INTERVIEW WITH KATHLEEN<

Kathleen� daughter, �nne,�27, is with the Army Reserves now returned from Iraq and based in New Jersey. Before leaving the region, Anne� unit spent two weeks in Kuwait.

Kathleen: Anne joined the Army Reserves after college because she said she believes in the team concept and wanted to challenge herself. She delayed graduate school �now she� studying political communication �and was sent to Kosovo. She� in military intelligence.

She ended up on Iraq after she got a call from her battalion commander who said there was a slot open for her if she wanted it. She decided to take it as she thought it would be better that someone like her �single, no family yet �take the slot rather than someone with family and greater responsibilities.

Many soldiers have very good intentions and I feel their loyalties have been misused by this administration.

Anne waited eight weeks as her battalion commander tried to fill slots. He� said he had a full compliment but he didn�. There were several people in the unit who shouldn� have been sent over there. One fellow was sick with respiratory problems and didn� receive proper care. One couple lost their only child.

Their final destination was north of Baghdad in the Sunni Triangle. But some didn� have proper body armor. They arrived in Iraq and received flak vests in December but never received the ceramic plated armor. Their base had nothing, no facilities, no water, and they just sat there doing nothing in the baking sun.

Finally, they got a mission that required an armored vehicle. The commander had the only one and the troops asked if they could use it. He refused. So they jerry-rigged a vehicle with plywood to set up the gun.

People from other missions have joined the unit but they�e still, essentially, just sitting around.

The commander told them, �on� worry. Your jobs at Sears will still be waiting for you when you get back.�/p>

Anne feels there is a complete lack of respect for the troops because they�e Reservists. There� been a failure to provide for them adequately.

Anne has been in situations manning the gun behind a humvees even though her job is supposed to be interviewing people. She� developed feelings of hatred for the Iraqi people because of her own feelings of lack of safety.

Also, when she has talked to Iraqis, they�e shown her their wounds and she� become so emotional she couldn� go on. She said, � don� want to see their wounds. I have to cut off my emotions and just �o business.�That� hard to do, too. There was a kid who came frequently to the base and she developed real affection for him. But she had to defend herself against those feelings of genuine affection.

I live in a small town of about 25,000 people in South Carolina. It tends to be conservative and the general tenor is that the majority of the population supports the government. Even so, this is a unique town because people from all over the country have settled here, originally recruited to work on the atomic bomb.

I have friends in town who don� support the war. I express my views and people let me know that they don� agree with me. Many people here believe we�e doing the right thing over there.

I come from a military background. My father was in WW II. I have four brothers and two of them were in Vietnam. One sister was in the Army and the Air Force. My husband was in the Army in Vietnam and he supports this administration. My son is not in the military and he has the same views as I do but he supports his sister Anne.

Why did this happen? There was a security failure with 9/11 yet we don� address the real problems. We don� address what people in Palestine are facing. If we handled things differently those people wouldn� have reason to do as they are doing. I don� believe in retribution or vengeance. Our country is also at fault.