Smoke Signals
Home From The War Front; Frank Hostler, Jr. Returns
6 APRIL 15, 2004
Friendly During his deployment to Iraq with the 52nd Engineers.Tribal mem
ber Frank Hostler got to see most of Iraq, including the "Friends of Americans" shop.
HOSTLER continued
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939 dump truck, powered by a
Cummins turbo-diesel engine. It has
six massive wheels and can haul five
tons. It is the army's all-purpose ve
hicle, carrying everything from troops
to building supplies. The cab of the
truck sits several feet off the ground.
It was from this vantage point that
I lustier traveled the width and breadth
of Iraq, from north to south and ev
erything in between, includingTikrit,
Mosul and Baghdad.
"I've been all over that country," he
said. "Seen about 90 percent of it. It's
only about as big as California."
Hostler and his battalion arrived in
Kuwait in early April of last year and
began working its way up into Iraq.
By late May, the Battalion had set
up camp on an airfield on the outskirts
of Mosul, and began patrolling for
Baath party loyalists or anybody who
had anything to do with the former
dictator, Saddam Hussein. When they
found a suspected Saddam loyalist they
would first question, then arrest and
detain the suspect.
When they weren't patrolling, the
troops built camps to house some of
the 130,000 soldiers who are currently
stationed in Iraq.
"We built roads, bridges, schools,
orphanages, you name it," said Hos
tler. "It was difficult because there is
almost no wood over there. The soil
over there is more like sand really
fine and it gets into everything."
If he wasn't patrolling or rebuilding,
Hostler pulled security. He recalls that
sometimes the troops were stretched
thin trying to maintain defense.
"I stood out there for many hours by
myself. It was always dicey because
you've only got 420 rounds of ammu
nition." In mid-June, with ground tempera
tures soaring up to 137 degrees, Hos
tler was still doing security, dressed
in full combat gear: Kevlar helmet,
flack vest, backpack and his M-16.
"You drink a lot of water and stare at
a lot of sand."
He said that if given the choice, he
preferred being in his truck because it
was "hardened," meaning that it was
armored to withstand mines and small
arms fire. Nevertheless, Hostler and
the troops added sandbags or flack
vests to supplement the armor. He also
liked his truck because it was up high,
so he could see anyone coming. Be
cause of the flat geography of Iraq, he
could usually see them coming from a
long way off.
"One time we were going to Key
West (code name for one of the army
bases) and we see this guy with a
rocket propelled grenade launcher run
ning at us. The battalion commander
pulls out a gun, walks up and puts it
to his head, arrests him and we put
him in a POW camp."
By July, life had settled down to a
routine. They had built up the area
around Mosul Airfield code-named
"LSA Diamondback," and began to
expand to the nearest high ground, a
hill overlooking Mosul,
code named "Camp
Glory." Each day, they
would patrol for insur
gents or build infrastruc
ture. Each night, Iraqi
militants would mortar
them. The mortar rounds
were fired from nearby
neighborhoods into the
camp, every night for
months.
Most of the time the
rounds just landed harm
lessly and caused every
one to lose sleep. But
sometimes they could be
incredibly lethal.
"Our tent was right
next to the MI tent (mili
tary intelligence) which
was not good because
they (the Iraqis) would
aim for that tent," said
Hostler.
"One time these two
guys were standing out
there between a couple of
humvees having a ciga
rette, and a mortar round
landed right between
them. Blew the hell right
out of 'em, they didn't
even have time to
scream."
After a while the troops
moved from tents to eight
foot by 16-foot prefab
modular buildings,
known as "condos" to the
troops. Each held two sol
diers and were a big im
provement over the tents.
"It didn't change the
fact we were getting mor
tared every night," said
Hostler.
During August, Hos
tler continued patrolling
the area around Mosul.
Each evening the commanding of
ficers would tell the troops what they
would be doing the next day, and what
supplies they would need for the mis
sions. "We were still getting mortared.
