Faces of War; Portraits from the Front Lines

Faces of War - Portraits from the front lines

To see their photos, the site is: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/faces/

Behind the headlines, beyond the sound bites and far removed from the political debates, men and women are fighting a war. We want you to meet them in "Faces of War," an occasional series from reporter Jeff Seidel and artist Richard Johnson of the Detroit Free Press.

ONE FACE OF WAR
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TIM POWER - Bloomington, IL
Name: Cpl. Tim Power Age: 25 Branch: Marines Hometown: Bloomington, Ill. Job: Member of supply/headquarters squad --- EAST OF NASIRIYAH, Iraq - Driving a Humvee down a highway through the Iraqi desert, Cpl. Tim Power takes off his helmet and wipes sweat from his forehead. A thick cloud of dust blinds him for a split second, and he doesn't see the other Humvees in the convoy slam on their brakes. He hears a bang as he plows into the back end of another Humvee, going about 45 mph. He sees a bright, white flash, as his jaw hits the steering wheel.
By Jeff Seidel / Knight Ridder Newspapers

ANOTHER FACE OF WAR
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JOHN FURR - Belmont, NC
CAMP CHESTY, central Iraq - Petty Officer 3rd Class John Furr sleeps on top of his ambulance and waits for the helicopters, which he calls "birds." "I hear birds in my sleep," he says. "When I wake up, I think I hear a helicopter, but it's just a truck going by."
By Jeff Seidel / Knight Ridder Newspapers

MORE FACES OF WAR
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DEANGELO STROMAN - Pontiac, Mich.
CAMP CHESTY, Central Iraq - The enemy prisoner of war sits naked in the sand, covered with a shiny silver blanket, his hands tied with plastic bands.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/25/2003 04:23 PM EDT)
BRIAN DOLLINGER - Morton, IL
CAMP CHESTY, central Iraq - Sgt. Brian Dollinger wants to be home in Morton, Ill., by May 30, when his daughter, Arianna, turns 3. "I'm hoping to get back by then," he says. "And I know I'll be home in time for my wife's birthday in July."
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/24/2003 04:49 PM EDT)

JEREMY DEVAULT - Chillicothe, IL
CAMP CHESTY, central Iraq - For Lance Cpl. Jeremy DeVault, this war has been a grand adventure: wild, frightening, exciting, boring, sad and fun. "It's been an experience of a lifetime," DeVault says. "It's something you can go back and tell your friends about. Nobody has been to Kuwait or Iraq. Nobody is ever going to come here to visit a country like this."
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/24/2003 04:46 PM EDT)

COREY ROGERS - Loda, IL
CAMP CHESTY, central Iraq - Cpl. Corey Rogers keeps track of the missions on his T-shirt. On his shoulder it says, "Convoy Club: 13." After every convoy, he adds another mark with a pen.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/23/2003 05:02 PM EDT)

MATT ORME - St. Joseph, Mich.
CAMP CHESTY, central Iraq - Lt. Cmdr. Matt Orme lets out a smile. "We just showered for the first time in 10 days," he says. "It was a big deal. It was awesome. If I had three layers of grit, I probably got two of them off."
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/23/2003 04:55 PM EDT)

MIKE NACE - Hemet, CA
NAME: Mike Nace RANK: Navy lieutenant commander AGE: 42 HOMETOWN: Hemet, Calif. JOB: Nurse --- CAMP CHESTY, central Iraq - Lt. Cmdr. Mike Nace gets off the helicopter and faces the ambulances, holding up four fingers. "Four injured?" the ambulance driver asks. No, Nace gestures. "Four ambulances," he says. Three of the injured walk down the helicopter ramp with their arms in slings. One man is limping so badly that another Marine has to help him to the ambulance.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/22/2003 05:21 PM EDT)

PAUL SAILER - Pekin, IL
CAMP VIPER, southern Iraq - Marine Lance Cpl. Paul Sailer is on watch, late at night, trying to stay alert. He won't fall asleep, no way, not after what happened last time.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/21/2003 03:43 PM EDT)

JACOB EMMONS - Tremont, IL
CAMP CHESTY, Iraq - Pfc. Jacob Emmons digs into a pile of dirt, building a bunker. Wearing sandy-brown boots, his feet hurt and they feel as if they're bleeding, but it helps to keep working, to keep his mind off the pain.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/21/2003 03:32 PM EDT)

