Chaplain's Iraq Flock Is Battle-Scarred Marine Unit

[thedrifter]

Chaplain's Iraq Flock Is Battle-Scarred Marine Unit

Navy Lt. Scott Radetski provides spiritual and personal support, often near the front line.

By Tony Perry, Times Staff Writer


FALLOUJA, Iraq — Navy Lt. Scott Radetski knows how to reconcile the Sixth Commandment, Thou shalt not kill, with a profession based on doing just that.

Radetski, chaplain for the Marine unit that had the largest number of casualties last month, readily quotes Romans 13, which explains that a just ruler "is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrong-doer."

Basically, Marines are servants of wrath," Radetski said. "They are an extension of the government…. I don't see a big conflict between the commandment and what Marines are doing. They're obeying the people in authority over them."

Bridging what would seem to be a wide chasm is just part of the chaplain's job. He is the shoulder to cry on, the moral force to ease soldiers' doubts, the person who celebrates sacraments and, inevitably, the one who comforts survivors of the daily encounter with death.

"I never have any doubt when I go looking for my chaplain where he will be: somewhere near the front line taking care of the spiritual and personal needs of his Marines," Lt. Col. Gregg Olson, who commands 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, said of Radetski. "That's how he views us: his Marines."

Radetski, 41, is a nuclear submarine sailor-turned-chaplain with a family at Southern California's Camp Pendleton.

For him, the month beginning Palm Sunday was like none other.

In almost daily firefights against insurgents in the restive Sunni city of Fallouja, his 2nd Battalion lost seven Marines; more than 100 were wounded.

Radetski was a frequent presence at the bullet-riddled homes that were Marines' forward positions and at bases farther from the front — praying, counseling, sometimes just listening. Though a Baptist, he counsels all, including nonbelievers.

"Interjecting the spiritual life almost comes naturally in a place like this," Radetski said. "You get here and you realize that we all have a Christ-sized hole in our hearts, and he's the only one who can fill it."

Cpl. Edwin Rios, 24, of St. Cloud, Fla., said he appreciates the chaplain's support.

"To have him say to you — to give you the word — that sure it's rough, but it's not always going to be like that," Rios said, "it gives you the boost to go back out there and accomplish your job."

On Palm Sunday, the chaplain and the Marines who turned out for morning services knew that by nightfall they would have begun an assault against heavily armed insurgents.

In their own way, Radetski said in his sermon, the Marines were following the same path as Jesus en route to Jerusalem. He too entered a city where some people greeted him as a savior but others were plotting to kill him. He knew the risk but he went without fear because he knew his mission was just.

Marines face a similar test, Radetski said. And God will be with them every step of the way.

Radetski read several Bible passages and punctuated each with "Ooorah," the all-purpose Marine grunt/cheer.

"I know the [Sixth] commandment, but God gave us a country and we have to defend it the best we can," said Lance Cpl. Richard Browning, 21, who hopes to become a Baptist minister after his tour of duty.

That feeling, however, carries little weight with Iraqis living in the city.

"The Marines say God is with them," said Gamal Khalif, an Iraqi police officer. "But God is also with the other side. Nobody knows who God is really with."

Death is never far away in Radetski's ministry. Radetski, who wears a helmet and flak jacket but is not armed, helped evacuate wounded Marines.

After one firefight, Radetski said, he looked into the face of a dying Marine as he lifted him onto a stretcher. He realized the young man and his spouse had come to him for couples counseling before the battalion left Camp Pendleton.

"All we could do was pray," Radetski recalled of the Marine's death.

In another incident, he stayed with a Marine whose hand had been blown off.

"Please don't leave me, please don't leave me," the Marine pleaded as the Humvee raced toward a field hospital.

"He couldn't have any more morphine because he needed to be alert," Radetski said. "But just to hear him cry out in pain every time we hit a bump — and there were a lot of them — in the dirt, and the dust and smell…. I kept telling him, 'You're going to be all right. God loves you.' "

After growing up in modest circumstances in Sheboygan, Wis., Radetski was 17 when he enlisted in the Navy. He became a mechanic and a lab technician in the elite nuclear submarine program.

