Boot camp begins for Iraqi recruits, Marine-style

[thedrifter]

Boot camp begins for Iraqi recruits, Marine-style <br />
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division <br />
Story Identification #: 200462325752 <br />
Story by Cpl. Shawn C. Rhodes <br />
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CAMP INDIA, Iraq(June 20, 2004) --...

[thedrifter]

VMI graduate bears class ring on special occasions in Iraq
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 20046232491
Story by Cpl. Shawn C. Rhodes



CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq(June 18, 2004) -- Cpl. Christopher R. Bowers has a little ritual he performs before every patrol. It doesn't seem like much, but the trained eye, it's tradition he's done hundreds of times.

Bowers reaches into his cargo pocket while other Marines from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment gear up. He pulls out a ring and slips it on his finger, the ring he earned when he graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va.

"Whenever I wear that ring, things seem to work out for the best, so I only wear it for special occasions where I think it might be needed," Bowers said with his aristocratic southern drawl.

The motor transport operator earned the steel ring when he graduated from VMI in 1997. It's accompanied him around the globe and has seen at least two combat tours.

Despite his almost religious adherence to wearing the ring, he doesn't claim to be a superstitious man.

"I've never put much stock in good luck charms," Bowers said. Still, he's never without the ring on a patrol.

Bowers is a bit of a contradiction. He's a VMI graduate, yet an enlisted man. He attended the institute on an Air Force ROTC scholarship. He's got a history degree that helps him keep his eyes peeled in the land considered the cradle of civilization.

"I really loved studying archeology in college, so I'm always on the lookout for old ruins or artifacts out there," Bowers said.

The five-foot, seven-inch tall man stands shorter than many of his comrades, but he commands a presence all the Marines around him notice.

"He does what good corporals are supposed to do - when he completes a job he comes back and asks what else there is for him to accomplish," said Staff Sgt. Thomas D. Shaw, the 34-year-old battalion motor transport chief from Bartlesville, Okla. "He is the politest guy you could ever meet. A true southern gentleman."

Shaw said Bower's typical southern goodness goes to even his thick accent, reminding him of Foghorn Leghorn, the oversized cartoon rooster of Looney Tunes.

"When we crossed the border into Iraq last year, I looked over and saw him slip his ring on," Shaw said. "It's pretty much expected at this point for Bowers to have his ring on"

Bowers echoed Shaw's statement by saying, "If I didn't have the ring on when I was doing something, it wouldn't feel right to me."

Bowers keeps the ring in a small zippered pouch in his cargo pocket. When he takes it out, he looks at it almost nostalgically with his grayish-blue eyes. Although he still has plans of accepting a commission, he is content with his place in life.

"I've got a very idealistic view of why I serve. I do it for all the classic reasons - for mom and apple pie and all that," Bowers said with a grin. "You form bonds with the guys you work with. As long as you're working with honest people, it's honorable work, no matter what you're doing."

Stepping up to the plate is nothing new for the sandy-blonde haired Marine.

"He's always looking for work to do, I wish I had a whole platoon of guys just like Bowers," said Gunnery Sgt. Mark A. Massey, Company G's company gunnery sergeant, from Lansing, N.C. "He's got more respect for people, both high and low ranking, than I've ever seen anywhere else. He's an outstanding human being."

"In the future, I envision Bowers retiring to his front porch, sipping on a mint julep as the sun sets in the distance," Shaw said. "He's going to go far in his life no matter what he does, it's his nature."

