A high price Iraq war takes heavy toll on Texas troops

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Gary Qualls worried a lot after his son went off to war, so he went hunting last week to get his mind off it. When he got home, a letter was waiting.

His son, Marine Lance Cpl. Louis Qualls, wrote about the Fallujah offensive, that it was expected to include some of the fiercest battles of the war, and that his unit was in the thick of it.

"I fear it's a fight for my life," he wrote. "Dad, I need your prayers and advice more than ever. I know you've always been there for me, and I know you always will be."

About an hour later, there was a knock on the door. Qualls' other son answered it.

"He came back and said, 'Three Marines are on the front porch that want to talk to you,'" Gary Qualls said. "I started to cry and I went ahead and opened the door for them and said, 'Don't tell me it's about Louis,' and they nodded their heads. It was the first time in my life that my knees totally collapsed."

Louis Qualls, of Temple, was killed on Nov. 16 -- the latest of 12 soldiers and Marines from Texas killed in combat this month, 10 in fighting in and around Fallujah. It was an unusually high toll for one state, even in this deadly month of warfare.

At least 108 U.S. soldiers and Marines have died in combat in Iraq this month, 99 of them since Nov. 8, the day American-led forces began a successful offensive to subdue the insurgent stronghold. It has been the second-deadliest month for American troops since the Iraq invasion, surpassed only by last April's 135 deaths.

Texas has borne many casualties. Of the 1,230 military members who have died since the beginning of the war, at least 110 were from Texas, or nearly 9 percent. The state has about 7.5 percent of the U.S. population.

Among the Texans killed was Army Capt. Sean Sims, a "soldier's soldier" who once had his wife, a schoolteacher, arrange for her students to send cards and presents to a soldier who hadn't gotten any care packages.

As Sims' company went door to door in Fallujah on Nov. 13 to clear out pockets of resistance, a reporter from the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader tagged along.

"There's always going to be some [insurgents)] left," Sims told the reporter. "They'll hide out and snipe at us for two months."

Within hours, Sims and another soldier were hit in an ambush.

He leaves behind an infant son.

"You just don't expect a company commander to be one of those guys that are killed -- usually they're helping manage the fight," said Army Capt. Patrick Seiber, a former schoolmate in the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University. But Sims "was going to be where the action is."

Shortly before he was killed on Nov. 9, Marine Staff Sgt. Russell Slay wrote a letter to his family. In it the 28-year-old Humble resident, anticipating death, said his goodbyes to his young children.

He told his 9-year-old daughter Kinlee that he'll miss her, but that she'll always be his little girl and he'll always watch out for her. To 5-year-old Walker, he offered advice that he hoped would put the boy on a less risky career path.

"Be studious, stay in school and stay away from the military," he wrote. "I mean it."