S t e a m b o at
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Wednesday NOvember 11, 2009
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Vol. 21, No. 270
RO U T T
C O U N T Y ’ S
DA I LY
N E W S PA P E R
s t e a m b o at s p r i n g s
City leaders chosen Hermacinski elected council president; Quinn named president pro tem Page 6
sports
matt stensland/staff
Going barefoot Page 33
‘The sacrifice is huge’ Desert Storm veteran Shane Yeager reflects on military service Mike Lawrence
Corrections
PILOT & TODAY STAFF
Photographer Rory Clow’s name was incorrect in the First Friday Artwalk listings in Friday’s Explore Steamboat section. Rory Clow’s photography is featured at Center for Visual Arts. A recipe included in a Nov. 1 article about fall soups was incorrect. The Drunken Onion’s recipe for roasted butternut squash soup requires 4 teaspoons of kosher salt. Find the corrected recipe at www.steamboatpilot. com.
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
Shane Yeager said that when he returned from Kuwait, he couldn’t put on his jeans. His legs were too big from running in the sand, mile after mile and day after day, while serving with the Marines in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War and Operation Desert Storm. “We ran everywhere. I
■ lotto
■ Index Briefs . . . . . . . . . 10 Classifieds . . . . . 40 Colorado . . . . . . 20 Comics . . . . . . . 38 Crossword . . . . . 39 Happenings . . . . . 7
Fifth-generation Routt County native Shane Yeager recalls Tuesday his four years of service in the U.S. Marine Corps. Yeager fought in the Persian Gulf War.
Horoscope . . . . . 38 Nation . . . . . . . . 25 Scoreboard . . . . 37 Sports . . . . . . . . 33 ViewPoints . . . . . 8 World . . . . . . . . . 29
Tuesday night’s Cash 5 numbers: 3-11-13-19-24 Drawings are held Monday through Saturday.
think I ran from the border to (Kuwait) City,” Yeager said Tuesday. “Felt like it, anyway.” Yeager said that as a “cannon cocker” in advance parties leading U.S. forces into Kuwait to expel invading Iraqi troops in January 1991, he ran about seven miles a day while wearing about 60 pounds of gear. His job was to load artillery, sometimes meaning 240-pound rounds with a range of 26 miles, he said. The artillery was to
■ weather
Mostly cloudy. High of 57.
Page 47
provide “prep fire” for Marine units crossing the border of Kuwait, to secure airports, to fire on what he called the sixlane “Highway of Death” leaving Kuwait City, or for whatever situation arose. “We were shooting all the time,” he said. “I cleared all the fighter positions for my unit to come in.” Yeager, 39, is a fifth-generation Routt County resident. He works the family ranch on
Routt County Road 52E in North Routt and coaches wrestling with local youths in kindergarten through high school. He served in the Marines from 1990 to 1994 — starting his service shortly after graduating from Steamboat Springs High School in 1989. Yeager said he probably was the easiest recruit the Marines ever had. He knew as a child that he wanted to enlist. See Veteran, page 19
■ There’s more online For around-the-clock updates, breaking local news and sports scores, videos, photos and an interactive community forum, visit www.steamboatpilot.com.