Sgt. Tracy Renee Birkman's Father Angry

Virginia Sergeant, Mother Dies in Iraq
By Michael Laris and Meg Smith
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, January 28, 2008; 5:55 PM

Sgt. Tracy Renee Birkman, a mechanic and mother of three from the Roanoke area, died Friday after suffering non-combat-related injuries in Owesat, Iraq, according to military officials. The incident is under investigation, they said.

She is survived by her parents and three sons, all of New Castle, Va., according to officials from Fort Campbell, Ky., where her division, the 101st Airborne, is based.

Birkman's father, Jerald Griffith, a veteran of the Vietnam War, said his daughter was on her third deployment to Iraq.

"She's over there in a war we shouldn't even be involved in, on her third tour," Griffith said. He said he was angry with military officials for releasing information about his daughter's death, and with the media for its portrayal of soldiers such as himself.

"I didn't want it released. I am so [furious] about all this I can just scream," Griffith said. "I hate the media with just an unmitigated passion. You . . . lied about me when I was in Vietnam."

click post title