Iraq like a new country to some on their second, third or fourth tours

[unhappycamper]

Iraq like a new country to some on their second, third or fourth tours
By Vince Little, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, February 6, 2008

RUSTAMIYAH, Iraq — Spc. Matthew McGinnis still has the scars from his first trip to Iraq in 2005.

The 23-year-old Army police officer from Kittanning, Pa., was returning to Forward Operating Base Rustamiyah in southeast Baghdad from a mission one day when his Humvee got hit by a roadside bomb just outside the gate. The blast sent shrapnel into the back of his head.

The wounds were not life-threatening, and he was stitched up at the base hospital.

Now with the 401st Military Police Company’s 2nd Squad, 3rd Platoon at Camp Liberty on a second deployment, McGinnis says Baghdad’s streets aren’t as turbulent as they used to be.

“It’s quieted down a lot,” he said. “We don’t get engaged much anymore.”


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52224