Marine recalled as 'walking angel'

[thedrifter]

Marine recalled as 'walking angel'
By Anna Orlando/ Staff Writer
Friday, September 10, 2004

Marines saluted a young man who died for the country he faithfully served as his family, friends and some people he never even met gathered Saturday to honor him.

Lance Cpl. Alexander Arredondo was remembered for his kindness, friendship and military service by those who attended his funeral Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Jamaica Plain. Arredondo, 20, was killed Aug. 24 while on duty in Najaf, Iraq.

"They're really sad," Rolando Monterrey said of the Arredondo family.

Monterrey, best friend of Arredondo's father, stood with Arredondo's grandmother, uncles and some other family members outside the church before the service began.

"They're proud of him for what he did for his country," he said.

Arredondo grew up in Norwood until 1999, when he moved to Randolph. After graduating in 2002 from Blue Hills Regional Technical School in Canton, he soon joined the Marine Corps and was assigned to the 1st Marine Division based in Camp Pendleton, Calif.

"He was always there for his friends no matter what," said Sandy Corey, who attended Blue Hills with Arredondo.

Arredondo was "the nicest person I ever met," said Stephanie Corey. She said she did not go to school with Arredondo, but he was her friend. "He was a rarity, he was a walking angel of sorts."

Chris Devlin of Westwood said she did not know the Arredondo family, but was there to pay her respects. She was one of several Gold Star mothers, those who - those who have lost a child in military service - at the Mass.

"I'm here to pay my respects to a fallen brother," said former Marine Larry Mawn of Braintree. "I never met him in my life."

Some onlookers stood across the street as bagpipes played. Marines carried Arredondo's casket with the American flag draped over it into the church. Mourners quietly followed.

As a Marine, Arredondo faithfully served his country, according to the Rev. James Laughlin. Laughlin delivered his sermon to hundreds of people.

Even in difficult circumstances, Laughlin said Arredondo was the one his family could always count on. Arredondo had "quiet confidence," he said.

Arredondo's father, Carlos, lay quietly on a stretcher as he watched his son's casket being carried out of the church. An ambulance from Brigham and Women's Hospital took him to the church and cemetery.

When he heard of his son's death, Carlos Arredondo of Hollywood, Fla., jumped into a van he had set on fire with gasoline. He suffered severe burns.

After the service, police from Norwood, Walpole, Westwood, Canton, Stoughton and other surrounding towns escorted the procession to Rural Cemetery in Walpole where final goodbyes were said.

Residents who lived near the cemetery gathered across the street from where Marines saluted their fallen brother one last time.

"They see what's going on with the war and we wanted them to come and pay respect to the soldier so they can understand the sacrifice they make when they (serve overseas)," Cathy Colace, Walpole resident, said of her 7-year-old twins and another child, age 4.

Carmel Franciosa said she lives near the cemetery and wanted to pay her respects because Arredondo fought for the country.

"I felt this is what we can do to honor him," said Walpole resident Chris Jones. She was with her two daughters.

Anna Orlando can be reached at aorlando@cnc.com or 781-433-8368.

http://www2.townonline.com/images/Canton/carl09092004.jpg

Carlos Arredondo, father of slain U.S. Marine Cpl. Alexander Arredondo, holds a flag he received at his son's burial. (Photo by Sean Browne)

http://www2.townonline.com/canton/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=82360

Ellie

[thedrifter]

The Ripples of War, With a Dozen Dead
While some in the press still make excuses for promoting the war, Knight Ridder offers a multimedia look at the consequences.

By Greg Mitchell

(September 01, 2004) -- Joe Galloway probably thought he'd seen or read it all, at least when it comes to war. After all, he'd served four tours as a war correspondent in Vietnam, and also covered the 1971 India-Pakistan war and half a dozen other combat operations, including the first Gulf War, in 1991, and the second, in 2003. He received a Bronze Star for rescuing wounded soldiers in Vietnam, the only medal of valor the U.S. Army awarded to a civilian for actions during that conflict. And yet there he was, at a Knight Ridder bureau last month, "in a busy newsroom with tears streaming down my face."

That's because the story he was working on, he tells us, "was the hardest thing I've ever written or edited."

While certain major newspapers were still making excuses for why they bungled coverage of WMD and other issues in the run-up to the attack on Iraq last year, Knight Ridder was revealing the true costs of the media's tragic pre-war performance.

In mid-August, KR launched an unprecedented multimedia Web package showing, in word and image, how 12 U.S. soldiers from Echo Company, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., had recently died in Iraq, and the impact that caused on friends and family. Galloway contributed (with co-author David Swanson and the help of eight other KR reporters) a massive report on the same subject for the chain's newspapers.

"The Pentagon puts out, on its Web site, every day the names of casualties in Iraq but it's one-dimensional," Galloway observes. "It seemed to me it was time to paint a real portrait of a real human being who's lost his life in this war."

Echo Company has lost 22 of its 185 men, more than any other Marine or Army company. To paraphrase the title of Galloway's well-known book: They were soldiers once, and young.

The Web package (at www.krwashington.com) features articles, photos by David Swanson, audio, video, and letters, and is partly based on the Marines' classified After Action Reports obtained by Knight Ridder. The audio clips include moving testimonials from wives, friends and mothers.

"The fact that David Swanson was embedded with the Echo Company gave us an opportunity that is very rare," John Walcott, Knight Ridder's Washington bureau chief, says. But the package, he adds, "also gave us a chance to follow the ripples of war back home to towns all over America." Thanks to "unlimited space" on the Web, they were able to combine a variety of elements, including reproductions of original letters.

Swanson, a photographer for The Philadelphia Inquirer, suffered the most for this exclusive. During his month with Echo Company this past spring, he had come to know particularly well one of the soldiers featured in the story, 2nd Lt. John T. Wroblewski, in Ramadi. Swanson says he "walked the marine supply route looking for IEDS (improvised explosive devices)" with Wroblewski the day before the soldier died. Swanson later went to visit Wroblewski's parents and brothers in northern New Jersey and his wife in California.

