Thundering Third conducts 'Clean Sweep' near Fallujah

[thedrifter]

Thundering Third conducts 'Clean Sweep' near Fallujah

by Sgt. Jose E. Guillen
1st Marine Division


CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq -- The battalion known as the Thundering Third came down hard on enemy safehavens around Fallujah in their to-date largest operation alongside Iraqi forces recently.

3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, alongside Iraqi Specialized Special Forces, conducted Operation Clean Sweep Aug. 23-24 in areas east of Fallujah.

The operation was designed to hinder enemy movement to and from the city and eliminate any possible safe havens in the vicinity.

"We're basically sweeping rural open areas because we're suspecting terrorists are transporting and selling weapons, shooting mortars and attacking our firm bases," explained Sgt. Edgar O. Payan, a platoon guide with Company K.

"Terrorists are moving through areas like crop fields as they come and go out of Fallujah, so we're hoping we nab some suspects and find their weapons," added Payan, a 25-year-old from Pomona, Calif.

The 48-hour operation kicked off in the early hours of Aug. 23. By the end of the first day, Marines had arrested two suspects for stowing munitions in their homes.

Clean Sweep not only called for Marines to search homes for weapons, but to walk the land around the target areas, looking for anything out of the ordinary. The Marines were especially on the lookout for materials used to create improvised explosive devices.

"We found five caches of significance, which contained IED making materials, propaganda material, many types of small arms, and even several sets of SCUBA gear buried in the ground," said Lt. Col. Willard A. Buhl, the battalion's commanding officer. "We also detained a number of suspected terrorists."

Payan gives much credit for the battalion's success to the younger Marines, who have proved effective and eager.

"I'm glad we're doing this mission because I want to get these bastards," said Lance Cpl. Ryan M. Voeller, a 20-year-old rifleman with Company K.

"We've been doing really good because so far we've found a bunch of weapons the enemy can't use anymore," added Voeller, from Sinclair, Minn.

Buhl noted the teamwork between his troops and the Iraqi forces conducting Operation Clean Sweep.

"Our Iraqi partners were up front developing the tactical situation for their Marine counterparts," explained Buhl. "Their ability to gain intelligence on suspected enemy caches was invaluable and continued to build trust between our two fighting organizations - I expect our capabilities to increase commensurately," Buhl added.

Buhl, along with Sgt. Maj. Edward T. Sax, battalion sergeant major, took time after the operation to praise the Marines for a job well done.

"Our Marines and Sailors performed at the 'Three-One Standard,' accomplishing the mission above expectations," said Buhl, 41, of Los Gratos, Calif.

"Sergeant Major Sax and I couldn't be more proud of them, as should our families and friends back home - we're doing great things for our nation, the Marine Corps and the Iraqi people," said Buhl.

http://www.dcmilitary.com/marines/hendersonhall/newspics/1973_1w.jpg

Sgt. Jose E. Guillen
Cpl. Richard Gonzalez, an assaultman with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, makes his way through a corn field east of Fallujah, in search for hidden enemy munitions. The battalion conducted its largest combined operations to date Aug. 23-24, dubbed Operation Clean Sweep.

http://www.dcmilitary.com/marines/hendersonhall/9_34/national_news/30973-1.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Washington Post
September 3, 2004
Pg. 1

Shift From Traditional War Seen At Pentagon


By Thomas E. Ricks, Washington Post Staff Writer

Top Pentagon officials are considering a new, long-term strategy that shifts spending and resources away from large-scale warfare to build more agile, specialized forces for fighting guerrilla wars, confronting terrorism and handling less conventional threats, officials said yesterday.

The proposal, presented two weeks ago to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and others, could carry major implications for defense spending, eventually moving some funds away from ships, tanks and planes and toward troops, elite Special Operations forces and intelligence gathering. The shift has been building for some time, but the plan circulating at the Pentagon would accelerate the changes, analysts said.

The plan's working assumption is that the United States faces almost no serious conventional threats from traditional, state-based militaries. Thus, it says, the United States should accept more risk in that area to pay more attention to other threats: terrorism, the type of low-tech guerrilla fighting confronting troops in Iraq, and the possibility of dramatic technological advances by adversaries. Some of those priorities depend more heavily on troop strength than high-tech weaponry and could increase the pressure on the Pentagon to build the size of the Army and the Marine Corps.

"The lesson learned in [Operation] Iraqi Freedom is that in some areas, we have capabilities overmatch," said Christopher "Ryan" Henry, the principal undersecretary of defense for policy, who wrote and presented the briefing to Rumsfeld on Aug. 19. "We can't see many competitors that are coming at us in the traditional domain.

"In the business world, this is the equivalent of coming up with a new product in a new market," Henry added.

A copy of the slide presentation given to Rumsfeld was obtained by The Washington Post, after which officials agreed to discuss portions of it in interviews.

The documents said Pentagon planning should emphasize preparing for "catastrophic" challenges such as use of weapons of mass destruction "against high-profile targets by terrorists or rogue states." It also cited the need to prepare for "irregular challenges" from other countries or groups, including terrorism, insurgency and civil war.

