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SUMNER As a boy, Keenan Gienau loved his dad. He loved doing stuff with him. And they loved doing the same things. They were into the outdoors, cars and fishing. He also thought it was cool his dad was a soldier.

In 2014, during his senior year at Sumner-Fredericksburg High School, Keenan was asked to give a talk about his dad.

By the time Keenan, now 21, stepped to that podium to speak, his dad had been deceased nine years. Iowa Army National Guard 2nd Lt. R. Brian Gienau was killed in action in Iraq.

Dad left big shoes to fill. And now Keenan is about to fill them. He has enlisted in the U.S. Army.

To be honest, Ive been thinking about it my whole life, he said. He began more seriously considering it over the past year.

When I got out of high school, I at first didnt really want to do it because of what happened, he said. My family didnt want me to do it.

He attended Hawkeye Community College two years, but it really wasnt necessarily my thing.

He looked into job opportunities. I was still feeling adventurous and wanted to go out and do other stuff. So I started looking at different options and decided to join the Army.

When I was a lot younger and my dad was still around, I always wanted to join then because I saw my dad doing it. He let me try on his uniform, play with army guys (toy soldiers), all sorts of stuff like that.

He also got to hang out with his dad at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. Hed take me out to let me look at the tanks that were sitting out there. Id get to climb in them. Pretty fun stuff.

He cherishes those days; it was just prior to his dads Iraq deployment.

But with what happened, I can see the bad side of things. I know the worst-case scenario as well, Keenan said.

Keenans father, 29, was killed Feb. 27, 2005, serving with the Iowa Guards 224th Engineer Battalion. The Humvee he was in hit an improvised explosive device. Another soldier, Spc. Seth Garceau of Oelwein, died later of injuries suffered in the same incident.

Keenan said his father, a Tripoli High School graduate, served in the U.S. Navy on the carrier USS Enterprise, then graduated from HCC, enrolled in University of Northern Iowa ROTC program and joined the Iowa Guard.

He felt the loss of his father more profoundly as the years passed.

When I was really young, 9 or 10, I didnt understand. From when I was 9 until I graduated, it was working with the acceptance and understanding what happened. The time it really set in was right at my graduation. They had a parents moment. I looked up in the stands. I think thats when it really set in that he wasnt there for big things in life such as seeing me graduate from high school, college. Or doing this right now.

But the memories endure. Great memories. Honestly, all good things, Keenan said. He was just a great father; very good mentor. Hed like to teach you more than he would scold you.

He helped drive my interest in what I like nowadays, Keenan added. He liked cars, guns and fishing outdoor stuff, kayaking, four-wheelers, all that stuff. And thats the same stuff I like.

I would say I still want to be like him, Keenan said.

His stepfather, Tim Meyer, an assistant wrestling coach at Sumner-Fredericksburg, interested him in wrestling. It helped him after his dad died.

It made me have more focus on that, kind of filled something there, gave me drive, Keenan said.

He had more than 100 career wins. His mother is Caren Meyer. He has two younger stepbrothers and a stepsister, all at home.

Keenan leaves July 11 for Fort Jackson, S.C. Hell be involved in repair and maintenance of CH-47 Chinook helicopters and aspires to be a flight crew member on missions. I like mechanics, so I believe Ill enjoy that side of it, he said. Well see where my career takes me.

Hes attuned to the international situation. I know whats going on in Syria and North Korea, he said, but Im not going to let that persuade me one way or the other.

Patriotism is a factor, Keenan said.

The military offers attractive training and job opportunities, but it really comes down to love for county. Youve got to have that. Thats what youre fighting for. Youre fighting for the soldier next to you. Youre fighting for everybody back home. And youre fighting for the flag. Thats the way I look at it.

He summoned up the courage to give a speech about his dad in high school something he repeated at HCC.

I dont like talking about personal stuff. Im not a huge fan of standing in front of people talking, he said. I dont mind talking about my dad. Because Im pretty proud of it.

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Son of fallen Iraq soldier follows dad into service - Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier

British soldiers in southern Iraq, 2003. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

A visceral hostage drama set during the 2003 war on Iraq, this debut novel alternates between the perspective of 19-year-old Cassandra, a gay female recruit to the US army, and that of middle-aged Abu al-Hool, an Egyptian jihadi whose memories of fighting the Russians in Afghanistan and Chechnya make him an increasingly reluctant fundamentalist. As their stories collide, Van Reet (a Texan who himself served in Iraq) cant always prevent a certain staginess seeping in, courtesy of some excessively dutiful glosses of military jargon, while the pathos and dread of the scenario are ratcheted up by a narrative structure that keeps us one step ahead of the characters. Yet Spoils is undeniably engrossing all the same and smart, too, embedding in its structure a sharp appraisal of the conflict, as Van Reets panoptic toggling between rival groups of foreign invaders pointedly leaves no room for any Iraqi point of view.

Spoils by Brian Van Reet is published by Jonathan Cape (12.99). To order a copy for 9.74, go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over 10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of 1.99.

