Marines awarded for heroic actions in Iraq

[thedrifter]

Marines awarded for heroic actions in Iraq
Submitted by: MCB Camp Butler
Story Identification #: 200463013424
Story by Lance Cpl. Martin R. Harris



MARINE CORPS AIR STATION FUTENMA, OKINAWA, Japan —(June 21, 2004) -- Twenty-four pilots and four crew chiefs from Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron-369 received Air Medals here June 21 for heroic achievements in a combat zone in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The squadron, assigned to Marine Aircraft Group-36, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, flew AH-1W Super Cobra and UH-1N Huey helicopters in Iraq.

Receiving the award were: Huey pilots Lt. Col. Michael L. Lawrence (also the squadron commanding officer), Capt. Peter F. Faeth, Capt. Chris D. Legere, 1st Lt. Jamisen L. Fox, 1st Lt. Kelly A. Hancock, 1st Lt. Ryan A. Jacobs and 1st Lt. Matthew W. Pinto; Super Cobra pilots Maj. William A. Gallardo, Maj. Mark R. Thrasher, Capt. David A. Bogle, Capt. Brad J. Butler, Capt. Derek M. Crousore, Capt Nathaniel J. Doring, Capt. Philip E. Eilertson, Capt. Jeannette A. Haynie, Capt. Michael J. Manifor, Capt. Nathan S. Marvel, 1st Lt. Ryan A. Cherry, 1st Lt. Michael J. Digangi, 1st Lt. Aaron R. Haines, 1st Lt. Andrew W. Kellner, 1st Lt. Devin A. Smiley, 1st Lt. Gordon L. Topper and 1st Lt. Justin S. Woodruff; and Huey crew chiefs Gunnery Sgt. Michael E. Passaro, Sgt. Scott M. Babitt, Sgt. Robert I. Osborne and Sgt. Matthew M. Pyland.

At the beginning of the war, the squadron began launching operations from Kuwait into Iraq, said Capt. Nathanael J. Doring, an AH-1W Super Cobra Helicopter pilot with the squadron.
As the war progressed and the squadron pushed up farther into Iraq, the Forward Arming and Refueling Points, or FARPs, made a large difference because they allowed the squadron to stay close to the Marines on the ground, Doring added.

“We had Marines (who) were going forward into a combat zone and working at the FARPs to support us, which allowed us to operate for longer times in Iraq,” Doring said.

“During the first few days of the war, we had just crossed over the Euphrates River and were moving toward An Nasiriyah when we got an order to push up ahead of the most forward troops,” said Capt. Michael J. Manifor, Air Medal recipient and Cobra pilot for the squadron. “We were tasked with an armed reconnaissance mission to look for targets of opportunity along the route of advance toward Baghdad.

“It was at this point I realized this was as far north as any rotary-winged aircraft had been during the war,” Manifor said. “We were looking for enemy action at any time. We were on our toes for air-to-air threats and any ambush points along the main route.

“We came up on a position flying white flags that was fortified with concrete and dirt bunkers, along with vehicles with machine guns mounted on the back,” Manifor said. “As we passed, the personnel inside the vehicles dismounted and began to fire at us. Our division leader declared the elements in the bunkers and the vehicles hostile, and we started running attacks on the area.

“We kept attacking the position until we only had enough fuel to get back home,” Manifor said. “As we passed back by the forward line on the ground, we passed the word of the area as hostile.”

A convoy was later ambushed at the same location. The Iraqis were identified by intelligence as Saddam Fedayeen fighters, Manifor explained. Saddam’s martyrs, “the men of sacrifice” founded by Uday (Hussein’s son), are one of the most radical and hardcore factions in Iraq.

Combat was a constant threat, but many times the people seemed like they really wanted the Americans to help, Doring said.

“When Baghdad began to fall, I was supporting the British troops as they entered Al Basrah. The ground units ordered me to fly up and down the streets to look for snipers,” Doring said. “As my team and I flew over, all the townspeople came out of their houses and we received word from our British counterpart that we were receiving rapturous applause.”

To earn the medal, members of a flight crew must earn 20 flight points. The points are earned
by completing various missions in a combat zone, Doring said. Strikes, flights and missions are converted to a point scale to keep an accurate count.

A Marine earns two points per strike, which is a mission that delivers ordnance against an enemy, lands or evacuates personnel under assault, or involves a search and rescue mission that encounters enemy fire.

Like the strikes, flights are missions that deliver live ordnance against an enemy, extract personnel and carry out rescue missions without encountering enemy fire. Flights earn a member of a flight crew one point.

Two points are awarded for every 25 flight hours in direct combat support missions that do not encounter enemy opposition.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200463013913/$file/Release0308-2004-01low.jpg

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION FUTENMA, OKINAWA, Japan — During an awards ceremony here June 21, Brig. Gen. Duane D. Thiessen pins the Air Medal on Capt. Nathanael J. Doring, an AH-1W Super Cobra pilot with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron-369, Marine Aircraft Group-36, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing. Thiessen is the 1st MAW commanding general. Photo by: Lance Cpl. Martin R. Harris

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/5FA10EDFF88EABE485256EC3001E9DE0?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines sweating it out on the ground

By John Balzar
Los Angeles Times

AL ASAD, Iraq — The temperature is "a hundred and crazy."
Here in this summer of sand, everybody is within reach of lethal weaponry but nobody has sight of a cold beer.

