Pat Dollard

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Private First Class Track Palin remains focused on the job

by Deborah Haynes – (Times Online)

There is a sense of excitement among a unit of soldiers sent to Iraq from Alaska as Election Day dawns, with the added intrigue that one among their ranks could become the son of the next vice president of the United States.

Despite such an historic day at home, it will still be business as usual for the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, which includes Private First Class Track Palin, the 19-year-old son of Republican Sarah Palin, John McCain’s running-mate.

She is also Governor of Alaska and an honorary member of the 4,100-strong force, which has been rotating into bases and outposts across the vast province of Diyala, northeast of Baghdad, for the past month.

Colonel Burt Thompson, commander of the brigade, is focused on the mission ahead, to provide stability to Diyala, once a hotbed of al-Qaeda activity. He noted, however, that the US elections are an exciting time.

“I think our soldiers are excited about it, our nation is excited about it,” Colonel Thompson told The Times at his office on War Horse, a sprawling US base just outside Baquba, the provincial capital of Diyala.

Everyone in his unit, also known as the Arctic Wolves, had the chance to cast an absentee ballot, but they were advised against revealing their choice to the media. “I think our nation is ready for some change, a little bit of something different, whether that be [John] McCain or [Barack] Obama or whatever,” he said.

The commander, an enthusiastic soldier with big ambitions for Diyala, acknowledged the unique aspect of having Private First Class Palin in his force, but stressed that the young man just wants to be left to do his job.

“He is an air-guard, which means he pulls security for a Stryker vehicle,” Colonel Thompson said, describing the dark green combat vehicle that most his troops roll around in. It looks a bit like a tank with wheels instead of tracks.

“He’s a good soldier,” he added.

With so much to achieve over the coming year, the recently-arrived brigade is more focused on assisting the local security forces and the Diyala government than on who is going to be their next commander in chief, though the presidential elections are still a talking point for some during downtime.

Sergeant Richard Boone, 30, was born and raised in southern Alaska on a diet of moose and grizzly bear, both of which he still hunts.

“Black bear is greasy, grizzly bear is much nicer but you cannot beat moose,” said the father-of-three, on his second tour to Iraq.

He noted a change in this mission from his last deployment in 2005 to Mosul, further north, and Baghdad, when attacks were more frequent and US forces had the lead. This time the Iraqi army and police are in front.

As for the elections, Sergeant Boone applauded Governor Palin for boosting Alaska’s profile. “It is amazing. Finally Alaska is on the map for something. Before, we were just known as a state that is very cold,” he said, speaking outside a mansion on the west-side of the city, which has been converted into a base.

First Lieutenant Aaron Treesh, like a majority of the brigade, is not a native Alaskan. The 24-year-old, from Kentucky, is on his first tour to Iraq, and is looking forward to the elections.

“It is going to have a big impact,” he said, noting the differing views of the two candidates with regards to Iraq.

Not everyone in the brigade is bothered about the elections back home. Private Isaac Hunter, a 21-year-old originally from Texas, is more interested in working out inside a makeshift gym at a school on the east of Baquba that has also been turned into a base.

“I do not follow politics at all. I am just here to do my job” he said.

“On election day I will probably be thinking about what muscle group I will be working on.”