Soldiers and families in Utah thrilled with news

From Utah's top commander to the relatives of soldiers in Iraq, the capture of Saddam Hussein is being seen as a giant step forward.

Cpl. Brian Gabrielson, a St. George resident who is with the Army Reserve's 938th Engineer Detachment, said the capture will have a powerful effect on the people of Iraq.

Bagging Saddam will bring "hope to the Iraqi population and will remove the fear felt in the Kurdish people that Saddam will return to punish them for their support of coalition forces," Gabrielson said in an e-mail Sunday.

Stationed in Mosul, Iraq, in support of the 101st Airborne Division, he returned to Utah Saturday on leave.

Sgt. Amy Baird, an Orem soldier serving in Baghdad with the Utah National Guard, said in an e-mail to the Deseret Morning News that soldiers there are already joking, "OK, now that he's caught, can we go home?"

"Kind of silly," she said. "We know how significant his capture is, but really our thoughts are with home."

"I just hope with Saddam's capture that things can progress in Iraq quicker and that the coalition presence does not have to be so strong," Baird wrote.

"Great day, isn't it?" exclaimed M/Sgt. Pat Valdez of Stockton, Tooele County, a member of the Army Reserve 2nd Brigade, 91st Division. He is serving at the Fort Carson, Colo., training base.

At lunch on base Sunday, "everyone got a little smile," and the capture was all the soldiers were talking about.

Even though they were at Fort Carson, Colo., "everyone says we got him," Valdez said. All of the men and women in uniform felt they were part of the achievement, "because no soldier is the whole show."

Maj. Gen. Brian L. Tarbet, the adjutant general of the Utah National Guard and the state's top military officer, said the capture is an extraordinarily positive development. "From my perspective, this is going to allow the Iraqi people to focus on the future rather than the past."

"I hope it means they can send the soldiers home sooner," said Shelly W. Danielson, Taylorsville, daughter of Sgt. 1st Class Tim Woodbrey. She hopes the development will mean that Iraq will "calm down a little bit."

Tim Woodbrey's wife, Toni, was excited to hear of the capture. She said she thinks it will be "a real plus for our efforts over there. I wish they could get bin Laden as well."

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