Recent visit to Howell
included marriage
proposal to girlfriend
Soldier certain U.S.
Tracey Kelly and Kyle Flannigan became engaged in July when Flannigan was home from Iraq for some rest and relaxation.
is on course in Iraq
Recent visit to Howell
included marriage
proposal to girlfriend
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer
HOWELL — At a time when America’s military presence in Iraq is polarizing people back home, count Kyle Flannigan as one individual who is steadfast in his belief the United States belongs there.
Flannigan, 22, a former Howell resident, is serving his country as a signal support specialist in Iraq with the Warriors Forward Observation Base in Kirkuk. Flannigan, who entered the Army in 2002, squarely supports the war effort in Iraq.
He said that despite the intensity of the fighting from insurgents both homegrown and from abroad who are seeking to run the Americans out of Iraq, talking to the local populace, especially those of Kurdish ethnicity, constantly reminds him of the importance of his mission. He said he is reassured by the gratitude of Iraqis who see the Americans as the liberators they went to Iraq to be.
The Kurdish area of Iraq is the region that saw 5,000 people die almost instantly and 12,000 more suffer serious injury when Saddam Hussein had the area gassed in March 1988 in order to put down a rebellion against his regime.
"It feels good to know they need us to be there," Flannigan said.
He remains committed to the United States’ mission and does not believe that his fellow soldiers who have fallen on the field of battle died in vain. He believes their pursuit of helping to build a new Iraq is an honorable goal.
During a two-week visit to Howell in July, Flannigan matter-of-factly discussed the mortar fire and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) that daily assault his camp about 100 miles north of Baghdad.
He said the air assaults can come from any direction because the insurgents do not care if they harm or kill the residents of Kirkuk who live near the army camp. The Americans must also deal with the constant threat of drive-by shootings.
Despite being forced to exist on a daily diet of adrenaline, Flannigan was remarkably well composed and even clinical in describing the harrowing scenes he has witnessed since arriving in Iraq in January.
Perhaps that was because he was back home talking about the experience safe under the calm offered by family and his new fiancee Tracey Kelly, 20, a senior at Monmouth University, West Long Branch, who is pursuing a degree in psychology. Kelly, of Howell, is employed with the township recreation department and works with special-needs children.
Kelly and Flannigan are the proverbial high school sweethearts, having attended Colts Neck High School together.
According to Kelly, life’s twists and turns dictated that the pair would break up right after high school and go their separate ways — Tracey to college and Kyle to the army — only to be reunited by, of all things, the Internet.
While Flannigan was stationed in Hawaii the e-mails that the two had sporadically exchanged kicked into high gear, as did the telephone bill of Kelly’s parents.
Flannigan’s visit home from Hawaii before shipping off to Iraq in January sealed the deal.
When Flannigan came home from Iraq for two weeks in July, he asked Kelly to marry him and she accepted.
The couple is now living for the day when Flannigan’s tour of duty in Iraq is over and he can complete his eight years in Hawaii, where Kelly will join him while she completes her graduate studies. Planning their future together will have to be done separately for now.
Until Kyle and Tracey are reunited, e-mails will have to help them stay focused on their goals while reinforcing their relationship. Although the two young lovers are thousands of miles apart they have the resource that allows them to maintain an almost daily link — the Internet — which is something that soldiers of the past could never have dreamed up.