The military’s mission in Iraq was renamed Operation New Dawn Wednesday. Tennessee guardsmen just back from the country say the situation really has improved.
The 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment ended its most recent deployment early as part of the troop drawdown in Iraq. Sgt. Frank Yates-Matoy says the experience was nothing like his previous tour, when in one day, he lost two friends to a roadside bomb and his unit experienced two more IED attacks before finishing its mission.
“I’ll tell you this, from ’04-’05 to this last deployment, things have gotten a lot better over there, and you can tell it. Being a soldier, I can tell it. People are a lot prouder of their nation and they’re actually taking control of it.”
They’re also not shooting at U.S. forces with nearly the same frequency. Yates-Matoy says his primary job on the most recent deployment was to keep kids from throwing rocks at American vehicles. There were no shots fired in his direction the whole time.
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