5 years later: A local look at the Iraq war

FIRST YEAR

The deployment orders hit Fort Carson in January 2003 and were met with eagerness and apprehension.

The community, too, had mixed reaction. The largest anti-war protest in the city's history came before the March invasion, when police used tear gas and pepper spray to break up a crowd of 2,000 people and made 34 arrests.

Still, most of Colorado Springs was swept up in a wave of patriotism. Going to war was the right thing to do, they said at the time. Yellow ribbons appeared on SUV bumpers all over the county.

The mood at the post mirrored the feeling in town.

"People are excited about doing our part in serving the nation, and there is pride in what we are doing," Lt. Col. Gary Langford, operations officer for Fort Carson, said at the time. "We are excited to ante up for the nation to show what Colorado and Fort Carson can do."

In the weeks leading up to the war, the post had a rush of activity as more than 14,000 soldiers put their gear on ships and readied for the fighting.

The local soldiers wound up on the sidelines of the invasion, though, and most didn't reach Iraq until April.

They quickly found themselves trying to rebuild a broken country while fighting a growing insurgency, especially in western Iraq where more than 5,000 Fort Carson soldiers were stationed.

The first Fort Carson death in Iraq came May 1 when Pfc. Jesse Givens drowned in a tank accident. Seven more were injured that day when insurgents threw grenades into a Fort Carson compound in Fallujah.

What most hoped would be a six-month deployment turned into a year away from home as local troops and the nation learned that Iraq was going to be a more difficult fight than planners predicted.

In their first year at war, 45 soldiers from Fort Carson died.

SECOND YEAR

It was the year of tearful reunions in Colorado Springs as thousands of soldiers and airmen came back from Iraq.

Soldiers started coming home shortly after the war's anniversary and were greeted with gratitude by Colorado Springs.

More than 70,000 people turned out for a victory parade downtown that saw thousands of troops marching on Tejon Street.

About nine months after the first soldiers came home, military hospitals were overwhelmed by a baby boom.

It became apparent, though, that the Iraq war was far from over, and increasing violence in Iraq foreshadowed a rapid return to war for Fort Carson troops.

"You could read that there would be a concerted effort at derailing the democratic process and it would get incrementally more violent," Col. Fred Rudesheim, commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, said shortly after his soldiers came home in March 2004.

The second year of the war also brought increasingly disturbing reports of abuses by soldiers, including some from Fort Carson, while at war.

A Fort Carson interrogator was charged with the torture death of an Iraqi general, and two soldiers from another unit were charged with manslaughter for throwing a pair of Iraqi detainees off a bridge into the Tigris River. It was alleged but never proven that one of the detainees died.

In September 2004, a unit at war was assigned to Fort Carson. The 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, left for war from bases in South Korea and arrived in Iraq in August.

The new brigade drew one of the toughest assignments of the war: policing the city of Ramadi. The fighting claimed the lives of 68 from the brigade. The rising violence revealed the insurgent's weapon of choice: the roadside bomb.

Bombings would claim nearly half of the Fort Carson soldiers killed in Iraq.

Before the second anniversary of the Iraq war, thousands of Fort Carson soldiers would be on their second tour. The 10th Special Forces Group and 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment went back in fall 2004 and early 2005.

The second year of the war claimed the lives of 55 local troops.

THIRD YEAR

The third year at war was the bloodiest for Fort Carson troops as a rising insurgency perfected ambush techniques and bomb attacks, killing 62.

Fort Carson soldiers cleared insurgents out of Ramadi and the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar, but at a tremendous cost.

The strain of repeated deployments began to show in soldiers' attitudes. Eagerness for the first deployment turned to resignation for the second.

"I've seen the elephant; now I want to see my kids grow up," Maj. Tommy Boccardi, a father of three daughters, said while training for a return to war at Fort Irwin, Calif., in August 2005.

The changing face of the war also brought big changes in Army training. Soldiers readied for going back by learning language and culture. Statesmanship was emphasized alongside marksmanship.

The draw on airmen from Colorado Springs increased as the Pentagon asked other services to relieve the beleaguered Army.

"We'll be in a position to pitch in and help," said Col. Chris Benjamin, an Air Force Academy doctor who ran a hospital in Baghdad in 2005. "The majority of folks here are excited about going over and using their training."

Support for troops in Colorado Springs didn't dim as the war continued. Local charities, including the Home Front Cares, helped hundreds of families affected by war.

The long war also began to show in the mental health of troops. The number of Fort Carson soldiers diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder jumped to more than 500 in 2005, five times the number diagnosed in 2003.

