Living the high life deep in the desert

[thedrifter]

Living the high life deep in the desert
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification Number: 2004411115740
Story by Cpl. Paula M. Fitzgerald



CAMP MUDAYSIS, Iraq(April 7, 2004) -- Marines like it rough. Just ask the artillerymen of Battery I, 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.

The battery, which is currently performing as an infantry unit, is here supporting 1st Marine Division's security and stabilization mission.

Unlike many of the camps situated throughout Iraq, Camp Mudaysis is not as equipped with many of the "creature comforts" many Marines have come to take for granted.

The camp is a five-hour drive from the 3rd Battalion's headquarters at Ar Ramadi, so getting supplies to the Marines is a logistical challenge. Capt. John G. Lehane, battery commander, said his warriors are doing just fine without e-mail, laundry service or even daily showers.

"Most of the Marines out here now were here for the war," Lehane, of West Hempstead, N.Y., said. "Compared to last year, the Marines know they have it pretty good this time around."

During the invasion of Iraq last summer, the Marines of Battery I served in their primary role as an artillery unit and lived in fighting holes and two-man tents. According to 22-year-old Sgt. Nicholas R. Massey, showers were far and few between.

"We may not have it as good as some of the other Marines in Iraq," the Standish, Maine, Marine added. "But no one really complains because at least this time we have hard structures to live in."

The camp once belonged to the Iraqi military and was used as an air defense site during the Gulf War in the early 1990s. Bombs heavily damaged several of the prism-shaped "bunkers," and the camp was abandoned shortly afterward. Shell casings from the war can still be found lying beneath the orange dirt organic to Iraq.

Now, the Marines are living and working from these bunkers and are no longer subject to the area's sandstorms and powerful winds except when guarding the perimeter, patrolling the area or helping with working parties.

"Everyone is sleeping inside air conditioned bunkers on cots," Lehane mentioned. "And we have port-a-potties, so there's no more digging holes."

Lance Cpl. Glen L. Menas, a 25-year-old from Daytona Beach, Fla., described the accommodations here as "paradise compared to last year."

"Everybody has their own talents to make this place feel like home. It's nice being here because it's our camp," Menas said. "Our commanding officer is the camp commander too, so there's not as much hassle as some of the bigger camps have."

Still, less hassle doesn't necessarily mean less responsibility.

"The Marines want to make Camp Mudaysis a nice place to be," Lehane explained. "They keep the area police called. The bunkers have doors because the Marines wanted to have doors. They take a lot of pride in their camp."

Most of the troops operating from other camps in Iraq have access to laundry service, Internet cafes, fully operational PXs, three ordinary meals a day, daily showers, well stocked gyms and televisions.

The fitness center at Camp Mudaysis has not yet been equipped with lights, which has led to the gym's nickname "dark gym." That doesn't discourage the artillerymen from exercising almost everyday because they also run or play sports like soccer.

However, showers are limited to every other day because water is in short supply.

For most of the Marines here, the hardest thing to adjust to was the food. The chow hall serves at least two hot meals a day, called Tray Rats; the third meal is substituted with Meals, Ready-to-Eat.

"I don't really mind eating Tray Rats," Menas said with a smile, "because I know they're packed full of fiber."

Many visitors have stopped by the camp to check up on the Marines' well-being and are usually surprised by the harsh living conditions.

"People always ask us what the Marines need out here, but I tell them we're fine because I haven't heard any of the Marines complain," Lehane said. "They all seem to be pretty happy with what they have."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200441112033/$file/Living-11lr.jpg

When not providing security to the camp here or patrolling the outside area, Marines with Battery I, 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division use the space near their living area as a soccer field. The buildings, called bunkers, belonged to the Iraqi military but were abandoned some time after the first Gulf War.
(USMC photo by Cpl. Paula M. Fitzgerald) Photo by: Cpl. Paula M. Fitzgerald

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/FBA4EBC43874822985256E730057AD7E?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

A quiet weekend in Fallujah as Marines bolster defenses

By: DARRIN MORTENSON - Staff Writer

FALLUJAH, Iraq ---- While Marine leaders announced progress in talks with Iraqis on resolving the standoff in Fallujah over the weekend, troops continued to bolster defensive positions and make the best of long, strange days on the front line.

Some temporarily retreated to their operating bases to shower, call home and grab fresh socks and such. They quickly returned.

Others attended church services, manned guard posts or patrolled for insurgents who might be sneaking through their lines.


For almost everyone, the weekend brought the quietest two days in almost two weeks since the fighting began.

11 p.m. Saturday: War of words

Instead of the thumping of mortars or thundering fire of the AC-130 Spectre gunship that nightly enforces the curfew in Fallujah, troops bedded down Saturday to sounds of rock music and invective being hurled across the no-man's land between American and insurgent positions.

