Notes from a war - stories

Tontitown mayor at odds with city officials

City officials in Tontitown say Mayor Joe Edgmon isn't doing his job and his holding up projects that include funding to pay for cleaning up after an ice storm.
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South Korean held in North is freed, returns home

A South Korean worker detained for months in North Korea returned home Thursday after the communist nation freed him.
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875th engineers prepare to blast Afghan bombs

The soldiers took a break from the blazing heat Friday, shucking off helmets as they leaned against the pavilion's tall wooden tables piled high with hundreds of pounds of explosives.
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GRIEF FROM A WAR: Dealing with the pain

Families and soldiers still wrestling with Iraq deaths

Staff Sgt. Stacey Brandon opened the lime green Army-issue notebook he used as a journal and jotted down the day's thoughts before climbing into bed at a dusty outpost north of Baghdad.
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Family near, far for 39th returnees

Comrades are kin for many stuck at military post on Thanksgiving

CAMP SHELBY, Miss. - Sgt. 1st Class Stevie Junior stirred scrambled eggs into his grits Thursday morning in yet another Army chow hall.
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160 in 39th leave sands of Iraq, set foot in South

CAMP SHELBY, Miss. - First Lt. Shannon Keener clomped down the metal stairs of the plane with a smile spread across his face and his black cavalry hat clutched in his hands.
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Camp all set, but GIs beset by flight delays

For returnees, change is the only constant

CAMP SHELBY, Miss. - The first planeload of Arkansas soldiers returning from Iraq with the 39th Infantry Brigade is arriving later than first planned.
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Guard lines up for 39th's return

Assessing toll of second Iraq stint tops list as GIs fly home

CAMP SHELBY, Miss. - The first wave of soldiers with Arkansas' 39th Infantry Brigade arrives Tuesday night at this southern Mississippi post, the last stop on their journey home from Iraq.
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Suskie's 1 year as JAG in Iraq cut by 6 months

State PSC chief's shortened tour runs contrary to Army policy

Maj. Paul Suskie, chairman of the state Public Service Commission, was allowed to cut short his tour of duty in Iraq as top legal officer for Arkansas' 39th Infantry Brigade despite orders to deploy for the entire year.
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'Lob bombs' latest weapon in insurgents' arsenal against GIs in Iraq

FURAT, Iraq - Pfc. Brandon Titsworth stood at the back of a growling humvee and wrestled his body armor onto his shoulders. A cigarette dangled from his grinning lips. Staff Sgt. Curtis Coleman burst out of the house in his usual raucous style and hollered, "Let's get to work!" to his squad of soldiers from 1st Battalion, Bravo Company, 3rd Platoon of Arkansas' 39th Infantry Brigade.
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Delta Company solemnly bids its 'Big Daddy' goodbye

CAMP ADDER, Iraq - Pictures of Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Woodham flashed across a big screen at the front of the massive tent as the solemn soldiers of Delta Company slowly marched to their seats.
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Inquiry in GI death finds no sign of electrocution

CAMP ADDER, Iraq - A preliminary investigation of the maintenance tent where an Arkansas soldier died and the humvee he was working on found no indication of electrocution.
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39th sharing the road in Iraq but still wary

Policy change has meant safer travel

AL ASAD, Iraq - Shiny new metal signs adorn the back bumpers of humvees here in Anbar province, telling local drivers in both English and red swirls of Arabic to carefully pass the convoy when signaled.
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Trouble is routine for Delta Company

Breakdowns, danger part of the job

TREBIL, Iraq - Capt. Bryan Kieffer's voice echoed through the convoy's vehicles as the palm trees and buildings of Hit on the Euphrates River cast dark shadows along the road.
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SOLDIERS OF THE ROAD: On move at night, team looks home

Rest fleeting for 39th's Bandito crew

Children swarmed the tractor-trailer trucks ambling toward the Camp Anaconda gate.
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