Marine sniper team foils roadside bomb attack

[thedrifter]

Marine sniper team foils roadside bomb attack
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 200482664525
Story by Cpl. Shawn C. Rhodes



MAHMUDIYAH, Iraq (Aug. 23, 2004) -- On one of the deadliest roads here in Iraq, Camp Lejeune snipers made sure one group of insurgents wouldn't be planting any more bombs.

Improvised explosive devices - roadside bombs - are placed every night along Alternate Supply Route Jackson to hit coalition forces when they pass through, earning it the name 'IED Alley.' The sharpshooters of 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment crept into position Aug. 23 to stop to the attacks.

"When I saw two Iraqis get out of the van and begin to feed a spool of wire into an abandoned van, I thought 'this is too good to be true,'" said Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeff L. Pursley, a corpsman assigned to the battalion's sniper teams. "We made them all sorry they ever thought of trying to set an IED on the road."

Improvised explosive devices are the number one threat on the road for military convoys. Easy to create and employ, they are the insurgent's choice for harming troops.

"Jackson was the alternate supply route until Tampa was closed. Now all convoys travel through it to get where they're going," said Sgt. Devon E. Ambrose, 26, the intelligence chief for the battalion, from Belltsville, Md. "Insurgents know we use the road on an everyday basis and that an IED will affect our convoys in a negative way."

The snipers were out to change that.

The night began as usual for the two sniper teams involved. They hid along the road and waited until they spotted something suspicious.

"We saw a tractor driving down the road with its headlights off ... and then a van that flashed its lights at the tractor," said Pursley, 27, from Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. "That alerted us and when the van pulled over next to the vehicle parked on the side of the road we knew something was up."

The two sniper teams confirmed what they were seeing with each other over the radio and then acted. The teams quickly and silently moved in for the kill.

"We were about 75 yards away from their position. I told each man in my team to pick a target," said Sgt. Joshua M. Clark, a 27-year-old sniper team leader with the battalion. "It all happened pretty quickly after that."

The Marines relied on their M-16s instead of the M-60 sniper rifles for the close-quarters combat. The explosions began with a grenade and rifle fire followed as they swept into the insurgents' position.

"We fired a few grenades at them and the vehicle they were prepping. Then we set up a cordon so we could catch any stragglers," Pursley said. "We found one guy hiding in the bushes next to the scene. We detained him and brought him back to the base for questioning."

No bodies were found around the site, although the remains of a bloody firefight were still present when the fire stopped.

"We know we got hits out there, though," said Clark, of Murphy, N.C. "They didn't have time to fire back. It was pretty much one-sided."

The battle for the stretch of highway is an ongoing one for the sniper teams and rifle companies here.

"After what happened, they know if they go out there to cause trouble they'll be taking a chance with their lives," Pursley said.

Clark echoed Pursley's statement with one of his own.

"Word will get out about what happened," Clark said. "We'll be out there again tonight waiting for the next ones to try something like that."

"If (the insurgents) can only remember one thing after what happened, it'll be this: we're always watching," Pursley added.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200482664824/$file/JACKSON1lr.jpg

Two scout sniper teams from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment recently caught insurgents red-handed as they tried to place a roadside bomb inside this abandoned vehicle along a major highway in Mahmudiyah, Aug. 23. The wires leading out of the vehicle were part of the improvised explosive device.
(USMC Photo by Cpl. Joel E. Vaccaro) Photo by: Cpl. Joel E. Vaccaro

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/20048266550/$file/JACKSON3lr.jpg


Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeff L. Pursley (foreground), a Corpsman with 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment's sniper platoon, and Cpl. Olen P. Thyssen, a 27 year-old scout sniper, took part in an operation that foiled a team of insurgents attempting to set an improvised explosive device on a road near Mahmudiyah, Aug. 23.
(USMC Photo by Cpl. Shawn C. Rhodes) Photo by: Cpl. Shawn C. Rhodes

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/E46D5153545C128785256EFC003B1700?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Mortar Attack Kills 27 at Kufa Mosque

By ABDUL HUSSEIN AL-OBEIDI

KUFA, Iraq - A mortar barrage slammed into a mosque filled Iraqis preparing to march on the embattled city of Najaf, killing 27 people and wounding 63 here Thursday hours before the nation's top Shiite cleric was expected to arrive in area with a peace initiative.

The attack on the main mosque in Kufa _ just a few miles from Najaf _ dampened renewed hopes for a rapid resolution to the three-week crisis in Najaf. The U.S. military and the insurgents both blamed the other for the attack.

Hours after the attack, unidentified gunmen opened fire on thousands of Shiite Muslim marchers heading to Najaf, killing at least one, witnesses said.

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Thousands of people were crowded around Kufa mosque at the time of the mortar attack and dead bodies lay around the mosque compound, which is a stronghold of followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, witnesses said.

"We were gathering outside and inside the mosque preparing to head to Najaf when two mortar shells landed, one inside the mosque and the other on the main gate," said Hani Hashem, bringing an injured friend to the hospital. "This is a criminal act. We just wanted to launch a peaceful demonstration."

Hussam al-Husseini, an al-Sadr aide, said one mortar shell hit the mosque compound itself and two others hit near the mosque gates. Others gave conflicting accounts of the number of explosions.

