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Mar 29, 2008 9:06 am US/Central
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Comrade Mourns Contractors Lost In Iraq
(WCCO)
For the summer of 2006, they were like brothers -- a private team that provided security for convoys traveling through some of the most dangerous areas in Iraq.
Gary Bjorlin, Kevin Baker, Paul Johnson-Reuben and John Young worked as private contractors for Crescent Security. Baker remembers Reuben as someone who made everyone laugh at a time when there wasn't much to laugh about.
"He could take a bad situation and you'd walk away with a smile," he said.
Baker had fought in the first Gulf War as a Marine. He went back this time as a civilian because he felt as though he wasn't getting the full story from home.
"We wanted to make a difference," he said. "I felt it was something I needed to do."
Ultimately, Baker left Iraq after four months. He and his wife had a baby on the way. Bjorlin decided to go home too. He had been away from his family for over a year.
Johnson-Reuben and Young stayed on in Iraq. Three months later, they were kidnapped, along with three others, during a hijacking of their convoy at a fake checkpoint in southern Iraq in November 2006.
"It could have very easily been reversed. That's something that hits close to home for us," Baker said. He's had nightmares about his friends.
Bjorlin said he thought of Reuben and Young before he even knew the names of those who had been kidnapped. He continues to struggle with a haunting guilt and thinks about other possible scenarios if he had been there.
"I feel bad for my wife and family because I've had a hard time with coming to grips with not being there," he said. "I just feel like I'm going to take that to the grave."
Two weeks ago, severed fingers of the hostages were delivered to U.S. authorities in Iraq. Some family and friends held out hope that might be a sign their loved ones were still alive. Given his experiences in Iraq, Bjorlin wasn't so sure.
"My gut feeling is that it's impossible to support five guys for any amount of time. It's just logistically impossible. Some one is going to see you bring water or food to a certain place," he said, "I was doing the math and it was not good."
The confirmation of their friends' deaths has hit both men hard. What hurts more, they said, are comments sometimes hear themselves referred to as mercenaries. They say that couldn't be further from the case. Bjorlin and Baker said they tried to mentor Iraqis and went out of their way to give them a voice.
"We were really proud of what we were achieving," said Bjorlin, "It was a hard job to do."
He sometimes wishes he could have traded places with his friends.
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