<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>Courtesy of the Army Times at:</div><div><br></div><div>--------------------------------------</div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><h1 style="padding-bottom: 8px; margin: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 30px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">IRR soldier nominated for Nobel Peace Prize</h1></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">An Individual Ready Reserve sergeant has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in a place where such an honor would seem impossible.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Randy Sandifer, 30, deployed to Iraq after his sophomore year at the University of Mississippi and found himself at Abu Ghraib prison. Originally set to work as an administrator with his unit, 412th Theater Engineer Command, he volunteered to work with the soil lab and the environmental team, charged with testing for and cleaning up any pollutants left by U.S. forces.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“I put down the M16 and pretty much picked up the beaker,” Sandifer said in a Monday phone interview. “I was collecting samples in areas known for heavy sniper activity. It was an eye-opener.”</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He spent about a year on deployment, testing for hydrocarbon levels in soil very near the local residents’ water supply. It was part of the process of turning the controversy-stained prison over to the Iraqis, a move made official in September 2006.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When Sandifer returned to school, studying forensics on his way to a criminal justice degree, he weaved his experiences into a class project that required public speaking. His talk centered on the positive message provided by U.S. forces restoring the environment before leaving Iraqi facilities, and on the benefits such actions could have in the battle against what was then becoming a hotly debated concept — global warming.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“A lot of scientists before me have came out and said we have evidence of global warming, but you couldn’t see it, you couldn’t touch it,” Sandifer, 30, said. “A lot of people were highly skeptical.”</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">At least one person was paying attention: Jonathan Hutchins heard Sandifer’s talk as a student in 2006, and eight years later, as a professor and assistant director of the Social Justice Initiative at Philander Smith College in Arkansas, he did something about it.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Although the Nobel Peace Prize has gone to presidents, groups like the Red Cross, top-level diplomats and civil-rights activists since it was first awarded in 1901, the bar for nomination is low: Any person can be earmarked for consideration by members of a range of professions, including “professors of social sciences, history, philosophy, law and theology,” according to</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span><a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/peace/" alt="" title="" target="_blank" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">the Nobel Prize website</a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Hutchins called Sandifer to tell the reservist that his name had been thrown into the ring.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“I was surprised because you never know ... how people could take the things that you’re saying and remember them,” Sandifer said.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Hutchins’ nomination letter praised Sandifer for having “taught himself the necessary skills to take on the large undertaking of environmental assessment, testing and cleanup of Abu Ghraib and other locations around Iraq. ...”</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Attempts to reach Hutchins by phone and email were not successful.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Sandifer moved to the IRR in 2012, he said. He runs his own forensics company, specializing in ballistics analysis, and is planning to resume work for a laboratory, having left the Army Crime Laboratory earlier this year.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner will be announced Friday. Sandifer said not expecting a call from Norway asking him to join the ranks of Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa. In fact, he’s approaching the prize with a mindset more suited to Hollywood.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Whatever happens, it’s an honor just to be nominated,” he said.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">--------------------</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Army Reserve Sgt. Randy Sandifer, a Pinola, Miss., native, joined the Army Reserve's 412th Theater Engineer Command, in December 2001. He has been nominated for a Nobel Prize for his environmental work in Iraq.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><img src="cid:10A506C5-DB4D-4281-AEA9-7A3755DEFB07" alt="image1.jpeg" id="10A506C5-DB4D-4281-AEA9-7A3755DEFB07"></div><div><br></div><div>--------------------------------------<br><br><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><br></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>