Brothers eager to return to Iraq

Star Gazette:

MANSFIELD (PA) - What Sam VanLoon wants more than anything for Christmas is a return trip to Iraq.

This despite the fact that the last time he was there, he got shot by a sniper.

It's not that he wants revenge. He just wants to finish what he started.

"What I want for Christmas is to go back," the 23-year-old Army National Guard sergeant said. "That would be fine. It's about unfinished business. It's the big game, and I can't be there for the big game I trained for, so it's frustrating.

"In a way, it's hard being home," VanLoon said. "Especially for Christmas and stuff. I keep thinking about the guys who have wives and kids and them being stuck over there. I left some of my best friends over there.

"I expected to be over there until May or June and then to turn it over to the next guy," he said. "But it didn't work out that way."

VanLoon and his brother, Army National Guard Spc. David VanLoon II, 21, both of Sullivan Township, are home for the holidays. On Oct. 9, a sniper shot Sam through the left arm. On Oct. 1, a .50- caliber heavy machine gun round exploded in David's right hand, causing extensive damage.

Sam was in charge of an Abrams tank between Ar Ramadi and Fallujah, west of Baghdad.

...
There is more concerning how they were wounded.

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