Iraq weighs on minds of Georgia troops deploying to Kuwait

FORT STEWART - Pfc. Michael Brooks took his Army physical last year two days before the Sept. 11 attacks. During basic training, he watched many fellow enlistees drop out rather than face going to war. <br> <br> Now Brooks, 21, is among several thousand soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division&#39;s 2nd Brigade deploying within the next month to Kuwait, which shares a border with Iraq. <br> <br> The troops, whose mission has been planned since the beginning of the year, will train in the desert while serving as a deterrent to Saddam Hussein as U.S. forces have done since the Gulf War 12 years ago. <br> <br> But the soldiers know their six-month mission could change on a moment&#39;s notice if President Bush orders an invasion of Iraq. <br> <br> ``If we&#39;re called upon to go to war, I don&#39;t have a choice,&#39;&#39; said Brooks, a tank driver from Coleman, Ala. ``My whole family&#39;s worried because they&#39;re afraid of what might happen. They just don&#39;t know how well trained we are.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> An air of uncertainty hung over 2nd Brigade troops Thursday as they dressed in desert camouflage for a pre-departure ceremony just hours after President Bush denounced Iraq before the United Nations. <br> <br> Bush stopped short of threatening a military invasion, but any U.S. attack would most likely include 3rd Infantry troops in neighboring Kuwait. <br> <br> ``They&#39;re going to be the tip of the spear,&#39;&#39; said Col. David G. Perkins, the 2nd Brigade commander. ``And if the spear gets thrown, they&#39;re there.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Kuwait is familiar territory for the 3rd Infantry, the sole tank division of the Army&#39;s 18th Airborne Corps. The division deployed 6,000 troops during the Gulf War in 1990, including many of the 2nd Brigade&#39;s senior soldiers. <br> <br> Lt. Col. Stephen Twitty, a Gulf War veteran and 15th Infantry commander of the brigade&#39;s 3rd Battalion, said the possibility of war with Iraq helped focus his troops as they trained in the past year after returning from peacekeeping duty in Bosnia. <br> <br> ``There&#39;s a time for complacency, but this is not it,&#39;&#39; Twitty said. ``I like the uncertainty, because it makes us train harder.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> It&#39;s also meant increased anxiety for the families of soldiers who could be headed into harm&#39;s way. Twitty said he told his wife, Karen, ``Be ready for a wild ride.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> ``It is something we dwell on,&#39;&#39; Karen Twitty said. ``We do go about our daily lives, but I&#39;d be fibbing if I didn&#39;t say I get up every morning and turn the news on to see what happened the night before.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Fort Stewart officials won&#39;t say how many 2nd Brigade troops are headed to Kuwait, though each brigade has more than 4,000 soldiers. They will replace members of the division&#39;s 3rd Brigade, based at Fort Benning, who have been in Kuwait since April. <br> <br> Above anything, the Georgia soldiers say, after sitting out the fighting in Afghanistan, they are ready for a role in the war on terrorism whether that means standing ready in Kuwait to discourage Saddam or launching a direct attack. <br> <br> ``I&#39;m sure if the terrorists who struck on Sept. 11 knew these soldiers like I do,&#39;&#39; Perkins said, ``if they had come to Fort Stewart and seen the determination in their eyes, we would not have had to go to all these remembrance services.&#39;&#39;

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