thedrifter
07-11-04, 07:17 AM
Marines train for real thing
By Trace Christenson, James Prichard
The Enquirer; Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD -- The weapons are fake, the attack is simulated and the wounded aren't.
That all changes in a few weeks for U.S. Marines preparing to leave the Battle Creek area for Iraq.
Between 140 and 175 Marines from two reserve units -- Engineer Support Company and Bridge Company A -- were called to active duty June 4. They expect to leave for Camp Pendleton in California within a month for more specific training and later will be sent to Iraq for several months of duty, according to Major Michael Murray, commander of the Marine Reserve Center.
He said unit members will rotate into Iraq to relieve other Marines.
"They will be in Iraq sometime in August or September," Murray said.
For more than half of those going, the deployment will be the second in just over a year. About 250 Marines were sent to Iraq in January 2003 for the beginning of the war. They performed a variety of tasks, including building roads and bridges for troops and trucking millions of gallons of water and fuel.
"We will be doing general support from toilets to chow," said Staff Sgt. Steve Earl, spokesman for the Marine Reserves.
They rotate in this time to help with the rebuilding of the country but knowing that the fighting is not over.
"The best thing is to keep a positive attitude," said Lance Cpl. Jason Taylor, 24, of Marshall. "Just look ahead and keep going."
Taylor, a 1998 graduate of Olivet High School, a husband and father of two, works at Rosler Metal Finishing in Fort Custer Industrial Park.
A Marine for six years, Taylor is one of the people who provide valuable experience as the training continues at the reserve center and Fort Custer Training Center.
"You want that experience," Earle said. "That is more valuable than anything out there. You want to give them the right answers."
"I don't think the American public are seeing enough of the good stuff we are doing," said Taylor. "All they see is the bad stuff. They don't see us building their country, building schools and roads."
Part of the training, however, is also how to stay alive.
On Thursday, members of the Engineer Support Company were loaded into parked trucks, simulating a convoy, and taught how to spread out from the vehicles if attacked in a town. Marines, using fingers to simulate weapons, ducked under large wheels of their trucks, lay prone on the ground and then went to retrieved wounded or dead Marines.
While there is no danger at Fort Custer, the Marines know troops are being wounded and killed in Iraq, Earle said.
"We put it out there that something is going to happen," he said. "And if you are smart, you can avoid it."
Earle said the Marines are practicing over and over, so each one knows the job of the others.
"If one Marine goes down, you have someone who knows what to do," Earl said.
Each time the convoy came under attack, the Marines raced the truck engines and some created extra noise.
"They want to simulate the chaos that happens when they are under attack," Earle said. "The Marines have to learn to yell at each other, to project their voices. Some of them will scream themselves hoarse."
Taylor, a motor transport mechanic, is returning for his second tour in Iraq and said he is cautious about going back.
"We are just gearing up to go in and do what we have to do," he said. "It's what we do."
He said he will miss his wife and children.
"It's hard but you can't concentrate on it," he said. "We have to focus on what we are doing. We have to get over there and get it done."
Taylor said he is going over knowing that no matter what the American public thinks about the politics of the war, they support the troops.
"They may be tired of this war, but they support the people who are there," he said. "And I just want to say thanks to the people for their support."
Trace Christenson can be reached at 966-0685 or tchrist@battlecr.gannett.com
Reserves get ready for duty in Middle East
Ex-soldiers may be told to serve
GRAND RAPIDS -- As many as 195 former soldiers throughout Michigan soon may be involuntarily recalled to active duty to strengthen U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, an Army spokeswoman said Thursday.
The soldiers receiving the notifications of mobilization would be among 5,600 members nationwide of the Individual Ready Reserve that the Army said would be called up in phases and deployed as early as this fall.
They would have at least 30 days to report for duty.
The notifications were to have started going out Tuesday but were delayed until at least early next week, said Andrea Wales, a spokeswoman for the Army Human Resources Command in St. Louis.
The delay stemmed from a request by the Army's Training and Doctrine Command for additional time to make more room in refresher classes for training in certain specialties, Wales said.
Most of the former soldiers who will be recalled recently left the Army as truck drivers, mechanics, supply clerks, administrative clerks or combat engineers. All will be kept on active duty for at least 18 months but not longer than two years.
The call-up will be the first sizable use of the Individual Ready Reserve since more than 20,000 members were mobilized during the 1991 Gulf War. Before that, the only other such call-up was in 1968, during the Vietnam War.
The Individual Ready Reserve is made up of about 111,000 soldiers nationwide. Most previously served in the Army or in the Army Reserve and have some time remaining in their service-obligation contracts, although some volunteer to be included after fulfilling the service-obligation requirement, Wales said.
"Most of these people who are being called up are the ones who have the military-service obligation remaining," she said.
Military service is usually an eight-year commitment. It usually begins with three years of active duty, followed by five years in the National Guard, the Reserve or, in some cases, the Individual Ready Reserve.
Unlike members of the regular Reserve, soldiers in the Individual Ready Reserve do not perform regularly scheduled training and are not assigned to specific units.
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/news/stories/20040709/localnews/807416-369310.jpg
TRACE CHRISTENSON/THE ENQUIRER
Marine Michael Crampton of Kalamazoo on Thursday learns how to protect a convoy as his company prepares for duty in Iraq.