But two drunk-driving arrests in New York forced him into the Navy's alcohol and drug dependency program in 1985.

It was a costly but transforming experience. He lost his $29,000 reenlistment bonus, his security clearance and his "dolphins," the pin that signifies a sailor is a member of the submarine service.

"Sometimes things have to be stripped away for you to realize the value of the things that you have," he said. "It opened my eyes to a journey back to God."

Back on active duty, he took a Bible study course and switched to work as an alcohol and drug counselor at what was then Miramar Naval Air Station.

In 1993, he left the Navy with the intention of becoming a chaplain. The Navy chaplaincy corps, which supplies chaplains to the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, requires bachelor's and graduate degrees.

Radetski graduated from Bethel College in San Diego and received a graduate degree from Bethel Theological Seminary. He rejoined the Navy as a chaplain, ordained by the Baptist general convention.

His served as a chaplain aboard an amphibious assault ship for three years with the Coast Guard in Astoria, Ore., before being transferred to the Marines last year. Now, Radetski's future is unclear because, amid military downsizing, there are fewer chaplains and fewer promotion opportunities.

He wants to spend time with his wife, Kristi, a former special education teacher; and their children, Rachel, 8; Benjamin, 4; and Nathaniel, 2. After 23 years on active duty, he qualifies for a pension. He's given thought to joining a church in Oceanside or maybe doing missionary work.

Since the fighting has slackened, he has been part of the Marines' effort to reach out to communities around Fallouja — handing out toys, soccer balls and candy to children. He will be part of a counseling program to help relieve the potential for post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Still, those dangerous days in Fallouja will always be with him.

"It's been incredibly challenging: draining at times, rewarding at times — it rips your heart out at times," he said, his voice breaking.

"But I don't think I could do anything more important than to be side by side with someone as courageous as a Marine."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-beliefs22may22,1,7943692.story?coll=la-headlines-california


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Small Craft Company fills niche on Iraq's rivers
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 2004523101944
Story by Cpl. Paula M. Fitzgerald



CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq(May 22, 2004) -- Their mission is anything but a "small craft."

Marines of Small Craft Company, a Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based unit, are here providing boat support to the 1st Marine Division.

"Small Craft has only been around for 12 or 13 years, so this is the first time in the unit's history that it's been deployed for riverine combat operations," said Maj. Bennett W. Walsh, company commander.

As the only specialized boat company in the Marine Corps, the unit is tasked with providing riverine capability to I Marine Expeditionary Force in order to deny enemy access to waterways in Iraq. This allows I MEF units to use the rivers and lakes in the country as an alternate route of transportation.

"We give any commander added flexibility," added Walsh, of Springfield, Mass. "They tell us what they need as far as riverine operations and we accommodate with what we have."

Small Craft Marines have already worked with almost every unit in the Al Anbar Province since arriving here with 1st Marine Division three months ago. They have patrolled all but a small portion of the waterways in the division's area of operations.

"We've done every kind of military mission on the water you can thing of," Walsh said.

According to 1st Lt. Art G. Decotiis, 2nd Platoon Commander, the company's Marines, who are all trained infantrymen, have taken part in waterborne reconnaissance and combat patrols, search and recovery missions and island raids along the rivers.

Another facet of their mission is to provide security to important positions along waterways.

Half of the company is operating from Hadithah Dam in the western reaches of the province.

"It's a high-value target that is not only an important energy source to the citizens of Iraq but also the Coalition Provisional Authority, which is here to help rebuild the country," Walsh added.

He said the Marines are in their boats patrolling the area around the dam 24-hours-a-day.

"If a member of the anti-Iraqi forces tried to use the water around the dam to transport equipment or troops," he said, "they would be highly disappointed when they see our boats and know they can't get through."

Another detachment from Small Craft Company is supporting operations for Marines in the eastern region of Al Anbar Province.

"We recently finished helping 1st Reconnaissance Battalion do some island clearing," explained Decotiis, of Asheville, N.C. "We used our boats to insert the ground combat element so they could clear buildings and things like that."

