His wife, Polly, and his father, Gene, wouldn’t have forgiven him if he hadn’t, Shenk said. The reservist said that he had no regrets about the mission. "I may be an elected Democrat, but President Bush is my commander in chief, regardless of how I felt about us going over," Shenk said. "A lot of the reasons for us going over have been clouded, and the full answers will come out over time. But the fact that we’re there now, we can’t leave. That would be the worst thing to do. We’ve made a commitment." He added that "we need to stay in charge" until the mission is accomplished. | ||
Posted by:Chuck Simmins |