April 22, 2004

Letter from 341 st MP Unit details frustration, low morale

By Kymberli W. Brady
Staff Writer

“Five days before I was supposed to get on a plane and return home from the Sunni Triangle, an order came down from General Sanchez himself that the 341st MP Co. from San Jose Ca. was going to be extended yet again, after their 365 days had been fulfilled. With the footlockers closed and put away and the final preparations being done, our unit was ready to send our advanced party back to the U.S. to get things ready for our homecoming.”

And so begins the heartwarming e-mail sent on Friday from Sgt. Koka Sexton of the San Jose based 341 st Military Police Unit, recently adopted by the City of San Jose. The e-mail was sent to his fiancée, 21-year-old Meghan Slote of San Francisco. In it, he details the unit's frustrations and disappointments in having their tour extended for a third time, after having already spent a year in Iraq. Instead of returning home at the end of this month, they are now coming to terms with the fact that they will not see their loved ones until August.

“I know that they're kind of disappointed,” says Slote. “I think this was an exercise in frustration. They're doing something that their families are proud of, but he's frustrated because they're ready to come home. At the same time they know this is their job. They just want a date—something to work toward.”

“People took the news like they were hit by a truck,” writes Sexton. “But most of us were not surprised; we haven't caught a break in this country since we drove our Humvees across the border. From weeks at isolated relay stations in 130-plus degree heat filled with sandstorms, to finding out the news of our second extension orders, throwing us in the middle of the Sunni Triangle, driving daily convoys and patrols down the most dangerous routes in and around Baghdad—and now to this.”

Sexton talks in his e-mail about the “countdown” calendar and when they celebrated having reached double digits—the number of days before their tour would be over. The 341 st had five days to go before the Army's decision last week extended it an additional four months. The 165 reservists are among 6,000 National Guard or Army Reserve troops ordered to stay in Iraq, almost 30 percent of the total 20,000 soldiers who will be spending an additional three to four months abroad.

“The emotional roller coaster these soldiers have gone on is a ride nobody should have to take,” Sexton continues. “The families of the soldiers have almost been brought to the breaking point as we were given tentative dates to re-deploy in September 2003, then to January of 2004, and again when the final extensions were handed down to keep us in Iraq a total of 365 days. Marriages have ended and babies have been born that won't see their fathers until they are over a year old. It's difficult for a soldier to understand how so much bad fortune can fall on one group so consistently, and it's intensified when a person needs to tell their families and children that they need to cancel the welcome home festivities because they were handed a piece of paper saying their services are needed for another few months over and over again.”

According to his e-mail, Sexton claims that the 341 st held the title of being the most senior Military Police Company in Iraq and, as of this week, they will overtake the title of most senior unit of any branch still on the ground.

“ Soldiers need to call home yet again and tell their loved ones that even with five days to go, the Army has changed its mind,” he writes. “I don't know how I'm going to do it and by the look on people's faces after the news, I would guess no one else does either.”

Sexton further emphasizes the resiliency of the troops and the stories they have collected—from working 15 to 20 days at a time, dodging rocket propelled grenades and guarding civilian contractors, to their new classification as guards at the country's central holding facility for prisoners of war.

“I and the troops of the 341st will persevere,” he assures his fiancé. “We are now going to serve in a prison, guarding inmates that are being held for placing the same bombs along the roads, ambushing convoys and firing rockets or mortars into the bases that have taken the lives of our over 600 brothers and sisters. This is going to be one of the most difficult transitions we will have to make but we will make it. We are upset from our situation but we are prepared to answer the call. ”