SwiftVets.com

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By BY KRISTIN MCALLISTER
KMCALLISTER@DAYTONDAILYNEWS.COM
UNION TOWNSHIP, CLERMONT COUNTY -

Nov 2, 2005

The parents of the military's only soldier listed as missing-captured
said they've "had enough" of the Army's breakdown in alerting them to
developments in the search for their son, Sgt. Keith "Matt" Maupin.

"Twice now they've dropped the ball where we've learned about something
happening with our son from other sources, like the media," said Carolyn
Maupin,
mother of the Army reservist, missing since his April 2004 capture by Iraqi
insurgents just outside Baghdad.

Cox News Service was the first of several media organizations to tell the
Maupins on Monday about a search for their son in a brush area near Baghdad,
based on a tip the Army received.

"Enough is enough," Mrs. Maupin said Tuesday. "Just last night, we had to do
a
press conference about the latest search without anyone from the Army with
us.
This is ridiculous and they need to get it together. This is our son we're
talking about."

She and her husband, Keith, are going to Washington, D.C., on Thursday for
what
used to be called a briefing with Pentagon officials regarding the status
of the
Army's search for their son.

"Not anymore," she said. "We're past the briefing stage. Now it is a
progress
rescue and recovery report."

Frustrated with the lack of Army communications, Mrs. Maupin said she and
her
husband plan to give Pentagon officials an earful.

"There's no excuse to put a family through this," she said. "The (casualty
assistance officers) don't get reports from Iraq and, it's hard for them, I
understand this, but someone should be reprimanded for this."

Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Pamela Hart said she could not comment about the
status of the search for Maupin, including whether the three-day search last
weekend yielded any results.

She did confirm that since Maupin's capture, "the Army has conducted many
searches for him, investigating every lead we get."

Hart said the Army will not let up looking for Maupin.

Evidence from this latest search, including a fragment of a military
uniform,
was sent to a lab in Delaware, Mrs. Maupin said, noting results are due in
about
a week.

"The lab didn't even know they were to receive stuff," Mrs. Maupin said.
"Now,
can you imagine? That's how bad the communication between everyone is."
Hart said Army officials want the Maupins to know that they are doing
everything
possible to find the soldier.

This morning, the Maupins plan to take part in another printing of their
son's
photo, making 100,001 times the photo has been reprinted.

Since his capture, the Maupins and friends have handed out or sent overseas
to
soldiers 100,000 photos of Matt with an inscription below his image that
states:
"Love never loses its way home."

A note is attached to each photo that reads: "Please place me in your bible
and
say a prayer for me. I'm captured in Iraq and prayers can set me free."
"We're gonna pray him home," Mrs. Maupin said. "He's our son and we're all
gonna
pray him home. I know it."


Lynn O'Shea
Director of Research
National Alliance of POW/MIA Families
for the Return of America's Missing Servicemen
World War II - Korea - Cold War - Vietnam - Gulf Wars