"We did this package to flesh out who these young men were," he explains.

Swanson, who has covered conflicts in Bosnia, Croatia, and Afghanistan as well as the 9/11 attacks in New York City, says he would not return to Iraq "any time soon. It's too dangerous. I have a 3-year-old daughter." But he's glad he met Echo Company. "I wanted to go to Iraq," he explains. "My mother always saved her Life magazines and I read them as a child. I always wanted to use the power of photography to show what the troops were doing." The soldiers in Echo Company, he says, "were more than a rank and a hometown. We wanted to show what sports they played, what music they listened to." In firefights, he adds, "They were 100% professional, although not all of them supported the war in Iraq."

Galloway takes issue with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's recent use of the word "fungible" to describe U.S. soldiers. "Webster's defines 'fungible' as 'interchangeable.' This package is proof they're not interchangeable," Galloway says. "They are not spare parts."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Mitchell

http://199.249.170.220/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=10006210 09


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Judge postpones a court-martial, rips prosecutors

Government may have lost body parts
By Alex Roth
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
September 10, 2004

CAMP PENDLETON – A judge postponed a court-martial yesterday and threatened "extreme measures" after prosecutors admitted that the government may have lost or misplaced some body parts of a prisoner who died at a Marine-run jail in Iraq.

The judge's stern warning to prosecutors came after defense lawyers for Maj. Clarke Paulus said the body parts are vital to Paulus' defense because they could help rebut the prosecution's theory of how the inmate died.

The fact that inmate Nagem Sadoon Hatab's rib cage and hyoid bone are missing poses "serious problems that are interfering with a fair and just resolution in this case," the judge, Col. Robert Chester, said during yesterday's hearing.

"I am looking at some extreme measures to make things right," he said.

The judge didn't elaborate on what measures he was considering. Presumably his options would include postponing the court-martial indefinitely, issuing sanctions, excluding certain evidence, or dismissing some or all of the criminal charges against Paulus.

The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C., where the body parts were supposedly sent, has informed the prosecution that the only Hatab body parts in its possession are some tissue and fluids, according to yesterday's hearing.

In addition to the body parts, prosecutors have also acknowledged that they can't find a confidential report about Hatab prepared by a Marine intelligence unit known as the Human Intelligence Exploitation Team, or HET.

A HET unit interrogated Hatab at the Camp Whitehorse jail outside Nasiriyah and took a picture of him while alive. That photo also has vanished.

Paulus' lawyers say the report and the photo might aid in their defense.

Paulus' court-martial was scheduled to begin Monday. Instead, the trial won't start until Sept. 20 at the earliest. The judge gave the prosecution a week to find out what happened to the body parts, and he scheduled a hearing on the matter for next Friday.

Paulus, 35, an active-duty Marine stationed in New Jersey, was the commanding officer in charge of the jail. Hatab, 52, was found lying dead in an outdoor holding pen July 6, 2003, less than three days after he was taken into custody.

Paulus is accused of ordering a lance corporal to drag Hatab by the neck to the outdoor pen after Hatab defecated on himself in his cell. Paulus also is accused of allowing the listless inmate to lie naked in the pen under the baking sun for seven hours without summoning medical help.

The major faces more than four years in prison if convicted of willful dereliction of duty, maltreatment and aggravated assault.

Last week, a Marine reservist, Sgt. Gary Pittman, was sentenced to 60 days of hard labor and a reduction of rank to private after he was convicted of assaulting prisoners at the Whitehorse jail. Pittman was acquitted of charges that he beat Hatab.

The original autopsy on Hatab's body was performed by an Army pathologist in a bombed-out building in Nasiriyah. She said he died from either strangulation or asphyxiation caused by a broken hyoid bone in his neck. She also said he had six fractured ribs.

The pathologist testified at an earlier hearing that she sent the hyoid bone to the Institute of Pathology.

Hatab's remains were buried in Iraq. But naval criminal investigators had the body exhumed because some of the body tissue and fluids collected during the autopsy overheated and exploded while sitting in an unrefrigerated container in the sun and awaiting transportation to a lab.

The Navy investigators have said they sent Hatab's rib cage to the Institute of Pathology.

Paulus' defense lawyers have accused the pathologist of botching the autopsy and misinterpreting various photographs of Hatab's body, among other things.

Paulus' lawyer, Keith Higgins, told the judge he wants a defense medical expert to examine the hyoid bone to see if it was truly broken. The defense also wants its own expert to examine the rib cage to see if Hatab's rib injuries can be dated.

The problem is that no one can track down the missing bones, even though Paulus' lawyers filed a request last October asking the government to preserve "all tissues, organs, bones, fluids and other body parts" of Hatab.

The prosecutor, Maj. Leon Francis, assured the judge that he would begin making phone calls in an attempt to nail down the chain of custody of the ribs and hyoid bone and "find out what in the world happened to these body parts."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alex Roth: (619) 542-4558; alex.roth@uniontrib.com

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20040910-9999-7m10horse.html

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Iraqis Graduate ICAP at Al Asad
Submitted by: 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing
Story Identification #: 2004910182129
Story by Cpl. Joel A. Chaverri



AL ASAD, Iraq (Aug. 23, 2004) -- Six weeks of hard work and determination finally paid off for 12 local Iraqis when they graduated from a challenging course hosted by the Seabees of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 14 here Aug. 23.

The Iraqi graduates were participants in the Iraqi Construction Apprentice Program, an outreach program established by the Seabees to train unemployed Iraqis in basic construction skills.

The course was the third ICAP held in Iraq, by the Seabees, who have conducted similar programs in the Iraqi cities of Ramadi and Fallujah. At the conclusion of the course, each graduate received a certificate and a set of tools donated by American businesses.

“It’s an opportunity for us to give back to an oppressed nation,” said Chief Petty Officer Walter A. Groover, steel worker chief, NMCB-14. “We are utilizing the Seabees to teach their construction skills to the Iraqi people.”