Every mission requires different assets. Once a unit identifies what equipment is needed, the Marines of Small Craft Company decide which of their boats would be best suited for the job.

"We take our Riverine Assault Craft for patrolling missions," Decotiis said. Rigid Raiding Crafts are used to insert ground troops, and we also have Zodiacs, or combat reconnaissance rubber crafts."

The RACs, Raiders and Zodiacs were split up between the company's two halves.

"We can tailor our boats to whatever mission a unit is tasked with," Decotiis added.

Still, it's not the boats that make missions run smoothly. According to both Walsh and Decotiis, it's the professionalism and expertise of the company's Marines.

"This is the first time some of these guys have ever deployed," Walsh said. "Many of our Marines are young lance corporals and privates first class. They've really stepped up to the plate out here. I've been very impressed with their abilities so far."

Lance Cpl. Pablo Ochoa, coxswain from Bergenfield, N.J., has been with the company for more than two years and said he "never pictured Small Craft in Iraq."

"Normally, we go to South America and do training and things like that down there," he said. "I never thought we'd end up in the desert, but we're definitely an asset here because if there's no one to patrol the rivers and waterways, then the enemy could use them to transport weapons and troops. We're just here to block that."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/2004523102240/$file/smallcraft1lr.jpg

Marines with Small Craft Company patrol one of the many waterways in Iraq's Al Anbar province recently. The company spent time with 1st Reconnaissance Battalion conducting island-clearing operations. Small Craft Company, based out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., is here supporting 1st Marine Division's security and stabilization mission here.
(Photo Courtesy Small Craft Company) Photo by: Courtesy Small Craft Company

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/DB08E7C506C524AE85256E9D004EB633?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marine commanders scramble to bolster Iraqi security forces ahead of power handover <br />
<br />
By Katarina Kratovac, Associated Press, 5/24/2004 03:21 <br />
<br />
FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) U.S. Marine commanders in Iraq's...

[thedrifter]

Young Marines shoulder huge responsibility on Iraqi waters <br />
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division <br />
Story Identification #: 200452310844 <br />
Story by Cpl. Paula M. Fitzgerald <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq(May...

[thedrifter]

Even in relative lull, Marines in Iraq confront road bombs and mortar attacks


By Katarina Kratovac, Associated Press, 5/24/2004 01:50

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) As a Humvee sped down a desert road, a voice crackled over the military radio: a Marine combat engineer had been defusing a bomb, planted under a bridge, when the undertow in the murky Euphrates snatched him and swept him away.

''One of ours,'' sighed Cpl. Joseph Willis, the Humvee's driver.

The engineer's buddies were not able to save him. Marines recovered the body hours later.

That night, silence settled over Camp Mercury, a remote base that is home to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, outside the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad.

''No one should have to come to the desert to drown,'' said Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne, the battalion commander.

The loss earlier this week of the Marine engineer, Lance Cpl. Michael Carey, 20, of Prince George, Va., was one of many life-and-death situations that Marines confront in this volatile land even in times of relative lull.

Carey's engineer platoon held a private memorial service Saturday to honor his memory.

Navy Chaplain Lt. Waine Hall, spent the morning with the grieving platoon.

''You can never be prepared for losing someone close, your buddy, no matter where you are,'' said Hall, a Congregationalist Protestant chaplain. ''I let them know the gamut of feelings and reactions they can expect.''

''I try to tell them not to bottle it up, but it's perhaps a man-thing, to shut it all out,'' said Hall, 36, of Oklahoma City.

In April, the Marines here battled insurgents in Fallujah's urban districts. Weeks of fighting claimed the lives of 10 Marines and hundreds of Iraqis.

When an agreement was struck to hand over security of the city to an all-Iraqi force, the Marines pulled back from frontline positions, to patrol Fallujah's outer suburbs and the rural hinterland from camps and bases scattered across the desert.

Despite the pullback, Marines remain on guard. On Friday night, Camp Mercury was targeted by five mortars, but all landed outside the base, sending only debris over the walls.

