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Ben Fenwick
Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe returned Tuesday from Iraq after visiting Oklahoma National Guard troops deployed there, according to a release from his office.   State Adjutant Harry M. Wyatt III acc...

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Ben Fenwick
Landscaping during an economic downturn often means firing the help and bending one's own back. But you don't have to go it alone, according to Tommy Precure, manager of Precure Nursery & Garden C...

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Ben Fenwick
This year, an $11 billion cannon was supposed to roll off an assembly line in Elgin, the beginning of a new era for the indirect-fire weapon known as a howitzer. Called the "Crusader," the vehicle ha...

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Ben Fenwick
CAMP BUCCA, IRAQ " When Steven Turner, 24, of Stillwater, got to Iraq, he wanted to kill as many Iraqis as possible. He wanted to kill them for his high school buddy back in Indiana, Marine Lance Tho...

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Ben Fenwick
CAMP BUCCA, IRAQ " Over and over last summer, members of Oklahoma's 45th Infantry Brigade, the Thunderbirds, sweated, trained and drilled the basics of what they expected their mission in Iraq to be: ...

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Ben Fenwick
BAGHDAD " Badges " multicolored, coded and biologically linked to the person to whom they are issued " are carried by virtually everyone in Baghdad's International Zone, or "Green Zone." The badges ma...

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Ben Fenwick
BAGHDAD " Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, strode through the great dome of Saddam Hussein's Baghdad palace " now the temporary United States Embassy " with an air about him like he does it every...

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Ben Fenwick
BAGHDAD " A recent explosion did not kill or injure any of Oklahoma's 45th Infantry Brigade, the Thunderbirds, but instead underscored the nature of the menace that lies outside the U.S. Embassy Annex...

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Ben Fenwick
CAMP BUEHRING, KUWAIT " When University of Oklahoma architecture student Jennifer Arends hits the ground imminently in Iraq, her 5-foot-4-inch frame will bear the uniform of a U.S. Army solider, truss...

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Ben Fenwick
CAMP BUEHRING, KUWAIT " As many as half or more of the members of Oklahoma's National Guard " the 45th Infantry Brigade, or Thunderbirds " have deployed overseas. Detainee operations, "Green Zone" se...

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Ben Fenwick
The Great Meal-Ready-To-Eat; En route to Kuwait I'm not completely alone in this, but MREs -- Meals Ready to Eat --are really not that bad. There are a variety of entrees available, giving the option...

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Ben Fenwick
As advance elements of the Oklahoma National Guard land in Kuwait this week, their mission will be to hand off Baghdad's International Zone to full Iraqi control, said Brig. Gen. Myles Deering, comman...

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Ben Fenwick
Without a shot; Camp McGregor, NM   The "cha-chink!" of a pistol bolt being drawn and released is distinctive. It's often used with menace in many a scene of a movie thriller. The bad guy is ab...

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Ben Fenwick
Camp MacGregor, near El Paso, Texas, 12:30 p.m. This training camp is associated with Fort Bliss, but not part of it. It is the barest of places, windswept, dusty and cold. Humvees patrol the perimet...

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Ben Fenwick
In October 2007, Oklahoma's execution schedule ground to a halt. Attorney General Drew Edmondson said a case in Kentucky before the U.S. Supreme Court suggested that Oklahoma's method of execution ris...