THIS STORY RAN YESTERDAY in the dead-tree version of the Stars & Stripes newspaper. The highlighted soldier is based right here where we live and work. (Note of disclaimer, the article says Clemens is the commander of Company B, 1-36 Infantry. No he isn't...as his rank in the first paragraph indicates, he is the company first sergeant. Seems a newspaper written exclusively for military communities might have editors who would catch these little things.)

1st Sgt. Eric Clemens said he watched in disbelief as a stray cat dragged a human hand from a pile of garbage dumped in the street outside of a Baghdad hospital.

With no incinerator or proper place to dispose of medical and biological waste — and even bodies — the staff at the hospital and university in downtown Baghdad have resorted to dumping it in the Tigris River or in any nook or cranny just outside the hospital compound walls, said Clemens, commander of Company B, 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment of the Army’s 1st Armored Division.

Clemens’ reaction when he sees the dumping of waste might be drastic, but necessary, he said.

“I pull out my pistol and tell them to take it back,” the Friedburg, Germany–based soldier said while showing two of the dump sites, which contained blood-saturated bandages, IV bags, syringes and needles, mounds of other garbage and hundreds of swarming flies.

The rest is here.