A familiar sight in Iraq

by Chuck Yarborough

Wednesday January 09, 2008, 7:57 AM

Marine Maj. Bob ReynoldsMarine Maj. Bob Reynolds was accompanying an Iraqi army patrol in an area between Ramadi and Samarra when he spotted this boy in a Cleveland Cavaliers shirt. The boy told Reynolds he got the shirt from a cousin.

Athletic jerseys are as common on the streets of Iraq as they are in Ohio. Only most of the time, the kids are wearing soccer jerseys from European and Middle Eastern countries. That’s why this youngster caught the eye of Marine Maj. Bob Reynolds, an intelligence officer attached to the Iraqi army as an adviser. It’s not too often you see a Cleveland Cavaliers polo shirt on the dusty roadways of Samarra.Reynolds, a native of Lakewood and former Strongsville police officer, is an adviser to the Iraqi unit conducting operations in the eastern reaches of Iraq’s Al Anbar province. This is his second deployment to Iraq. He is scheduled to return to the United States later this month. He’s based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.