They sleep in rows of flimsy prefab "cans."

And listen to rock 'n' roll.

For Americans in uniform, duty in Iraq in 2004 is some of what they expected and an equal measure of what they didn't. You wouldn't be wrong to say that life on the war front is something of an argument with itself.

They suffer the scalding heat, but they also enjoy plenty of air conditioning. Some days they wolf down cold MREs (meals ready to eat) in the field; other times, they enjoy second helpings from the ice-cream freezer in the chow hall. They breathe clouds of dust and filth, yet many rest on comfortable mattresses and enjoy vast libraries of movie DVDs.

Some of them perform conventional combat roles here, patrolling and hunting insurgents. Ambushes, mortar attacks, mines and roadside bombings are grim facts of daily existence. But other troops have been occupied with the unconventional tasks of delivering playground equipment for schools, providing police, medical and leadership training, and fixing water-treatment plants — front-line conduits for millions of dollars that have poured into jobs and rebuilding programs.

Two certainties

On almost any day of the week, they will tell you two things for certain: One, it requires superhuman effort to drink the gallons of water necessary to counter the heat; two, the American press and the American people misunderstand their deployment in Iraq.

This is not an ordinary war, so there is little wonder about public confusion. It can be confusing up close, too.

They all agree on something else: The days are getting edgier as troops contemplate events that will determine whether they advance a step or their efforts are pushed back.

Typical perhaps are the Marines here in western Iraq, midway between Baghdad and the Syrian border. Here, with the infantry of the 2nd battalion, 7th Marines, Cpl. John Preston of Warsaw, Ky., stewed for a while. As homeland news reports filtered back to troops, he saw too much emphasis on Americans being attacked and killed.

He wanted to convey a broader story.

He wrote a song with his friend Lance Cpl. Nick Hoffmann of Middletown, N.Y. Hoffmann put it to pictures in a music video. Preston established his own Web site. The two are now battalion celebrities, and Preston is considering a contract offer from a California record company.

His acoustic-guitar rock 'n' roll ballad is called "Good Good America." It was inspired by the day he led a squad into an Iraqi town and was surrounded by 60 or so smiling schoolgirls. They chanted, "Good, good America."

"That grabbed me," Preston recalled. "It was the first time here that I thought we were serving a purpose, doing good."

Differing choruses

But his lyrics also capture the inescapable dichotomy of service here, the frustrating rub of it — because in the shadows and alleyways behind the schoolgirls, there are plenty of angry men with their faces wrapped in scarves who sing another chant and provide a different chorus to his song: "Die, die American."

Preston's personal tug-of-war about service in Iraq is part of a larger story of military life on the battlefield. A circular conversation that one hears frequently among youthful grunts is this: Why don't the Iraqis love us for all we're doing to help? Why won't U.S. commanders turn us loose to put down the insurgents? We want to go home. We want to fight!

At almost every base, even those far forward, Marines line up to use satellite facilities to call and e-mail home. Later, they complain about the difficulty of conveying to wives and families the nature of this assignment and the conditions under which they operate.

Yes, many soldiers and Marines are attacked by mortars, rockets and remote-controlled bombs. Five rockets landed in the vicinity of the Marine unit as this story was written. But they tell their families: Please understand. These hit-and-run insurgents here are lousy mortar-men — most of the time.

So what is daily life like on the battlefield?

It is, of course, an old-fashioned mix of high anxiety and tedium that is familiar to fighting troops everywhere. But there are wholly modern elements to counterinsurgent warfare now — such as unexpected comfort, which creates its own unexpected miseries. Marines of this unit, based at 29 Palms, Calif., arrived here believing they would live in tents, and at first they did. But they moved, and except for protracted field operations, they now live in small cities of 8- by 20-foot sheet-metal containers, "cans," complete with individual room air conditioners, electric lights, full-size beds and whatever furniture they can scrounge.

"We never thought we'd live like this," Marines say a little sheepishly.

On the other hand, electricity is notoriously unreliable. When the cans lose power, the scorching sun quickly makes them suffocating and uninhabitable, and Marines begin yearning for tents again.

Chow time is likewise better than expected — hot meals with typically two and sometimes three choices of standard institutional fare. Breaded veal cutlets and baked chicken were on the menu the other night, along with potatoes and potato chips. The next night there was only chili-mac and rice.

Water, water everywhere

Above all else, the single most-prevalent fact of life for American troops in Iraq this summer is 1.5-liter plastic bottles of water, imported from throughout the Middle East.

Wherever Marines go, vast crateloads of these bottles follow. Water is both a savior and a tyranny. Troops carry bottles in their hands, they load their Humvees with them, they pour bottlefuls into CamelBaks and walk around with the hookah-stems clenched in their teeth. Exerting themselves under the weight of flak jackets and Kevlar helmets in the midday sun, troops must consume a quart of water or more each hour — three gallons a day — to keep from dehydrating, a chore made more difficult when some of the water is the temperature of coffee.

Much is reported about the 113-going-on-125-degree heat, the blowing sand, the floury and choking dust. But Marines also enjoy 80-degree dawns that can only be described as balmy.

"I sit outside in the mornings and the birds are chirping and the breeze is nice and cool. It doesn't get any better than that," says 1st Sgt. Harrison Tanksley of Thomson, Ga. "A couple of hours later, the sun is up, burning, and that brings you back to reality."