One example of the new thinking urged in the plan was what it called the "stretch goal" of being able to invade a country, keep 200,000 troops there for five years, and be able to organize, train and equip a local military force of 100,000 troops in just six months.

That is more soldiers than the U.S. military has had in Iraq, now about 140,000. It also envisions far more effective training of local forces than the U.S. military has been able to deliver there, where after a year of effort the Iraqi military remains small and uneven in performance. In April, for example, a battalion of the newly formed Iraqi army refused an order from U.S. commanders to reinforce the Marines fighting in Fallujah.

One senior officer who attended the mid-August briefing said it was received warmly by top Pentagon officials. "It generated intriguing discussion around the table and a positive endorsement of the concepts in the end," he said. The discussion came as the Pentagon is gearing up for the major review of overall strategy that Congress requires every four years.

By itself, the document's assessment of threats confronting the military is not controversial. The recent report of the Sept. 11 commission stated the issue clearly: "National security used to be considered by studying foreign frontiers, weighing opposing groups of states, and measuring industrial might. To be dangerous, an enemy had to muster large armies."

While there is emerging consensus on new threats, military analysts said it is not automatic that broad changes in weaponry or strategy will result.

For one thing, placing more emphasis on manpower and intelligence could antagonize parts of the defense industry that produce weaponry. Indeed, a Pentagon official's explanatory notes attached to the PowerPoint presentation said the Pentagon's goal should simply be "maintenance of conventional capabilities."

Indeed, Pentagon officials said they were unhappy that the briefing papers were released for two reasons: It intruded on internal deliberations, and could be seen by members of Congress, contractors or even military officers as a threat to prized weapons programs.

Henry, however, said the briefing should be seen as a broad statement about future U.S. military capabilities, not a more specific list of narrower choices of what weapons would be needed.

"It's really divorced from platforms," he said, using the Pentagon word for anything that carries weapons or sensors, including ships, aircraft, or land vehicles. "It would be premature to take this . . . directly to platforms."

Outside experts on military change and strategy were skeptical about whether Rumsfeld would be able to secure sweeping change in philosophy.

"It's a step in the right direction," said Andrew F. Krepinevich, executive director of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a defense-oriented think tank. But, he said, the uniformed leadership at the Pentagon sometimes simply stalls on embracing radical change until the civilian defense secretary promoting it leaves.

"Rumsfeld has been trying for three years now to refocus the services on the new challenges confronting us," Krepinevich said. "So far these efforts have met with little success. How much more likely is Rumsfeld to succeed this time around when the military has a major war on its hands?"


Ellie

[thedrifter]

‘Sweathogs’ have sweet homecoming in Beaufort

By CHUCK CRUMBO

Staff Writer


BEAUFORT — On his way back from Iraq on Friday, Marine Sgt. Rafal Jurkiewicz pictured the perfect homecoming.

As soon as he stepped off the plane, Jurkiewicz would run into the arms of his wife, Olga, and 2-year-old son, Victor.

But the plane returning Jurkiewicz and his unit to the Marine Corps Air Station here Friday arrived nearly two hours early, and Olga and Victor were missing.

Jurkiewicz got on the phone to call Olga. Olga, though, was on the phone calling the base to find out when the plane would be in.

Eventually, the Jurkiewiczes got together to celebrate. So, too, did the families of nearly 60 Marines and sailors, returning from a seven-month deployment.

“I had pictured the perfect homecoming, but this was just as good, if not better,” Jurkiewicz said after reuniting with his wife and son.

For many of the members of the “Sweathogs” of Marine Wing Support Squadron 273, it was the third or fourth homecoming from deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq or Kuwait.

“Nothing’s changed,” said Navy hospital corpsman Troy Capers, returning from his fourth trip to the region. “It’s still hot and dusty.”

About 400 members of the squadron left in February to support Marine helicopter missions out of Al Asad Air Base, near Fallujah.

The support services provided by the “Sweathogs” ranged from communications and weather services to aircraft rescue and firefighting to security.

Forty members of the squadron returned two weeks ago. The last group of 300 is due back home today.

For Marine Maj. Brian Harrelson, Friday marked his fourth homecoming from overseas.

Waiting on the flight line for Harrelson, the “Sweathogs’” executive officer, were his wife, Julie, 9-year-old daughter, Hannah, and 6-year-old son, Hunter.

Harrelson, who had not slept for more than a day, said he was too excited to let fatigue temper the joy of being home. “All homecomings are sweet.”

Hannah said she planned to make her father’s return even sweeter. “I want to give him lots of hugs. And he’s going to my gymnastics meet tonight.”

Less than three hours after his return, corpsman Capers was at his parents’ home in nearby Varnville, watching the video “Monsters, Inc.” with his 3-year-old daughter, Shayla.

A veteran of one deployment to Afghanistan and two to Iraq, Capers said this homecoming was the best.

Varnville is less than a half-hour drive from Beaufort, so Capers’ mother, father, brother and daughter were at the Marine Corps Air Station to greet him.

