In Iraqi town, soldiers on end of dirty looks, drive-by fruiting

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http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=38009


ASHAM ALI, Iraq — Staff Sgt. Charles Rhoten’s patrol rolled slowly through this small, hardscrabble town Wednesday like a macabre parade, drawing pointed, hateful looks from the throng of locals.

Fortunately for the men of Rhoten’s unit, Battery A, 1st Battalion, 125th Regiment Field Artillery, a Kansas-based unit attached to the Minnesota Army National Guard, their three months in this Shiite-heavy area of southern Iraq has yielded little worse than killer looks. snip

As Sallim was talking, however, an American soldier standing guard outside the police station fell victim to a most unusual crime: a drive-by fruiting.

The offending tomato, hurled from a passing car, hit Spc. Randon Smith’s left boot, bounced up and smacked him in the shin. snip

On the ride back to Camp Scania, Rhoten chuckled at Sallim’s assessment that the Americans were welcome in the town. snip

“Yup, everybody loves us,” he said, surveying the scene with a sigh. “There is no militia here.”

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1. What, and he didn't engage the enemy?

That tomato could have killed him.