Because of instant communications, mail call has become a matter of "things" rather than letters. Sometimes there are comic proportions to the truckloads of goodie boxes that arrive from families and from good-hearted support-our-troops Americans. The American Dental Association would be shocked at the sight of heaping boxes of candy that line the halls at the unit's headquarters. But don't worry; there are armloads of toothpaste too.

Intermittent shortages of toiletries and other desirable goods set off amusing time-delay relays from folks at home. A Marine might find himself without lip balm one day or realize he is on his last box of baby-wipes. He mentions this in an e-mail and word spreads on the jungle-drums back home. Six weeks later, the battalion is swimming in both. As often as not, boxes come anonymously, signed with messages like this:

"To all our courageous troops, we love and thank you. Supporters from California." Or from "common working-class Americans showing appreciation of you — our troops."


Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2001968546.jpg

.S. Marine Lance Corp. Timothy Winters, left, and Lance Corp. Jake Bond play cards on the hood of a Humvee at the Al Asad Airbase in Al Asad, Iraq.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001968679_marines30.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Sovereignty transition means duty still calls in Iraq <br />
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division <br />
Story Identification #: 20046303410 <br />
Story by Cpl. Paula M. Fitzgerald <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
CAMP HURRICANE POINT,...

[thedrifter]

MTACS-38 support sections shine outside the limelight
Submitted by: 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing
Story Identification #: 20046196132
Story by Staff Sgt. Houston F. White Jr.



AL ASAD, Iraq (June 19, 2004) -- Though the most celebrated capability the leathernecks of Marine Tactical Air Command Squadron 38, Marine Air Control Group 38, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, possess may be their ability to setup and oversee Marine Corps aviation operations via the Tactical Air Command Center here, equally as important are the efforts of the Marines who contribute to the unit's perpetual mission beyond the spotlight's glare.

"(The supporting sections) are kind of like the people behind the curtains who make things happen," smiled Staff Sgt. Quentin A. Brown, motor transport chief, MTACS-38. "Everyone pays attention to the TACC, but without us doing our jobs, it would be extremely difficult for them to do their job."

According to Cpl. Jesse E. Dunn, refrigeration mechanic, MTACS-38, the spotlight isn't necessarily a place the Marines of the utilities section want to be.

"It's fine with me if we're not in the spotlight since the only time that we would be there is if something bad happened and we couldn't supply power to the TACC operators," said the 21-year-old native of Franklin, Tenn.

Dunn mentioned that in addition to providing nearly all of the power for the TACC and the aviation communications equipment it employs, the utilities Marines are capable of supplying power from an alternate source in case of a main power failure.

"Usually a generator will shut down when it overloads itself by pulling more than 100 percent of its capacity," explained Lance Cpl. Gerardo D. RicardezArenas, heavy equipment mechanic, MTACS-38. "First we would fire up the backup generators to re-establish power and then we would get to work on repairing the generator that went down," added the 20-year-old from San Marcos, Calif.

Generating the information and applications used by the command center to perform its mission is the systems administration section, said Sgt. Bradley S. Switzer, tactical data systems administrator, MTACS-38.

"We provide almost all of the data and computer systems that the TACC needs to do its job," noted the 26-year-old from Gig Harbor, Wash. "That ranges from the tactical computer systems, such as the Theater Battle Management Core System, to the common data-link system that provides the overall air picture."

"Our actions indirectly save lives," added Lance Cpl. Jerome A. Smith, tactical data systems repairer, MTACS-38, and 20-year-old Milwaukee native. "We set up the air picture so the command center can find the closest (medical evacuation) helicopter to that wounded Marine on the battlefield by using our systems."

Linking the TACC with the air assets on the battlefield are the Marines of the aviation radio section, said Sgt. Justin M. Libby, aviation radio chief, MTACS-38.

"Our role is to provide communications for the Tactical Air Command Center, which is supporting the aircraft in and around the area of operation, as far as MEDEVACs, (casualty evacuations) and other ongoing missions," said the 26-year-old native of Aurora, Ill.

"Without aviation radio doing our job out here, the operators who work in the TACC wouldn't be able to talk on our radio equipment to communicate with the pilots and keep them in the air," emphasized 21-year-old Tyler, Texas, native Lance Cpl. Jamar R. Washington.

At the heart of supporting the atypical gear requirements intrinsic to the operation of the TACC is the supply section, stated Staff Sgt. Michael S. Ryan, forward supply officer, MTACS-38.

"The supply set up for MTACS-38 is a lot different from any regular unit I've ever been with," admitted the 31-year-old from Duluth, Minn. "Instead of supporting the unit with gear such as tents, camouflage netting and all the other equipment we normally use, we focus more on supporting the TACC.

"We provide them with more specialized equipment, such as repair parts for their communications gear and special shelters, where they would set up the TACC if a building wasn't available," added Ryan. "There is also a lot more money that goes into (purchasing supplies for) a unit like this because of the various equipment it requires, such as the computers and plasma-screen televisions that are used."

The responsibility of moving the equipment utilized by the TACC, as well as providing sustenance to the Marines who work there, rests on the shoulders of the motor transport section, confirmed Sgt. Stephen M. Barriga, motor vehicle operator, MTACS-38.