It's likely that ring will be with him the entire way.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/20046232524/$file/ring1lr.jpg

When the ring comes out, you know he means business. That is the philosophy of Cpl. Christopher R. Bowers, a motor transport operator and team leader from Richmond, Va. The 29 year-old earned his ring when he graduated the Virginia Military Institute. He decided not to accept a comission when he joined the Marine Corps a few years later. Today, the ring serves as a good luck charm he wears whenever a special occasion presents itself.
(USMC photo by Cpl. Shawn C. Rhodes) Photo by: Cpl. Shawn C. Rhodes
http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/70321822BDA4BAEA85256EBC002572AC?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

CARBONDALE MARINE TO GET PURPLE HEART

BY NICOLE SACK
THE SOUTHERN
[Mon Jun 21 2004]

CARBONDALE -- Cpl. Joshua Lipe of Carbondale brought home the one medal his mother did not want him to earn -- the Purple Heart.

"I told him, 'Look, there are a lot of medals you can get in service -- don't bring home the Purple Heart,'" Lipe's mother, Barbara said. "But when has he ever listened to what I said? I should have told him to do the opposite."

Lipe was wounded on May 21 when a roadside bomb detonated as he and nine other Marines were conducting a mounted patrol in Iraq.

The 24-year-old Marine was sitting in the passenger seat of a seven-ton truck when the bomb went off outside the vehicle.

"I heard a bang," Lipe said. "It was like a shotgun going off next to your head."

While all of the passengers were injured, Lipe suffered the most severe wounds and was evacuated to a Baghdad hospital.

He lost his right eye and was left with shrapnel in his face.

It was not exactly the gift one would like to receive on his birthday, which for Lipe was May 21. Nor was it the call Barbara Lipe wanted to receive.

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>> <<

She recalled getting a phone call from his base at Twentynine Palms, Calif., where Lipe had been stationed.

"My first thought was, 'He's alive,' because if he wasn't they would be at my door," Barbara Lipe said. "The gunnery sergeant had to tell me the news twice because I couldn't take it all in."

Now Lipe is on a 30-day leave recuperating from the injury as well as getting reacquainted with the United States and his new vision.

"It is not that bad. I have a bit of a problem with depth perception," Lipe said. "I just have to leave myself a little extra room when I am parking the truck."

Lipe will not officially be awarded the Purple Heart until he returns to California after his leave. While there he will also receive his new orders as well as a prosthetic eye.

Lipe, a squad leader with 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, was among the first Marines to go to Fallujah earlier this spring. Fallujah has been a hotbed of violence in Iraq.

What did Lipe think about being on the front line?

"It was kind of fun," Lipe said. "You train for so long. It's like being a teacher and going through the years of tests and requirements. Your first time in front of a classroom is like a release--you finally get to do your job.

"My job was to watch over my nine guys."

Lipe said the injury came along with the territory.

"I'm back. I'm safe. Just pray for my boys," Lipe said. "No use in getting upset about my eye, it's not going to grow back."

nicole.sack@thesouthern.com 618-351-5816

http://www.southernillinoisan.com/rednews/2004/06/21/build/top/TOP005.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

'ONE IRAQI AT A TIME'
Marines prepare
for hand-over
By JOHN BALZAR
Los Angeles Times



HIT, Iraq - A hundred miles and a world away from Baghdad, the transition of authority over Iraq is racing forward at the levels of the city, the village, the neighborhood, the highway traffic circle, the meeting hall.

One Iraqi at a time, as a popular Marine slogan has it.

This, the Marines hope, will be their last big push in the sand- and dust-blown western Iraq, the epic openness known as the "Wild West." It is a campaign being fought on two fronts. Edgy but hardened and mostly inured, Marines endure sometimes-daily insurgent attacks, roadside bombings, small-arms fire and intermittent mortar and rocket shelling. The other front occupies just as much of their attention and is equally dicey: readying Iraq's uncertain police and civil defense forces to carry on the battle for security and stability in the nation.

Marines talk among themselves about making history out of the aftermath of war. They talk about the gravity of month's end, when the formal transition takes place. They wipe the sweat off their weather-chafed faces and struggle - it is an honest and ongoing struggle - to believe in the emerging ragtag security forces that they have established, and that represent America's hope of friendly Iraqis standing on their own.

