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Barbershop gets kudos for haircut supplies sent to local troop in Iraq

Flag flew in helicopter over Iraq during missions

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

U.S. Army Capt. Cain Baker of Fayetteville showed his gratitude last week for a local barbershop that sent haircut supplies to his unit on the outskirts of Baghdad.

Baker, who flies an AH-64 Apache helicopter, presented Rocky’s Barbershop in Fayetteville’s Hudson’s Plaza with a U.S. flag that he flew in his helicopter on about 40 hours’ worth of combat missions.

A 1992 graduate of Fayette County High School, Baker served in the same aviation unit as former prisoner of war Ron Young Jr. of Marietta, who was captured with another soldier after their Apache was shot down in March 2003.

The news of Young’s capture was actually good, considering the circumstances, Baker said.

“We thought they were dead,” said Baker. The day they were released from captivity was incredibly emotional, Baker added.

Baker has lost two close friends to enemy fire, a reminder that freedom doesn’t come without a price.

“That’s one of the most patriotic things they could do: Give their life to their country,” Baker said. “They are my heroes, the guys I look up to.”

The Baker men aren’t strangers to combat. Baker and his brother, Josh, who serves in the 101st Airborne, have both seen fighting in the war on terrorism. They even fought in the same towns in March of 2003, one of Cain Baker’s proudest memories of the war so far.

Their father, Phil, is a retired colonel from the Desert Storm campaign. Only mom Jibby hasn’t served in the forces yet, but her husband says they’re trying to figure out how to make that happen.

Capt. Baker said the hair clippers, brushes and other accouterments from Rocky’s Barbershop were welcome supplies for the 138 soldiers in his unit. Their base is just on the outskirts of Baghdad and there was no place nearby to get a haircut, Baker noted.

“They’ve cut every single head in my unit, except for the bald-headed ones,” Baker said of the donated clippers.

Baker added that most local Iraqi citizens are thankful that the coalition forces toppled the reign of Saddam Hussein, and much of the insurgent forces import themselves from other area countries such as Iran.

“What we’re doing for the Iraqi people, Americans should be proud of,” Baker said.