FOURTH YEAR

As sectarian violence peaked in Iraq, the toll of war was felt deeply in Colorado Springs.

Nine soldiers had died for every 1,000 assigned to the post since the war began in 2003. That's nearly twice the rate of more populous posts such as Fort Hood, Texas, and Fort Campbell, Ky., where five soldiers had been killed for every 1,000.

In the fourth year of war, Fort Carson had thousands of troops coming and going to war. Many soldiers said they wanted to go, others had a darker view.

"You're like rats running through a maze, fighting other rats," Sgt. Thomas Driscoll of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team said before his unit shipped out to Iraq in the fall of 2006.

A national debate began over what to call the conflict. Some began openly describing it as a civil war. Others said that was too simple.

"It's not like a civil war with blue and gray. You have blue, gray, green, black, red, yellow, purple and white and they go at it together," said Col. Brian Jones, just home from commanding Fort Carson's 3rd Brigade Combat Team in Iraq. "I wish it was a civil war. If it was a civil war, it would be a lot easier to solve."

The difficulty of the war seemed to stiffen the resolve of some troops. Re-enlistment rates at the post stayed at record levels, with 1,100 soldiers in Fort Carson units reupping.

Local bases also redoubled efforts to help returning soldiers adjust to life in Colorado Springs.

"It's a very happy time, but at the same time it can be very challenging for soldiers and their families," said Nate Nugin, with Army Community Services on the post.

The fourth year of war saw 28 soldiers from Colorado Springs installations killed.

FIFTH YEAR

The fifth year in Iraq was the year of the buildup, a Pentagon-mandated rush to reinforce Baghdad to defeat the insurgency. There was a feeling of urgency in the military.

"There's a war to be won, and if it's not won on our watch, there's a good chance that time will pass us by," 4th Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen. Jeffery W. Hammond told Fort Carson's 3rd Brigade Combat Team in December 2007 before his soldiers shipped out for war.

But putting more soldiers in Iraq meant 15-month tours, adding three months of combat to already stressed soldiers.

"Our soldiers are resilient," said Fort Carson's Lt. Col. Chad McRee. "Still, I think 15 months is too long - 12 months is really tough, and more beyond that is getting enormously tiring."

Five years into the war, coming home was sweeter than ever.

"This is the best," said Senior Airman David McDonald as he held his son Jordan, 4, and daughter Ariaunna, 2, at the Colorado Springs Airport after he returned home from months of service at Talil Air Force Base, south of Baghdad.

The year at war claimed the lives of 42 soldiers from Colorado Springs.

In Colorado Springs, police reported a disturbing trend of soldiers home from war running afoul of the law, including an alleged crime ring that shocked the city. A judge last week ordered Louis Edward Bressler, 25, Kenneth Lee Eastridge, 24, and Pfc. Bruce Alan Bastien Jr., 21, to stand trial on first-degree murder charges in the death of fellow soldier Spc. Kevin Shields. Bastien and Bressler also face firstdegree murder charges in the Aug. 4 robbery and shooting death of Pfc. Robert James.

Felony El Paso County jail bookings for service members have jumped from 295 in 2005 to 471 in 2007.

In Iraq, soldiers worked through their days trying to avoid talking about long deployments, separation from families and the weariness of life at war, said Sgt. Jeremy Madrid, a Colorado Springs native now stationed in Baghdad.

"I don't think there's a soldier here who doesn't experience it," he said. "It's on your personal time, when you're alone. That's when it hits you."

On his third tour, Madrid said the difficulty of family separation doesn't grow easier with experience.

"People say you should get used to it," he said. "But you can't get used to it."

THE YEAR AHEAD

As another year in Iraq begins, more than 5,000 soldiers and airmen are deployed, and thousands are awaiting orders.

Commanders expect the 10th Special Forces Group and the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division to head out this year.

The largest local unit now in Iraq, the 3,600-soldier 3rd Brigade, is scheduled to be there through February - a 15-month deployment.

Commanders in Iraq say many things are murky about this new year at war, including how many Americans will remain in the fighting at year's end.

Presidential candidates are debating the war, and voters in November could decide the future of America's involvement by picking a candidate who will stick with the war, or one who would withdraw.

FORT CARSON WAR DEATHS

Iraq war totals by unit:

2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division: 113
3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment: 64
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division: 29
43rd Area Support Group: 15
571st Air Ambulance Medical Company: 8
10th Special Forces Group: 4
Fort Carson Total: 233

Fort Carson deaths by cause:

Bombs: 105
Enemy fire: 69
Accidents and other noncombat causes: 39
Helicopter crashes: 16
Illness: 4