"I feel very good, optimistic," said Lt. Col. Fahad Abdal Aziz, a former Iraqi military officer who commands the 503rd Battalion of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, the 889 men, more or less, who are to assume the front lines of the war against insurgents across 4,350 square miles of western Iraq in less than two weeks. "We are united and ready to handle the job on July 1," Aziz said. "We will take care of them."

In anticipation of the transfer of governing authority, Marines throughout the region are lowering the profile of their patrols and resupply routes along the roads and in the towns that line the upper Euphrates River, in the strip of palm groves and cultivated fields that provides a ribbon of green through sizzling brown rock, sand and dust, canyons and plateaus. A platoon of Marines has moved into the civil defense corps barracks here in the city of Hit (pronounced heat) to try to bring last-minute order and inspire initiative among Iraqi defenders. They have begun joint patrols with Iraqis under the rubric of a Joint Command Center.

The Marines promise to sign a memorandum of understanding by Thursday that will spell out the terms of the security transfer.

Then: "Ninety-nine percent of what happens after July 1 will come out of the JCC," said Lt. Col. Phil Skuta of Williamsport, Pa., commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment, the "Devil Dogs" who are responsible for this chunk of Iraq, which on a map looks remarkably like a small-scale California.

The battalion's Marines who share quarters with Iraqi government defenders rely on a single outdoor camp shower under temperatures well above 100 degrees. They shave with bottled water over a slit trench. They eat one hot meal a day. They sleep crammed in the barracks, with space for only a cot and the room to stand next to it. They laugh uneasily about the "mad mortar man" who sends shells and rockets their way a few times a week.

"We're playing a part in history," said Lt. John Webre of New Orleans. "If we're successful, we can influence Iraq to be successful."

The problem confronting the Marines is the different attitudes toward the fight that they and the Iraqis have. The Marines approach the fight against terrorism and insurgency with their well-known squared-away resolve - "hoo-rah," meetings at oh-eight hundred sharp, lock and load, yes sir. The Iraqis? In nearly every regard, from the responsibilities of rank to the rigors of the clock, Iraqis approach their task with an outlook that is entirely their own - one that challenges the Marines' faith in their abilities.

Marines in this region see posted in their headquarters a suggestive quote from T.E. "Lawrence of Arabia" Lawrence:

"Do not try to do too much with your own hands. Better the Arabs do it tolerably than you do it perfectly. It is their war, and you are here to help them, not to win it for them. Actually, also, under the very odd conditions of Arabia, your practical work will not be as good as, perhaps, you think it is. It may take them longer and it may not be as good as you think, but if it is theirs, it will be better."

Lawrence's long-ago advice is not always easy for Marines to accept. Inspecting the Iraqi defense corps supply room, Marines gasp to see a vast, incoherent heap of blankets, boots, uniforms, flak jackets - handed out by the armfuls without any record whatsoever. Marine privates and lance corporals chafe at having to make daily rounds to pick up the trash and cigarette butts that follow the uniformed Iraqi defenders as sure as the wind. Marine military police drive in convoys to the city to provide 50 Iraqi policemen with rifle-range training, and none show up.

Sometimes, the Marines look over their shoulders, their thoughts flying back to their fathers' war. On those occasions, the name "Vietnam" passes in conversation, always with a hanging question mark.

"We have a long way to go," said Lt. Jason Goodale of Washington, D.C., commander of the 2nd Battalion's Marines CAP, or Combined Action Platoon. Not since 1971 in Vietnam has the Marine Corps instituted the CAP concept to try to win the "hearts and minds" of a populace caught in conflict.

"These people are on the brink of either success or failure," he said. "It's our job to push them to the right side of the line."

What few here bother to ask themselves is what happens if the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps and the municipal police, increasingly threatened and targeted by insurgents, cannot hold the line, or cannot gain in the fight. Those decisions belong to commanders in Baghdad and Washington. Here, Marines who indulge themselves in reflection continue to devise theories for success, or alternatively for the prospect of failure - although pessimists buck the company line only in private.

