Posted on 12/17/2011 9:01:09 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
(CNN) -- In a final tactical road march, the last U.S. troops in Iraq crossed the border into Kuwait on Sunday morning, ending almost nine years of a deadly and divisive war.
About 500 Fort Hood, Texas-based soldiers and 110 military vehicles made the journey south from Camp Adder, near Nasiriya, to the Khabari border crossing, from where they will head to Camp Virginia in Kuwait before flying home.
They were the last soldiers in what amounted to the largest U.S. troop drawdown since the war in Vietnam.
Brigade Commander Col. Doug Crissman said his soldiers used the cover of night for security and timed the troop movements so as to avoid a traffic jam on the main north-south highway, which the Americans called Main Supply Route Tampa.
Staff Sgt. Daniel Gaumer, 37, recalled his first tour of Iraq, in August 2003, when he drove in on this very same road. He had never been in a combat zone before.
He was driving an unarmored Humvee -- something that is unimaginable now. He was frightened.
There was not a lot of traffic at that time, he recalled. He remembered a lot of cheering by Iraqis, even though the situation was tense.
Sunday morning, the air was decidedly different.
"It's pretty historic," he said about the drive south, hoping he will not ever have to come back through this unforgiving desert again.
"The biggest thing about going home is just that it's home," he said. "It's civilization as I know it -- the Western world, not sand and dust and the occasional rain here and there."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Ha. Beat me to it.
God Bless our returning troops! How sweet to see those gates being closed in Kuwait.
Really hope we never have to go back, but I’m not holding my breath.
If you read history, there’s a good chance that we’ll be back. Perhaps as soon as in a decade or two. Maybe less than that.
This withdrawal is more about Iran than Obama’s penis size.
Happy sight, but also a sad time for many. My prayers and wishes go out to all of those who lost loved ones, husbands, wives, brothers, sons, daughters in this war, and in Afghanistan. We will never forget the sacrifices made — ever.
Irag will be a suburb of Iran in less than 5 years
Welcome home to all of the service men and women returning from Iraq! Thank you for a job well done. Most Americans understand how tough it is fighting an enemy when your own Congress makes you fight in handcuffs. ROE my @$$.
It’s hell to be one of those who does NOT have a loved one returning when the troops come back. I’ve watched widows having to do this — although they bravely chose to stand with the rest of the families at these welcome home ceremonies.
Am praying for them at this time.
I can hardly wait to hear Obama talk about how grand he is for ending the war at Christmas.
That was my exact thought as I flew out of Iraq for the last time after Desert Storm.
The US pretty much gave Iraq all it wanted. People were talking about how Bush was in this for oil. If so, I wonder where they sent the oil, because I sure don’t see any excess over here.
Not horribly optimistic that the Iraqi system will be able to hold up of itself. Not that it’s too Moose. It’s not Moose enough. “Extremists” are discontent.
The muslim impostor will take credit for not only ending, but WINNING the Iraq war, wait and see, even though it was BUSH who won the war! Despicable...
I watched it on Faux News.
Geraldo shouting how how the troops are.
God bless them all, but God bless the fallen, who returned in body bags, many in pieces — the ones who gave it all.
God bless out wounded warriors.
Yes, we’re leaving, but not in Victory.
Good luck Iraq. Prayers for Iraq.
Oh, let him try. Now that our service people are back, we can all work together to kick this a-hole to the curb in 2012, or back to Chicago where he can continue his community agitating.
and, the unemployment rate will go up.
Ain't "lookin' good" for Barry and the Rats.
Unfortunately for the democrats and Obama we now have worldwide access to news so the MSM can not cover and hide what is going on like they tried after we left Viet Nam.If it stats to go bad in Iraq we will know in hours.
As the last Humvee left Iraq and crossed the Kuwaiti border, I can just imagine a guy with a megaphone up in a minaret in Baghdad saying, “Okay, everybody can start killing eachother now!!!.”
Much treasure and lives spent in Iraq.. and they still HATE US..
No good deed goes unpunished.. in the mideast..
We havn’t been punished........ YET!..
Ron Paul may be prescient..
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