"Our role is to support the TACC by making sure they have tactical vehicles available whenever they need them to support the mission," remarked the 24-year-old Austin, Texas native. "On an everyday basis we also supply them with chow because the people who work in the TACC are on an around-the-clock work schedule."

Additionally, the motor transport section was responsible for training nearly half of the unit's personnel to operate the tactical vehicles they used to initially travel here on a five-day, more than 500-mile convoy from Kuwait, said Brown.

In the opinion of 22-year-old Cpl. Glenn Broxton Jr., motor vehicle operator, MTACS-38, the journey helped the individual sections develop a tighter bond both personally and professionally.

"We maintain a pretty good working relationship with all the other sections in the unit now," commented the New York City native. "On our trip here, we got to know Marines who we normally wouldn't work with and I think that in a combat environment it's good to have that kind of morale and camaraderie."

Evidently, Broxton isn't the only member of the unit who feels a strong sense of unity and teamwork amongst the offices.

"The bottom line is, every section is just a phone call away," said Lance Cpl. Cristobal G. Sanchez, supply warehouse clerk, MTACS-38. "It takes a total team effort for the unit to be successful, so we help each other out whenever we need to," continued the 25-year-old from Torrance, Calif.

Not surprisingly, the magnitude of the functions performed by the supplementary components of MTACS-38 has not gone unnoticed or unappreciated by the Marines who benefit most from them.

"Basically, the TACC really couldn't do anything without the supporting sections," acknowledged Sgt. Charles M. Storm III, tactical air defense controller, MTACS-38. "We run a 24-hour operation here and I can't say enough about how outstanding their support is.

"Overall, even with all of our obvious differences, I think we work pretty well together," offered the 27-year-old Coos Bay, Ore., native.

It is the successful translation of that synergy onto the battlefield that gives Sgt. Jiselle A. Calliste, supply warehouse chief, MTACS-38, a strong sense of fulfillment.

"I feel a great satisfaction knowing that what we do helps deliver aviation support to the Marines on the ground (in combat)," said the 26-year-old from New York City. "Whatever we do as a team, we do to the best of our ability and you feel satisfied doing a job, knowing you didn't fall short of accomplishing the mission."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/20046197305/$file/002-MTACS-38-Story-lr.jpg

Cpl. Jesse E. Dunn (left), refrigeration mechanic, Marine Tactical Air Command Squadron 38, Marine Air Control Group 38, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, and 21-year-old Franklin, Tenn., native holds the oil filter from a MEP-007B generator as 20-year-old San Marcos, Calif., native, Lance Cpl. Gerardo D. RicardezArenas, heavy equipment mechanic, MTACS-38, inspects the gasket seal for leaks in Al Asad, Iraq, June 15. The Marines of the utilities section of MTACS-38 are responsible for providing continuous power to the Tactical Air Command Center here, as well as repairing and performing preventive maintenance on the unit’s generators. Photo by: Staff Sgt. Houston F. White Jr.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/F87E8600273B877F85256EB800382053?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Defense to Challenge Cause of Iraqi's Death <br />
<br />
By Tony Perry, Times Staff Writer <br />
<br />
<br />
CAMP PENDLETON — Lawyers for a Marine Corps sergeant accused of brutality in the death of an Iraqi prisoner...

[thedrifter]

Sending Mixed Messages: Media Giving False Picture of Iraq War

By Paul Strand
Washington Sr. Correspondent

June 29, 2004

The troops are not taking all this quietly. Some are fighting back with impassioned e-mails they are writing and sending out to the world, hoping to put a dent into the media's negative impact on the public.


CBN.com – (CBN News) - If you follow the mainstream media, you would get the feeling Iraq has been a huge disaster for the U.S. military. You would get the impression our troops are stuck in a bloody quagmire, torturers of hapless prisoners, unpopular occupiers who have become sitting ducks for a huge Iraqi rebellion.
Yet Army vet Stephen Jimenez did Special Ops and airborne missions in Grenada, Panama and Bosnia. And concerning the media coverage of Iraq, Jimenez said, "I'm outraged."

He returned this spring from Iraq where he worked as a civilian side-by-side with our troops. Jimenez said, "Every day that I was there, I saw it get a little bit better, but you wouldn't see that from the media."

Check out how the media portray our troops, appearing frightened and under a "state of siege."

Check out the negative wording in news headlines: 'Promises Unkept,' 'The U.S. Occupation of Iraq,' 'Mistakes Loom Large as Handover Nears,' 'Security is Just Impossible.'

And they focus constantly on terrorist attacks and the casualties the coalition takes, as if that is a measure of the Iraqi mission's success or failure.

The loss of life is heartbreaking, but Jimenez says most of those enemy attacks fail or accomplish very little strategically.

He said, "They're a lot of small cuts, so to speak, designed to wear down the coalition for political reasons, and the media's falling prey to that tactic."

Army National Guard Capt. Mario Mancuso commanded Special Operations during the war and after. He said, "Casualties tell only part of the story. And I don't think they impact on the likelihood of military success or failure."

Mancuso and Jimenez say there is nowhere near the chaos and desperation the media make appear commonplace in Iraq. One example is in Najaf, where Mancuso once headed up troops, and where rogue cleric Moqtada al Sadr led a Shiite uprising.

"The situation was neither as desperate or as out of control," Mancuso said, "as it may have appeared from conventional TV reporting of what was going on there."

