Streck in raid that killed Saddam’s sons:Married local music teacher over weekend

By WILL STEWART / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Sgt. John Streck, a member of the 101st Airborne, poses on a tank in Iraq while awaiting orders to move. Streck was in Iraq almost a year and was part of the raiding party which killed Saddam Hussein’s sons, Uday and Qusay. (Photo provided)

As a member of one of the 101st Airborne’s infantry platoons serving on the front lines in Iraq, Sgt. John Streck faced death many times over. But no matter how dangerous the situation, he said he and his comrades rarely thought about the possibility of never coming home.

“We didn’t really think about getting killed,” Streck said. “We knew we a job to do and we knew we had to do it fast and smooth with no harm coming to us or any civilians. That’s really all we thought about when things got dangerous.”

A seven-year military veteran, Streck returned home to Ft. Campbell, Ky., about two weeks ago after almost a year in Iraq. Last weekend, he married the former Melissa Hartman, a music teacher with Warren County Schools.

After entering Iraq with the invasion force last March, Streck’s company spent a short time in the south of the country before moving into Baghdad, where they spent a couple of weeks performing foot patrols in the city. In mid-May, the soldiers were sent to the northern city of Mosul to provide security and perform combat missions in the area.

Though the war in Iraq may be officially ended as of last spring, the fighting is far from finished as Saddam loyalists and other insurgents continue to attack U.S. troops.

Streck said many Iraqis treated him and his fellow soldiers as liberators, even inviting them into their homes for tea and food. Others, however, were less hospitable.

“Some of the insurgents would hide weapons under their robes. They’d walk right by us, turn around and then fire on us,” he said.

To root out the insurgents, Streck said his platoon would often perform missions, sometimes for up to 30 hours straight, to neutralize threats and possible threats.

“We’d get intel that some Baathists were planning attacks or had already attacked and we’d be sent out to hopefully catch the person who’d done it or to get information from locals as to who did what,” he said.

One such mission resulted in the deaths of Uday and Qusay Hussein, Saddam’s despotic sons, in June.

“We got word that they were possibly there, so our battalion moved. We cordoned off the area so no one could escape. We then knocked on the door and gave them a chance to surrender. They fired the first shot instead. It took about six to seven hours, start to finish,” he said.

Looking forward to marrying Hartman and to relaxing on his couch, Streck said he was happy to return stateside Jan. 31. He was not all that happy, however, when he picked up his mail and discovered orders to Korea effective May 20.

Though this doesn’t give him much time to relax and spend time with his new bride, he expressed disappointment, but said that’s life in the Army.