SARAH CADE - Detroit, Michigan
CAMP CHESTY, central Iraq - Number 220 sits under a camouflaged net, at the U.S. Navy surgical hospital, looking absolutely harmless. She wears a pink and orange dress and has long black hair braided down her back. She has a shrapnel wound in her side.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/21/2003 03:28 PM EDT)

TIFFANY CARLSON - Vancouver, WA.
ON THE ROAD TO BAGHDAD, central Iraq - Cpl. Tiffany Carlson doesn't want the war to end. She's having too much fun, riding around the desert with a powerful machine gun, sitting on a box of grenades.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/18/2003 03:12 PM EDT)

JOEY COLEMAN - Panama City, FL
CAMP CHESTY, central Iraq - Lance Cpl. Joey Coleman waits outside a Navy surgical hospital. His right hand hangs limp, swollen to twice its normal size. "My right hand is my life," says Coleman, who is right handed. "It's my biggest fear, if anything happens to my right hand. I just don't want any scar tissue."
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/17/2003 06:59 PM EDT)

CHARMAIN JONES - Houston, Tx.
CAMP VIPER, southern Iraq - Sgt. Charmain Jones is sure about one thing: Her children are getting spoiled rotten. Jones and her husband, Sgt. Terrance Jones, are Marines stationed in Iraq. Their three children - Demetrice, 4, Michael, 2, and Natasha, 6 months - are staying with their grandparents, Johnny and Melondy Jones, in Bradenton, Fla.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/17/2003 06:55 PM EDT)

CHILDREN -- Iraq
ON THE ROAD TO BAGHDAD, Iraq - Hundreds of Iraqi children stand by the side of the road, waving at the U.S. troops. As thousands of Marines and soldiers head north toward Baghdad in massive convoys that snake to the horizon, the children line the route through the desert.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/16/2003 03:18 PM EDT)

SAMIA NAKHOUL - Beirut, Lebanon and PAUL PASQUALE - London
CAMP CHESTY, central Iraq - Paul Pasquale lies on a gurney in a Navy surgical hospital, covered with wounds and bandages, looking like a shark-attack survivor. Pasquale, 36, of London is a cameraman for the Reuters news agency. He was on the 15th floor of the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad when it was hit by a shell fired from a U.S. tank.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/16/2003 03:05 PM EDT)

JOHN ALVARADO -- Peoria, IL
SOUTHERN IRAQ - Lance Cpl. John Alvarado misses French fries, phone calls, and drinking beer and tequila. He also misses ordering pizza. "And I don't even like pizza," Alvarado says. "I just wish I had the chance to order some."
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/15/2003 05:55 PM EDT)

TIMOTHY EDWARDS - Fremont, Wisc.
CAMP VIPER, southern Iraq - Lance Cpl. Timothy Edwards wrote his nickname on his helmet: Preacher. Edwards, 24, of Fremont, Wis., is a youth minister and plans to become a pastor. "I get a lot of mail from the kids I work with," Edwards says. "That's the stuff that cheers me up the most. The kids remember me and tell me how good I was. It makes me feel good about what I was doing.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/15/2003 05:50 PM EDT)

RUSSELL GREEN - Ritter, SC
CAMP VIPER, southern Iraq - Petty Officer 1st Class Russell Green sits at the door in an aluminum chair, armed with a 9 mm pistol, keeping an eye on a group of Iraqi soldiers who are enemy prisoners of war.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/14/2003 03:16 PM EDT)

MOHAMMAD - Nasiriyah, Iraq
EAST OF NASIRIYAH, Iraq -The teacher sees his young students in the streets, looking at the shattered windows and destroyed buildings, and he tries to comfort them. "How are you?" the teacher asks. The children say they are afraid.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/14/2003 03:10 PM EDT)

JODY STENQUIST - Pontiac, Mich.
CAMP VIPER, southern Iraq - Petty Officer 1st Class Jody Stenquist says the doctors are working magic. "It's amazing what they are doing with the limited supplies we have," says Stenquist, a 29-year-old corpsman at Fleet Hospital Number 3 in southern Iraq. "We aren't getting one or two patients at a time. We are getting five, six or seven at a time."
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/11/2003 04:27 PM EDT)