Jimenez added, "We've had attacks whereby rockets came in, no one was wounded, no one was killed, no equipment was destroyed. And you'd turn on real-time and see CNN reporting like Chicken Little, like it was the end of the world."

Mancuso said, "What it does do is for our enemies inside Iraq and in that part of the world, it plays up images, false images, of American weakness."

The troops are not taking all this quietly. Some are fighting back with impassioned e-mails they are writing and sending out to the world, hoping to put a dent into the media's negative impact on the public.

These are the the words of a Marine in Ramadi: "Here in Iraq, the enemy is trying very hard to portray our efforts as failing and fruitless. They kill innocents and desecrate their bodies in hopes that the people back home will lose the will to fight for liberty. Unfortunately, our media only serves to further their cause. In an industry that feeds on ratings and bad news, a failure in Iraq would be a gold mine. If the American people believe we are failing, even if we are not, then we will ultimately fail."

Mancuso said, "For a long time al Qaeda was able to recruit new recruits for al Qaeda and terrorist operations, because they were able to say America would cut and run when confronted with casualties. If we give them the impression that we're even thinking about it, that will be a bonus for their recruitment drive."

A Tennessee National Guardsman says in an e-mail, "Our enemies in the war on terror have no tanks, no Air Force and no Navy. Their greatest and most powerful weapon is an American media more interested in today's controversy than tomorrow's victory."

Jimenez points out that World War II dragged on for four years and saw hundreds of thousands of casualties, but the media backed the war effort.

"If they were reporting then as they're reporting today," he said, "we would have lost the war."

A medic in the Iowa Army National Guard writes, "As I head off to Baghdad for the final weeks of my stay in Iraq, I wanted to say thanks to all of you who did not believe the media. They have done a very poor job of covering everything that has happened."

Mancuso stated, "But what you don't hear the media reporting is that on any given day, coalition forces are leading hundreds of patrols, hundreds of raids across Iraq, arresting detainees. Some of those missions may have nothing to do with traditional combat operations. Some of those missions are opening up hospitals, delivering aid, opening up schools."

"If you look at their reporting over a long period of time," Jimenez said, "not only what they report and how they report it and their frequency, look at what they don't report on. And you'll begin to see from doing careful analysis of the news, that they're probably the second greatest threat we face other than Al Qaeda."

What is probably most underreported are all the heroics. Jimenez remembers when a major he worked with got blasted by a bomb going off about 30 yards from him.

"He took a piece of fragmentation one inch below his eye," said Jimenez. "And what does the Marine major do? He calls in on the cell phone, said, 'Vehicle bomb went off, I'm wounded, I'm okay.' Goes and gets treated on an outpatient basis after almost losing his eye, and a week later he was out in the same area doing the same thing."

Mancuso recalls getting ready to go out on a dangerous raid when a young Marine, just wounded and with a huge cast on his arm, refused to stay back at the base.

"He could have said, 'I'm not going out on that mission,' because he was injured," Mancuso remarked. "But his unit members were out on that mission. He knew it was an important mission. An 18-year-old kid sitting in the lead vehicle as we're pulling up, ready to fire a 50-caliber weapon. I think that's unbelievable. And to think, six months ago, he could have been playing Game Boy or some video game and now he's in the field doing right by his country."

And a chaplain in Iraq wrote this e-mail about unheralded heroes and their sacrifices: "A few weeks ago an Illinois National Guardsman, mother of three, was hit six times, saved by her body armor, but lost part of her nose. She stayed on her 50 caliber, firing on the bad guys, protecting the convoy. She said she was thinking of her kids and the guys she was with. Commitment is love acted out."

"The kids I see and eat with every day," the chaplain continued, "still want to help this country, in spite of getting shot at while doing it. That is love acted out. I went to Camp Cooke at Taji, north Baghdad. The 39th Brigade, Arkansas National Guard, is stationed there. One of the old troopers who came was a 52-year-old sergeant who had done his 20-plus years and had retired. But his son was in the 39th, and when the father found out they were coming over here, he re-enlisted. On their first week in-country, Camp Cooke was attacked by rockets and the first rocket that landed killed the father. During my time in Iraq, I won't be able to see any of the biblical sites that are here. But a few weeks ago in Taji, I got to stand on some holy ground, where a father died when he went to war just to be with his son."

http://www.cbn.com/images/IraqPortrayal_MD.jpg

http://www.cbn.com/CBNNews/News/040629a.asp


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Night patrol: Different mood and tactics


By Charlie Coon, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, June 30, 2004


FALLUJAH, Iraq — The platoon rolled out of Camp Baharia and onto the highway.

In a place where troops face situations that require them to kill or be killed, the mood changes when the sun goes down. So do the tactics.

“During the day, it’s a lot easier to see the enemy,” said Lance Cpl. Samuel Herzberg of Norman, Okla., and Company D, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. “But at night we’ve got night vision and thermal vision. We see them before they see us.

“That’s how we tear them up.”

The five Light Armored Vehicles rolled north on Route 1 into a red sunset. Children in an adjacent neighborhood played soccer while adults stood nearby in small groups. Because it’s 110 degrees or more in the afternoon, Iraqis often wait until dusk to come outside. That goes for the enemy as well.

The patrol moved ahead with lights out, even on darkened roads. Drivers used night-vision gear to make their way.