Willis and his Humvee were on the road again Saturday.

Their destination was the Umm Amara boys' school in Kharma, Fallujah's easternmost suburb, where the Marines handed over 300 schoolbags packed with notebooks, pencils and frisbees.

The donations are part of the ''winning hearts and minds campaign,'' at the core of U.S. reconstruction efforts in Iraq. Despite the effort, U.S. forces continue to battle an insurgency in Sunni areas as well as an uprising by militiamen led by Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical Shiite cleric. The scandal over prisoner abuse by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib jail has also undermined reconciliation efforts.

The boys swarmed around the Marines. Soon, flying frisbees and gleeful children turned the school yard into a laughing pandemonium.

His goodwill cargo unloaded, Willis, from Fort Hood, Texas, and the Marine convoy left Kharma. There was still a sack of toys in the back, for children in a nearby village.

But after a canal overpass, at the start of the palm groves stretching to the east, a deafening blast shook Willis' Humvee and halted the convoy.

Everything went dark and for a few seconds, time appeared to stand still. A huge cloud of dust descended on the Humvee.

''Everyone all right?'' shouted Cpl. Jesus Vargas, 24, gunner in the back.

An IED improvised explosive device, as homemade road bombs are referred to in Iraq had detonated just behind Willis' Humvee, which was third in the convoy.

None of the Marines was injured. Their ears ringing and hurting from the blast, each Marine aboard Willis' vehicle said he had a headache it was the first close-up experience of an IED for all.

Later, three Marines sought medical assistance, complaining of hearing loss.

The bomb left a three-foot deep, five-foot wide hole on the right side of the road. Willis' Humvee got away with only a broken windshield.

Shrapnel pieces, burning to the touch, were recovered, along with a 12-inch toy car, rigged as a detonator and wired, to be studied by explosive experts later.

''It was a close call,'' said Cpl. Clint Burford, 27, who was also in Willis' Humvee. ''My first thought was to get everyone out of the vehicle, secure the kill zone. Everyone did that, just as we were trained to do.''

''Luckily, the enemy doesn't know how to set off the rounds right, or there'd be more people killed here,'' said Burford, of Waterloo, Iowa.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/145/world/Even_in_relative_lull_Marines_:.shtml


Ellie

[thedrifter]

In rebuilding, Marines caught in the middle
Civil affairs troops must balance sheiks' demands with young entrepreneurs' plans.

By Katarina Kratovac
Associated Press
May 21, 2004


FALLUJAH, Iraq -- In a building known as the "Iranian House," where Saddam Hussein once kept Iranian mercenaries for the war against his neighbor, Sunni sheiks press two Marine officers with their demands: Release our imprisoned sons, give us our weapons back, compensate us for the homes you destroyed.

Behind them, young Iraqi entrepreneurs wait their turn with project blueprints rolled up under their arms. They wanted U.S. money to fund their projects.

The civil affairs office for the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment in the Anbar province must balance those two forces, which reflect fundamentally different ways of doing things in the new Iraq, as it settle disputes and try to put Iraq's reconstruction in the hands of its people.

Gunnery Sgt. Mark Kline, 42, Atlanta, said he often feels like a "negotiator trying to hammer out deals."

The sheiks' litany is repetitive: Sons "mistakenly" imprisoned by American troops should be set free; weapons seized during raids by U.S. Marines should be returned; homes damaged when U.S. troops fought insurgents nearby should be paid for -- in U.S. dollars.

Tears in his eyes, Sheik Halid Ahmed Hassan, 60, said his son is the only one still detained among 58 men arrested after Marines discovered mortars and Kalashnikov rifles inside a 1986 Chevrolet outside his home in the village of Raud.

"My son is not guilty. I know that in my heart. It wasn't even his car," Hassan said. "Iraqi people only get a bad deal from the Americans."

The professionals patiently wait for the sheiks to clear out so they can discuss projects that Sgt. Jose Orozco, 30, and his battalion hope to jump-start here as part of the $18 billion in American spending to improve Iraq's economy and turn the tide of anti-U.S. sentiment.