Mohammed AbdelKhadum, an official at al-Furat al-Awsat hospital in Kufa, said 27 people were killed and 63 injured. The morgue overflowed with bodies, and more than a dozen corpses had to be stored in the hospital's garden.

Outside the hospital's gate, crowds of angry people gathered, shouting "God is great!"

Al-Sadr has regularly delivered a sermon during Friday prayers at the Kufa mosque.

Iraq's top Shiite leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini Al-Sistani, returned home to Iraq on Wednesday from a nearly three-week trip to London, and was headed to Najaf, where he lives, on Thursday in a bid to end the fighting.

Upon his arrival Wednesday, al-Sistani's aides had called on supporters across the country to march on Najaf to support his peace bid.

Al-Sadr's aide, al-Husseini, said another mosque in Kufa had also been hit by mortar rounds. It was unclear whether there were casualties there.

He blamed the bombing on American forces backing Iraqi troops in the city, but a U.S. military spokesman denied that.

"We held the interim government responsible for this bombing. We hold it responsible for this bloodshed," al-Husseini said.

Marine Capt. Carrie Batson said in an e-mail to The Associated Press on Thursday that U.S. forces in the area "continue not to target holy sites, including the Kufa mosque."

"We did not have any weapons systems, to include mortars, in range of the Kufa Mosque last night, nor have we conducted any military operations in the city for the last 48 hours," Batson said.

Batson said that militants have been responsible for "wild, undisciplined fire" in the past. Earlier in the week, U.S. forces released photos purportedly showing a militant mortar system outside the Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf and accused the militants of launching a rocket from inside the shrine compound that fell short and exploded just outside the holy site.

In Najaf, fierce clashes continued Thursday with U.S. warplanes bombing suspected positions of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia and explosions booming across the city.

Al-Sistani is calling for Najaf and Kufa to be declared weapons-free cities, for all foreign forces to withdraw from Najaf and leave security to the police and for the Iraqi government to compensate those harmed by the fighting here, according to al-Sistani aide Hamed al-Khafaf.

The gray-bearded cleric wields enormous influence among Shiite Iraqis, and his arrival in Iraq had bolstered hopes the crisis can be resolved peacefully.

On Wednesday, three mortar rounds, apparently targeting a police checkpoint, hit a civilian area in Kufa, killing two civilians, including an 8-year-old boy, and wounding four others, witnesses and hospital officials said.

Meanwhile, a militant group said Wednesday it had kidnapped the brother-in-law of Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan and demanded he end all military operations here, according to a video obtained by Al-Jazeera television.

The militants, calling themselves the "Divine Wrath Brigades," claimed to have kidnapped Maj. Gen. Salah Hassan Lami, Shaalan's brother-in-law and the director of military affairs at the Defense Ministry, according to Al-Jazeera. A second man was also kidnapped, though his identity was unclear. It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the videotape.

Elsewhere, unidentified gunmen shooting from an Iraqi Guard base killed two people and wounded five others who were taking part in what appeared to be a peaceful demonstration supporting al-Sadr on Wednesday, according to footage from Associated Press Television News and hospital officials.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/08/26/ap/headlines/d84mq3g80.txt


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Iraqi prisoner hit, kicked, witness testifies <br />
<br />
By: DARRIN MORTENSON - Staff Writer <br />
<br />
CAMP PENDLETON ---- Several Marines kicked or hit an Iraqi prisoner in the two days before he was found dead...

[thedrifter]

Assistant Commandant visits Marines at Al Asad
Submitted by: 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing
Story Identification #: 200482632333
Story by Cpl. Paul Leicht



AL ASAD, Iraq (Aug. 24, 2004) -- In the wake of a dusty CH-46 landing at one of Iraq’s largest coalition bases Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. William L. Nyland visited 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Marines here Aug. 24.

During Nyland’s visit he met with pilots from Marine Attack Squadron 542 and Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (All Weather) 242, who provided the Marine Corps’ top aviator with an assessment of their Marines and flight operations.

During the initial briefing, Lt. Col. Russell A. Sanborn, commanding officer, VMA 542, and Lt. Col. Kevin M. Iiams, VMFA(AW)-242 commanding officer, updated Nyland on the performance of their respective squadrons, while lauding the operational successes of their newly added (fighter jet) “litening pods.”

“So far the pods have been outstanding,” said Iiams, whose squadron is the first F/A-18 Hornet squadron to employ the self-contained, multi-sensor laser designating and navigation system. “They have increased the effectiveness of our target detection and attack capabilities greatly.”

After expressing appreciation for the detailed report, Nyland asked the Marines if there was any way he could assist them in performing their jobs. He also mentioned the exceptional working relationship between reserve and active duty Marines and said it all comes back to the individual Marine who makes a difference in bringing the Marine team together.

Nyland continued his tour here along side other top leadership, including Maj. Gen. Keith J. Stalder, commanding general, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, and Lt. Gen. Richard L. Kelly, deputy commandant for installations and logistics, conversing with Marines during each stop aboard the airbase.

While touring Al Asad’s perimeter defenses, Nyland also joined the Marines manning a watchtower overlooking the base and the open desert beyond, to give them words of encouragement.