SIDNEY MENDOZA - San Jose, CA
CAMP VIPER, southern Iraq - Lance Cpl. Sidney Mendoza was in a truck moving through the Iraqi desert when he heard a loud bang. "I guess we went over a land mine," Mendoza says. "I remember thinking somebody shot at me. That was the wildest moment, because I didn't know what it was. I was ready to shoot back, at whoever it was."
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/11/2003 04:24 PM EDT)

MICHAEL SIMMONS - St. Louis, Missouri
CAMP VIPER, Iraq - Marine Sgt. Michael Simmons lies on his back, on a bed in Fleet Hospital Number 3 in southern Iraq, with his right arm above his head. His flak jacket, his lucky one, is under the bed.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/10/2003 02:32 PM EDT)

YOON RA - Chicago, IL, South Korea
CAMP VIPER, southern Iraq - Cpl. Yoon Ra is fighting for his country, even if it's not official. Yoon, who was born in South Korea but grew up in Chicago, is a combat engineer in southern Iraq. He has applied for U.S. citizenship.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/09/2003 03:42 PM EDT)

MOHAMMED ALSALAHI - San Diego, Iraq
EAST OF NASIRIYAH, Iraq - Mohammed Alsalahi stands outside a U.S. Army hospital, trying to translate for a group of Iraqi men who don't speak English.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/09/2003 03:38 PM EDT)

ROD RICHARDS - Morton, IL
CAMP VIPER, Iraq - Approaching a massive Iraqi bunker system that can hold up to 1,000 soldiers, Gunnery Sgt. Rod Richards expects to face a nasty firefight. Or maybe he will find hundreds of dead bodies, if the Air Force beat him to it.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/08/2003 03:20 PM EDT)

SARAH WEDDLE - Independence, Missouri
EAST OF NASIRIYAH, Iraq - Pfc. Sarah Weddle sits in the sunshine with tired eyes. "It hurts me when I see people hurting," she says, clasping her hands tightly. At night, when she tries to sleep on a green cot under a scratchy green blanket, not far from the tent where she works as a medic, she remembers their faces.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/08/2003 03:16 PM EDT)

RHETT PHILLIPS -- Pittsfield, IL
CAMP VIPER, Southern Iraq - About an hour before getting on a bus to start the long journey to Kuwait, Sgt. Rhett Phillips was pulled aside. "Have you been to MCT (Marine combat training)?" someone asked.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/07/2003 04:31 PM EDT)

DANIEL C. RHODES - Champaign, IL
SOUTHERN IRAQ - For two hours, Lance Cpl. Daniel Rhodes lies on the ground holding an M-16 rifle. His left elbow is aching. Half of his body is numb. Both knees hurt. Two grenades stick in his ribs. And a canteen rubs against his hip.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/07/2003 04:12 PM EDT)

JEREMY WESTLAKE - Browning, IL
CAMP VIPER, southern Iraq - Charlie Company stands in formation, in enemy territory, in the middle of a war. "Sergeant Westlake, front and center," 1st Sgt. Brian McCoic says. Forty-five Marines stand at attention in the sand, in front of a ditch that is about 4 feet deep. It's the "Oh no!" hole, in case of a missile attack. It would offer some protection, but not much. The Marines face three rows of white, two-man pup tents, set up in trenches.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/07/2003 01:32 PM EDT)

ALEX BUHLMAN - Farmington, IL
SOUTHERN IRAQ - Pfc. Alex Buhlman was watching the History Channel when he saw a show on combat engineers. "It showed what the combat engineers did in World War II," said Buhlman, 19, of Farmington Hills, Mich. "The engineers stopped an advancement by blowing up a bridge. I thought, Man, that looks cool."
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/03/2003 03:20 PM EDT)

MORE FACES OF WAR
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DANIEL C. RHODES - Champaign, IL
SOUTHERN IRAQ - For two hours, Lance Cpl. Daniel Rhodes lies on the ground holding an M-16 rifle. His left elbow is aching. Half of his body is numb. Both knees hurt. Two grenades stick in his ribs. And a canteen rubs against his hip.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/07/2003 04:12 PM EDT)

