Iraq and Ole Miss

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Students and Soldiers

Ole Miss students returning from battle are altering the school?s picture of the Iraq war

WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Laura Houston
Newsweek

May 1 -


snip

The Iraq war is hitting home at Ole Miss. As the casualties mount and the June 30 deadline for transfer of authority looms, students are talking about the conflict in increasingly somber and serious tones. Peacock, however, is one of several students who have returned to campus from the battlefield, putting a human face on a faraway fight. The majority of students on campus remains supportive of the Iraq war and President Bush. But as Peacock and others return from battle, their classmates, the ones who listen, are starting to get a more precise and disturbing picture of what war in Iraq is really like.

Even Peacock, the now-seasoned veteran, admits that he didn?t know much about Iraq before he was shipped out last March. His deployment?six months extended to 11?would be the longest time he?d ever spent away from home. In fact, he?d only been out of the country once before, on a high school trip to Cancun. Back on campus, he won?t talk much about his service in Iraq?he says he can?t?but it?s clear from what he does say that this overseas trip was no vacation. Stationed near Tikrit and other hotspots, Peacock estimates that the camps in which he served came under attack an average of five times per week. He says he thinks about the soldiers he saw wounded and killed and worries about the spirits of those who continue to serve. ?As long as you have extended, year-long tours,? he told me, ?morale is going to stay low.?


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