"If people weren't dying here, I'd be all about it," said a sergeant who insisted that he not be identified. "But I've lost two buddies here. Was it worth it? I don't know."


http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=39578


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Wolfowitz Lauds U.S. Troops Throughout Iraqi Tour
Submitted by: American Forces Press Service
Story Identification #: 200462361348
Story by - Kathleen T. Rhem



WASHINGTON(June 20, 2004 ) -- After touring Iraq June 16-19, Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said he was more impressed than ever with the caliber of American troops defending freedom's front lines.

"Wherever you go people are grateful for the men and women in uniform," he said to Marines gathered at the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force headquarters in Fallujah June 19. "It doesn't matter what they think of the (administration's Iraq war) policy, they understand the type of commitment and devotion you spend.

"Believe me," he added. "The country is appreciative."

During four days in Iraq, Wolfowitz visited troops and met with leaders of the 1st Cavalry and 1st Armored divisions in Baghdad, Task Force Olympia in Mosul, 1st Infantry Division in Tikrit, 1st MEF in Fallujah, and Multinational Division South East in Basra. At most stops he also met with local Iraqi leaders.

Several times in visits with American forces, Wolfowitz compared the troops' struggles here with what World War II, Korean War and Cold War veterans accomplished.

"What you're doing here is fighting another kind of evil," he said in Fallujah. "It's not fascism; it's not communism; but it's every bit as evil. And I think it's every bit as dangerous to our country."

He stressed that the United States and the world are better off today because Germany and Japan are democracies, and Poland and other Eastern and Central
European countries are free. "We're going to be better off tomorrow and the day after tomorrow because Iraq can be a free, democratic country and a source of stability in the Middle East instead of a source of constant problems," Wolfowitz said.

At the 1st Armored Division headquarters at Baghdad International Airport,
Wolfowitz spoke over dinner to troops who will be heading back to Germany soon after being extended three months in Iraq.

He gave them something to think about when they return to Germany. "You can just stop and think for a moment how much better the world is because Germany is a democratic country today and is a strong ally of the United States," Wolfowitz said.

"That doesn't mean they agree with us on everything, ... but we are so much better with a Germany that has made so (much) progress that was only made possible thanks to the sacrifice of Americans."

The deputy secretary said he has been gratified in meetings with local leaders to hear the high regard with which they hold American service members. And he told the troops of how Iraqis were eager to be iinvolved in their own defense

"There are millions of Iraqis who want to be in this fight, too. And on July 1 they're going to have a government that's going to help us all do it," he said. "But they also know they're not ready to do it on their own. You know it; I know it; and they know it."

After his troop visits were completed, Wolfowitz had high praise for the American service members in Iraq. "Every time I've been out here the troops are simply magnificent," he said of his four trips to Iraq to date. "I've stopped even pretending that I come out to raise their morale, because invariably they raise mine."


http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/5FEE7BFB204522A885256EBC0038324A?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

24th MEU's Force Recon Plt. conducts shoot at Dodge City: Photo Essay
Submitted by: 24th MEU
Story Identification #: 20046237624
Story by Sgt. Zachary A. Bathon



CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (June 21, 2004) -- Marines of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit's Force Reconnaissance Platoon spent a day working on their shooting skills at the Dodge City range here June 17.

During the shoot, the Marines worked on quick-reaction drills, fired at targets while on the move, and conducted weapons-failure drills while engaging targets up to 25 meters away with M-4 rifles.

