Wartorn

CEDAR RAPIDS - It remains to be seen if the cost of the recently concluded war in Iraq was too high, according to those who bore a disproportionate share of that cost - the loved ones of the killed and wounded troops.

In general, they would agree with President Barack Obama's statement issued after the last U.S. troops left Iraq on Dec. 15: “I would describe our troops as having succeeded in the mission of giving to the Iraqis their country in a way that gives them a chance for a successful future.”

If the Iraqis make the most of that chance, it will have been worth it, said Rick Garceau of Oelwein, whose son, Sgt. Seth Garceau of the Iowa Army National Guard died March 4, 2005, of wounds suffered when a bomb exploded next to his Humvee in central Iraq. That same blast killed Second Lt. Richard Gienau, 29, a Tripoli native.

“Right now I don't feel like we accomplished all that we set out to do, but we'll know in time,” Garceau said.

Seth Garceau was one of 68 service members with Iowa ties killed in Iraq, one of 4,487 U.S. troops killed since the $800 billion war started nearly nine years ago. Of the more than 1 million U.S. troops who served in Iraq, 32,226 were wounded in action, and an estimated 20 percent of the wounded suffered serious brain, limb and spinal injuries.

A significant but undetermined percentage of those troops contend with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental ailments.

“I have no opinion about whether we should have been there,” said Dan Shannon, 54, of Guttenberg, whose son, Army Reserve Cpl. Stephen Shannon, 21, died Jan. 31, 2007, of injuries suffered when a rocket struck the vehicle he was driving in Ramadi, Iraq.

“It was a terrible loss of time, treasure and talent, but it remains to be seen if it was toward a good end,” Shannon said.

Col. Ben Corell, who commanded the Iowa National Guard's 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry during its marathon Iraq deployment in 2006 and 2007, said the war's value depends upon one's point of view.

“Was it worth it? I struggle to say yes when I look at it from the (perspective of) the individual soldier who was killed or gravely wounded. My heart will always hurt for them,” said Corell, who more recently commanded the 2,800 Iowa members of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team in Afghanistan.

From the national perspective, however, the war's costs have been justified by the opportunity U.S. troops have given the Iraqis to live and govern themselves as a free people, said Corell, a Strawberry Point native and the father of three sons who have served in war zones.

Eddie Bohr, 74, of Ossian, the father of the second Iowan to die in the Iraq War - Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jeffrey Bohr, 39, who was killed April 10, 2003, in Baghdad - said he's glad U.S. troops have left the country.

“I never thought we had any business there,” said Bohr, who acknowledges that his son disagreed with him.

Though the pain of his loss remains fresh after more than eight years, Bohr said he takes some consolation in knowing that his son died doing something he believed deeply in.

Susan Jaenke, 58, of Iowa Falls, the mother of the first Iowa woman killed in Iraq, said she hopes Iraqis will “remember what we lost to help secure their freedom.”

Besides losing her daughter, Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Jaime Jaenke, 29, a Seabee reservist killed June 5, 2006, by a roadside bomb, Jaenke said she later lost her marriage when her husband could not deal constructively with their daughter's death.

Jaenke said her losses have been offset by the privilege of raising her daughter's daughter, 14-year-old Kayla, who accompanied her to Texas this spring for the dedication of a barracks honoring Jaime Jaenke at a new Navy training facility.

Ken Dettbarn, 45, of rural Elkader, a retired Army chief warrant officer, is among the many Iraq veterans living with a hidden war wound, a traumatic brain injury suffered in a 2005 vehicle crash during his second tour in Iraq.

His injuries, which very nearly proved fatal, have affected his memory and comprehension and subjected him to periods of irritability, he said.

Though he can no longer hold a job, both Dettbarn and his wife Linda, a nurse who has been instrumental in his recovery, say they are not bitter.

“I hate civilian life and feel bad that the injuries ended my military career, but I count myself as one of the lucky ones. My kids still have a dad,” he said.

Dan Shannon said he and his wife Joan have adopted a “spiritual view” that has helped then cope with the pain, anger and bitterness they have experienced in the five years since their son was killed in action.

“We can't change what happened, and we have come to accept it, but we don't always approve of it,” he said.

Rather than dwell on their loss, however, he said they think about the honor, dignity and courage displayed by their son and the other military volunteers.

“They saw people who needed help. They went out and did the job. That's what I take away from the whole thing,” he said.