After successfully completing the six-week phase one portion of the 12-week curriculum designed to provide students with the skills necessary to rebuild their country, the graduates are moving on to the final half of their training, which will help them find construction employment within their communities.

Groover said that while the instructors are dedicated to teaching their Iraqi pupils proper construction techniques, they are also careful to ensure that what they teach can be easily combined with existing Iraqi building principles.

“We are not here to westernize the (Iraqi people’s) building skills,” he pointed out. “We want to pass on our knowledge so that they can incorporate it into their traditions.”

According to Groover, in order to complete the program the Iraqis had to master basic construction skills in four different areas: plumbing, carpentry, masonry and electrical wiring.

“The Seabees are all experienced in their particular trade,” remarked Groover. “We have certified electricians, carpenters and engineers to teach all of these classes.”

If the expectations of Cmdr. John Prien, commanding officer, NMCB-14, are met, the training provided by the Seabees will have a positive and lasting effect throughout Iraq.

“We hope that this training and these tools will go a long way in the strengthening of Iraq,” he expressed. “We want Iraq to be a free and successful country.”

For many of the Seabee instructors, the course was a pleasurable experience that helped form a bond between student and teacher.

“I’ve had a lot of fun during this project,” said Petty Officer 1st Class John D. Graham, lead instructor, NMCB-14. “I actually made friends with some of the Iraqis.”

The students who took part in the program were all volunteers and were excited to jump in and start learning, according to Graham.

“They showed a lot of interest (in the program),” he remarked. “Each one was very eager to learn. In the beginning, they would struggle to be the first in line to (practice what they had learned).”

At the conclusion of phase one of the ICAP, each graduate received a certificate and expressed a feeling of pride, reflecting their unique accomplishment.

“I’m very happy to have finished,” said a jubilant ICAP graduate. “The instructors were very good and now I want to show my friends what I have learned.”

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200491018299/$file/040823-F-4441R-011LR.jpg

An Iraqi Construction Apprentice Program student receives a graduation certificate from Cmdr. John Prien (far right), commanding officer, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 14, for completing phase one of the ICAP course at Al Asad, Iraq, Aug. 23. The ICAP is an outreach program designed by the Seabees of NMCB-14 to train local Iraqis in basic construction skills to help rebuild their communities. Photo by: Cpl. Joel A. Chaverri

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/A3D6A035C857369E85256F0B007AD153?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

22nd MEU (SOC) wraps up wash down, begins last leg of voyage home
Submitted by: 22nd MEU
Story Identification #: 20049925616
Story by Sgt. Matt C. Preston



ABOARD THE USS WASP IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN (Sept. 9, 2004) -- After a week of nearly non-stop effort at Naval Station Rota, Spain, the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) has completed its wash down and agricultural inspections and is headed home.

The wash down is a requirement for vehicles and gear leaving deployed areas to ensure foreign dirt, debris and animals do not unintentionally enter the United States.

MEU Service Support Group 22, the MEU's combat service support element, was instrumental in orchestrating the wash down which saw heavy focus on the MEU's fleet of trucks, Humvees, and other fighting vehicles.

After military policemen guided rolling stock from the three ships carrying the MEU to wash racks, Marines sprayed them down with high-pressure hoses and commenced to scrubbing. Vehicles with lots of nooks and crannies, such as a maintenance contact truck, were targets for close scrutiny by teams of inspectors scouring the piers.

"We failed four times before we passed," said Lance Cpl. Juan Garcia, of Miami, Fla., an MSSG-22 maintenance specialist. "There were so many crevices for dirt to hide in."

While most of the 22nd MEU (SOC)'s vehicles and equipment was cleaned during the week in Rota, Marines from Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 266 (Reinforced), the MEU's aviation combat element, had already spent two weeks before the ships pulled into port toiling over their aircraft.

Cpl. Kevin Yates, a CH-46E Sea Knight helicopter crew chief from Spiro, Okla. said the most difficult part of the wash down was the attention to detail required to get the job done. Just getting into certain spaces, such as under the floorboards, required a little elbow grease.

"There are close to 200 screws on the floorboards," said Yates. "We had to use toothbrushes, sponges, a vacuum and a scribe. We pretty much tooth brushed the whole plane. It took us about three weeks."

Hand in hand with the wash down went an intense maintenance program to fix any mechanical problems that may have arisen during the deployment.

In spite of the workload and stringent agricultural and maintenance standards the Marines and Sailors had to meet, everyone put forth the extra effort to get the job done - making life a little easier on everyone involved.

"Everyone wants to go home so everyone put out a little more," said Garcia, commenting on the work load and long hours. "I thought this was going to be the longest week of my life."

After completing the wash down and pulling out of Rota, the MEU, embarked aboard the amphibious assault ships WASP, WHIDBEY ISLAND, and SHREVEPORT, began its trans-Atlantic voyage home toward North Carolina.

In addition to MSSG-22 and HMM-266 (Rein), the 22nd MEU (SOC) consists of its Command Element and Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 6th Marines.

For more information on the 22nd MEU (SOC), visit the unit's web site at http://www.22meu.usmc.mil.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200499302/$file/WD_MP_Low.jpg

A field military policeman from MEU Service Support Group 22, the combat service support element of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), uses a high-pressure hose to clean his Humvee during the MEU's recent wash down at Naval Station Rota, Spain. Photo by: Cpl. Robert A. Sturkie

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/BF9BDD760CDF522685256F0A00261C47?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

What’s Really Important?

Is the Marine Corps doing everything in its power to prepare our Marines for combat? For instance, take the way we man and train our Operating Forces. It’s pretty much done the same way it was when I was commissioned a second lieutenant 38 years ago.


Manning the force. There have been countless books and articles written about cohesion, or lack of it, in today’s Armed Forces. We are quite expert at forming up a MEU(SOC), getting it finely tuned through workups, and even on the cutting edge during deployments. After one or possibly two deployments at most, that cutting-edge outfit is pulled asunder by archaic manpower policies.