The shoot was one of the MEU's last training evolutions as the unit makes final preparations to deploy early next month.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200462371124/$file/040617-M-7371B-003lores.jpg

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200462371124/$file/040617-M-7371B-003lores.jpg


http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200462371217/$file/040617-M-7371B-004lores.jpg

Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit's Force Reconnaissance Platoon move forward while firing during a live-fire shoot at Camp Lejeune's Dodge City range June 17.
While roughly half of the MEU has already departed, the remaining elements are making final preparations before leaving for Iraq early next month.
Photo by: Sgt. Zachary A. Bathon


http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/2004623783/$file/040617-M-7371B-005lores.jpg

Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit's Force Reconnaissance Platoon move forward while sighting in on targets before switching to their pistols during a live-shoot at Camp Lejeune's Dodge City range June 17.
While roughly half of the MEU has already departed, the remaining elements are making final preparations before leaving for Iraq early next month.
Photo by: Sgt. Zachary A. Bathon

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/439754ED38CAD8BB85256EBC003D030E?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

June 22, 2004

1/8 heads to Iraq

Times staff


About 950 Marines and sailors from 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, began departing Camp Lejuene, N.C., for Iraq today, base officials announced. The battalion will support operations with Regimental Combat Team 7.
It was not immediately clear whether the deployment represents an increase in Marine forces on the ground, or simply a relief of a unit already in country.

But this deployment follows a similar departure on the West Coast, where 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, departed Thursday from Camp Pendleton, Calif., to relieve a battalion that has spent several months in the war zone.

It was expected that the Marines of 3/1 would relieve 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, which moved to Iraq from a Unit Deployment Program stint on Okinawa, Japan, that began in December. One other unit — the Twentynine Palms, Calif.-based 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment — was deployed to Okinawa when it was tapped for Iraq duty with RCT-7.

Officials at Camp Pendleton and the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms have not yet announced return plans for 1/5 and 3/4, however.

Prior to their deployment, the Marines of 1/8 took part in a training package at March Air Reserve Base, Calif., where they honed their skills in patrolling, operating vehicle checkpoints, and responding to threats including improvised explosives and ambushes.

About 25,000 Marines and sailors are deployed to Iraq with the Pendleton-based I Marine Expeditionary Force on the first of two planned seven-month rotations for occupation duty. About 20,000 Marines are expected to return in the September-October timeframe, when a force of similar size will replace them.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-3030622.php


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Militants threaten Iraq PM after beheading hostage




By Alistair Lyon
REUTERS
7:13 a.m. June 23, 2004

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Islamist militants vowed Wednesday to assassinate Iraq's interim prime minister, just hours after they said they had beheaded a South Korean hostage in the violent run-up to a U.S. handover to Iraqi rule.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian accused by U.S. officials of organizing many deadly attacks in Iraq, made the threat against Prime Minister Iyad Allawi on an Islamist Web site.

"As for you, Allawi – sorry, the democratically elected prime minister – we have found for you a useful poison and a sure sword," said a taped voice, purported to be Zarqawi's own.

Allawi, a tough former Baathist who plotted against Saddam Hussein from exile, responded defiantly.

"We do not care about these threats, we will continue to rebuild Iraq and work for freedom, democracy, justice and peace. Iraqis have faced these threats before," said a spokesman from his office.

The interim government, selected by a U.N. envoy in consultation with U.S. and Iraqi officials, will be sworn in when the U.S.-led occupation formally ends next week.

Zarqawi's group, Jama'at al-Tawhid and Jihad, said Tuesday it had decapitated South Korean hostage Kim Sun-il after Seoul refused to withdraw forces from Iraq.

Hours after finding Kim's body, U.S. forces launched an airstrike on a suspected safe house of Zarqawi's group in Falluja, west of Baghdad, the second such raid in four days. Residents said the attack destroyed a garage and killed four people.

Arabic al Jazeera television showed footage Tuesday of hooded gunmen standing over a kneeling Kim, who was blindfolded and wearing an orange tunic similar to those worn by prisoners in U.S. detention facilities such as Guantanamo Bay.

"We warned you and you ignored it," one of the men said. "Enough lies. Your army is not here for the sake of Iraqis but for the sake of cursed America."