Seeing his family waiting for him on the flight line was “indescribable,” Capers said.

Friday’s happy homecoming contrasted sharply with Squadron 273’s last return from Iraq. That homecoming, in the summer of 2003, was bittersweet. One of the unit’s Marines, Armando Gonzalez, died during that deployment when a fuel truck collapsed on him.

“The best thing about this homecoming, as far as I’m concerned, is that we brought them all back,” said Lt. Col. Chip Rhinesmith, commanding officer.

Staff writer John O’Connor and photographer Rich Glickstein contributed to this report.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/9579408.htm


Ellie

[thedrifter]

September 02, 2004

Former Marine hostage returns to Camp Lejeune

Associated Press


SALT LAKE CITY — Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, who was reported abducted in Iraq and turned up in his native Lebanon, has returned to Camp Lejeune, N.C., after recuperation leave in Utah.
Hassoun, 24, returned to Utah on July 31 and was staying with his brother Mohammed Hassoun in the family’s home in West Jordan, a suburb of Salt Lake City.

Hassoun reported Monday to Camp Lejeune, where his repatriation process is expected to continue, said Lt. Col. Dave Lapan, a member of Hassoun’s repatriation team and a spokesman for the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, of which Hassoun is a member.

Hassoun was expected to be questioned by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which has been looking into his disappearance.

That questioning has not yet started, Lapan said Wednesday.

Hassoun was last seen in Iraq on June 19. The next day he did not report for duty and was listed as missing.

On June 27, the Arabic news network Al-Jazeera showed a photo of him, blindfolded, a sword behind his head. A group called the National Islamic Resistance/1920 Revolution Brigade claimed to be holding him and was threatening to behead him unless detainees in “U.S.-led occupation prisons” were released, Al-Jazeera said.

On July 8, Hassoun contacted American officials in Beirut, Lebanon, and he was taken to the American Embassy there.

He spent about a week in a U.S. military hospital at Landstuhl, Germany, then returned to Camp Lejeune. He made a statement there that he had been captured, and refused to take questions from the media.

He also kept a low profile in Utah, where he was joined by his bride and parents from Tripoli, Lebanon.

“We took a trip to San Francisco. We took a trip to Lake Powell, and we just had some fun,” Mohamad Hassoun told The Salt Lake Tribune.

The Marine dined out, played pool with friends and family and frequented a mosque.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-334177.php


Ellie

[thedrifter]

'Conspicuous gallantry in action'
September 04,2004
ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF

Marine Corps Sgt. Michael Bitz was killed last year as he tried to evacuate and protect wounded troops during the battle at Nasiriyah, one of the most intense fights of the war with Iraq.

That's what they remembered Friday at Camp Lejeune's Courthouse Bay training complex where several hundred Marines stood at Ellis Field as Bitz's mother and widow picked up his Silver Star "for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy." The battle occurred March 23, 2003.

Brig. Gen. Mastin Robeson presented the medal to Bitz's mother, Donna Bellman, and the citation to his remarried widow, Janina Bitz-Vasquez. Bellman grimaced, occasionally wiping tears from her eyes as the citation was read aloud.

Robeson hailed Bitz, 31, who was an amphibious assault vehicle crewman with 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, for his actions under fire.

"We train every day for war and hope that it will never come," Robeson said. "Michael Bitz is an example that the mold has not been broken. We still produce American heroes."

According to the citation, Bitz's vehicle took a direct hit from a rocket-propelled grenade, which set it on fire. He guided it to a safe place and helped move casualties on board for evacuation.

The area was "under unrelenting enemy small arms and artillery fire, (so) he picked up his rifle and joined a squad of 3rd Platoon in a deliberate assault," according to the citation.

He helped others load casualties into another AAV, and as he was evacuating them he was mortally wounded by a direct hit from a rocket-propelled grenade.

The citation said Bitz displayed "decisive leadership and unlimited courage in the face of heavy enemy fire."

"They didn't know a whole lot about what was in front of them," Robeson said. "They thought the bridges were already seized, but made the right decisions at the right time."

Robeson said Bitz performed several different missions that day with gallantry and while under fire - beginning as the crew chief of one AAV when it was hit and caught fire and moving to a second AAV that he drove.

"He exited (the vehicle) two times moving forward under heavy fire" to rescue casualties, Robeson said.

Bitz carried a stretcher to evacuate the wounded, then picked up a rifle to protect them and then evacuated more wounded.

He was killed as he continued to protect the casualties waiting for a medical evacuation.

"You are a lady of grace, a lady of courage and these are hard times," Robeson told Janina Bitz-Vasquez as her husband, 1st Lt. Michael Vasquez, and members of the Aletheia Christian Fellowship helped with squirming children Christian, Joshua, Caleb and Taylor.

"As a parent, I know that your loss is just as great," Robeson told Bellman, explaining that his son-in-law recently left for Iraq and his son likely will deploy there within the next six months.

Contact Eric Steinkopff at esteinkopff@jdnews.com or 353-1171, Ext. 236.


http://www.jacksonvilledailynews.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=25424&Section=News


Ellie

[thedrifter]

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