Soldier Home On Leave Describes a Country’s Rebuilding
By Linda Mullen - South Bend, Ind. Tribune
SOUTH BEND, Indiana -- Last year, Cpl. Anthony Ross of the South Bend Police Department was given a new beat.
Rather than serving and protecting the people of South Bend, Ross, 38, was put on active duty with the U.S. Army, to serve and protect the people of Iraq. His rank in the army is major.
After several weeks of stateside training, Ross was deployed last May to Iraq, where he works the beat of Division of Civil Affairs. He is home in South Bend on a three-week leave, but he returns Thursday to the Army.
Initially in the southern part of Iraq, in Samawh, Ross said he has more recently been stationed in Fallujah, some 35 miles northwest of Baghdad. He was in Baghdad the day the United States announced it had captured Saddam Hussein.
“It was business as usual,” he said of his Fallujah liaison team. “It didn’t really increase or decrease my workload. The regime was already gone.”
Still, “there was a lot of celebratory (gun)fire in the cities,” he said. His reaction was casual compared to what Ross has seen there. His compound has been hit several times with grenades, machine-gun fire and mortars.
“We’ve been through it all, hit with just about everything there is,” Ross said.
“But they’re getting friendlier,” he said of the citizens of Iraq. For the Saddam loyalists, “If they liked Saddam before, it’s pretty much the same now.
“The day will come. ... It will take a few years,” he said.
Life for the residents who opposed Saddam is apparently better.
“Their lives were pretty much disrupted,” he said. When families lost their homes, they moved in with relatives. Sometimes, he saw five families living in one house.
“Water and fuel are starting to run again. Lives are getting better,” he said. “Kids are going back to school. There’s trash pickup. The municipal functions of the town are operative.”
Part of Ross’ job is to improve the infrastructure of the Iraqi communities and to help secure a stable environment. To do this, his unit finds local workers and gives them rebuilding jobs.
Many industries and factories are still inoperative, he said.
As hard as military forces are trying to redevelop the country, Ross said, the Iraqis don’t appreciate the time it is taking.
“They think Americans get things done quickly. They think we should be able to do that as quickly for them,” he said. They don’t understand why “we can’t just go out and do $10,000 of work on a school in one day.”
But for the most part, he said, “no matter where you go, everyone likes the American soldiers.”
Iraqis are very hospitable and frequently invite soldiers to lunch, to their homes or to share a meal, he said. They also take gifts to the soldiers.
Being an American police officer, Ross has taken a particular interest in observing Iraqi police. He said they are treated by some as another military target.
“A lot of police there are attacked because they are working with the coalition,” he said. “Some (Iraqis) don’t want to see success, so police are subject to attacks like the military.”
During Saddam’s regime, he said police were corrupt, partly because they were earning about $3 per month.
Without tools such as pepper spray or communication skills, the only means of enforcement, he said, is to say “stop,” or to shoot.
Because of this, Ross’ unit had simple batons, or police sticks, made for the local police. Bringing standards to Iraqi police is a goal of the coalition forces.
On the other hand, Ross said, he’s not in a hurry to return. While he’s been home, he’s been reconnecting with his 8-year-old daughter, Tyler, and 5-year-old son, Christopher.
Ross said he will return to the South Bend Police Department shortly after his stint is over at the end of April. Before hitting the streets again, he will complete another assignment: taking his children to Disneyland.