Our 32d Commandant, Gen James L. Jones, understood the problem, or at least part of it. At a Marine Ground Dinner, he made the emphatic point that the Corps needed to keep sergeants in the Operating Forces so they could ply their trade in combat MOSs and lead and train their young Marines. Shortly thereafter he signed off on an initiative to place the best and the brightest at the schools of infantry as instructors, affording that now elite group the same status as drill instructors, recruiters, and Embassy guards. And therein lies the rub. The Operating Forces become the billpayer for everything else the Marine Corps does.


Some good news is coming from the prolonged Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM in the guise of critical combat experience for our junior officers. We may return to the “B” billet bleed of our junior officers after combat ceases, and we can expect a continuation of a bleed to joint billet assignments for majors that are not matched to congressional authorizations.


It’s easy to say that all of this amounts to nothing new under the sun, that Operation IRAQI FREEDOM II is but a blip on the radar, and that soon things will calm down and be just like before. But that is a huge problem, too. It’s time to take stock and make changes in the way we do business, or we will continue to suffer the consequences of our inaction.


Remedies are both internal and external. The Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, and Congress are all a part of the current problem and must be part of the solution as well. Internally we have to make the commitment that the Operating Forces and cohesion come first, and then the brain trust extant throughout the Corps will find solutions to make it all work.


Training the force. It’s one thing to man the force properly. It’s an entirely different matter to train that cohesive force into a finely tuned combat machine. We are all victims of our own experience and seem to continue training our Marines the way we always have. Blocks of time for the rifle range, more for the gas chamber, a little more for field training when the commander can afford the time, throw in a Combined Arms Exercise, and mix it with cold weather training and we are doing lots of neat things—but are we really training our Marines for combat, outside of the units deploying as MEU(SOC)s?


LtCol B.P. McCoy has just completed two tours in Iraq as the commanding officer of 3d Battalion, 4th Marines. In his seminal article, “‘Brilliance in the Basics’ and Other Expectations of Combat Leaders” (p. 50), the battalion commander makes a very strong case for constant training to standards and enforcing those standards through disciplined leadership to ensure the efficiency of a combat unit.


No single person has all of the answers on how to man and train our combat units more effectively and efficiently. Admitting that a real problem exists is a major, if humbling, first step. A recently completed study by the Force Structure Review Group has made recommendations for change to the CMC. When final decisions are made and promulgated, we will report them. Meanwhile, let’s use the pages of the Gazette to discuss the issues. Prove me wrong, or suggest solutions if you think I may have something here. There are plenty of really smart Marines out there. Let’s work together to ensure that our Operating Forces remain the very best combat machines on the planet.

http://www.mca-marines.org/Gazette/edt.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

U.S. strikes Falluja again in its fourth day of attacks
AP Friday, September 10, 2004
BAGHDAD A U.S. jet fired missiles on Friday in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Falluja, the fourth day of attacks on the city where U.S. and Iraqi troops have no control, officials said.
.
One man was killed in the attack, Dr. Ahmed Thaer of the Falluja general hospital said. The attack followed airstrikes on Thursday that reportedly killed nine people in Falluja and dozens more in the northern town of Tal Afar, another city that has fallen under insurgent control and become a "no-go" zone for U.S. troops.
.
Late Thursday, the regional government's television station reported that U.S. and Iraqi government forces had agreed to allow medical teams to enter Tal Afar to care for people wounded from the airstrikes there, but that military operations would continue "until the city is liberated from outsiders and saboteurs so that peace can be restored."
.
Also on Friday, about 1,000 protesters marched through Najaf's old quarter to demand that Moktada al-Sadr and his aides leave the holy city, which has been ravaged by fighting between the radical cleric's followers and U.S. and Iraqi troops.
.
The demonstrators, chanting "Moktada, the trash, is a leader of looters," walked past buildings hit by three weeks of fighting and insisted that Sadr's office be closed. Iraqi soldiers kept the protesters from marching to Sadr's office. They also demanded that the Iraqi government investigate the practices of a religious court that Sadr's office operated and punish those in charge of it.
.
The court, which worked separately from Iraq's legal system, ordered arrests and handed out punishments.
.
It stopped functioning after Sadr's followers relinquished the control they had in a deal to end the violence.
.
Sheik Ali Smeisim, an aide to Sadr, said the demonstration was an attempt to create tension.
.
"We were expecting such things," he said.
.
"Whenever there is a chance for peaceful solutions, some people hold protests to escalate the situation."