Rounding out his visit here, Nyland shook hands and spoke with Marines who had just returned from a security patrol and reassured them of the importance of their mission in Iraq. The assistant commandant told the Marines they were doing a great job of, “keeping their heads in the game and taking care of each other.”

According to one Marine, Nyland’s visit elevated spirits and reinforced the critical nature of the coalition’s duty in Iraq.

“For us, a visit by someone like (the assistant commandant) is truly a morale booster,” said Lance Cpl. Stanford Anderson, stinger missile gunner, 3rd Low-Altitude Air Defense Battalion, Marine Wing Support Group 37, 3rd MAW, and native of Oakland, Calif. “We are at a high state of readiness and (his) visit really makes you realize the importance of our mission.”

At the conclusion of his visit, Nyland mentioned he was extremely impressed by the Marines at Al Asad and that the American people can be proud of the work they are doing here.

“Out here on the front line serving their country, these Marines truly represent what it means to be a Marine,” he emphasized.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/20048263479/$file/040824-M-2789C-001LR.jpg

Looking out over the Iraqi desert, Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. William L. Nyland (left) met with Marines performing security duty at Al Asad, Iraq during his visit with 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Marines Aug. 24. Photo by: Cpl. Joel A. Chaverri

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/90514CBFE585767185256EFC00289BC3?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

BLT chow hall keeps morale up in Iskandariyah
Submitted by: 24th MEU
Story Identification #: 200482651419
Story by Lance Cpl. Caleb J. Smith



FORWARD OPERATING BASE ISKANDARIYAH, Iraq (Aug. 25, 2004) -- Between guard shifts, patrols, and the many other things Marines have to endure while forward deployed, luxuries for the Marines of Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion., 2nd Marines are very few and far between.

But there is one place here where Marines can sit down and relax, even if it's only for a few minutes. That place is the chow hall, dubbed the 1/2 Paradise Café and Fine Dining.

"(The chow hall) gives them something to look forward to every day, a change of pace," said Gunnery Sgt. John R. Straub, 38, a Sunburry, Pa., native, and mess chief, Battalion Landing Team 1/2. "It's the one thing that changes every day."

For those looking to relax, the chow hall offers satellite television, air conditioning, a salad bar, desserts, and various cold drinks, including sport drink, soda, and juice.

Along with those items, Marines are served three hot meals a day, something rare for the forward deployed infantrymen.

"This has never really been done before; there used to be just a hot meal for breakfast, then the Marines would eat a (Meal Ready to Eat) for lunch, then a not-so-good dinner," said Staff Sgt. Sydney L. Shaw, 31, a Charleston S.C., native, and assistant mess chief. "Now we serve three hot meals a day for all Marines, sailors, and army personnel (on FOB Iskandariyah.)"

But serving three meals a day is no small task.

"There was a time when we would work from (7 a.m.) until sometimes (11 p.m.)," said Shaw. He went on to explain that Marines now work different shifts, a breakfast shift from 3 a.m. to 10 a.m. and a lunch shift from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The long hours aren't the only challenge. These Marines cook about 3,000 meals a day, and sometimes more.

"We definitely keep busy," said Lance Cpl. Gregory W. Conaway, 21, a Catonsville, M.D., native and food service specialist with BLT 1/2.

Although the Marines who work in the chow hall understand theirs is a thankless task, they know that their job entails a lot more than just cooking and serving food. In a continuous cycle of effort and exhaustion, they provide a service that tired, hungry Marines in Iskandariyah look forward to.

"I tell my guys they may not get a thank-you, but what they do is much appreciated," said Straub.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200482652229/$file/040824-M-5121S-001lores.jpg

Cpl. Johnny A. Jones of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit serves dinner in the chow hall at Forward Operating Base Iskandariyah, Iraq, Aug. 24.
Jones, is a Brunswick, Ga., native, and cook with Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines.
The 24th MEU is currently conducting security and stability operations in the Northern Babil province of Iraq.
(Official USMC Photo by Lance Cpl. Caleb J. Smith. This photo is cleared for release.)
Photo by: Lance Cpl. Caleb J. Smith

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/9265AEA7BA9B12DE85256EFC0032C00D?opendocument

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Issue Date: August 30, 2004

Bush’s victory declaration was ‘my fault,’ Franks says

By Vince Crawley
Times staff writer


Retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who commanded the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, says it was his fault President Bush made the now-controversial declaration of victory in Iraq on May 1, 2003.
Roughly 900 U.S. troops and thousands of Iraqis have died since Bush’s declaration, now widely viewed as premature, even if technically correct.

Franks said he requested that the president declare “major combat operations” at an end because he believed such a declaration would encourage foreign governments to commit more troops to the Iraq effort once Saddam Hussein had been toppled.

“That’s my fault — if George W. Bush said what he said on the 1st of May of last year, it’s because I asked him to,” Franks said at a National Press Club luncheon Aug. 9 in Washington, D.C.

Franks, former chief of U.S. Central Command, retired shortly after the Iraq invasion and is now promoting his book, “American Soldier,” released in early August. Speaking and fielding questions for an hour, he discussed troop-level controversies in Iraq and also described how, on the day before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he attended a secret meeting with Pakistani officials to discuss overthrowing the Taliban in order to attack the al-Qaida terrorist network.