“We’re a little more stealth and it’s harder for the enemy to see us,” said Sgt. Alfonso Nava of Dallas. “On the other hand, it can be more dangerous. You can’t see IEDs [improvised explosive devices] like you can during the day.”

In a way, the Marines can see more at night because the tracers of gunfire and blast of rockets stand out in the darkness. The rocky landscape appears dark green through night-vision goggles and appears similar to the surface of the moon.

The patrol pulled off the highway several times and parked in adjacent fields. The eight-wheeled LAVs looked like black silhouettes as they sat parked. The Marines inside watched as convoys rolled by. The truckers were not fired upon.

The troops can hear more at night, too, in the still of night when every little sound stands out.

“At the same time we have to be quiet, too,” said Lance Cpl. Jorge Duarte of Graham, N.C. “Every little sound can give away your position.”

Explosions are easily heard in the distance. A tiny, unmanned spy plane buzzed overhead, sounding like a giant mosquito.

The Marines, when asked to talk about the difference between day and night patrols, pointed to the differences as they pertain to warfare.

“At night, you shoot at silhouettes and muzzle flashes,” Duarte said. “During the day you can actually see another human being. You see him drop to the ground and know if you got him or not.”

But they also acknowledged that the nighttime weather made for more tolerable working conditions.

Said one Marine: “[After a daytime patrol] you sleep for like 10 hours and could sleep for a couple more because the sun just drains you.”

As usual in central Iraq, where months can pass without a single cloud appearing, the night sky was clear and the stars were brilliant. Through night-vision goggles they are even more spectacular, a real life planetarium.

For all the fire, smoke and destruction that mark the Iraqi landscape during the day, working the night patrol can provide the Marines with a pleasant reprieve. When they park their vehicles in a field and watch the highway, and 18-wheelers pass by without incident, the Marines can relax under the stars.

And they talk about women and beer and barbecues.

“It’s a lot easier to relax at night,” Herzberg said. “Every time you look up and see the stars, it’s like, ‘Man, I’m not always going to be over here.’ It brings back a lot of memories.

“Then you hear a little twig snap and you’re back on your toes.”

http://www.estripes.com/photos/23046_630105159b.jpg

Charlie Coon / S&S
Marine 1st Lt. Knox Nunnally, left center, of Company D, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, addresses his platoon at Camp Fallujah, Iraq, before it headed out on a recent night patrol.

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=23046


Ellie

[thedrifter]

LETTERS TO THE TIMES
New Chapter in Iraq Is Far From the End of the Story

Re "Iraqis Quietly Take Power After Bremer's Early Exit," June 29: We will not negotiate with terrorists. We will not give in to terrorists. We will not back down to terrorists. And by the way, we decided to hold our planned Iraqi hand-over in secret two days early because of threats from terrorists.

Tarik Trad

Glendale

*

Now that the concept of "sovereignty" — so called — is in place, my question is this: When the next Marine dies, who is he dying for? Is he dying for the United States or the Iraqis — who hate our guts?

Jack Spiegelman

Los Angeles

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Re "Born Under a Cloud of Irony," Commentary, June 29: Robert Scheer accuses Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi of being a former terrorist while defending Saddam Hussein's legal well-being. It is good that he has the right to pose his ridiculous blather, for it helps us search harder for understandings about the difficult terrorist situation that threatens every American.

The important irony here is that no matter how hard you stare through the mirror of truth, the intolerant left looks just like the intolerant right.

Gene A. Blinde

Crestline

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Re "A State That's Not a State," by Adam Hochschild, Commentary, June 28: What's a country called that has the occupying nation controlling the military, paying the bills, installing the largest embassy staff in the world, building 14 permanent military bases and appointing the key commissioners to five-year terms? Anything Dick Cheney wants to name it.

Libby Breen

Altadena

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Re "A Worldwide Family," Opinion, June 27: Diana Abu-Jaber has it right. The solution to the disaster that the Iraq war has become is beyond the finger-pointing of politics. The solution is within each of us as we decide what we stand for individually and collectively as a nation. Through the power of our decision we can create a nation of honor, compassion, strength and finally be free from the yoke of fear that keeps us from embracing the family of humankind.

I agree with Abu-Jaber. For America this is no longer about saving Iraq. It is about saving ourselves from ourselves.

Kenneth Roeder

Pacoima

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Contrary to what Abu-Jaber claims, I seriously doubt that President Bush is attempting "to impose (America's) cultural values and beliefs" on Iraq. The people of Iraq are free to enjoy their culture. Bush just doesn't think that Hussein, who killed tens of thousands, should be part of that "culture." Nor does he believe that beheadings should be part of it. But once Iraq has achieved independence, let the cultural beheadings go on.

Burl Estes

Mission Viejo

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Re "Iraq Insurgency Showing Signs of Momentum," June 26: Insurgency? The one thing proponents and opponents of the invasion of Iraq have agreed on is that we can't allow our venture to foment civil war. Doesn't anyone get it that it already is a civil war? A fact that was known to historians before we barged in is that Iraq has been in a state of real or incipient civil war since the Brits, after World War I, jammed a handful of disparate tribal areas together so England could control the vast oil deposits.

Even under the nominally unifying and explicitly repressive tyranny of Hussein, it still boiled over; what do you call the Baathist massacre of Kurds or the crushed rebellions that followed the Gulf War? Now we have created a new chaos and rationale under which it has resumed. What has our war of desire accomplished?