But reconstruction isn't easy.

Emad Mohammed Abdullah, an electrical engineer from Ramadi, is downcast when his garbage-disposal project for Kharma is refused. "This plan is good. It will create jobs," he said.

Kline explained that the blueprint needed more detail and suggested dividing Kharma into sectors where garbage would get picked up on different days. The dump site must not pollute the water supply, he said.

Abdullah caught on and said his workers can do different sectors on different days.

"The entrepreneurs know what they need, but sometimes they don't know how to get there," Kline said. "So we try to help."

http://www.indystar.com/articles/3/148375-8903-010.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Iraq-born American speaks for troops, leaders, locals <br />
Submitted by: 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing <br />
Story Identification #: 20045238948 <br />
Story by Sgt. J.L. Zimmer III <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
AL ASAD, Iraq (May 23, 2004)...

[thedrifter]

Iraq Desert no obstacle for frozen dessert <br />
Submitted by: 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing <br />
Story Identification #: 20045231144 <br />
Story by Staff Sgt. Houston F. White Jr. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
AL ANBAR PROVINCE, Iraq(May...

[thedrifter]

May 24, 2004

Marines stay vigilant even as threats diminish

By Katarina Kratovac
Associated Press


FALLUJAH, Iraq — As a Humvee sped down a desert road, a voice crackled over the military radio: a Marine combat engineer had been defusing a bomb, planted under a bridge, when the undertow in the murky Euphrates snatched him and swept him away.
“One of ours,” sighed Cpl. Joseph Willis, the Humvee’s driver.

The engineer’s buddies were not able to save him. Marines recovered the body hours later.

That night, silence settled over Camp Mercury, a remote base that is home to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, outside the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad.

“No one should have to come to the desert to drown,” said Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne, the battalion commander.

The loss earlier this week of the Marine engineer, Lance Cpl. Michael Carey, 20, of Prince George, Va., was one of many life-and-death situations that Marines confront in this volatile land even in times of relative lull.

Carey’s engineer platoon held a private memorial service Saturday to honor his memory.

Navy Chaplain Lt. Waine Hall, spent the morning with the grieving platoon.

“You can never be prepared for losing someone close, your buddy, no matter where you are,” said Hall, a Congregationalist Protestant chaplain. “I let them know the gamut of feelings and reactions they can expect.”

“I try to tell them not to bottle it up, but it’s perhaps a man-thing, to shut it all out,” said Hall, 36, of Oklahoma City.

In April, the Marines here battled insurgents in Fallujah’s urban districts. Weeks of fighting claimed the lives of 10 Marines and hundreds of Iraqis.

When an agreement was struck to hand over security of the city to an all-Iraqi force, the Marines pulled back from frontline positions, to patrol Fallujah’s outer suburbs and the rural hinterland from camps and bases scattered across the desert.

Despite the pullback, Marines remain on guard. On Friday night, Camp Mercury was targeted by five mortars, but all landed outside the base, sending only debris over the walls.

Willis and his Humvee were on the road again Saturday.

Their destination was the Umm Amara boys’ school in Kharma, Fallujah’s easternmost suburb, where the Marines handed over 300 schoolbags packed with notebooks, pencils and frisbees.

The donations are part of the “winning hearts and minds campaign,” at the core of U.S. reconstruction efforts in Iraq. Despite the effort, U.S. forces continue to battle an insurgency in Sunni areas as well as an uprising by militiamen led by Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical Shiite cleric. The scandal over prisoner abuse by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib jail has also undermined reconciliation efforts.

The boys swarmed around the Marines. Soon, flying frisbees and gleeful children turned the schoolyard into a laughing pandemonium.

His goodwill cargo unloaded, Willis, from Fort Hood, Texas, and the Marine convoy left Kharma. There was still a sack of toys in the back, for children in a nearby village.

But after a canal overpass, at the start of the palm groves stretching to the east, a deafening blast shook Willis’ Humvee and halted the convoy.

Everything went dark and for a few seconds, time appeared to stand still. A huge cloud of dust descended on the Humvee.

