Soldier Returns to Duty

This Fourth of July, Daniel Murray will be traveling, on his way back to Iraq after a short leave in Jacksonville.

After catching a Cardinals game Tuesday night, he had an early morning flight to Europe, where he expected to be staying today before flying to Kuwait and then Iraq.

“I couldn’t make (the Fourth celebrations) this year,” he said, “but next year, I’m sure I’ll be around.”

Mr. Murray is a Jacksonville native and a 2003 Routt Catholic High School graduate whose unit was involved in a high-profile raid in March of an al-Qaida prison and torture house.

Since then, he has been promoted to corporal in Troop C, 6th Squadron, 8th Calvary Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat team, 3rd Infantry Division. His unit is still based in southern Baghdad.

“Things are a little more secure now than the first three months I was there,” he said. He started serving in Iraq in November and expects to finish his tour the beginning of next year. And just before coming home for leave, he re-enlisted for three years.

“It’s something that people look up to,” Cpl. Murray said. “I like the fact that people look up to us and what we do.”

His job is fire support for Troop C, its “eyes,” directing artillery fire and, more recently, Apache helicopter support for the troop’s 120 soldiers. In the other two troops in his unit, those positions are held by sergeants, which Cpl. Murray takes as a sign of his superiors’ confidence in him. He expects to make sergeant about the time he leaves Iraq and is assigned to Fort Carson, Colo.

While Cpl. Murray said he’ll miss the cookouts and parties with friends on the Fourth, the patriotic part of the holiday is not a big factor for him.

“It means a little more than just normal, everyday,” he said. After serving his country, the Fourth “means more, I guess, but how I would celebrate it, I’d probably do things the same way.”

During the first half of his tour in Iraq, he missed most “just being able to hang out with my friends and family,” he said. “The little things, too. Just to be able to go to the store. You have to wait.”

Contact from home helps a lot. “The support I get from my family and friends in Jacksonville just helps me get through and for things to go fast,” he said. “Getting a letter eases stress.”

While people back home have been appreciative of his service for the country, he’s not exactly sure how to respond. “I get a lot of people who come up and ask me how things are,” he said. “That’s the most awkward part for me, when it’s part of my everyday life,” Cpl. Murray said.

“We have a task, and we go out and do it. And then we have one the next day and the next day.”
— Ted Roth

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Last year, Jacksonville resident Sammye Harney celebrated her first Fourth of July without her family.

The Illinois National Guard sergeant was in Austin, Texas, on a four-day pass from Fort Hood, where she was training before deployment to Iraq.

She would spend 10 months stationed at the al-Asad Air base in the Anbar Province.

“It was a difficult time. It was the first Fourth of July in my life being away from home,” Sgt. Harney, 25, said.

However, she had familiar company in Texas — her boyfriend, Staff Sgt. Drew Geer.

“We watched the fireworks in Austin, but it was different, not being around our family and friends,” he said.

The couple will again be spending the holiday together this year, but this time with family and friends in Jacksonville and Franklin.

Sgt. Harney and Staff Sgt. Geer were among about 160 soldiers of 3637th Maintenance Company of the Illinois National Guard who returned May 25 from Iraq.

For the last six weeks, they have been busy with work, school and reuniting with loved ones.

“It will be nice to hang out with friends that have been out of town recently, and that we have yet to see since returning home,” Sgt. Harney said.

The Fourth of July has been important to the Jacksonville resident. “I loved going to the parades when I was younger,” she said. Seeing men from the local VFWs attired in uniform and hoisting the American flag, “That was inspirational for me,” she added.

The day creates a mood that brings people together, Staff Sgt. Geer said.

“It’s a day of national pride, for everybody to fly their flag, take pride of our country and everything it stands for,” he said. “I like that it brings people closer.”
— Kate Ramsay

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