Now-retired Gen. Eric Shinseki, then the Army chief of staff, raised eyebrows in Washington when he told Congress in February 2003 that “something on the order of several hundred thousand soldiers” would be needed to maintain order in Iraq if the Baghdad regime were overthrown.

Two days later, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz dismissed Shinseki’s estimate as “wildly off the mark.”

Franks said he also took issue with Shinseki’s estimate as soon as he heard it. The numbers weren’t necessarily off the mark, he said, but he felt they didn’t all have to be American troops.

“I didn’t agree” with Shinseki’s estimate, Franks said. “That does not say that I did not believe it might take 200,000 or 250,000 people to stabilize Iraq. I just didn’t think that they all had to come from the United States of America. And I still don’t.”

Franks testified several times before Congress that during the 2001-2002 invasion of Afghanistan, he had been particularly mindful of keeping U.S. troop levels low so as not to repeat the errors of the Soviets in the 1980s, when large numbers of occupiers incited the wrath of most of the population. To some extent, that mind-set carried over to his campaign against Baghdad.

He said he divided the Baghdad campaign into two elements — the forcible overthrow of Saddam’s government, followed by a post-conflict period where the scale of the task was harder to predict.

“The number of troops it takes to win a war, remove a regime, that number of troops was precisely correct,” he said of his Baghdad invasion force that numbered far less than 200,000. “I’ll defend the math with anyone.”

But “the second issue is how many troops does it take on the ground, in a place where there has been three decades [of dictatorship]? … What does it take to get all that sorted out? I don’t know. At the point in time that we went into Iraq, no one knew.”

Franks said he faced a range of possibilities after Saddam fell. At one extreme, Iraqis could have peacefully and swiftly set up a new, effective government with “widespread happiness” and a quick American exit, he said. At the other extreme “is what we see today and, conceivably, much, much, much worse.”

The 140,000 U.S. troops now in Iraq are confronted by “anarchy and chaos,” Franks said. But, he added, the political and military situation could be far worse if the interim Iraqi government were threatened by a strong opponent leading a “massive insurgency” or even civil war.

“We don’t see that at all,” Franks said. “So it could be a lot worse.”

Franks said he asked the White House to make the announcement that major combat operations were over in order to get the international community involved.

“A lot of countries … had said as soon as the major stuff is over, we’ll come in and help,” Franks said. “Many of them have. There are others who have not.”

About 20,000 non-U.S. troops have taken part in the Iraq mission.


http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-MARINEPAPER-309481.php


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Echo Company

By Thomas Ginsberg
Philadelphia Inquirer

BEAR, Del. - Nearly six years ago, Tony Roberts stood over his father's casket in a Maryland funeral home, a boy of 13 staring silently at the man he had adored.

It was November 1998, shortly before Tony would say he wanted to join the military, like his dad.

In the mortuary, Tony surprised his sister by asking her and his mother to leave him alone with the body.

The women hesitated. The boy's pain was palpable. Tony had watched his dad die from heart failure, then he'd had begun vomiting from an unexplained illness. He eventually needed grief counseling.

"They were buddies," said Angela, Tony's older sister, recalling that Tony sat alone with his dad for a long time. "I guess he was talking to him."

Those wrenching days seemed to set a trajectory for Tony, said relatives, friends and teachers near his home in Bear, a small town 50 miles south of Philadelphia.

Somewhere among the teenager's rap music "battles" with friends, clothes-shopping in Philadelphia and affinity for war movies, Anthony Paul Roberts had stepped into his father's shoes.

"He felt he became the man of the house," said Amanda Jones, 18, Tony's girlfriend.

"He definitely was protective of his mother," said Malcolm Dunne, 21, a friend and onetime fellow ROTC cadet. "He was basically a mama's boy, except that Tony was more protective of her than she was of him."

Emma Roberts used to marvel at her toddler, with his irrepressible friendliness and seemingly advanced reading skills. In second grade, he astonished her by bringing a book on ancient civilizations home from the library.

"He read it!" she said.

The family was living in Randallstown, Md. - Tony's father, William, was a mechanic, and Emma was an auditor - when the inevitable happened to Tony: girls.

"They just started calling. How'd they get our number?" Emma Roberts said quizzically. The family phone was unlisted.

With his disarming smile and sturdy build, Tony Roberts was undeniably a "pretty boy," said his friend Dion Dickerson, 16.

"He had the ladies after him all the time," said Maj. Daniel Alvarez, an ROTC teacher at Middletown High School, where Tony got his start in the military.

Tony began racking up honors in karate, baseball, community volunteer service for the elderly, even summer-reading contests. Although his father was ill with kidney disease, the two became "like this," Emma Roberts said, crossing her fingers.

Then one Sunday at home, William E. Roberts, 51, a Navy enlisted man in the early 1960s, suffered heart failure. Tony rode with his father to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Enveloped by grief and packing for a series of moves to Philadelphia, then Delaware, Tony wrote a poem that was discovered only after he, too, was dead.