Dick Guttman

Beverly Hills

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-le-handover30jun30,1,2272283.story


Ellie

[thedrifter]

A solider's story <br />
By Jane Northrop <br />
Sleeping just two hours at a time, ever watchful for enemy attack, clearing traps and avoiding ambushes, Alex Lopez survived the last five months in battle in...

[thedrifter]

Keeping Vigil for One of Their Own
Ohio villagers tie ribbons, send cards, pray a young soldier is still alive. 'He's become everyone's brother,' the sheriff says.


By P.J. Huffstutter and Stephanie Simon, Times Staff Writers


There was nothing to do but wait. And pray.

Take down a tattered yellow ribbon; tie a fresh one in its place.

And wait.

This village on the southern hem of Ohio has been on edge for nearly three months, ever since a local kid — a football player, an honors student with a smile to remember — was taken hostage in Iraq.

News finally came this week, but it only led to more uncertainty.

Iraqi insurgents said they had killed Army Pfc. Keith Matthew Maupin, 20. They produced a video, a dark, grainy clip showing a man being shot in the head and pitching forward into a grave. The man was shown only from the back. Military officials analyzed the tape for hours Tuesday but could not confirm the victim's identity.

And so Maupin's friends and neighbors wait. Weary of outsiders pressing in on their vigil, residents turn away from reporters. Some glare. Others wipe away tears. They take comfort in the rituals they can control — tying yellow ribbons, wearing pins with Maupin's photo, praying together.

At the Hungry Bear Diner, which Maupin's father used to own, the noontime crowd on Tuesday seems exhausted. One man, sipping iced tea, keeps asking, "Why?" as if trying to make sense of Maupin's uncertain fate. A friend leans forward to pat him on the shoulder.

The man asks again, quietly: "Why?"

At the high school, students have crammed the chain-link fence with carnations and roses, wilting now in the muggy heat. They've put up posters of Maupin — his Army photo, jaw jutting — and arranged red, white and blue cups to spell out messages of support.

They've written notes to the young soldier. "Matt, we're fighting the same fight. Me and my friend just enlisted," one reads. "I'm 19 and my friend is 18 and we are going into the Navy next month…. We're scared."

Inside the high school, next to an old poster announcing the senior prom, a map of Iraq is tacked to the wall. There's a photo of Maupin. And a list of other recent graduates now serving in the armed forces:

Eric Holmes, Navy

Justin Meyer, Military Police

Sherri Brownstead, Air Force

Dave Cooper, Army Special Forces

Sgt. Charles Kiser is not on the list, but many here are thinking of him. Kiser, 37, grew up in the area and gained local fame as a championship sprinter. The father of two was killed in Iraq last week when a car bomb exploded near his convoy.

A memorial for Kiser is scheduled for Monday evening in nearby Batavia. Volunteers have pinned together thousands of red, white and blue ribbons to hand to mourners.

Sheriff A.J. "Tim" Rodenberg thinks of Kiser, of Maupin, of the other young men and women who have left Clermont County, on the eastern fringe of Cincinnati, for the deserts of Iraq. He thinks of his own son, Nick, a Marine corporal on his second tour of duty in Baghdad.

"With our son there, with all the other kids there, I don't want to say too much about this war … but I wonder if it's ever going to end, and when it does, will the mission be accomplished?" says Rodenberg, a Marine Corps veteran.

His son is due to come home in July. Rodenberg feels he has aged 10 years since Nick first flew into combat.

He starts to describe the anguish, then stops. Next to the pain Maupin's family must endure, his own seems inconsequential. In some way, though, he feels part of Maupin's family. Most everyone here seems to. Yellow ribbon flies from every possible spot: mailboxes, power lines, benches, even license plates and windshield wipers. The community has used more than 8,000 yards of it in the last three months.

"Matt is one of our own," the sheriff says. "He's become everyone's son. He's become everyone's brother."

In adopting the young Army Reservist as their own, the people of Clermont County have guarded his privacy.

A few days after his convoy was ambushed in early April, a video surfaced: Maupin, in a floppy camouflage hat, was shown surrounded by masked gunmen. His face was pale and his eyes darted nervously about. Ever since, the military has asked Maupin's friends and neighbors to not talk about him publicly, for fear his captors might use the information against him.

Friends have said he loved to play chess, to work out, to fish with his dad, to go rock climbing, to laugh. His father served in the military. His younger brother is a Marine. Maupin joined the reserves to earn money for college; he hoped to study aerospace engineering.

"A fun kid," said Mitch Cohen, his boss at Sam's Club. But that was as much as anyone would say.

Maupin's family remained secluded Tuesday in their home here in Union Township, on a winding rural road lined with brick ranch houses and old oak trees. Neighbors turned back outsiders who ventured close; one woman opened her door only to spit at a reporter.

"Give them some peace!" another woman shrieked as she drove past television crews parked outside the Maupin home. "We don't want you here!"

"We have so many of our young people in the military right now. We feel it if someone's gone," said Richard Crawford, a staff writer with the weekly Clermont Sun.

Some residents were able to channel that anxiety into action. Mia Supe, a local resident who runs a group called 4 the Troops, met with doctors at a Cincinnati hospital to urge them to share advice with medics at a U.S. combat hospital in Baghdad. She worked on plans for an upcoming concert, where she hoped to collect donations — bug spray, kiddie pools, lemonade mix, squirt bottles — to mail to troops slogging through the Iraqi summer.

