War not over: Ga. vets of Iraq now going to Afghanistan

War not over: Ga. vets of Iraq now going to Afghan
By Russ Bynum
Associated Press / February 3, 2012


FORT STEWART, Ga.—About 700 soldiers from Georgia are among the latest U.S. troops headed to Afghanistan for a war that continues even after the Iraq conflict's end, leaving anxious spouses and parents who wonder why their loved ones are still fighting.

A battalion from Fort Stewart, near Savannah, is deploying in the coming days, the first engagement in Afghanistan for ground forces from the Georgia-based 3rd Infantry Division that fought four times in Iraq, including in the invasion of Baghdad in 2003. Two more battalions are scheduled to follow this spring and summer.

"Do I really want him to go to war? No," said Christy Van Nest of her husband, Sgt. Jeffrey Van Nest, one of the deploying soldiers. "...It was sudden for a lot of the families and there was that conflict where we don't want to see our soldiers leave."

At a departure ceremony for the troops this week, she said she's proud of her husband and his fellow soldiers in spite of her concerns, then added: "There's a very real possibility that some of these people won't come home."
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