"I thought my father was invincible
I didn't think he could or would die
All I can do is cry
One thing I really hate
Is I never got to say goodbye
He once told me you cannot succeed unless you try
Being without him
Is like a car with no rims
A sky with no clouds
Or a gun with no rounds."

Finally settling with his mother in a secluded suburban development near Middletown, Del., Tony quickly assembled a stable of friends and earned a reputation for maturity beyond his years, natty dressing, prowess at the PlayStation and doting on his mom.

"I would have to tell him he was still a child," Emma Roberts said. "I would never take away his childhood."

He signed up for the Air Force ROTC class in high school, reputed to be an "easy A," friends said. But his teachers quickly saw his ambition for military service beyond ROTC, at one point pushing him to consider college instead.

"The main thing drawing people into the military now is they're looking for an education, for benefits," said ROTC Chief Master Sgt. Michael Conway. "But Tony never talked about it."

Emma also pushed Tony to consider college. But more schooling was the last thing on the mind of a boy more interested in girls, movies and adventure.

Amanda, his on-again, off-again flame, was planning to join the Air Force herself after graduation. For Tony, the Marines beckoned with promises of travel, experience and pride - perhaps that of a departed father.

"If he hadn't died? I wonder if Tony would've joined," his mother said.

At 17, Tony needed her consent to enlist. Emma initially refused, relenting only after a Marine recruiter came with Tony to her house to talk.

"I definitely feel responsible," Emma said, "but he was just so enthused with becoming a Marine. So I supported it. ... I've always been proud of him."

Tony wrote often to his mother and girlfriend while at basic training, then at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and finally in Iraq, once confessing to Amanda that he didn't fear going to war, but leaving his mother alone.

"He was always worried about your welfare more than his own," Lt. Thomas Cogan IV, his commander in his platoon in Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, wrote Emma Roberts in a condolence note. It was "a trait he also carried into the fight in regards to the men he fought with."

Amanda said Tony talked in his letters about marrying her someday. "He said other girls broke up with guys when they were deploying. I was always going to wait."

The knock on the door came late on Tuesday, April 13, after Emma had begun painting the interior of her house out of nervous energy. She peeked out the front window and saw the outline of a Marine officer's hat.

"I tried to run away. I ran into the family room, and they rang again," Emma said, tears streaming.

Months later, the questions still nagged. "What happened? That's what I want to know," she said.

Her son, who died April 6 at age 18 and was buried with military honors in Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery just down the road from his home, was identified by a tattoo he’d recently gotten etched into his right forearm.

It was a simple design declaring "Rest in Peace" over the initials "W.E.R." - William Edward Roberts, his father.

Contact Thomas Ginsberg at tginsberg@phillynews.com

http://www.realcities.com/images/realcities/realcities/9263/85808874008.jpg

Age: 19
Home: Bear, Del.
Lance Cpl. Anthony Roberts

"He was always worried about your welfare more than his own, a trait he also carried into the fight in regards to the men he fought with."

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/echo_company/9282987.htm


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Photo Essay: Leaders head to trenches <br />
Submitted by: 1st Force Service Support Group <br />
Story Identification #: 200482510530 <br />
Story by Staff Sgt. Bill Lisbon <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq (Aug. 25, 2004)...

[thedrifter]

August 25, 2004

Former reservist does not have to report for recall, judge rules

By Tim Whitmire
Associated Press


CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a former Army reservist from suburban Raleigh does not have to report for recall to Iraq by Friday.
Todd Parrish of Cary is locked in a legal battle with the Army over his status. He says his Army commitment expired Dec. 19, after four years of active duty and another four years in the reserves.

But the Army says Parrish never formally resigned his commission as a lieutenant, making him indefinitely eligible for involuntary recall to duty.

Last month, Parrish sued the Army, contending he was never informed “of any requirement or need to ‘resign’ his Army Reserve commission in order to terminate his status with the U.S. Army Reserves.” With a Friday deadline looming for Parrish to report for duty and discussions with the Army going nowhere, Parrish’s lawyer Mark Waple said he filed a motion Monday for a temporary restraining order in Raleigh federal court.

U.S. District Judge Louise Flanagan granted the request Wednesday. She scheduled a hearing on whether to grant a preliminary injunction against the Army for Sept. 1 In her order, Flanagan said the Army’s willingness to extend Parrish’s reporting several times in recent months shows the military will not be harmed by delaying the case until a full hearing can be held.

Waple, of Fayetteville, said he and the Army have been going back and forth about Parrish’s status since Parrish first received an order from the Army in May requiring him to report to Fort Sill, Okla., by June 13 for processing and deployment to Operation Iraqi Freedom.

When Parrish tried to resign his commission, the Army told him it was too late. He then filed for an exemption from recall, which also was denied, Waple said.

Parrish has appealed that ruling and recently was told to resubmit his appeal because it was not in the proper format, Waple said. That version of the appeal is still pending, the lawyer said.

He said Parrish and his wife, whom he married just before leaving the Army last year, recently returned to Cary from a delayed honeymoon in Florida.

“He’s cautious and a bit unnerved” by the prospect of having to return to service, Waple said.

Waple has said he believes Parrish is a victim of efforts by the military to keep as many people as possible in the Individual Ready Reserve so they can be called to active duty.