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/news/stories/20040709/localnews/807416.html
Ellie
By Trace Christenson, James Prichard
The Enquirer; Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD -- The weapons are fake, the attack is simulated and the wounded aren't.
That all changes in a few weeks for U.S. Marines preparing to leave the Battle Creek area for Iraq.
Between 140 and 175 Marines from two reserve units -- Engineer Support Company and Bridge Company A -- were called to active duty June 4. They expect to leave for Camp Pendleton in California within a month for more specific training and later will be sent to Iraq for several months of duty, according to Major Michael Murray, commander of the Marine Reserve Center.
He said unit members will rotate into Iraq to relieve other Marines.
"They will be in Iraq sometime in August or September," Murray said.
For more than half of those going, the deployment will be the second in just over a year. About 250 Marines were sent to Iraq in January 2003 for the beginning of the war. They performed a variety of tasks, including building roads and bridges for troops and trucking millions of gallons of water and fuel.
"We will be doing general support from toilets to chow," said Staff Sgt. Steve Earl, spokesman for the Marine Reserves.
They rotate in this time to help with the rebuilding of the country but knowing that the fighting is not over.
"The best thing is to keep a positive attitude," said Lance Cpl. Jason Taylor, 24, of Marshall. "Just look ahead and keep going."
Taylor, a 1998 graduate of Olivet High School, a husband and father of two, works at Rosler Metal Finishing in Fort Custer Industrial Park.
A Marine for six years, Taylor is one of the people who provide valuable experience as the training continues at the reserve center and Fort Custer Training Center.
"You want that experience," Earle said. "That is more valuable than anything out there. You want to give them the right answers."
"I don't think the American public are seeing enough of the good stuff we are doing," said Taylor. "All they see is the bad stuff. They don't see us building their country, building schools and roads."
Part of the training, however, is also how to stay alive.
On Thursday, members of the Engineer Support Company were loaded into parked trucks, simulating a convoy, and taught how to spread out from the vehicles if attacked in a town. Marines, using fingers to simulate weapons, ducked under large wheels of their trucks, lay prone on the ground and then went to retrieved wounded or dead Marines.
While there is no danger at Fort Custer, the Marines know troops are being wounded and killed in Iraq, Earle said.
"We put it out there that something is going to happen," he said. "And if you are smart, you can avoid it."
Earle said the Marines are practicing over and over, so each one knows the job of the others.
"If one Marine goes down, you have someone who knows what to do," Earl said.
Each time the convoy came under attack, the Marines raced the truck engines and some created extra noise.
"They want to simulate the chaos that happens when they are under attack," Earle said. "The Marines have to learn to yell at each other, to project their voices. Some of them will scream themselves hoarse."
Taylor, a motor transport mechanic, is returning for his second tour in Iraq and said he is cautious about going back.
"We are just gearing up to go in and do what we have to do," he said. "It's what we do."
He said he will miss his wife and children.
"It's hard but you can't concentrate on it," he said. "We have to focus on what we are doing. We have to get over there and get it done."
Taylor said he is going over knowing that no matter what the American public thinks about the politics of the war, they support the troops.
"They may be tired of this war, but they support the people who are there," he said. "And I just want to say thanks to the people for their support."
Trace Christenson can be reached at 966-0685 or tchrist@battlecr.gannett.com
Reserves get ready for duty in Middle East
Ex-soldiers may be told to serve
GRAND RAPIDS -- As many as 195 former soldiers throughout Michigan soon may be involuntarily recalled to active duty to strengthen U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, an Army spokeswoman said Thursday.
The soldiers receiving the notifications of mobilization would be among 5,600 members nationwide of the Individual Ready Reserve that the Army said would be called up in phases and deployed as early as this fall.
They would have at least 30 days to report for duty.
The notifications were to have started going out Tuesday but were delayed until at least early next week, said Andrea Wales, a spokeswoman for the Army Human Resources Command in St. Louis.
The delay stemmed from a request by the Army's Training and Doctrine Command for additional time to make more room in refresher classes for training in certain specialties, Wales said.
Most of the former soldiers who will be recalled recently left the Army as truck drivers, mechanics, supply clerks, administrative clerks or combat engineers. All will be kept on active duty for at least 18 months but not longer than two years.
The call-up will be the first sizable use of the Individual Ready Reserve since more than 20,000 members were mobilized during the 1991 Gulf War. Before that, the only other such call-up was in 1968, during the Vietnam War.
The Individual Ready Reserve is made up of about 111,000 soldiers nationwide. Most previously served in the Army or in the Army Reserve and have some time remaining in their service-obligation contracts, although some volunteer to be included after fulfilling the service-obligation requirement, Wales said.
"Most of these people who are being called up are the ones who have the military-service obligation remaining," she said.
Military service is usually an eight-year commitment. It usually begins with three years of active duty, followed by five years in the National Guard, the Reserve or, in some cases, the Individual Ready Reserve.
Unlike members of the regular Reserve, soldiers in the Individual Ready Reserve do not perform regularly scheduled training and are not assigned to specific units.
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/news/stories/20040709/localnews/807416-369310.jpg
TRACE CHRISTENSON/THE ENQUIRER
Marine Michael Crampton of Kalamazoo on Thursday learns how to protect a convoy as his company prepares for duty in Iraq.
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/news/stories/20040709/localnews/807416.html
Ellie