I don't know where the Iraqis got all
those mortar rounds, they just got 'em.
You could predict how much time you
had by the sound of the incoming
round. After a while you get used to
it."
One of the defining moments of
Hostler's time in Iraq was when he
encountered a group of children in
Mosul one day.
"We gave the kids food and water
and pretty soon they would see us com
ing and run out to greet us. I threw a
cracker down to this little girl and for
a moment I could just see the despair
in her eyes. She was so intense about
getting that cracker she was fight
ing off guys for it and my heart just
went out to her. I mean, they don't got
nothing. All they got is each other...
from that point on, I resolved to try to
be good guy to everybody I met."
By fall of 2003, Hostler and his out
fit were busy with different missions
each day, sometimes rebuilding roads,
sometimes patrolling Mosul or stand
ing guard over the rebuilding efforts.
In January of this year, the battal
ion was tasked with guarding supply
convoys from Kuwait to Camp Cedar,
15 miles outside the town of Nasiriya
in Southern Iraq. The convoys ran
every day and were by no means a safe
operation. Hostler had to deal with the
ever-present danger of attacks by Iraq
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In Sadaam's Shadow Hostler in front of a mural depicting
former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein comforting a little girl. Hos
tler was deployed to Iraq in April of 2003 and has just returned after
spending nearly a year helping coalition forces secure and rebuild
the country.
insurgents, as well as the inherent
danger of traveling in a convoy loaded
with gasoline, explosives and military
supplies.
"We had a 27 vehicle pile up one
day," said Hostler. "Vehicles were
stacked one on top of the other. Four
soldiers, their bodies were totally in
cinerated. All we found was one hip
bone in the cab of what used to be a
truck."
I Iostler said that the hardest part of
being deployed to Iraq wasn't the con
stant threat of death or injury, but the
separation from his family and com
munity. "I missed my family every
single day I was over there. And I
would sometimes think to myself,
'hmm...I'm missing a good pow-wow
right now.""
Hostler has been married for four
years to his wife, Laurie. He also has
five children, his daughter Auburn, 6,
and four stepdaughters, Brandy
Beldan, 21, Theresa Belden, 20 and
Leslie and Kim Holman, age 17 and
15. Hostler said that they played a big
part in keeping his spirits up during
his tour.
Now that he's back in the states,
Hostler has begun to readjust to civil
ian life. "I catch myself humming... I
know exactly what it is. I'm happy to
be here, happy to be alive, to have my
family around. There were a couple of
times I thought I wouldn't come back."
He has a collection of souvenirs that
includes photographs, hundreds of
Iraqi coins and dollars with Saddam's
image on them as well as "a killer
poster of Saddam when he was young."
Next, I Iostler wants to get
promoted to sergeant, the
next step up from his E-4
specialist rank. He will be
in the National Guard until
February 15, 2005. He said
he would like to continue
serving with the Guard. "I
would love to stay on with
the Guard. I believe what I
believe."
One thing that Hostler
can tell you for sure "is that
there are no weapons of
mass destruction in that
country. I feel kind of gypped
on that... it takes a person
a while to get trained and
deployed for that kind of
thing.
"Plus we had to stand
there in chemical protective
gear, MOP suits, for hours
at a time in the desert when
there was no threat of
chemical weapons. Certainly
the W.M.D.'s are not there,"
said Hostler.
"Do I think we're going to
win the war? Well, I can tell
you this: change is going to
take a long time, but I think
it will change. The reason
why is go down to the gas
station and look at what it
costs and see what that coun
try (Iraq) offers and they'll
make it work, I guarantee
it."
Hostler said that he
would like to think that in
the end he helped the people
of Iraq.
"Now the people have free
dom. The very fact the people
can assemble is a sign of de
mocracy. With Saddam, no
way, he would have sprayed
the whole crowd and let the
families figure it out," said Hostler.
"But now the people have a choice,
which is more than they had before. I
feel pretty good about that."