The Defense Department has been using numerous devices to keep enlistment up during the Iraq conflict, included a “stop loss” order that prevents soldiers from leaving the military when their obligations end and multiple deployments of guard and reserve units.

Parrish, who grew up in Durham, attended North Carolina State University on an ROTC scholarship. He served four years on active duty in the United States, completing that obligation in December 1999.






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-320778.php


Ellie

[thedrifter]

24th MEU ACE lance corporals compete for meritorious promotion
Submitted by: 24th MEU
Story Identification #: 200482365140
Story by Lance Cpl. Sarah A. Beavers



CAMP AL TAQADDUM, Iraq (Aug. 16,2004) -- Fourteen lance corporals from Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 263 eagerly waited outside the sergeant major’s office for their shot to earn a meritorious promotion as the squadron held a meritorious corporal board here Aug. 16.

During the competition, each eligible Marine was required to answer fifteen Marine Corps–related questions and properly demonstrate the drill movement “inspection arms.”

The Marines were chosen for this honor in several ways. Some competed on boards in their individual sections, while others were selected based on their training record alone.

“I was chosen by my section because I met the most requirements,” said Lance Cpl. Zacariah Freebourn, an AH-1W Super Cobra and UH-1N Huey mechanic from Largo, Fla., whose Physical Fitness Test score, completed Marine Corps Institute courses and expert rifleman badge earned him the privilege of representing his section without going through a preliminary board.

It’s no secret that there are many challenges faced by Marines trying to find time to study with the increased work pace while deployed to Iraq. However, supporting operations in hostile areas has also had its benefits in helping the Marines retain their knowledge.

“The [acronyms] make sense because you’re actually applying them,” said Lance Cpl. Erin Covert, 22, a food service specialist from Sturgeon Bay, Wis.

But a board isn’t just the ability to answer questions correctly or perform perfect rifle manual. It’s also about being able to keep your composure under stress.

“Bearing is very important, especially when they get a question wrong,” said Staff Sgt. Daniel Petitt, 27, a Brownsville, N.J., native and one of five members of the meritorious board. “If I see body movement, facial change, teeth [grinding] … it shows me they can’t take rejection. When they beat themselves up inside, they’ve already lost.”

For many of the Marines, this was the first time they had ever participated in a meritorious board, and they embraced the challenge with a warrior-like enthusiasm.

“You have to sound off and be confident,” said Freebourn. “I knew I got answers wrong, but I stuck with [them]. Its not like they’re going to laugh at you if you [make a mistake].”

Three hours later, all the Marines gathered back at the sergeant major’s office to learn who had been chosen the new non-commissioned officer in HMM-263.

“If I could, I’d make each and every one of you a corporal. All of you have demonstrated today that you have what it takes,” said Sgt. Maj. John Rethage, the squadron’s sergeant major, to his Marines at the conclusion of the board. “But today we can only select one.”

That one was Lance Cpl. Randal Fitzgerald, 20, a ground support equipment mechanic from Fisherville, Va.

“It was fun,” said Fitzgerald, who will be promoted September 2, 2004. “But nerve-wrecking.”

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200482371615/$file/040816-M-1250B-007low.jpg

Sgt. Maj. John Rethage, sergeant major, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 263, congratulates Lance Cpl. Randal Fitzgerald after he won the squadron’s meritorious promotion to corporal at Camp Al Taqaddum, Iraq, Aug. 16.
Fitzgerald, 20, is a ground support equipment mechanic from Fisherville, Va.
Each eligible Marine was required to answer fifteen questions about the Marine Corps and properly demonstrate the drill movement “inspection arms” as part of their evaluation to become a new meritorious non-commissioned officer with the 24th MEU.
The 24th MEU is currently conducting security and stability operations in the Northern Babil province of Iraq.
Photo by: Lance Cpl. Sarah A. Beavers

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/C26CD79C94C2085385256EF9003BA9B1?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

War exacts high personal toll as Marine suffers double loss

By Hal Bernton
Seattle Times staff reporter

The most difficult miles of Rosanna Powers' life are bringing her from Florida to the small Washington state farming community of Mansfield, Douglas County, for her brother's funeral tomorrow. Then she will fly back across the country to help bury her fiancé the next day.
Both were U.S. Marines killed last week — one day apart — in Iraq.

The double dose of tragedy struck a 22-year-old woman keenly aware of the risks of Marine life. She's a Marine corporal herself, now in the United States in her final days of service. That shared sense of service gave her some comfort while her loved ones were deployed in Iraq but has not made it any easier to cope with their deaths.

"Before, I kind of knew some of what they were going through," Powers said. "This is different. This is so personal."

Powers' brother, 21-year-old Lance Cpl. Caleb Powers, was the first to die. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., and was shot Aug. 17 as he stood guard at his unit's compound in Al Anbar province in western Iraq, family members said.

Rosanna Powers got the news that day. Then two days later, she learned that her fiancé, Sgt. Richard Lord, 24, of Florida, also had been killed in action. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division based out of Camp LeJeune, N.C. He died Aug. 18 from injuries sustained while he, too, was in Al Anbar province.

