ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, February 26, 1996              TAG: 9602270049
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: A-2  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON 

WAS WAR WORTHWHILE? THIS VETERAN WONDERS

Five years later, Joe Burtch sometimes looks back on the Persian Gulf War and asks, "Why were we there?''

When it comes to a war, he says, Americans should think hard about rushing in. Burtch, who is now in training to become a police officer in Salem, learned that lesson as a 19-year-old soldier in Operation Desert Storm.

"I think war is a terrible thing - I especially do because I was over there," he said. "Nobody in his right mind likes it. You've got a job to do, and you do it. But it's really a sad job."

Once a war starts, he said, "the main thing is to support your soldiers over there - not necessarily the cause."

As for the Gulf War: "I don't think it was really worthwhile, overall," because the Allied forces didn't finish the job and take out Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

"He's still in power. It's irritating sometimes to see that."

LENGTH: Short :   27 lines