Name: Danny Degrave

Job: Harley Davidson Technician

Role: Sergeant, 63 Bravo Light Wheel Vehicle

Status: Inactive

Danny Degrave grew up in Jefferson County and went to Jefferson County High School. His sister and parents still live in the area. Danny and his fiancée now live in Colorado.

Danny was in Iraq for 15 months from May 2003 until August 2004. His duties included providing maintenance on the Humvees for the officers and providing escort missions in and out of Baghdad. He also set up weapons ranges and targets for tanks.

“Before I went over to Iraq I didn’t expect the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). I didn’t expect the resistance once we got rid of Saddam. We were always on the look out for the IEDs. I saw mortars come in, soldiers getting hit. It was pretty eye opening. It makes you realize how much freedom we have back in the States.”

“I don’t think we should have been out there for the reasons given” says Degrave. “We should have been in Afghanistan. They were the ones who launched the airplane attack on the World Trade Center. But now we are in Iraq, we shouldn’t pull out. If we pull out now, it’s going to make things worse. We need to keep some troops there to maintain the peace.”

Name: James B. Crawford III

Job: Attorney

Role: Commander, West Virginia Air National Guard

Status: Brigadier General, Retired

Brig. Gen. James B. Crawford III was the assistant adjutant general also serving as commander of the West Virginia Air National Guard from 2001 to 2005. The general was commissioned in the WV Air National Guard in 1969 and earned his pilot wings at Reese Air Force Base, Texas, in 1970.

One of his roles during the current Iraq war was administrative commander of two wings in Charleston and Martinsburg. W.Va. His job was to see that pilots and maintenance crews were trained and ready for deployment. As part of this work, General Crawford called families with members in the military, helping them through times of stress and transition.

“Pulling out of Iraq now would be a crime,” says General Crawford. “Both for the people of Iraq as well as for Americans. We have to put so much into it up to this point. We have to learn to fight a smarter war. For a long time we forgot the lessons of the Vietnam War, particularly on insurgent issues. We can hopefully still be successful. But we must do it smarter.”

Name: Matthew Rowgh

Job: Pastor, St. Agnes Church,

Shepherdstown

Role: Counselor, V.a.

Hospital,

Martinsburg

Father Matt Rowgh has been a counselor at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Martinsburg for the past 12 years. Until recently he has been active in treating Vietnam vets with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Over the past two years Father Matt has been providing care to veterans of the Iraq war with PTSD.

Father Matt says the main difference between the two groups is that the Vietnam vets tend to have chronic PTSD problems while the veterans of the Iraq war have acute issues—flashbacks, nightmares, bad dreams. “It helps the younger guys see what the trauma has done to the older vets.” says Father Matt. “And it gives the older guys a chance to help the younger guys. ‘Don’t let what happened to us, happen to you’ they tell them.” The key to successful treatment, he says, is to acknowledge the truth, to verbalize what took place. This helps to integrate the experiences and to find meaning.

“I think it is unbelievable that as a nation we have let this [wall] happen,” says Father Matt. “It is baffling to me that we let so many young people get scarred for life by sending them over there. For most of us, we have become numb to the news. Only when someone in our family has been in Iraq, and starts acting strangely, do we realize how bad it is over there.”

Name: Ramey Stokes

Job: Shepherd University Student

Role: Air Medical Supply, 167th Aeromedical, Martinsburg

National Guard

Status: Serving In Guard, Awaiting

Re-deployment

Ramey Stokes is a member of the National Guard. She was deployed to the central collection point for casualties in Germany at the start of 2003 for five months and again in 2005 for four and a half months. Ramey’s role was to ensure that patients had access to all the clothing, blankets, and equipment they needed.

Ramey Stokes was due to return to Iraq for a third tour on May 1. Her orders were put on hold after her superior officer intervened on her behalf, enabling her to attend her graduation ceremony. On May 19, 2007, Ramey will graduate with a major in English from Shepherd University. Ramey grew up in Jefferson County and lives in Shepherdstown.

“The veterans are being overlooked,” says Ramey. “The problem is not just at Walter Reed Hospital. These veterans will need long-term physical and mental care. At least 50 percent, maybe more, are suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder. Only 15 percent are getting treated. It’s hard for Americans, with all our comforts, to get a sense of what life is like in Iraq, both for the Iraqis and the American soldiers. But they have been living with bombs for six months to two years, their life in danger at every moment. We assume they will be able to assimilate back into life. As a country, at one point soon, we are going to have to address the wounded from the Iraq war.”

“I don’t think we should pull our soldiers out now,” says Ramey. “Now that we have gone in, if we pulled out, every American who had lost his or her life would be in vain. We have to stay and find a way to a good outcome.”
Name: Mike McNiesh

Job: Part-time Pilot,

Express Jet

Role: 1st Pilot C5 Galaxy, Supply Trips To Iraq

Status: Captain, Air National Guard, Martinsburg

Capt. Mike McNiesh has been deployed twice to Iraq, first in October 2003 for two months as pilot of a C130 and then more recently as pilot of the C5 planes in 2006/2007.His planes carry anything from mail for the troops to equipment and maintenance supplies. For security reasons, the C5s barely stop in Iraq before turning around and flying back to the U.S. via Qatar and Germany.

Captain McNiesh has been a pilot for five years. He has lived in the mid-Atlantic region during this time, including in Martinsburg, Northern Virginia, and Baltimore.

“It is very important to keep politics out of the job,” says McNiesh. “We need to remain neutral. Let the politicians do politics.”