“Everyone all right?” shouted Cpl. Jesus Vargas, 24, gunner in the back.

An IED — improvised explosive device, as homemade road bombs are referred to in Iraq — had detonated just behind Willis’ Humvee, which was third in the convoy.

None of the Marines was injured. Their ears ringing and hurting from the blast, each Marine aboard Willis’ vehicle said he had a headache — it was the first close-up experience of an IED for all.

Later, three Marines sought medical assistance, complaining of hearing loss.

The bomb left a three-foot deep, five-foot wide hole on the right side of the road. Willis’ Humvee got away with only a broken windshield.

Shrapnel pieces, burning to the touch, were recovered, along with a 12-inch toy car, rigged as a detonator and wired, to be studied by explosive experts later.

“It was a close call,” said Cpl. Clint Burford, 27, who was also in Willis’ Humvee. “My first thought was to get everyone out of the vehicle, secure the kill zone. Everyone did that, just as we were trained to do.”

“Luckily, the enemy doesn’t know how to set off the rounds right, or there’d be more people killed here,” said Burford, of Waterloo, Iowa.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2944797.php

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Small Craft Company prepares for coming missions
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 200452462252
Story by Lance Cpl. Macario P. Mora



HADITHAH DAM, Iraq(May 20, 2004) -- Sgt. Joseph E. Wright stood at the helm of his boat, drenched from the rare rains that sprinkle the western deserts of Iraq and the spray from the river. His boat skimmed and darted across the surface of the water, churning the water.

His mission this day was a drill. Tomorrow, it could be a combat raid. Either way, he's part of new and adaptive way to fight terrorism.

Marines with Small Craft Company's 1st Platoon, assigned to the 1st Marine Division, trained to get back to their riverine roots of conducting water-borne raids. The Marines are part of an innovative way to defeat terrorism along the Euphrates River, a tactic not widely used since Vietnam.

The exercises have become an essential part of Small Craft's routine. They are constantly updating and rewriting scenarios that they could encounter, for both water-borne and conventional infantry operations.

"Right now our ground-to-water operations ratio is about fifty-fifty," said Sgt. Joseph E. Wright, a boat captain from Standish, Maine. "But, we're slowly starting to do more water ops, which is what we're here for."

For the first several months the Marines of the unit participated in mostly ground operations, because they were the only security force in the area according to Sgt. Matthew Austin, a section leader from Gowanda, N.Y.

"It's a good thing, I think," Wright said. "A lot of these guys are straight from school, so they need to gain the ground experience as well."

The company, comprised of infantrymen, normally specializes in boat operations. However, during the fighting in Fallujah, they assumed a more traditional role of a rifle company. Now, with much of fighting settled, Small Craft Company Marines are getting their feet wet again.

The company's Marines trained for hunting and destroying pockets of anti-Iraqi fighters and weapons caches along the banks and islands dotting the Euphrates River.

"In the palm groves is where a lot of the attacks come from," Wright said. "We've had a lot of ground teams sweep the area and not find much, so we think they may be hiding weapons on the islands."

The mission is one for which the company is uniquely adapted. They use different types of boats, all with agile and powerful engines and shallow drafts to allow the Marines to quickly overwhelm objectives from the water.

"This is what we live for - getting out in the water showing what we can do," Austin said.

The company, which is the first and only of its kind since the Vietnam era, participated in deployments to the rivers of South America and routinely tread the waters of New River, at Camp Lejeune N.C., for exercises. But, now they're plying their trade in a combat zone, using techniques they've culled from during peace and adding their combat experiences.

"Our time here is helping shape our doctrine," said Staff Sgt. Eric J. Hodge, platoon sergeant from Jacksonville, N.C. Techniques have "been added to and subtracted from a bit since we've been out here. It should really benefit the others."

These water-soaked Marines know that they're writing their own chapter for those in the future who will study the way Marines fought here. The constant exercises, in combination with combat operations, they say reassure their part in the war on terrorism sails smoothly into the history books.