JEREMY WESTLAKE - Browning, IL
CAMP VIPER, southern Iraq - Charlie Company stands in formation, in enemy territory, in the middle of a war. "Sergeant Westlake, front and center," 1st Sgt. Brian McCoic says. Forty-five Marines stand at attention in the sand, in front of a ditch that is about 4 feet deep. It's the "Oh no!" hole, in case of a missile attack. It would offer some protection, but not much. The Marines face three rows of white, two-man pup tents, set up in trenches.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/07/2003 01:32 PM EDT)

ALEX BUHLMAN - Farmington, IL
SOUTHERN IRAQ - Pfc. Alex Buhlman was watching the History Channel when he saw a show on combat engineers. "It showed what the combat engineers did in World War II," said Buhlman, 19, of Farmington Hills, Mich. "The engineers stopped an advancement by blowing up a bridge. I thought, Man, that looks cool."
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/03/2003 03:20 PM EDT)

BOB MARTIN - Peoria, IL
VIPER CAMP, Southern Iraq - Cpl. Bob Martin stands in a U-shaped machine-gun nest, dug in the sand, staring at a crest in the desert. He's heard there is a battalion of Iraqi soldiers lurking nearby in armored vehicles, somewhere to the south.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/03/2003 03:00 PM EDT)

PAUL ADEKOYA - Bloomington, IL
SOUTHERN IRAQ - To stay awake on post or driving a truck, Pfc. Paul Adekoya opens a packet of Taster's Choice coffee, dumps the grounds into his mouth, takes a drink of water, swishes it around and swallows it with a wince.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 03/30/2003 06:32 PM EDT)

MARINE MEMORIAL - SGT. BRAD KORTHAUS - CPL. EVAN JAMES
VIPER CAMP, Southern Iraq - Two M-16 rifles are stuck in the sand, upside down, by the edge of the water. Following Marine Corps tradition, the helmets of Sgt. Brad Korthaus and Cpl. Evan James are placed on their rifles, about 10 feet from the canal where they died.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 03/30/2003 06:23 PM EDT)

JEREMY JANSSEN -- Dwight, Il.
"Incoming Scud!" somebody yells. "Gas! Gas! Gas!" Lance Cpl. Jeremy Janssen puts on his gas mask and runs across the base, past pup tents and a portable water container and reaches a bunker about 4 feet wide, 4 feet underground.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 03/27/2003 07:03 PM EDT)

BRIAN MCCOIC -- Dellwood, Wis.
SOUTHERN IRAQ - During a driving sandstorm, while most of the Marines are seeking shelter or wearing facemasks just to breathe, 1st Sgt. Brian McCoic takes off his shirt and spreads shaving cream on his face. He puts on a pair of goggles, turns his back to the wind and starts shaving.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 03/26/2003 06:27 PM EDT)

KEVIN GREENBERG - Crown Point, Ind.
CAMP SOLOMON ISLANDS, Kuwait - Just before he left Indiana for Kuwait, Cpl. Kevin Greenberg received a memento from his father - a Marine fighting knife called a Ka-Bar. When Greenberg arrived in Kuwait, he sat on the back of a 2-ton truck, looking at the knife, and he noticed his father's initials carved on the wooden handle. He carved his own initials underneath.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 03/19/2003 06:19 PM EDT)

TWILA CURTIS - Fort Defiance, AZ
NEAR THE KUWAIT-IRAQ BORDER - Lance Cpl. Twila Curtis stands watch, staring at the horizon, watching the Iraq border. "You have to be on alert at all times," says Curtis, a bulk fuel specialist. "I've overcome the fear. Basically, it's from talking to other Marines. That keeps my morale up."
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 03/19/2003 06:14 PM EDT)

ERICA GONZALES, ALEJANDRO GONZALES - Phoenix, AZ
SOLOMON ISLANDS, Kuwait - "Hey, I need to talk to you," a stern sergeant says to Lance Cpl. Erica Gonzales. "Oh, man, what did I do?" she wonders.
( By Jeff Seidel, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 03/18/2003 07:28 PM EDT)

BEN ORCHARD - chaplain, MICHAEL COLLINS, JR - Marion, IN, JACOB HERIGSTAD - Camano Island, WA.
CAMP SOLOMON ISLANDS, Kuwait - Before the baptism, 16 Marines wearing flak jackets and carrying gas masks form a semi-circle. Lance Cpl. Michael Collins Jr. and Pfc. Jacob Herigstad, wearing flip-flops and green T-shirts, set down their rifles and wait.