An Army psychological operations, or "psyops," team in the employ of the Marines taunted insurgents with rock music blasted from a public address system atop a Humvee.

The opening selection was the band AC-DC's song "Hell's Bells," which was followed by more heavy metal and a string of bawdy insults spoken in Arabic challenging the insurgents to come out and fight.

But insurgents fought back only with more words.

Using a public address system on one of the many local mosques that is normally used to praise Allah, the insurgents threatened to kill all the Marines occupying a house along a key escape route from the city.

The U.S. troops threatened right back.

According to translators traveling with the Marines, the late night talks ended in profanities slung in Arabic across the dark, otherwise silent city.

6 a.m., Sunday: The smell of battle

Dawn brought not the expected enemy offensive locals had warned about, but instead a cool, shifting spring breeze that smelled of death.

Corpses ---- human and livestock, the bodies of those who fell during last week's intense street fighting ---- had lain silent in the city's no-man's land, but were now making themselves known.

Relaxing some of the rules of the cordon and acknowledging that not everyone in the city is an insurgent, U.S. military officials allowed Iraqi ambulances to enter the city to pick up the dead for burial.

But no vehicles ventured into the closely monitored neighborhood bordering the Marines' positions in the northwest, where troops reported killing dozens, if not hundreds, of insurgents last week.

Until nature completes its course, and while the cease-fire keeps Marines from advancing beyond the no man's land and into the city, the Iraqi dead refuse to be forgotten.

Noon, Sunday: Miracles in strange places

A rocket-propelled grenade slammed into a wall near a schoolhouse where Marines manned defensive positions. The blast rocked the neighborhood and seemed to yank troops out of the comfort zone some had created during the last two very quiet days of cease-fire.

After failing to spot the shooter but firing a few grenade rounds in that direction just in case, the Marines eased back a bit ---- but not all the way. Battle could start up again at any moment.

When the battalion chaplain arrived a couple of hours later for Sunday services, he asked troops if they remembered any miracles Jesus had performed.

Private First Class Philip Marquez, 20, of Coachella, offered the first example.

"I was saved when my NVG (night vision goggles) bag got shot," he said in all sincerity. Marquez was struck in the hip with a bullet during the fighting last week. The bullet shattered some plastic equipment but did not penetrate his body.

It wasn't exactly the biblical answer the chaplain was looking for. But he agreed: it was a miracle.

Later, when Marquez hunched behind a machine gun for his guard duty on the roof, he said he knew of another recent miracle.

On April 6, when the Marines first set the cordon around Fallujah, his squad was ambushed as they were on patrol on nearly the same street block of beige brick houses he now guarded with the machine gun.

His friend was struck in the head by the first volley of enemy fire.

"I actually thought he was dead," Marquez said, watching the street below and describing his horror at seeing his buddy bleed.

But the Marine survived. And Marquez said got to see him briefly Saturday when he returned to base for a shower and a meal.

"I just said 'Wow!'" Marquez said. "Man, all our prayers were answered."

6 p.m. Sunday: Squared away

While the troops had some time on their hands during the cease-fire to count their blessings, clean up and rest, some of their leaders also had spare time.

Some of those who were not planning the next military move or worrying about defenses turned to traditional military matters like uniformity and discipline.

One senior noncommissioned officer in particular was hounding the troops daily about whether their shirt sleeves were rolled down or whether they were shaved and their chin straps fastened as the Marines worked to shore up defenses and rest up for more fighting.

Sharp and squared away in his full gear ---- a shining example of the discipline he expects from his men ---- he attended a briefing with the battalion's officers just before dark Sunday.

Walking by all the captains and majors assembled outside a building, he got his boot caught in some wire and tripped.

"Yeah," said someone fresh in from the front lines. "But he looked good doing it."

Staff writer Darrin Mortenson and staff photographer Hayne Palmour are reporting from Iraq, where they are with Camp Pendleton Marines. Their coverage is collected at www.nctimes.com/military/iraq.



http://www.nctimes.com/content/articles/2004/04/19/military/iraq/21_05_454_18_04.jpg

Lance Cpl. Anthony Dilling, 21, from Oneil, Nebraska, left, hands a sandbag up to Capt. Jong Kim, 20, from Santa Clara, Calif., as the two try to stabilize a covering they built for shade over one of two gun positions on the roof of the house where they and Marines of 2nd Platoon, Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment are staying at in northwest Fallujah, Iraq on Sunday, April 18, 2004.



http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/04/19/military/iraq/21_05_454_18_04.txt


Ellie

[thedrifter]

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