r
Spirit assembly leaves
writer wondering why
she went.
page 4
Check out today's top cars
for teens.
page 7
Wrestlers win eleventh
straight District title.
New column looks at
pop culture.
- page 8
- page 14-15
Official Student Publication of West Linn High School
Published Since 1921
Windows Vista reviewed:
should you bother?
page 16
March 2007 - Volume 95, Issue 5
West Linn alum survives fighting in Iraq
u R oya E lizeh & L auren L evine
co-Editors-in-Chief
"We were in a town called
An-Najaf in Iraq. We were
taking fire from down the
street that went west in an
intersection we were at. We
also had sniper fire from two
other buildings and I was
with two other snipers on
a roof," Corbett Craig, 2002
WLHS graduate, said. "That
was the time that I had my
first three kills. It all comes
down to the big saying, 'it's
either you or them' and right
now I'd rather it be them than
me."
"You try to forget about
it. If you think back upon
it, it eats at you every day.
If you forget about what all
happened, then you’ll get by,"
Craig said.
A year later, sitting in the
wly remodeled Starbucks
near the West Linn Public
Library, Craig relaxed with
a caramel Frappuccino
and recounted the last four
years, the end of his second
tour of duty in Iraq, and his
readjustment to civilian life.
Craig's experiences in Iraq,
especially his connections
with the people there, have
made lasting impressions.
"We had an interpreter who
had three girls and two boys.
He would come on our little
base and bring us food, ice
and sodas. We went over to
his house once because he
wanted my platoon to come
over there and eat dinner
^
W
-
with them," Craig said. "The
bad thing is that after we had
left, the regime came in and
killed everybody. Everybody
that had talked to us and
helped us out. His name was
Azis."
Some memories of Craig's
war experiences gave him
hope and meaning. "First
time we were over there, we
went to a sheik's (mayor's)
house and when we were
there they had us come
inside. They brought us ice
cold water in the 135 degree
heat. We had this armor
that in itself weighed about
30-40 lbs and a helmet and
weapons and the ammo on
top of it. We were sitting on
a couch and this little girl
who was probably about
two, maybe three, comes
in and she sits down right
next to me. She was the most
adorable thing," Craig said.
"I shared some of my water
with her. I got some ice cream
and I shared that with her.
Then got a picture and then
she looked at me, smiled, and
ran off. It lets you know that
their is actually still hope in
the country."
Bom in Portland, Ore.
on March 2,1984, Craig
aspired to be a pilot after
going to his first air show
at age eight. "Besides the
fact of being too tall, my
test scores weren't high
enough to become a pilot,"
Craig said. An interactive
child, Craig played youth
West Linn graduate, Corbett Craig, sits with a young girl with whom he shared ice cream in Iraq. Craig
joined the Army at age 17 and served two tours of duty in Iraq.
Photo submitted by Corbett Craig
baseball, soccer and collected
model airplanes. Craig's
decision to join the Army was
inspired by his grandfather
who fought in WWII. His
family supported him in his
decision.
As a Radio Transmission
Operator (RTO) in the
Army, Craig initially joined
the military to help pay
for college and to explore
different cultures.
"Some people have called
me uncultured, but I highly
disagree," Craig said. "I've
seen 13 or 14 different
cultures just by being in the
countries I've been in through
the Army."
Being involved was
always something that came
naturally to Craig. In high
school, Craig was involved
in soccer, video news and
enjoyed chemistry and math
graduating with a 3.5 gpa.
"Corbett, in high school,
was very intense, but polite
and sweet. He was always
confident in his abilities,"
Rebecca Farris, science
teacher, said. Craig helped
Farris with her biology
classes his senior year as a
student assistant.
After enlisting at age
17, Craig was sent after
graduation to the 101st
Division which specializes
in infantry and air assault.
It is there that he learned
to rappel from helicopters.
Basic training included boot
camp and emotional training
wThich lasted for about three
Students earn scholarships at CCC Skills Competition
a N athan F isher ____________
co-Editor-in-Chief
One hundred twenty-two
students from West Linn
competed in the 29th annual
Clackamas Community Col­
lege Regional Skills competi­
tion in 17 of 28 total areas
of competition. Of those, 21
students placed in the top
three, landing partial one-
term scholarships to CCC. An
awards ceremony is planned
for place winners on March
19.
First place winners in­
cluded: Dylan Stark, junior,
for W riting; Chase Gray,
junior, for Geography; Syd­
ney James, junior, for French
"TI; Caitlin Crane, junior, for
French IV; Gregory McMurtrie,
freshman, for Spanish IV and
Hillary Krippaehne, freshman,
for Journalism.
Avi Levy, sophomore, and
Eric Nesbit, senior, tied for
first in Math Ind. VI. The Math
Team II competition was won
by Levy, Nesbit and William
Letsou, senior.
Second place winners in­
cluded: Patricia Frazeur, se­
nior, and Jessica Shih, senior,
for Organic Chemistry; Cheng
Tan, junior, and Brian Fuchs,
senior, for Inorganic Chemis­
try; Margaret Hayertz, junior,
for Writing; Janae Sporrer,
sophomore, for French II; Sa-
chie Hopkins, sophomore, and
Hans Fambach, sophomore,
for Math Ind. V.
Kevin Kirkem o, senior,
Dylan Hinrichs, freshman, and
Brianne Cochran, sophomore,
each placed third in German
IV, Math Ind. IV and French
III, respectively.
Competitions began as early
as 7:30 a.m. with the last finish­
ing up at 2 p.m. Buses ran every
hour on the hour back to the
high school for students who
were done with their competi­
tion.
"It was a wonderful experi­
ence and I will definitely sign
up again next year," Krip­
paehne, freshman, said.
Three staff members, Ju­
lie Swanson, Lynn Pass and
Jamie LeVeque, chaperoned
students. "Everyone was well
behaved and appeared to get
a lot out of the competition,"
Swanson said.
New this year were two
additional areas of competi­
tion: Health Sciences and
Video Broadcasting. With
so many different areas of
competition, many students
participated in multiple com­
petitions.
In addition to the skills
com petition, CCC was also
host to a job fair which stu­
dents were encouraged to
attend.
"The competition is a great
opportunity for students to
experience a day on a college
campus," Swanson said.
months. Soldiers are trained
to not show compassion or
emotion during the time of
war according to Craig.
"When you get back
(from a mission) and then
something all of a sudden
hits you and you're in your
room, you know alone, you
end up breaking down and
someone comes and finds
you, and you have about 30
seconds to straighten yourself
back up," Craig said. As a
soldier, you are taught not to
have any regrets.
"If you falter, and start
regretting things you've
done in the past, it all just
comes back and hits you. You
become unsure of yourself
and of what your job is,"
Craig said. "My greatest fear
was that I wasn't going to
come back and be able to see
my two little sisters grow, or
to start a family of my own."
On Feb. 28, 2003 Craig was
deployed on his first tour
of duty in Iraq at the age of
19. He was stationed in the
Q-west base in a secured
part of Iraq. A normal day
for Craig's first deployment
included meeting city leaders
and asking them how their
city needed help. The soldiers
would then go on 2-3 hour
patrol, gather information
and do a second 2-3 hour
patrol of the city and the
neighboring areas. Soldiers
in the Q-west base would get
a total of 6-7 hours of sleep,
depending on the terrorist
activity in their area.
Soldier Atom Returns__________ m
continued on page 5