As the number of casualties from the war in Iraq continues to rise steadily, North Carolina felt the toll more acutely last Sunday when an explosive device claimed the life of a N.C.-based paratrooper and wounded three others while on duty outside of Baghdad.
The Fort Bragg soldier who was killed, Sgt. Trevor Blumberg, 22, enlisted in the military in July 2000 and just returned from service in Afghanistan last January. Blumberg had been in Iraq for about one month.
"Any time that we lose a solider everyone is extremely saddened by that," said Sgt. Pamela Smith, public affairs officer for the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. "The families are always worried about their soldiers whenever they are deployed... but our soldiers are the best trained infantry soldiers in the world--we're prepared for war and we're prepared for peace."
A memorial is expected this week for the Canton, Mich., native at Fort Bragg.
The soldiers were on patrol in a Humvee Sunday morning in the town of Fallujah, 43 miles west of Baghdad, when three improvised explosive devices detonated, setting the truck on fire. One eyewitness reported that the right rear quarter of the truck was completely blown off and other soldiers were pulled from the burning vehicle before ammunition in the truck began exploding, The News and Observer of Raleigh reported.
Fallujah has been a hotbed of discontent since the onset of the conflict, and anti-occupation sentiments were fanned by the death of eight Iraqi policemen and one Jordanian soldier Friday after an exchange of friendly fire with a Fort Bragg-based infantry unit.
The Iraqi police were reportedly engaged in fire with American troops while in pursuit of assailants who had attacked their station. Jordanian troops guarding a nearby hospital thought they were being attacked and were drawn into the fray. The U.S. military issued an apology for the incident.
Tensions reached boiling point, however, at the funeral service for the eight Iraqi police officers held Saturday when angry citizens took to the streets in an anti-American demonstration.
"That's the problem over there--there are so many people and you just don't know where [an attack] might come out of," Smith said. "They're just over there doing their job, trying to do the best they can."
Blumberg is the 16th N.C.-based casualty since President George W. Bush's May 1 declaration that major combat operations are over and the 48th N.C.-based casualty since the war in Iraq began last spring.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.