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A sweet, sour and somber farewell ritual

CAMP DEFENDER, Iraq — The soldiers of 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 7th Iraqi Army Division have lost 40 of their brothers-in-arms since January 2005.

On Thursday, they began a three-day ritual to honor the life of their most recent loss.

The sun had yet to rise over Iraq early Thursday morning when the Iraqi army convoy carrying the soldiers’ monthly pay made its way through Fallujah toward Camp Defender here in Ramadi.

As the trucks rolled past Fallujah, the enemy ambushed the convoy with small-arms fire.

One soldier, an enlisted man from the battalion’s S-1 shop, was killed. Another soldier was wounded.

Later that same day, Col. Mustafa, the battalion commander, and his staff hosted a two-hour visitation for their soldier. They would do this from 5 to 7 p.m. every day for three days.

As the colonel and his men sat in plastic chairs on one side of the room, Iraqi soldiers from the battalion and its sister units flowed in to pay their respects. With each visit, the colonel stood up to welcome his guests.

They made room for more guests when the American soldiers who work with the Iraqi soldiers on a daily basis as part of a Military Transition Team walked in to honor the dead soldier.

Each guest was quickly served a small cup of tea. It wasn’t chai, the sweet staple of Iraq’s residents. Instead, it was a light tea that was both sweet and sour. A round, silver tray filled with cigarettes was offered to each guest.

As the soldiers sat in the room with their commanders, a few pulled from the rolls of toilet paper set up on the table to wipe away their tears. Others stood up intermittently and said a short prayer for their fallen brother.

The mood was heavy and somber, and the cool evening air chilled the quiet room.

As the Iraqi soldiers mourned the loss of one of their own, their sergeant major told Army Times that he’s proud of his men.

“My soldiers are good soldiers,” said Sgt. Maj. Satar Chaloob Silman, the sergeant major of 1st Battalion. “We work first for God and then for country,” he said.