Word: noncombatant
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...years, since the U.S. first Army marched into Nazi Germany in 1944, America's military footprint in Europe has been in the West. Today, more than 117,000 U.S. troops remain - the largest noncombat U.S. military presence abroad. But times have changed since Soviet tanks loomed on the eastern side of northern Germany's Fulda Gap. Thirteen years after the end of the cold war, American troops are once again on the move. Thousands of troops based in Germany, Britain and other parts of Western Europe will likely be redeployed over the next few years back to the U.S. Meanwhile...
...They will not engage in the use of force ... They are not going to war." Junichiro Koizumi, Japan's Prime Minister, announcing his Cabinet's decision to deploy noncombat troops in Iraq...
Statistics are pliable things. Some people contend that the 338 American soldiers who have died in Iraq since the war began--215 in combat, 123 from noncombat causes--amount to a hearteningly low toll out of the 130,000-strong U.S. force. But others, including many of the troops, are dismayed that 199 of those deaths--101 combat, 98 noncombat--have come since Bush's May 1 declaration that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended." Even though some military officers contend that G.I.s are dying at a slower rate, soldiers say the unpredictability and ever-changing face...
...soon after the war officially ended, but he volunteered to sign on for an extra three months because he wanted to earn more money for college, and because he felt there was still work to do. The next day Private Corey Small died from a gunshot wound "in a noncombat incident," and Private First Class Jim Herrgott was killed by a sniper as he guarded the Iraqi National Museum. Three days later, Sergeant David Parson was shot in Baghdad while raiding a house, and Specialist Jeffrey Wershow was shot in the back of the head while guarding a U.S. delegation...
...would see a lot less of Jayden. Then in April of this year, Small was shipped off to Iraq. He was proud to serve his country and received word that he might be promoted while in the Persian Gulf. On July 3, he died from a gunshot in a noncombat incident that the Army says is under investigation. The East Berlin post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars has helped set up a trust fund for Jayden, and donations are pouring in. --Reported by Amanda Bower...