October 09, 2007

Soldiers Snatched In May Ambush Still Missing

The Fort Drum-based 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, is on its way back from Iraq -- but without two soldiers who've been missing for five months.

Spc. Alex Jimenez, 25, and Pvt. Byron Fouty, 19, were captured in an insurgent ambush on May 12, south of Baghdad. They have not been seen since then. Americans killed in captivity have been a prime source of propaganda for al-Qaida in Iraq, suggesting there is some chance that Jimenez and Fouty are still alive. In the face of little evidence indicating otherwise, the search for the missing soldiers continues.

"This is still our brigade's No. 1 priority," the brigade's commander, Col. Michael Kershaw, said of the missing soldiers on Friday. In June, the al-Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq claimed in a video that Jimenez and Fouty had been killed in the ambush. The soldiers' military ID cards were shown, but there was otherwise no proof that they were dead or even captured.

Kershaw said that U.S. forces continue to receive conflicting intelligence on what might have become of Fouty and Jimenez. They join two other soldiers believed to have been captured in Iraq but whose status and whereabouts are unknown.

While Fouty and Jimenez, along with Sgt. Matt Maupin and Spc. Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, have largely dropped from the headlines, their families continue to hope for word of their whereabouts. The Detroit Free Press reported last month on the relationship forged between Fouty's stepfather and Jimenez's father. The Massachusetts-based Eagle Tribune interviewed Fouty's father earlier this month.

Meanwhile, the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, which has logged more time on the ground than any other unit since 2001, is wrapping up its extended 15-month deployment. The military announced that returning soldiers would be put through specialized training to help them better reintegrate.

DOD studies have found that the stress of repeat deployments has nudged up the suicide rate among Army soldiers, and that anywhere from one-third to one-half of servicemen and women who've served in Afghanistan and Iraq are suffering from mental health ailments such as post-traumatic stress disorder. In May, a DOD task force issued an urgent warning that the military and federal government were not equipped to adequately treat affected troops. The extended tours, first announced in April, are expected to exacerbate the stress on troops.

Posted at 5:02 PM
Posted to: Iraq, Middle East, Military
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