The Marines who rotated back into Iraq earlier this year often have been on the front lines of fighting, and some of their units have sustained some of the U.S. forces' highest casualty rates. Those casualties include seven Marines from Washington state who have died since late May.

Caleb Powers and Lord lost their lives in the province that includes the towns of Fallujah, Ramadi and other insurgent strongholds. Though both rotated in and out of hot spots, the two men never got a chance to meet. Lord earlier this month tried unsuccessfully to arrange a get-together, Rosanna Powers said.

Both men died at a time when they had started to plan for life beyond Marine service and the war in Iraq. Caleb Powers had less than a month to go before he was scheduled to leave Iraq, and had his mind set on later leaving the service to turn to a life of wheat farming in Mansfield.

Lord was planning to marry Rosanna Powers. And, in recent months, he had decided to leave the Marines when his service ended in 2006 and return to his native Florida to help raise the 10-month-old son they had together.

Rosanna Powers has been based out of Cherry Point, N.C., in a communications wing. She met Lord while they were both stationed stateside. Then, in February 2003, after she was deployed to Kuwait, she discovered she was pregnant and returned to the U.S. Meanwhile, Lord served a first tour of duty in Iraq and then on June 22 returned for a second tour of duty.

"He was like my brother — a real gung-ho Marine — but he was going to give it up, buy some property and settle down," she said in a telephone interview yesterday from Florida. "He would call me up and say, 'I love you.' We had so many plans."

Today, Powers begins her cross-country marathon to say her goodbyes. She is scheduled to fly to Seattle, then drive east to Mansfield to attend a 1 p.m. funeral service tomorrow for her brother.

Caleb Powers loved the Mansfield area, moving there when he was about 12 years old to live with his aunt and uncle after difficult years in Oregon and Virginia. He received help from Childhelp USA, an organization that aids troubled youth, and enjoyed a taste of celebrity as he appeared at a 2002 fund-raiser for the group, where family members said singer Lee Greenwood performed "God Bless the USA" in his honor.

But he wanted to return to small-town life in Mansfield, with a population of about 320.

"Every letter that I got from him was about coming home," said his aunt, Jackie Tupling. "He wanted to know how he would go about getting loans to get a farm and even had a farm in mind he was going to buy."

As a teen, Rosanna Powers didn't make the move to Washington. She stayed in Virginia but kept in close touch with her brother, and she says her own enlistment might have added a bit of extra incentive for Caleb's enlistment.

As a fellow Marine, he would tease her and call her only by her last name. When she would protest, he would snap back — "Semper Fi, Powers, Semper Fi," using the Marine Corps motto that means "always faithful."

His casket is being brought back to Mansfield for tomorrow's funeral. His body will then be cremated. There will be a cemetery marker in Mansfield as well as a separate burial in Arlington National Cemetery in northern Virginia, Tupling said.

After the Mansfield service, Powers will drive back to Seattle and hop a red-eye flight to Florida in time for a 2 p.m. Saturday funeral for Lord. It will be held in Trenton, a small town west of Gainesville.

Powers wants people to remember not just the battlefield deaths but the lives that preceded them.

"First to lose my brother, then Rich, this hurts so bad. But this is happening to more than just me."

Hal Bernton: 206-464-2581 or hbernton@seattletimes.com

Seattle Times reporter Ray Rivera contributed to this report.


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002015813_iraqtoll26m.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Iraq Deploys Guardsmen Outside Mosque in Najaf
Thirteen U.S. troops are wounded in a battle nearby. Defense minister warns the cleric he must surrender or risk attack.

By T. Christian Miller and Edmund Sanders, Times Staff Writers


NAJAF, Iraq — The U.S.-backed Iraqi interim government sent its national guard troops into the streets outside one of Islam's most sacred sites for the first time Tuesday and threatened to kill or imprison the cleric whose militant followers are holding the shrine.

The moves came as a chaotic all-night battle for control of a parking garage and other buildings west of the Imam Ali shrine left 13 U.S. Marines wounded and at least five Al Mahdi militiamen dead, U.S. officials said.

The U.S. pounded the buildings in the Old City with more than a dozen. artillery rounds and gunfire from AC-130 warplanes in a battle that continued this morning.

A U.S. military doctor on the scene said some of the Marines became casualties of "friendly fire" as they were caught between two tank positions and hit by cannon fire.

The Iraqi troops, patrolling with U.S. military advisors, conducted house-to-house searches here and helped secure a cordon around the gold-domed Imam Ali Mosque, which forces loyal to Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr have held since the standoff began nearly three weeks ago.

On Tuesday afternoon, Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan declared that Sadr had to surrender the shrine or face an assault by Iraqi forces.

"If he continues to resist, then there will be no options for him other than death or prison," Shaalan said, speaking at a military base outside Najaf.

The strong-arm tactics appeared to have an effect. Shortly after Shaalan's remarks, a Sadr aide hastily arranged a news conference at a hotel in downtown Najaf to assure reporters that the militants were committed to dialogue.

Sadr "is ready for any peaceful solution aiming at solving the problem," Ali Smeisim, a top Sadr aide, told reporters.

Support for Sadr appeared to have been waning in recent days. Members of his Al Mahdi militia have been seen slipping away from the shrine during the days after nighttime U.S. bomb and gunship attacks on militia positions in the surrounding neighborhoods.