Al Jazeera said the tape then showed a man cutting off Kim's head with a knife. It did not broadcast that part.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun denounced Kim's killing and said his country would still send 3,000 more troops to Iraq to join its 670 engineers and medics there.


'BRUTAL ACTION'

The Arabic-speaking South Korean translator, who shouted "I don't want to die" in an earlier videotape, was kidnapped in Falluja. His firm initially said he had been taken on June 17, but the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said it might have been earlier.

Washington, which views Zarqawi as an ally of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and a chief architect of violence in Iraq, has put a $10 million bounty on his head.

"The free world cannot be intimidated by the brutal action of these barbaric people," President Bush said.

Zarqawi and other insurgents have intensified a campaign of bombings, assassinations and attacks on oil targets to disrupt the June 30 handover to Allawi's government.

A roadside bomb blast killed a woman and a small boy and wounded the woman's husband in Baghdad Wednesday. The husband kept asking hospital staff to call his wife, unaware she was dead. The couple had been married 15 days.

Kim's parents had urged their government to do everything to save their son, a devout Christian who had worked in Iraq for a year for a South Korean firm supplying the U.S. Army.

After news of his death, they sat cross-legged and stunned in their modest backstreet house in the South Korean city of Pusan, as his sister wailed and thrashed around in grief.

Kim's killing echoed the beheadings of a U.S. hostage in Iraq last month and a U.S. hostage in Saudi Arabia last week. All three were dressed in orange before being killed by militants said to have links to al Qaeda.

Since early April, dozens of foreigners have been seized in Iraq. Many have been freed, but at least four have been killed.

Signaling readiness to defuse tension with Britain, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said eight British servicemen held in Iran after their boats strayed into the Islamic republic's waters would be freed Wednesday.

But an Iranian television station said later the release was likely to be delayed until Thursday. The report also said the three British boats would stay in Iranian naval custody.

Iranian forces captured the Britons Monday in the wreck-infested Shatt al-Arab waterway along the Iraqi border.


http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/iraq/20040623-0713-iraq.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marine commander offers lessons for leaders of war
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Harry Levins
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
June 19, 2004

The current issue of the Marine Corps Gazette reprints the guidance that the commander of an artillery battalion gave to the leaders of his Marines as they headed into war last year in Iraq.

The unit is the 1st Battalion, 11th Marines. The commander is Lt. Col. James B. Seaton III. Much of his text deals with the technicalities of firing artillery in combat.

But a big chunk of Seaton's guidance is a good old-fashioned lesson in leadership. Here, reprinted with the permission of the Gazette, are some excerpts (with ellipses omitted):

- "Everything we do is about accomplishing our mission as well as taking care of our Marines and sailors so they can accomplish the mission; thus, I expect all leaders to set, maintain and enforce the highest standards."

- "Continually remind our men that discipline and professionalism are hallmarks of U.S. Marines and are directly related to a fighting unit's esprit de corps. We take care of our own, physically, mentally and morally. We respect others' property and recognize that the Iraqi people did not seek this fight."

- "Do not let Marines feel sorry for themselves; it makes an already difficult situation worse."

"What you don't know"

- "Do not hesitate making hard calls. You can blend compassion and understanding with firmness when making difficult or unpopular decisions. Leaders must recognize that the mission comes first. The path of least resistance is not necessarily the correct path."

- "We are now targets. Don't allow yourself or your Marines to be surprised, as our lives depend on continued vigilance and situational awareness."

- "Civilians in theater, while not our enemy, are not necessarily our friends."

- "Issue orders positively and firmly, avoiding vagueness. As a general rule, do not call for volunteers to do a dangerous or distasteful job. Select individuals yourself and -- in the presence of others -- clearly assign them the task."

- "Keep your men informed. Visit with your men frequently. Ensure they know what you want them to do."

- "Stop rumors immediately. You control your unit's morale; don't let the spread of rumors take that away from you. Caution your Marines about exaggerating in their letters home. This needlessly alarms families."

