Soldier's Story, Part IV: Positives outweigh negatives - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Special Report--

Soldier's Story, Part IV: Positives outweigh negatives

Specialist Dallas Chambless, Third Brigade,Third Infantry Division Specialist Dallas Chambless, Third Brigade,Third Infantry Division

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May 7, 2004

Ft. Benning, GA-- Every military man or woman comes home with their own different story. On the home front, we may only hear about casualties and fighting, but Operation Iraqi Freedom is more than war, it's about freeing people. Specialist Dallas Chambless of Third Brigade of the Third Infantry Division came back with more positives than negatives. 

"My name is Dallas Chambless, I'm 20 years old and I'm with Alpha Company, and I'm from Texas, Maa'm."

"Throughout combat, everybody was in danger. We were in better equipment, better vehicles and better trained. We lost a total of three people with 2/69th. We just got done with a memorial up the roadway. It was hard that they had to die."

"It is an experience, I'll never forget it. It's something that will make or break you. It's either a good experience or something that will haunt you for the rest of your life, and luckily it's not haunting me."

"Being able to see the looks on the faces after we rolled through Baghdad, everybody cheering. Little girls and little boys bring us flowers, so happy to see us."

"I was sitting there listening to music and they didn't understand what a CD player was. I let them listen and they were like, 'Oh, that makes music,' and I was like, 'Yeah, it's a nice little invention they made a long time ago."

"Their country had a lot of things, they just weren't allowed to have them due to the regime. They weren't allowed to have satellite television. They were only allowed to watch Iraqi TV."

"Spending so much time in Baghdad, not in combat, I was able to calm down  from the mode we had to be in for combat. We were sitting there working with people and establish civilization for them, and get them back up to par where they were at."

"What got me through, knowing that we went over there and we did something good. Our mission was accomplished. Knowing I did my job to the best of my ability and knowing everybody else came through, knowing my families back home still, they're safe and they don't have to worry about terrorism."

"Got back July 14th, I believe. It's the greatest thing in the world. I wouldn't trade it for a billion dollars. I wouldn't give up this land for nothing."

Specialist Dallas Chambless is not sure exactly what he plans to do next. To advance his military career, he wants to go through helicopter training. If he decides to get out of the Army, he wants to go back to Texas to take care of wildlife.

posted at 10:40AM by dave.miller@walb.com