The government's tough talk came on another day of conflict in Iraq. Al Mahdi militants took to the streets in the southern city of Basra to protest after the British army appealed to local police to disarm the militia.

And the Abu Hafs Masri Brigade, a group claiming ties to the Al Qaeda terrorist network, announced that it was holding Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, 56, who disappeared on his way to Najaf last week, according to Al Jazeera satellite television. The group threatened to kill Baldoni in 48 hours unless Italy withdrew troops from Iraq.

Another Islamic group, the Iraqi Mujahedin Islamic Movement, announced that it was freeing kidnapped Lebanese trucker Mohammed Raad, though a release could not be immediately confirmed, Al Arabiya television reported.

Another Islamic group threatened to attack Royal Jordanian Airlines planes flying into Baghdad, while yet another threatened to harm U.S. citizens and Iraqi oil supplies if American troops did not pull out of Najaf.

"We will attack every soldier from the coalition forces or U.S. citizens all over Iraq. We will not spare any driver who is working for the Americans," said a statement by a previously unknown group identifying itself as the Islamic Hussein Brigade.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, reported that a soldier with the 13th Corps Support Command died early Tuesday after a vehicle accident near Fallouja. His death brought to 965 the toll of military personnel since the Iraq war began.

Also in Fallouja, U.S. warplanes bombed the Askeri area early today, killing four people and injuring three, said Dr. Ahmed Saleh at the Fallouja Teaching Hospital.

The standoff at the Najaf shrine has been a challenge for the government of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. An attack on the shrine to dislodge the militants risks angering Iraq's majority Shiites, who revere it as the burial place of Imam Ali, whom they consider the true heir to the prophet Muhammad. Yet the occupation of the mosque poses a political threat to Allawi as he struggles to assert control over a country torn by violence, chaos and economic problems.

The prime minister has alternated between threats and gestures of reconciliation throughout the standoff.

In recent days, however, the government has maintained a low profile, allowing Sadr to try to negotiate a deal to turn over the keys to the shrine to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the country's highest Shiite religious authority.

Those talks ended in a stalemate, and Tuesday's actions seemed intended to spark a resolution to the standoff.

The confrontation could emerge as a major test for the Iraqi security forces, which had numerous desertions last spring during similar conflicts in Najaf and Fallouja.

On Tuesday, hundreds of soldiers from the recently formed Iraqi national guard began patrolling shellshocked Najaf, which has been subjected to mortar attacks, bombings and sniper battles. Many families have fled the city as water, electricity, food and fuel supplies have dwindled.

The Iraqi forces joined U.S. troops who had established a cordon around the mosque area and Najaf's Old City. National guardsmen and Iraqi army soldiers have been mobilizing for the last week at a U.S. military camp north of Najaf.

"They are being fully integrated into all of our future operations," said Maj. David Holahan, executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment.

So far, Iraqi forces have been used chiefly to help staff checkpoints and clear neighborhoods behind the front lines, particularly south of the shrine.

However, if an assault on the mosque is ordered, Iraqi forces are expected to take a prominent role, entering the shrine and removing militiamen.

Haider Hassan Waheed, commander of one of the Iraqi patrols, said spirits were high among his men. "We are the Iraqis who will purge the holy shrine," Waheed said.

U.S. military officials said they noticed a softening of the resistance in the previous 24 hours in certain areas, including the cemetery north of the shrine.

The military no longer releases estimates of the number of militiamen killed, but officers in Najaf put the tally at about 200 over the last two days. They believe that the losses have damped morale in the militia.

Soldiers suspect that the mosque and other strongholds are being controlled by an inner circle of Sadr's most experienced fighters.

"All that's left now is the hard core," said Sgt. James Sanders of the Army's 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, which has been seeing some of the fiercest fighting in the Old City.

But there were signs that resistance was weakening in the Old City. Mortar attacks on U.S. positions decreased Tuesday.

In the cemetery, Army units were surprised late Monday by the lack of resistance when they attacked targets about 200 yards from the mosque.

The military released photos Tuesday said to show that militiamen had set up mortar positions in the mosque complex. Military officials said Sadr's fighters misfired a mortar round early Tuesday, hitting the roof of the mosque and landing 10 yards away.

"This is the first day we have not seen a lot of enemy coming at us," said Lt. Col. Jim Rainey, commander of the 2nd Battalion.

It was not clear when, or if, an attack against Sadr's forces would begin. But Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said his government would prefer a peaceful solution in which Sadr's followers would evacuate the shrine and disarm.

He encouraged them to participate in the political process expected to culminate in elections in January.

"The Iraqi police and the national guard are quite capable," Zebari said. "They are putting both psychological and military pressure on the armed militia groups until they comply with the government's demands."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Times staff writer Alissa Rubin in Baghdad and special correspondents Suhail Affan in Baghdad, Othman Ghanim in Basra and Raheem Salman in Najaf contributed to this report.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-najaf25aug25,1,5242050.story?coll=la-headlines-world


Ellie

[snipowsky]

I love hearing stories like the first one posted...they make me cheese so proudly for my brothers in Iraq! Get some! :D

[maximum infidel]

thanks