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Spoils by Brian van Reet review engrossing Iraq war drama - The Guardian

An Iraqi boy looks on as people collect wood and metal at a site that was targeted by an airstrike a couple of days ago, in Qayyarah, south of Mosul, on Oct. 29.

Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images

Several recent reports underline the growing risk to civilians in the U.S.-led war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. On Thursday, the Pentagon released the results of an investigation, finding that more than 100 civilians were killed when the U.S. dropped a bomb on a building in Mosul, Iraq, in March, the largest single incident of civilian deaths since the campaign began in 2014. (Locals have put the number at around 200.) CentCom had initially denied that the strike took place, before announcing the investigation. Officials now say that ISIS had likely placed explosives inside the building, contributing to the deadliness after the bomb was dropped. The battle for Mosul, which has gone on for more than seven months now, has been particularly brutal for civilians, who have often been prevented from leaving by ISIS or advised not to by the Iraqi government.

Meanwhile, a fresh wave of airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition reportedly killed dozens of civilians, including children, in Eastern Syria this week. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that 106 people have been killed in Mayadeen since Thursday evening, including IS fighters and 42 children. Eighty of those were killed in an airstrike on a building that housed the families of ISIS fighters. Syrias state news agency put the number at 35, and the coalition has not yet responded to the report.

Journalist Samuel Oakford of the monitoring site Airwars also published an investigation in cooperation with Foreign Policy today finding that non-U.S. members of the anti-ISIS coalition have killed at least 80 civilians in Iraq and Syria since the start of the campaign, but that none of those 12 countries will acknowledge responsibility for any of the deaths. Airwars also reported this week that between 283 and 366 civilians likely died from coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria in April, the fourth consecutive month that those deaths exceeded those caused by Russian strikes. This has raised questions about whether the Trump administrations hands-off attitude toward airstrikes has raised the risk for civilians.

The UNs High Commissioner for Human Rights today warned that civilians are increasingly victimized by both the intensified airstrikes, and the retaliatory attacks by ISIS. In once incident, ISIS fighters slit the throats of eight men in a town that had just been bombed, blaming them for giving away coordinates to the coalition. The situation is only likely to worsen as the battle for Mosul grinds on and the campaign against ISISs heavily fortified capital in Raqqa ramps up.

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More Bad News on Civilian Casualties in Iraq and Syria - Slate Magazine (blog)

Firefighters search for the bodies of civilians who were killed after an air strike against ISIS fighters triggered a massive explosion in Mosul, Iraq, on March 22, 2017.

Reuters

WASHINGTON -- A Pentagon investigation has found that more than 100 civilians were killed after the U.S. dropped a bomb on a building in Mosul, Iraq, in March.

The probe found that the U.S. bomb triggered secondary explosions from devices clandestinely planted there by fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). And the military says the secondary blasts caused the concrete building to collapse.

The lead investigator and author of the report is Air Force Brig. Gen. Matthew Isler.

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At least a hundred people were killed by a huge explosion in Mosul, with some eyewitnesses blaming a coalition airstrike. Most of the victims wer...

The air strike had been requested by Iraqi troops who were 100 yards away and could see the location of the two snipers on the second floor of a two story building, investigators found.

However, the Iraqis could only see one side of the building and did not observe any civilians entering the building. Bad weather on the two preceding days prevented observation of the building from drones overhead, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.

When the strike was approved, coalition forces had no information that civilians had taken shelter inside the building, Isler said.

Both snipers were killed in the strike and ensuing secondary explosion, as well as 101 civilians taking shelter in the lower floors. Another four civilians died in a nearby building, Isler said. He said 36 civilians remain unaccounted for.

The investigation determined that the collapse of the building could not have been caused by the 500 U.S. pound bomb, which contained 196 pounds of explosives. Explosives experts estimated it would take at least 1,000 pounds of TNT distributed throughout the second floor of the building to bring it down.

Explosive residue found at the blast site did not match the type of explosives used in a 500-pound bomb, Isler said, but did match explosives previously used by ISIS.

"They put a lot of work into this set up," Isler said. He concluded ISIS intended the explosives to kill civilians once the sniper's nest was bombed.

The civilians had taken shelter in the basement and on the first floor of the building because it was well-built and the owner had offered it up as shelter.

It was likely the largest single incident of civilian deaths since the U.S. air campaign against IS began in 2014. The deaths represent about a quarter of all civilian deaths since the U.S. air campaign began.

2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Pentagon report says more than 100 civilians killed in March bombing in Iraq - CBS News

Common Dreams

Iraq and Afghanistan: The $6 Trillion Bill for America's Longest War Is Unpaid Common Dreams The high rates of injuries and increased survival rates in Iraq and Afghanistan mean that over half the 2.5 million who served there suffered some degree of disability. Their health care and disability benefits alone will easily cost $1 trillion in ... and more »

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Iraq and Afghanistan: The $6 Trillion Bill for America's Longest War Is Unpaid - Common Dreams