In downtown Batavia, volunteers at the Clermont County Convention and Visitors Bureau packed up 30,000 postcards they had printed for the troops. The cards show a montage of yellow ribbons around town. On the back of each, children had written messages.

"Dear soldiers," wrote Nicholas, age 6. "I'm sorry about Matt. I bet he was very nice. I hope you win the war."

June Creager, executive director of the visitors bureau, won't accept that use of the past tense.

"We have dug our feet into the ground," Creager said, "and we're trying to still believe."

http://www.latimes.com/la-na-maupin30jun30,1,6780902.story


Ellie

[thedrifter]

THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ
U.S. Ambassador Takes His Post
Full diplomatic ties are restored. Attacks kill three Marines and six Iraqis; three Turkish captives are released.

By Carol J. Williams, Times Staff Writer


BAGHDAD — U.S. Ambassador John D. Negroponte presented his credentials to Iraq's new interim government Tuesday and vowed to make the joint fight against insurgents his top priority on a day when militants killed three U.S. Marines and at least six Iraqis.

On the first full day since the U.S.-led administration handed the reins of government to the Iraqis, those fighting American and other foreign forces displayed both defiance and mercy.

One militant group, believed to be aligned with suspected Al Qaeda operative Abu Musab Zarqawi, released three Turkish captives they had been threatening to behead, saying the gesture was "for the sake of their Muslim brothers." Two other Turks were expected to be released as well after their employer promised to end all ties with U.S.-led forces in Iraq.

There was no word, however, of an abducted Lebanese-born U.S. Marine and a Pakistani who was a driver for the now-disbanded administration.

Zarqawi claimed responsibility for decapitating American communications specialist Nicholas Berg last month and a South Korean interpreter last week, sowing revulsion among many Iraqis. The decision to release the three Turks may have reflected a reluctance to further alienate Iraqis by killing fellow Muslims from a country that was party to neither the invasion nor the occupation.

Arabic-language TV channel Al Jazeera reported Monday that another extremist group claimed to have executed a U.S. soldier, Pfc. Keith Matthew Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio. The broadcast showed a grainy image of a blindfolded man kneeling beside a shallow pit before he was shot. Military officials were analyzing the videotape but could not confirm that the figure shown was Maupin, who had been missing since April 9, when his convoy was ambushed.

Negroponte and the ambassadors of Australia and Denmark formally took their posts in a brief ceremony in a hall of the U.S.-controlled, heavily fortified Green Zone, presenting their portfolios to interim Iraqi President Ghazi Ajil Yawer and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.

"Yesterday's restoration of full sovereignty to Iraq cleared the way for establishment of normal diplomatic relations between two free, independent nations," said Negroponte, who had arrived in Baghdad less than 24 hours earlier.

The ceremony restored full diplomatic ties between Washington and Baghdad for the first time since 1990, when then-President Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and set the stage for the Persian Gulf War.

Passing along greetings from President Bush, Negroponte said the U.S. administration had three objectives in its relationship with the new Iraq: helping defeat "terrorists and criminal elements who oppose a free Iraq"; aiding reconstruction and economic development; and supporting Iraq's democratization and the rule of law.

The return of diplomatic life to Iraq promised to help heal the social and economic wounds of sanctions, exclusion, invasion and conquest that marked the last dozen years of Hussein's Baath Party dictatorship. If the grave security situation eases with Iraqi self-rule, envoys from Europe, the Americas and Asia are expected to return in a steady pace.

Negroponte, a career foreign service officer who left the post of ambassador to the United Nations to take the Iraq job, toured a building in the Green Zone that will be outfitted to serve as the embassy. He also moved into the former U.S. residence on the banks of the Tigris River.

Attacks persisted Tuesday, but they fell short of militants' vows to wreak havoc upon the new leadership. A roadside bomb detonated in a southeast Baghdad neighborhood as a U.S. convoy passed, killing three Marines, the U.S. military said. Their identities were not immediately released. Witness Farhan Toma said the explosion blew the lead Humvee off the roadway.

A similar improvised bomb exploded in the northern city of Kirkuk as a Kurdish police chief was arriving to work. It killed a bodyguard and wounded the official, who was believed to have been the target. Also in that region, two Kurdish guards died in an ambush on the road between Mosul and Irbil.

Insurgent assaults on two police stations — one in Baghdad and one in Mahmoudiya, 20 miles to the south — killed a policeman and two attackers.

In a precaution against terrorists — who, according to intelligence reports, were planning a wave of attacks to coincide with today's original hand-over date — Iraqi and multinational forces deployed unusually heavy security across the capital.

U.S. tanks and armored vehicles patrolled major thoroughfares, and Iraqi forces stopped drivers at checkpoints to search cars for weapons.

Streets near government facilities or the homes of officials were closed or shielded by extra cordons of armed guards. Aware of the danger, Iraqis seemed tolerant — even welcoming — of the extraordinary measures.

"If they want me to, I myself would get out and begin searching cars," Khalaf Jabbar, a 55-year-old retired army officer, said as police searched his Toyota near Baghdad University.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Times staff writer John Daniszewski and special correspondent Ashraf Khalil contributed to this report.

http://www.latimes.com/la-fg-iraq30jun30,1,1159621.story


Ellie