See more of the world that matters - click here for home delivery of the International Herald Tribune.
< < Back to Start of Article BAGHDAD A U.S. jet fired missiles on Friday in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Falluja, the fourth day of attacks on the city where U.S. and Iraqi troops have no control, officials said.
.
One man was killed in the attack, Dr. Ahmed Thaer of the Falluja general hospital said. The attack followed airstrikes on Thursday that reportedly killed nine people in Falluja and dozens more in the northern town of Tal Afar, another city that has fallen under insurgent control and become a "no-go" zone for U.S. troops.
.
Late Thursday, the regional government's television station reported that U.S. and Iraqi government forces had agreed to allow medical teams to enter Tal Afar to care for people wounded from the airstrikes there, but that military operations would continue "until the city is liberated from outsiders and saboteurs so that peace can be restored."
.
Also on Friday, about 1,000 protesters marched through Najaf's old quarter to demand that Moktada al-Sadr and his aides leave the holy city, which has been ravaged by fighting between the radical cleric's followers and U.S. and Iraqi troops.
.
The demonstrators, chanting "Moktada, the trash, is a leader of looters," walked past buildings hit by three weeks of fighting and insisted that Sadr's office be closed. Iraqi soldiers kept the protesters from marching to Sadr's office. They also demanded that the Iraqi government investigate the practices of a religious court that Sadr's office operated and punish those in charge of it.
.
The court, which worked separately from Iraq's legal system, ordered arrests and handed out punishments.
.
It stopped functioning after Sadr's followers relinquished the control they had in a deal to end the violence.
.
Sheik Ali Smeisim, an aide to Sadr, said the demonstration was an attempt to create tension.
.
"We were expecting such things," he said.
.
"Whenever there is a chance for peaceful solutions, some people hold protests to escalate the situation." BAGHDAD A U.S. jet fired missiles on Friday in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Falluja, the fourth day of attacks on the city where U.S. and Iraqi troops have no control, officials said.
.
One man was killed in the attack, Dr. Ahmed Thaer of the Falluja general hospital said. The attack followed airstrikes on Thursday that reportedly killed nine people in Falluja and dozens more in the northern town of Tal Afar, another city that has fallen under insurgent control and become a "no-go" zone for U.S. troops.
.
Late Thursday, the regional government's television station reported that U.S. and Iraqi government forces had agreed to allow medical teams to enter Tal Afar to care for people wounded from the airstrikes there, but that military operations would continue "until the city is liberated from outsiders and saboteurs so that peace can be restored."
.
Also on Friday, about 1,000 protesters marched through Najaf's old quarter to demand that Moktada al-Sadr and his aides leave the holy city, which has been ravaged by fighting between the radical cleric's followers and U.S. and Iraqi troops.
.
The demonstrators, chanting "Moktada, the trash, is a leader of looters," walked past buildings hit by three weeks of fighting and insisted that Sadr's office be closed. Iraqi soldiers kept the protesters from marching to Sadr's office. They also demanded that the Iraqi government investigate the practices of a religious court that Sadr's office operated and punish those in charge of it.
.
The court, which worked separately from Iraq's legal system, ordered arrests and handed out punishments.
.
It stopped functioning after Sadr's followers relinquished the control they had in a deal to end the violence.
.
Sheik Ali Smeisim, an aide to Sadr, said the demonstration was an attempt to create tension.
.
"We were expecting such things," he said.
.
"Whenever there is a chance for peaceful solutions, some people hold protests to escalate the situation." BAGHDAD A U.S. jet fired missiles on Friday in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Falluja, the fourth day of attacks on the city where U.S. and Iraqi troops have no control, officials said.
.
One man was killed in the attack, Dr. Ahmed Thaer of the Falluja general hospital said. The attack followed airstrikes on Thursday that reportedly killed nine people in Falluja and dozens more in the northern town of Tal Afar, another city that has fallen under insurgent control and become a "no-go" zone for U.S. troops.
.
Late Thursday, the regional government's television station reported that U.S. and Iraqi government forces had agreed to allow medical teams to enter Tal Afar to care for people wounded from the airstrikes there, but that military operations would continue "until the city is liberated from outsiders and saboteurs so that peace can be restored."
.
Also on Friday, about 1,000 protesters marched through Najaf's old quarter to demand that Moktada al-Sadr and his aides leave the holy city, which has been ravaged by fighting between the radical cleric's followers and U.S. and Iraqi troops.
.
The demonstrators, chanting "Moktada, the trash, is a leader of looters," walked past buildings hit by three weeks of fighting and insisted that Sadr's office be closed. Iraqi soldiers kept the protesters from marching to Sadr's office. They also demanded that the Iraqi government investigate the practices of a religious court that Sadr's office operated and punish those in charge of it.
.
The court, which worked separately from Iraq's legal system, ordered arrests and handed out punishments.
.
It stopped functioning after Sadr's followers relinquished the control they had in a deal to end the violence.
.
Sheik Ali Smeisim, an aide to Sadr, said the demonstration was an attempt to create tension.

http://www.iht.com/articles/538234.html

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Mother of slain Orange County Marine decries involvement in Iraq

Associated Press


SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. - The mother of a Marine killed in a suicide car bombing in Iraq said she didn't understand why he was sent there.

Lance Cpl. Derek L. Gardner, 20, was among seven Marines killed Monday in the volatile Anbar province.

"I feel that he died for what? For what? We have no business being over there," a tearful Vickey De Lacour told KCAL-TV on Tuesday.

Her son, who joined the Marine Corps in July 2002, came from a military family. His great-grandfather served in World War I, one of his grandfathers served in Korea, the other in World War II, and his father was a Marine who served in Vietnam.

"He was a proud Marine," De Lacour said. "He walked like a Marine, he talked like a Marine. He was just doing his job. And other people decided to ship him over there.

"He wasn't defending our country. We invaded Iraq. Iraq didn't invade us."

Gardner was assigned to Headquarters Battalion of the 1st Marine Division, part of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton. He planned to return home in three weeks.

Gardner's family remembered him as friendly, strong-willed and sometimes mischievous. A 2000 graduate of Laguna Hills High School, he liked amusement park rides, pro wrestling and rap music.

For the past year, he had been living with his girlfriend, April Ornelas, in Mission Viejo. On Christmas Eve, he asked her if she would marry him when he returned from his deployment.

"One of the things he said before he left was, 'This isn't goodbye sweetheart, this is hello to our new beginning,'" Ornelas, 18, told the Orange County Register.

Gardner's father, Ken, said his son drove a truck to take ammunition to other troops.

"There was quite a danger in what he did," he said.


http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/peninsula/9613326.htm


Ellie

[thedrifter]

September 10, 2004

Three Marines awarded Bronze Star medals for Fallujah action

By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer


CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — Two months after they returned home from Iraq, three Marine infantrymen on Friday received Bronze Star medals for heroism during the 1st Marine Division’s initial fight for Fallujah last spring.
Hundreds of men with 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment gathered on the sun-splashed grinder outside battalion headquarters for the ceremony, the first of several expected in the coming months with the approvals of medals for combat actions.

