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Good To Know: Thoughts Before Heading To Iraq

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Oct 27, 2009 10:56 pm US/Central

Good To Know: Thoughts Before Heading To Iraq

Reporting
Don Shelby
(WCCO) Don is leaving for Iraq to spend time covering the Minnesota National Guard troops stationed in southern half of that country. Don has some parting thoughts.

I've longed to tell this story. I'll be reporting from a place once called the Paris of the Persian Gulf, al Basra.

I will visit a place I've only dreamed of, the Tigris and Euphrates Valley, the cradle of civilization, the birthplace of the Biblical Abraham, a father prophet of three different faiths, the place believed to be the site of the Garden of Eden.

It is also a place where three Minnesota National Guard soldiers were killed just a few months ago.

Remarkably, for a state as small in population as Minnesota, we account for the fifth largest contingent of state troops committed to this operational campaign.

Minnesota troops control, teach and build in one-half of the country. Minnesotans.

National Guard troops who are teachers and husbands and mothers and coaches, bankers and sellers of insurance. They are us, and they are ripped from their communities for years, sometimes four tours.

I want to tell their stories.

I hope you'll tune in to see what our neighbors are doing for us.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.