“One thing strikes me,” says McNiesh. “A lot of times the press in the USA says that Iraq has no water or electricity. This is not true. As a pilot, I can see, when I fly over Iraq, the countryside lit up like Christmas lights. It is no different from the American eastern seaboard."

Captain McNiesh is currently not on active duty, but he says he will probably be returning to Iraq soon.

Name: Tommy Weatherholtz

Job: Bail Bondsman

Role: Weapons Platoon Sergeant, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 24th Marines, 1st Marine Division

Status: Staff Sergeant In The Marine Corps Reserve

Staff Sgt. Tommy Weatherholtz was deployed for all of 2004. His unit was sent to Abu Ghraib Prison after the prison abuse scandal to provide local security to the prison and to the local area. “We also provided secured escorts to and from the prison,” said Tommy.

Tommy appreciates how people back home offered help during his deployment. “The community was very supportive of both my wife and me,” he said. Unfortunately, like those of many who were deployed for the war effort, Tommy’s family received no patriotic considerations from bill collectors—some of whom have flouted the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act, which was enacted to help spare deployed military personnel the stress and financial losses associated with the loss of pay.

“I was very disappointed in the vendors that would harass my wife,” he said. “Due to the short notice of my activation, I did not receive a paycheck for nearly two months,” Tommy says of the time it took for the military to enroll him in its payroll system. “When the bills were coming up short, these people were not at all intimidated by the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act.”

“Overall, I was very pleased to do my part,” says Sgt. Weatherholtz. “It is not everyday that you become part of the Marine Corps history.”

Name: Thomas Edelen

Role: Specialist, 1st Cavalry Division, Balad, Iraq

Status: Active In Iraq

Thomas Edelen is on active duty as a specialist in Balad, Iraq. His postcard is reported to The Observer by his mother, Bonnie Edelin, who lives in nearby Keedeysville, Md.

Spec. Edelen was deployed in October 2006. His tour will be complete in October 2007, and already has orders to be redeployed in 2009. Spec. Edelen has had two roles: He was a gun runner for a while, manning the gun on top of a Humvee, and now is a radio operator taking part in house-to-house searches looking for insurgents.

“I’m very fortunate to talk to him once a week,” said Bonnie. “He is doing well. He has access to the internet every morning. It is much better than the Vietnam War, when families had to wait for weeks and weeks for a letter. He tells me things are pretty intense now with the IEDs. They can rip through metals. It is a big worry.”

“At the start of the war we were all brainwashed into thinking it is a necessary evil. Going into Afghanistan, that was in retaliation for 9/11. But going to Iraq, that was a whole different thing. Little by little we are all waking up to the fact of [President] Bush’s craziness. What really changed my mind was having [my son] come back saying the mission is futile. That clinched it for me. He thinks that those people [in Iraq] have been fighting for so long. Any intervention by Americans makes no difference.

“I try and be optimistic. Sometimes I freak myself out. I send Thomas care packages every week. I have the vision of two guys coming to my door to tell me bad news. I don’t dwell on it, except when I’m feeling pretty low. Sometimes I read the papers and cry my eyes out. I would love for him to come home.”

Name: Tom Maiden

Job: Insurance Broker

Role: Commander, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion

Status: Reserve Intelligence Officer, Office Of Naval Intelligence

Maiden’s combat engineers were originally deployed as part of the contingent that was supposed to enter northern Iraq through Turkey. “While combat forces move forward, our job would have been to build bridges, airfields, and other infrastructure,” Maiden said. But the Turkish parliament refused to allow the U.S. military passage through Turkey. Maiden’s battalion was re-deployed to Roda, Spain, where they supported a navy field hospital. Troops wounded in Iraq were flown to Roda for treatment and transport.

The hospital was housed in tents, but not those reminiscent of the television series MASH. “These were giant tents,” said Maiden. “They would stretch from one end of German Street to the other.” Maiden wore many hats: food service officer, protocol officer, and disbursing officer, who distributes payroll.

For one month of his six-month tour, Maiden went to the West African nations of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Senegal. His unit’s job was to reinforce the U.S. embassy in Monrovia during the Liberian civil war.

Back home in Shepherdstown his wife Kathy, who had been a stay-at-home mom, received a temporary insurance license from the state of West Virginia and held down the office.

Name: David Crosby

Job: Mechanic

Role: Staff Sergeant, Bravo Company 16,

Ramadi, Iraq

Status: Active, Fort Bliss, Texas

David Crosby moved to Jefferson County in 1988 and attended high school in Martinsburg. His parents live in Kearneysville. David’s first tour was in 2003, when he spent 15 months in Iraq. His second tour, finished in November 2005, was 12 months.

While in Iraq David was in charge of maintenance teams. They were responsible for the recovery aspect, pulling vehicles that had flipped over or had been blown up. His other tasks included route reconnaissance, to make sure routes were safe for officers to journey.

“This tour was a lot more emotional than last time,” said Crosby. “We lost a couple of people in our unit. Everybody deals with this in their own way. I will never forget them. They will always be missed. They made the ultimate sacrifice.”

“It was a different battle on my second tour. You don’t know who you are fighting. Today we are fighting bombs, not people. Bombs have no face or name.”

“We are attempting to rebuild a country. This is not a simple thing. It is like rebuilding a car. When you tear a car apart it doesn’t look like much. But when you put back in the engine and paint the body, the car looks like something. The same goes for Iraq; we haven’t put the engine back in yet. We are making progress in Iraq. We have built an army and a police force from scratch. It’s going to take some time.”