Two of the Bronze Star medals — which were presented with “V” devices denoting valor — honor two corporals with Bravo Company who participated in a 90-minute firefight and daring rescue April 13 of a platoon pinned down deep inside the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah. The third medal praises the April 5 actions of a squad leader who fought and led his men through a barrage of enemy fire, despite his own serious shrapnel wounds from a roadside bomb that killed four men in his vehicle.

On April 13, an initial mission to resupply Bravo Company troops got pinned down by enemy fire. Part of 2nd Platoon saddled up to respond, climbing into two amphibious assault vehicles as escorts for the mission. But they quickly came under intense fire and, amid ensuing fire and smoke, one amtrac split off and wandered down a road across friendly lines and into an insurgent neighborhood.

“They went into the heart of darkness,” said Lt. Col. Brennan T. Byrne, the battalion’s proud commander.

Four M1 Abrams tanks led a rescue force to retrieve the ill-fated amtrac, afire with its crew chief mortally wounded inside and spilling columns of smoke 700 meters inside enemy lines. By the end of the rescue mission, close-air support and tank fire killed more than 100 enemy fighters.

“It was a hellacious fight,” said Byrne, who credits their actions to saving the life of 1st Lt. Christopher Ayres, the platoon commander who was gravely wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade.

But it was a fight that spurred acts of courage and bravery.

Deep in the bowels of an angry neighborhood brimming with armed fighters, Cpl. Ronnie Garcia, a squad leader with Bravo Company’s second platoon, kicked in the door of a house to shelter the platoon, which he later led to safety when the rescue force arrived. Cpl. Bruno J. Romero, the machine gun squad leader with Bravo Company’s second platoon, laid suppressive fire from the street and roof of the house. And when he ran out of ammunition, he grabbed the pistol of a wounded corpsman and fire at attacking insurgents.

The third Bronze Star with V awarded Friday went to Cpl. Brandon J. Berhowgoll for the courage and “zealous initiative” he took April 5 when, as a squad leader, he ignored his own wounds to battle enemy fighters and lead his men to safety through a barrage of fire.

Berhowgoll was leading his squad with Charlie Company on a routine patrol when their vehicles came under heavy fire from enemy machineguns, small arms and RPGs after an improvised explosive device killed four men in his vehicle. Despite his wounds, and under enemy fire that split his squad, Berhowgoll and another Marine crossed 200 meters to retrieve the rest of his men and get them to safety and to medical aid.

Three other Marines with 1/5 also received combat awards on Sept 10:

• 1st Lt. David R. Denial, a fire support team leader with Charlie Company’s weapons platoon, received the Navy-Marine Corps Commendation Medal, with “V,” for “heroic achievement” by coordinating sniper, mortar and other fires during combat actions in Fallujah from April 18-27. On April 21, Denial’s team killed 10 enemy fighters, destroyed two enemy vehicles and cut off enemy forces from reconstituting and counterattacking U.S. forces.

• 1st Lt. Stephen F. Shaw, a platoon commander with Charlie Company, received the Navy-Marine Corps Achievement Medal, with Combat “V,” for “heroic achievement in the superior performance of his duties.” In nearly four months in Iraq, Shaw led his men through three firefights, more than 75 combat patrols and two cordon-and-search operations, many in and around Fallujah, and he helped develop links with Iraqi police forces.

Also, the battalion awarded Capt. Chris A. Graham, a helicopter pilot now attached to the battalion, with an Air Medal (with five strike/flight awards) he earned for “meritorious achievement” while deployed in 2003 with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 268.

Gidget Fuentes is the San Diego bureau chief for Marine Corps Times. She can be reached at (760) 677-6145.


http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-348005.php


Ellie

[thedrifter]

30Aug04

Hot Ranges

John Farnam

We've been running hot pistol ranges for many years now, and the concept is
widely accepted among professional trainers. Most domestic police departments now accept hot ranges as standard, and, as I've mentioned in the past, hot pistol ranges are now even making their way into military training, at least within the USMC. But, what about rifle training? Should we be running hot rifle ranges too? I've been doing it for the last ten years, but many trainers are reluctant. Here are the issues:

Pistols are carried in holsters. Modern holsters, both duty and concealed, are designed so that the trigger, indeed the entire trigger guard, is continuously protected as the gun is carried. In addition, the direction of the muzzle is also controlled, as the pistol is held rigidly in place. Most of us agree that a holstered pistol is a "safe" pistol. Magazines can even be exchanged, in relative safety, so long as the pistol remains holstered.

Secondly, most pistols don't have manual safety levers or buttons, b ecause "safety" is built into the trigger itself. Trigger-cocking pistols have triggers that must be moved rearward at least a half inch under at least six pounds of continuous pressure in order for the weapon to discharge. With that kind of trigger, most of us think that the addition of a manual safety would constitute a pointless redundancy, particularly on a weapon that is supposed to be carried in a high state of readiness. Only pistols that have short, light triggers, such as the 1911, need a manual safety.

Rifles, on the other hand, are not carried rigidly in holsters. Rather, they are slung over the shoulder or neck (muzzle down), with the muzzle under some, but far from absolute, control. As the weapon is thus carried, triggers and trigger guards are not covered or protected in any particular way, and rifle triggers are light and short. Generally, rearward movement of only a few millimeters and pressure of no more that five pounds is necessary for a discharge. Accordingly, all rifles have manual safety levers or buttons. Military rifles have manual safety levers designed to be operated quickly. As rifles are slung and carried, it is surely possible for buttons, snaps, and other articles of clothing to inadvertently enter the trigger guard and put rearward pressure on the trigger, all without knowledge, much less the intent, of the operator.

So, can we safely carry loaded rifles during training sessions, slung, with the manual safety "on?" I believe we can, but, a better answer is that we really have no choice. If we expect soldiers and Marines to do this when they are deployed, we must do it in training. I strongly believe that Students must be acclimated BEFORE they deploy!

