Losses Color a Patriotic Town's View of the Iraq War
Recruiting Stronghold Buries Its 2nd Soldier
An 82nd Airborne Division honor guard carries the casket of Pfc. Stephen Bicknell into First United Methodist in Prattville as family members follow at right. Bicknell died in Iraq Oct. 15.
(By Lloyd Gallman -- Montgomery Advertiser Via Associated Press)
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Sunday, November 5, 2006
PRATTVILLE, Ala. -- There is no antiwar movement in this small Southern city -- in fact, locals boast, just the opposite.
Army enlistment per capita runs roughly three times the national average, making it one of the top places in the country for recruiting. School authorities in this conservative middle-class suburb say between 25 and 50 seniors from Prattville High -- out of a class of roughly 450 -- sign up each year for the military. They are gung-ho.
"Doesn't that make a mayor proud?" asked Mayor Jim Byard. "Folks here are just very patriotic."
Yet even in Prattville, skepticism toward the war in Iraq is deepening.
This city of 30,000 people buried its second soldier last week, a popular 19-year-old who was the high school quarterback two seasons ago. Doubts about the war have coalesced around his death.
Even many of the recent recruits -- who might be assumed to be most supportive of the conflict -- now harbor doubts. They're willing to fight, they said in numerous conversations this week, and they are loath to protest, but they're just not as sure about the war's purpose.
"This is a war we can't win," at least not the way it's being fought now, said Damien Rollan, 17, a wiry motorcycle-riding daredevil who has signed up for the Marines.
He paused over the thought of its possible futility, squinting.
"I'm a little worried if I get sent to Iraq and die," he said. "Then it's a wasted life for a lost cause."
Russell Meadows, a drummer in the high school band who has signed up for the Army Reserve, said the recent deaths "made everyone realize this is serious and not just a game."
Chris Childs, a senior who grew up playing a rifleman and drummer boy in Civil War reenactments and makes films in his spare time, said: "At first I supported the war, but lately I don't understand what's going on. I don't understand why we're still there and getting attacked."
He has signed up for the Army National Guard. He paused.
