Uncle Sam
04-28-2004, 11:32 AM
http://www.*******.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=GTH2SF2QYM04UCRBAEZSFEY?type=domesticNews&storyID=4960483
MADISON, Wis. (*******) - The soldier-sisters of a Wisconsin military policewoman killed while serving in Iraq, said on Tuesday they had decided not to return to Iraq to serve out combat duty with their Wisconsin National Guard units.
Rachel and Charity Witmer, who returned home to bury their sister, said they were swayed, in part, by the possibility that their highly publicized dilemma could make them targets in Iraq and endanger their comrades.
"During the last two weeks, we have been mourning the loss of our sister, Michelle, our hero," said a statement from the sisters read by a family spokeswoman at the Wisconsin National Guard headquarters.
"We have been faced with a profoundly difficult and complex decision. It is by far the most difficult decision we have ever made," the statement said.
Neither Rachel Witmer, 24, a specialist with the Guard's 32nd Military Police Company, nor Charity Witmer, Michelle's 20-year-old twin and a medic with the 118th Medical Battalion, appeared at the news conference. It was attended by their mother, Lori Witmer.
Michelle, who was also a specialist in Rachel's unit, was killed when a convoy in which she was riding was attacked in an April 9 ambush near Baghdad.
Their unit's tour of duty was recently extended by 120 days, an outcome of the military being stretched by conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Before the military had informed the Witmer family that the sisters did not have to return to Iraq under its bereavement policy, John Witmer, the sisters' father, said they should not have to go back because the family had "sacrificed enough." The appeal prompted an outpouring of sympathy.
The sisters' commanders in Iraq have asked that they not return because of their high visibility, a National Guard spokesman said.
"A decision to return to Iraq could expose our fellow soldiers to increased danger, and that we would not do," the sisters' statement said.
Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Tim Donovan said suitable reassignments were being sought, which could include bases in Wisconsin. The Witmer family lives in New Berlin, Wisconsin, near Milwaukee.
MADISON, Wis. (*******) - The soldier-sisters of a Wisconsin military policewoman killed while serving in Iraq, said on Tuesday they had decided not to return to Iraq to serve out combat duty with their Wisconsin National Guard units.
Rachel and Charity Witmer, who returned home to bury their sister, said they were swayed, in part, by the possibility that their highly publicized dilemma could make them targets in Iraq and endanger their comrades.
"During the last two weeks, we have been mourning the loss of our sister, Michelle, our hero," said a statement from the sisters read by a family spokeswoman at the Wisconsin National Guard headquarters.
"We have been faced with a profoundly difficult and complex decision. It is by far the most difficult decision we have ever made," the statement said.
Neither Rachel Witmer, 24, a specialist with the Guard's 32nd Military Police Company, nor Charity Witmer, Michelle's 20-year-old twin and a medic with the 118th Medical Battalion, appeared at the news conference. It was attended by their mother, Lori Witmer.
Michelle, who was also a specialist in Rachel's unit, was killed when a convoy in which she was riding was attacked in an April 9 ambush near Baghdad.
Their unit's tour of duty was recently extended by 120 days, an outcome of the military being stretched by conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Before the military had informed the Witmer family that the sisters did not have to return to Iraq under its bereavement policy, John Witmer, the sisters' father, said they should not have to go back because the family had "sacrificed enough." The appeal prompted an outpouring of sympathy.
The sisters' commanders in Iraq have asked that they not return because of their high visibility, a National Guard spokesman said.
"A decision to return to Iraq could expose our fellow soldiers to increased danger, and that we would not do," the sisters' statement said.
Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Tim Donovan said suitable reassignments were being sought, which could include bases in Wisconsin. The Witmer family lives in New Berlin, Wisconsin, near Milwaukee.