I train my students to keep the manual safety "on," checking it frequently, any time the weapon is slung. When the weapon is mounted, the manual safety is pushed "off" as soon as the stock touches the shoulder. So long as the weapon is being held and in a firing position, the safety remains "off," even when the student is moving. Trigger finger, of course, remains in register until sights on target, and the shooter has decided to fire. During breaks , all rifles (and pistols) remain loaded.

I know everyone is afraid of training accidents, but look. We're having accidents now, on "cold" ranges. We're also having accidents in Country, among soldiers and Marines who have never been taught how to handle, much less LIVE WITH, continuously loaded guns!

In any event, we're now here at Camp Pendleton, CA, and tomorrow we're starting an Urban Rifle Program, here with young Marines about to deploy, an d we're going to run the range hot. Ought to be interesting!

Ellie

[thedrifter]

NEWS RELEASE
HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND
7115 South Boundary Boulevard
MacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101
Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

September 10, 2004
Release Number: 04-09-24


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


U.S. MARINES PREVENT CONSTRUCTION OF FIGHTING POSITIONS IN FALLUJAH

FALLUJAH, Iraq – At about 11:50 a.m., Marines destroyed earthmoving equipment that was being used by anti-Iraqi forces to prepare fighting positions near the city.

There was no collateral damage. The construction of fighting positions by AIF is considered a hostile act against Multi-National Forces and the Iraqi government.

Insurgents within the city have begun to militarize buildings and restrict daily activity in the city, denying the citizens of Fallujah the opportunity to live in a state of normalcy.

These actions by the AIF undermine and discredit the authority of Iraqi civic leaders and terrorize the people of Fallujah.


http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2004/09/mil-040910-centcom03.htm


Ellie

[thedrifter]

A family separated by war

Pendleton Marine heads to Iraq for a second tour, this time as a dad
By Karen Kucher
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
September 11, 2004

With the first deployment, there was no time to think. No time to plan. No time to worry.

Just days after moving into a town house at Camp Pendleton in March 2003, Ben Everett grabbed his gear and left for the war in Iraq. His wife, Anne, barely had time to kiss him goodbye.

This time was different.

The Everetts knew for nearly a year that Ben, a 26-year-old first lieutenant in an infantry battalion, would be heading back to Iraq. They've lost friends in the conflict, and expect more people they know will be injured or killed. War is no longer an abstract concept.

"Maybe it is more scary because there is more time to think about it," said Anne, who is also 26.

More importantly, they are parents now. Their daughter, Audrey, a sweet-tempered baby with red hair like her mother and big eyes like her father, was born in mid-July.

Yesterday morning, Ben and about 300 other Marines got onto the buses that took them to an airplane at March Air Force Base, where they became part of a major rotation that will send about 15,000 Camp Pendleton Marines to Iraq over several months. Like the families who gather for every departure, the Everetts said their private goodbyes long before their final, public embrace.

In the weeks before Ben's departure, relatives flew in from out of state to see the new baby and to say farewell. Ben's father shot video of Ben reading children's stories and Bible stories, which Anne plans to show Audrey while her daddy is gone.

They posed for a family portrait at a Carlsbad mall. They went to the Wild Animal Park. Anne and Ben left Audrey with a baby sitter and went out for a romantic dinner.

There also were weighty decisions to make.

Ben updated his will and his power of attorney form. The couple met three times with a financial planner to figure out how to invest the extra money Ben will be receiving – about $625 a month in hostile fire pay, combat pay and family separation pay.

"You have a baby and it's a wake-up call," Ben told the planner at their first meeting. "It's like, life is moving on."

They also grappled with the possibility that something might happen to Ben during his seven-month deployment.

That became more of a reality for Anne after a friend and neighbor, Capt. Brent Morel, was killed in April in Iraq. Anne got to know his wife, Amy, because she was among the Marine wives who met at a park every day to let their dogs run. Seeing Amy Morel cope with the death of her husband made Anne think about what she would do if something happened to Ben.

Before Audrey was born, Anne had worked as a teacher and held other part-time jobs. But in those days she was just responsible for herself, Sadie the dog and Scout the rabbit. Now she had to think about how she would survive if she suddenly became a single parent.

She pressed Ben to get more life insurance before he deployed.

"This time, I have more time to plan for it, which is making my mind wander," Anne said. "Before, the war was just declared and everyone disappeared. This time it is all planned and we are making specific wills and plans. Making that video seemed kind of scary.

"I definitely didn't even consider it last time. I just assumed everything would be fine."

Ben said this deployment probably will be more dangerous than the last one. His battalion's main job will be to keep supply routes open. He's second in command of a company of about 150 men.

"You are fighting an insurgency," he said. "There is not a linear battle front where there are front lines . . . I mean, who is friend, who is foe? They are not wearing uniforms."



From the beginning, it was Anne, Ben – and the Marine Corps.

Ben enlisted in the Marines right out of high school and served in the reserves while he finished college at Eastern Illinois University in his hometown of Charleston, Ill. He'd grown up wanting to be a Marine. He liked the dashing uniforms, the chivalry. To him, Marines seemed like modern-day knights.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040911/images/2004-09-11deploy.jpg

JOHN GASTALDO / Union-Tribune
Ben Everett, a Camp Pendleton Marine, spent a last night out on the town with his wife, Anne, before shipping out for his second deployment to Iraq.

Anne also grew up in Illinois, about three hours away, and went to Eastern Illinois on a speech scholarship.

They met in a Bible study group on campus.

Anne thought Ben was cute, but with his short hair and serious demeanor, she figured he was older, especially when someone told her he was a Marine who had just returned from Korea.

Ben found Anne strikingly attractive with her auburn hair and outgoing personality. But he didn't want to date in college. He didn't need the distractions; he was serious about schoolwork and committed to being a Marine.

Their romance started with a note passed in a class.

Anne saw on her calendar that it was the Marine Corps' birthday, so she wrote a note wishing Ben a happy birthday. He wrote back, playfully, that she shouldn't write of things she didn't know about.