"Don't just tell them"

- "Enforce prompt, accurate reporting. First priority -- what you know. Second priority -- what you don't know."

- "Embrace the media; share our courage and mission with the American people and the world."

- "Immediately kill those who threaten or attack us; when they seek quarter, give it. Keep our honor clean. Innocents, and those who surrender, will be treated with kindness and dignity."

- "Recognize the potential emotional damage our Marines experience after killing someone. After the dust settles, seek them out and reassure them of the 'moral rightness' of their actions. Ours is an honorable and morally correct mission. Killing in combat is morally justified. Continue to monitor their emotional well-being."

- "'No better friend, no worse enemy.' We will not permit cruelty to any Iraqi, but we will kill those who threaten us with harm."

- "Respect the dead. Do not pose for pictures with enemy dead, desecrate remains or take their possessions."

- "Do not abuse prisoners; treat them with dignity but remain firm and forceful. They are human beings but still prisoners and aren't to be trusted."

- Noncommissioned officers "will be strictly accountable if one of their Marines is a heat casualty or contracts malaria. Watch your Marines -- don't just tell them to do it."

- "NCOs, a special note for you: As I've said before, you hold a special place in our Corps. Your Marines are counting on you, as am I. You are ready -- take the lead."



Ellie

[thedrifter]

24th MEU's infantry battalion departs for Iraq
Submitted by: 24th MEU
Story Identification #: 2004622162146
Story by Sgt. Zachary A. Bathon



CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (June 21, 2004) -- It was no more than 18 months ago when wives, children and girlfriends stood on the softball field at the end of L Street here giving final hugs and saying goodbyes to their loved ones from 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, as they departed for Iraq with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade.

A similar scene played out in the early morning hours of June 19 as the Marines from 1/2 found themselves headed back to Iraq as the Ground Combat Element for the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

But not everything now is how it was then. This time, the riflemen from 1/2 will stop at March Air Reserve Base in Southern California for some specialized training before touching down in the scorching temperatures of Iraq.

The training will allow the Marines to hone the art of security and stability operations, or SASO, what U.S. troops are doing to ensure a successful transition to a peaceful, democratic Iraq.

Over 10 days, the Marines from 1/2 will test their skills in patrolling, operating vehicle checkpoints, and responding to threats, including improvised explosive devices and ambushes. Role players will be used to make the training more realistic.

The SASO training will build on urban-combat training the Marines conducted in May in West Virginia. It also gives them more of an advantage in how to deal with different situations, something they didn't get before deploying last time.

"This time around it feels a lot different going over there," said Lance Cpl. Jackson Williams, a Willacoochee, Ga., native and rifleman with Charlie Co., 1/2. "But I think this time we are more prepared."

Just as the Marines were preparing for the long deployment ahead, families were doing the same as they were making the necessary preparations to be without their loved ones for the extended period of time.

"This is almost the hardest thing a mother could do," said Kathy Beck, the mother of a Marine from 1/2. "You raise them up from the time they are small, and now the worst part is not being able to see them and not knowing what will happen to them while they are over there."

But Beck said she planned to stay in touch with her son by writing him letters and talking to him over the Internet.

At 2 a.m. the buses arrived to carry the Marines to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point and it was back to business as the Marines grabbed their gear and up.

"I am ready to go," said Pfc. Julio Garcialendof from Queens, N.Y., and a rifleman with Charlie Co., 1/2. "The sooner we get over there, the sooner we can come back."

"But this time it feels different," he added. "The Iraqis are using different tactics and weapons, but this training is going to be good to go and I think we are ready."

