Returning Troops Dying On Highways

As troops return to the U.S. from Iraq and Afghanistan, they're faced with the difficult transition from the intensity of war to ordinary life at home.

And reporter Michael Pomeranz of WCBS-TV in New York reports, that's resulting in

Pomeranz says that when the 4th Infantry Division returned to Fort Hood in Texas in March of last year, hearts were overflowing with love, and soldiers thought the worst was behind them.

But, observes Greg Anderson of the Killeen (Texas) Police Department, "They think they're 10 foot tall and bulletproof. Nothing's going to hurt 'em, since they just spent a year, year-and-a-half getting shot at, and bombs blowing up all around them and everything else. They come back here; they think they're safe."

Pat McGuire, who's now with Texas Motor Sports, behaved the same way when he came back from serving in the first Gulf War.

Asked how he filled the void that results from going from a pressure-filled war zone to the relative tranquility of home, McGuire said, "You took it to the street. You hung out downtown, at local bike shops at night, and talked a bunch of smack. Finally, it's just like havin' a big brawl: 'Hey, let's go ridin'. Show who's got the bigger muscle.' Usually, the guy with the bigger bike is the one that won."

But, notes Pomeranz, "All that bravado can lead to deadly behavior."

In Killeen, traffic fatalities among soldiers so far this year are on track to triple or even quadruple last year's numbers, according to police.

And at nearby Fort Hood, a sign tracks the number of days since the last fatal traffic accident involving a soldier.

Command Sgt. Maj. Joe Gainey, who's in charge of solider safety at Fort Hood, took Pomeranz to the scene of a fatal accident involving a soldier, one who, Gainey says, wasn't wearing a helmet.

"I am very concerned," Gainey says, "that our soldiers are coming back thinking they're invincible. We have to figure out a way to make them think, and slow down, stop, think about what they're doing and, if they do that, we'll have less soldiers dying on the road."Pomeranz visited with the family of First Cavalry Specialist Robert Tipp, Jr., of Lake Jackson, Texas.

After a year in Iraq, Pomeranz says, Tipp felt that if he could survive Iraq, he could survive anything.

A mechanic in the Army, Tipp had enlisted at the age of 17. He loved working with engines, and driving fast, relatives recall.

"Just before he came back to the states, he and I talked on the computer," says Gail Tipp, Robert's mother. "He said, 'Mom, I think I want to get a crotch rocket,' is what he called it. And I said, 'But, son, you don't like motorcycles.' 'Yeah, but mom, it's fast and it just makes you feel good, and the girls look at it.' "

Tipp compromised and bought an ATV while on leave, and couldn't wait to get back on it when his tour was done.

"He was back in Texas," Gail reflects. "He was smelling the Texas air, he was seeing the Texas sunset, and he was just riding that four-wheeler for everything it had, and he was on cloud nine."

Riding without a helmet, Pomeranz reports, Tipp lost control of his ATV, swerved off the road, and smashed into a cement wall.

He died on Easter Sunday, less than two months before his 21st birthday.

The Tipp family is still struggling to understand how it is that a young man who fights in a war and survives, comes home to drive and die.

Sister Jennifer Tipp says, if Robert Jr. were still alive, he'd tell them, "'Suck it up.' He was always, he was serious, but he had this funny side about him. I mean, he'd always make you laugh, he'd always make you smile."

Her voice cracking, Gail Tipp says, when she remembers Robert, the first thing she thinks about is "his beautiful smile, his beautiful blue eyes, and the way he loved me."

Now, the Tipp family is telling their story to help others learn from the loss of their only son.

The drive, the passion that makes a good soldier, shouldn't end up costing him his life, the Tipps point out.

"When he went to go into the Army in 2001," Gail says, "he was a soldier for our country. And now my son is a soldier for the Lord."

Tipp died the same day he was supposed to return to Fort Hood for a two-week reorientation program that the family feels may have eased his transition back to civilian life.

In attempt to curb the rate of highway fatalities among returning GIs, Pomeranz says, the Army has launched an awareness campaign that includes videos, online instruction, and personal counseling.