dhud64
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- May 2, 2003
- Messages
- 344
This is a cool story. A must read for everyone!<br /><br /><br />November 05, 2004<br /><br />Its a life-altering situation<br />Soldier home on leave recounts Iraq experiences <br /><br />By Amy Sherrill<br />The Times Record / Associated Press<br /><br /><br />ACORN, Ark. Spc. Shannon Morgan is modest about the fact that shes the best sawgunner in her battalion. She chalks it up to years of target practice on squirrels back home in Polk County. <br /><br /><br />Morgan sits at her familys dining table with her dyed-black hair pulled back and her hands folded in front of her as she talks about her time spent in Iraq recently. <br /><br />While shes home on leave this month, she has told her relatives how much they mean to her. She also has reflected on how she used to take freedom for granted. <br /><br />You wake up in the morning, you do what you do, and you really ever question it, Morgan said. You never really think of those people who are out there defending it. The things they go through to make sure that we have the opportunities that we have in America. <br /><br />Although she doesnt boast about it, Morgan helped defend the freedom she so greatly cherishes now. When stationed in Ramadi, Iraq, with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, she was selected to be part Team Lioness, a 20-member group of Army women who assisted Marines in searching Iraqi women. <br /><br />They wanted females they knew wouldnt crap out on them running down the road in 90 pounds of gear, Morgan said. <br /><br />As a lioness, Morgan would come in behind Marine soldiers after they secured a building in their hunt for insurgents. She and other lionesses would corral the women together and search them for weapons. <br /><br />Initially, the male soldiers searched Iraqi women, but it made the women uncomfortable because of their religious beliefs. Many times, she and others assisted the Marines in searches, but in May she was with them when a five-hour gun battle broke out. <br /><br />All of a sudden explosions started happening everywhere, she said. They were shooting RPGs at us. <br /><br />Shrapnel was flying. Bullets landed in the dirt right in front of her. People were shooting at the soldiers from rooftops and trees. A Marine standing next to Morgan was pulling security to the right while she was pulling security to the left. <br /><br />The next thing she saw, the Marine dropped because hed been shot in the leg. She hovered over him as she looked up to see where the gunfire was coming from. <br /><br />She had to shoot a lot of them over there, shes not telling you that, said Morgans mother, Vivian Lea of Acorn. <br /><br />Morgan looks away and appears upset that the subject has been brought up. <br /><br />I knew there might be a chance someday that I was faced with that adversity, but I mean once youre there and it happens, its a lot different, she said. Its a life-altering situation. <br /><br />At the end of that day, the Marines and the Army Team Lioness had to collect bodies. <br /><br />We would put them on poncho liners and drag them to the vehicle, and thats when it really hit me when I was looking at all these people, Morgan said. <br /><br />Michele Perry, who serves in Team Lioness with Morgan, said Morgan is someone a person would want in her corner if she was in trouble. Although her time in Iraq was difficult, Morgan is glad she got the chance to defend her country. <br /><br />In February, Morgan will be released from active duty. Shes looking forward to getting her original blonde hair back. She and other women dyed their hair to camouflage the fact that they are females. <br /><br />Morgan also looks forward to starting college at Kansas State University to work toward a nursing degree. She hopes also to play basketball there. Nursing and basketball were her two dreams before she enlisted, and shes happy she will get the chance to fulfill them now. <br /><br />Mena attorney Bob Keeter remembers Morgan as being real aggressive on the basketball court during her school years. He believes that aggressive nature is what helped her in the Army. <br /><br />Morgan had graduated high school and was working as a certified nursing assistant when she felt the urge to enlist after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. <br /><br />I couldnt believe that somebody from another country had done this to our people and it really hurt to see all the peoples faces on the news, Morgan said. I just wanted to do my part and go over there and do whatever I could to help defend our nation. I never want anybody to take our freedom away from us. I really think freedom is more a blessed gift, it really is, Morgan said. I never really thought that you actually had to earn freedom. I never thought that.<br /><br /> http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?...news-491439.php