"It's exciting," Austin said. "We're making a new way."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200452462529/$file/prep1lr.jpg

Marines from Small Craft Company inspect their boats before conducting exercises. Marines participated in invasion from water-to-land drills to keep their riverine skills current.
(USMC photo by Sgt. Jose L. Garcia) Photo by: Sgt. Jose L. Garcia

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/56A263C872596B1F85256E9E00390694?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Sanchez to Be Replaced As Iraq Commander <br />
<br />
<br />
By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent <br />
<br />
WASHINGTON - The top U.S. military officer in Iraq (news - web sites), Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, will...

[thedrifter]

Marines pass out donated school supplies in Kharma
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 200452464345
Story by Sgt. Jose E. Guillen



CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq(May 22, 2004) -- Marines arrived in Kharma to a sea of smiles and waving hands from Iraqi schoolchildren May 22.

It was a sign of the distinct difference Marines of 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment are making here.

Marines visited a school in Kharma to pass out school supplies, toys and other items in an effort to further cement their relationship with the citizens of Kharma. It was the latest in a series of projects Marines conducted here and one that's showcasing 1st Marine Division's "no better friend" efforts.

"It turned out to be a good day," said Maj. Lawrence J. Kaifesh, a 36-year-old civil affairs Marine Team Leader for 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment from Chicago.

"I wanted to make sure the school supplies would get to kids who would appreciate it," added Kaifesh, a Chicago Marine.

Kaifesh and his Marines delivered more than 1,500 book bags filled with school supplies to Kharma students. The supplies were donated to Marines to pass out to Iraqis from Spirit of America, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization.

The donations included book bags with school supplies, Frisbees, soccer balls and toys. There were also items for the city as a whole, including toys, medical supplies and fire-fighting gear.

"It's always a good thing to help people, but especially kids who are caught in the middle," said Sgt. Jose A. Orozco, a 30-year-old Los Angeles Marine with the civil affairs team.

The outreach effort to Kharma is focused to dispel any lingering hostilities that emerged while Marines fought terrorist here in April. Kharma was the site of fierce fighting, with Marines killing more than 100 terrorists.

Now, Marines brandish gifts instead of weapons, demonstrating to the Iraqi citizens their fight was against those who brought fear and intimidation and not against the local citizens, Kaifesh explained.

Still, donations in this city weren't limited to school supplies. Medical equipment was also purchased to improve capabilities at local clinic. Two new x-ray machines, a dental chair, medical supplies were given to the Iraqis as well as renovations conducted on the clinic, Kaifesh said.

It's all part of a concentrated effort that's produced tangible results.

"A youth center and a ribbon-cutting ceremony for an Internet café was held last week," he said.

More Internet connections and a communications center are currently in the planning stages to be built in Kharma.

"We've only been here three weeks, but we've made some pretty good progress and we'll continue to do so," Kaifesh explained.

Kaifesh said that within the last few weeks, Marines fixed 11 schools and fully restored six water purification plants that will deliver potable water to the entire city.

The change in the city is drastic compared to early April when the area was engulfed in the fighting that erupted in nearby Fallujah.

"Now a month later, the ICDC and Iraqi Police are on the streets, shops are open and the streets are bustling again," said Capt. Jamie M. McCall, a 29-year-old from Wilmington, Del.

"This town has changed dramatically, because they wouldn't look or wave at us," added McCall, the battalion's staff judge advocate. "Now they do. It's remarkable."

Kaifesh said that while not on the road searching for new developments, he keeps busy at base camp dealing with city officials and village leader.

"We're meeting with council members all the time," he said. "We want to take care of these folks as much as possible."

Kaifesh and his Marines still have a tough schedule ahead of them. Progress is being made, but they are still wary of occasional attacks from roadside bombs and small-arms fire. Still, progress is being made and concrete plans are being worked for further improvements for Kharma.

"Right now we have about 200 claims and over 40 projects that are in one stage or another," he said. "We're in Phase 1, which consists of water, electricity, sanitation and healthcare."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200452464615/$file/goods1lr.jpg

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/99CFBD7D476E21EA85256E9E003AF005?opendocument


Ellie