The remainder of the 24th MEU will flow to the Middle East over the next two weeks. The entire unit is expected to be in Iraq by mid-July.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/2004621135832/$file/040619-M-7371B-002lores.jpg

Lance Cpl. Nathan Sinclair of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit gives his fiancée Piper West one final hug before departing for March Air Reserve Base, Calif., June 19.
Sinclair is from Charlie Company, 1st Bn., 2nd Marines -- the Ground Combat Element for the 24th MEU -- and is heading to California with the rest of his company to train in Security and Stability Operations before departing for Iraq early next month.
Photo by: Sgt. Zachary A. Bathon

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/82C4D8D8A4C1499185256EBB006FDB89?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

“I view Iraq through the lens of my son”


By David J. Webber
The Christian Science Monitor
June 24, 2004 Edition

My eldest son, Lance Cpl. Stephen Webber, is a Marine serving in Iraq. Thousands of other parents have sons and daughters there, too. More than 130,000 families have loved ones in Iraq. Lots of people are going about their daily lives with their minds and hearts elsewhere.

Stephen graduated from high school in 2001, finished boot camp in March 2003, and returned to his junior year at college in the fall. Like many other reservists, he was activated last December and reported for more training in January. It's likely he will be in Iraq until fall, but military plans change quickly.

His absence is a distraction, his location a matter of concern. I feel the way a lot of people felt after 9/11 - a bit bummed out, easily distracted, not quite right. The cure for me at that time was to see Stephen, who was away at college.

I have a while to wait this time.

Having a son become a Marine is a startling process. One doesn't join the Marines; one becomes a Marine. It's a serious undertaking. Marines are different. It's enough to cause most parents plenty of concern.

It will be a relief when he becomes a veteran.

Stephen enlisted in the Marines because of his respect for the World War II generation, his concern with social equality, and his sense of social responsibility and political obligation. If our country has decided we need a military, he argued, why should he not do his part?

Since Stephen was about 6 he has been interested in military history. When Stephen Ambrose, the best-selling author, died two years ago, my son e-mailed me that "outside the family, Ambrose probably has had as much influence on me as anyone." Mr. Ambrose is in good company. Stephen has had several influential Scoutmasters, soccer coaches, relatives, neighbors, and teachers. My son would be much different had he been raised in a dictatorial society, ravaged by war, and undernourished as a growing boy.

I have learned more about the military and foreign policy because of Stephen. I have read several books I would not have read had he not suggested them. He seemed to especially like James Bradley's "Flags of our Fathers." I now have a deeper respect for Marine slogans such as "there is no better friend or worse enemy than a US marine."

While I expect history will judge our military action against Saddam Hussein as unwise and more costly than most of us can imagine, I believe now we have a moral and political obligation to restore Iraq to self-sufficiency. It is great consolation to me that Stephen is contributing to the reconstruction, rather than the destruction, of Iraq.

People cope in different ways. Learning the details of another suicide bomber or the workings of mortars or RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) doesn't calm my anxiousness.

While I appreciate the kind words of understanding and support people offer me, I don't need sympathy. What I need is to run with Stephen at a nearby park. I need to hear his voice and his views on the 9/11 commission or the upcoming elections.

With Stephen in Iraq, I am less willing to debate the politics of the war or how it should be resolved. I am dealing with the personal side of America's being in Iraq. It is as if I am preparing myself should misfortune befall him or he comes home a stranger to me. His being in Iraq is a distraction.

I think about him and our nation's involvement in Iraq as any parent would. I wish he did not see human suffering - Iraqi or American. I worry he might come to physical harm or lose his zest for life because of the heavy demands being made on his body and mind.

People tell me I should be proud of my son. While "pride" doesn't seem to capture my feelings, I know what they mean. I admire Stephen's courage, character, idealism, kindness, and strength. He is the kind of guy you want to have on your side.

I remember leaving the hospital a few hours after he was born 21 years ago this month. There was dew on the grass and the sun was rising over the mountains where we lived. Birds were chirping, and people were just waking up.

I looked out across the hills, over the campus, the houses, and downtown, and thought, "Almost everybody's life today will be pretty much like yesterday. But because of Stephen, my life will be changed forever."

Indeed it was. Indeed it was.

Ellie