Nov 2, 2006 11:12 am US/Central
Minnesota Guard Members In 'Irak' Photo
by Jason DeRusha
(WCCO)
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Minn. National Guard members hold banner mocking comments made by Sen. John Kerry.
WTMJ-AM
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The 1st Battalion 34th Infantry of the Minnesota Army National Guard calls itself the "Red Bulls" and the insignia is all over the Rosemount, Minn. headquarters.
CBS
A group of soldiers in the Minnesota National Guard are pictured in a widely-circulated photo showing U.S. soldiers in Iraq mocking U.S. Sen. John Kerry.
The photo shows a line of eight soldiers holding a banner which uses incorrect grammar and lots of misspellings, reading: "Halp us Jon Carry - we R stuck hear N Irak".
On Monday, Kerry told a group of college students, "You study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."
Now Kerry is saying his comments were a "poorly stated joke," and is apologizing to anyone he offended.
A close examination of the photo shows the soldiers are members of the Minnesota Army National Guard. The patches on their arms are that of the 1st Battalion, 34th Infantry division, based in Bloomington, Minn.
Lt. Col. Kevin Olson confirms to WCCO-TV, that the patches are those of the 1/34th, the flag flying in the background shows the insignia of the "Red Bulls," and the marking "1-34" on the tank pictured all belong to the 1/34th division.
Major Jay Adams, chief of public affairs with the 13 Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) and Logistics Support Area Anaconda, confirmed the soldiers holding the banner in the photo are members of the 1/34th.
Adams said the sign was "created as a humorous response to remarks made during a recent political speech and demonstrates the wit and longstanding sardonic humor of the American soldier at war."
Chuck Triggs said his son, a member of the Minnesota National Guard, is one of the soldiers in the picture.
The photo ended up on blogs and Web sites all over the Internet, including on the main page of the popular
DrudgeReport.com.
The photo caught the eye of the White House. White Press Secretary Tony Snow, in an interview with WDAY-AM of Fargo, N.D. on Thursday, said the photo was "wonderful and shows a great sense of humor."
The 1/34th has 5,000 soldiers deployed in Iraq and 2,600 of them are from Minnesota. Soldiers are also from Iowa, Nebraska, New Jersey, Kentucky and Kansas.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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