Undeterred, she sent the note back, this time with a sketch of a shark on it. He doodled on the sheet, putting a grenade in the shark's mouth and a man with a rifle.

Anne kept the note, which now hangs in a frame on their kitchen wall.

Early in their relationship, the couple talked about the Marines, how it could be a tough life. Ben said Anne seemed to understand what it would take to be married to a Marine, the sacrifices, the frequent moves.

"No one knows what they are getting into," Ben said. "I didn't even know what I was getting into. But I think she had a lot better idea than some of my peers."

They finished college Dec. 17, 2000. He was commissioned the next day.

The couple married 13 days later. Then they packed up and drove to Quantico, Va., where he reported to active duty Jan. 6, 2001.



Because Anne has a heart condition, the couple had planned to hold off on having children for at least five years, until she got a pacemaker. One of her heart valves doesn't work properly, and sometimes her blood pressure drops so low that she passes out.

But their plans changed last fall when Anne went to the base clinic for a flu shot. Her period was late, so a nurse drew blood just in case. She came back and told Anne she was pregnant.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040911/images/deploy3.jpg

JOHN GASTALDO / Union-Tribune
Ben, a first lieutenant, left home at 4:20 a.m. yesterday with his wife and daughter. He was one of about 300 Camp Pendleton Marines who deployed to Iraq that day.

Anne assumed the woman had picked up the wrong chart. "No, I'm Anne Everett," she said.

The nurse checked the name on the file and repeated her news.

Anne fainted.

The baby didn't seem real to Ben until he saw the first sonogram. Anne didn't feel like a mother-to-be until her friends threw her a shower and she opened the first gift, a playpen.

Anne wondered if she should get the pacemaker during her pregnancy, but three of the four cardiologists she consulted suggested she wait. Her pregnancy went smoothly and though her labor was long, Audrey arrived without any problems.



Wartime means casualties – and military families have to prepare for that possibility.

Anne was reminded of that last month at a meeting of the battalion's Key Volunteer Network, a group of Marine spouses that organizes activities and stays in touch with families. Anne writes the group's newsletter.

As she held Audrey, asleep with a yellow blanket covering her feet, the discussion turned to what happens when a Marine is injured or killed during deployment.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040911/images/deploy4.jpg

JOHN GASTALDO / Union-Tribune
Anne Everett held her 7-week-old daughter, Audrey, during a trip to the pediatrician's office at Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton. The baby developed a viral infection days before her father, Ben, was to leave for Iraq.

continued.......

[thedrifter]

The battalion's commanding officer, Lt. Col. Pat Malay, warned that spouses might hear about casualties in phone calls or e-mails from the front lines, but he said they shouldn't pass along the news until the official notifications take place.

"I want to assure you we will do our absolute best when it comes to these sensitive issues like casualty calls," he said. "We are going to do it well in this battalion."

They went over three scenarios.

If a Marine is killed, a chaplain and several officers in dress uniform notify the family in person. If a Marine is injured, the family is notified by phone. If the injury is serious, officers follow up with a visit.

At one point, Anne asked what the officers would be wearing on a visit after a Marine was injured: Would they be in formal uniforms or informal cammies?

"I don't think I could handle a phone call, find out he was injured and then have them come over in dress blues. I would wonder what happened, if it got worse," she said after learning they would arrive in camouflage. "I want to know what to expect. I like to know what is going to happen next."

Anne distinctly remembers the day last year when a helicopter from Camp Pendleton went down in Iraq. The media reported the deaths long before the Marines made formal notification.

Several of Anne's neighbors were married to helicopter crewmen. They all stood outside their apartments, holding phones in their hands, waiting to see if a car would stop at their home.

As it turned out, the men who died didn't live in her complex.

Anne doesn't watch much TV news about the war anymore. Instead, she searches the Internet for details about specific units, such as her brother's battalion. He, too, is in Iraq.

"They get stuff wrong and then they retract it," she said. "It gets in your heart."



Ben spent his last weeks at home busy with his job as the executive officer of a weapons company in 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, and growing into his new role as daddy.

He was a natural, willingly changing diapers and quick to hold his baby.

He remembered reading in one of Anne's pregnancy books about a father who worried he might not be able to bond with the baby if he wasn't in the room when her or she was delivered. Ben rolled his eyes at that problem but wondered, what if you leave your child for seven months before she's even 8 weeks old?

"She'll be 8 or 9 months old when I get back," he said.

There were more immediate concerns, as well.

Eleven days before Ben was to deploy, Anne took Audrey to the doctor. The baby had her first illness, a viral infection with a nasty cough and vomiting.

At one point, Audrey stopped eating and doctors wanted to keep her overnight at the hospital. Anne persuaded them to let her go home, and she kept the baby propped up all night.

On one evening during the exhausting week, Anne realized she hadn't showered in two days. After Ben got home from work, he ran a bath for her and took over watching Audrey.

Anne wonders how she will cope being the lone parent for the next seven months.



Ben hasn't decided whether he's going to stick with the Marines as a career. Sometimes he thinks about getting a civilian job that isn't so dangerous and so demanding.

"I take every tour one at a time," he said. "It is rough and it is tough sometimes. But I honestly think we both like that sacrifice. We trick ourselves into thinking that it is a service."

Until Ben returns, Anne has made many plans to keep busy. She has close friends in town who have promised to help her with Audrey and to give her a break when she needs one.

Her parents plan to make frequent visits to see their only grandchild. Anne intends to spend Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's with them in Illinois.

As his departure grew closer, Ben talked about how much he was going to miss seeing Audrey change and grow. "Can I be more homesick than I was last time, is that possible?" he asked. "I think it might be."

On Sunday, little Audrey gave her father a memory he will carry with him wherever he goes.

He had worked a long day, and Anne had taken dinner to his office. Audrey was lying on her back on the floor. As they watched, she began twisting her body toward them until, for the first time, she rolled over.



Nothing went smoothly during Ben's last 24 hours at home.

On Thursday night, a tire on their car went flat, so he and Anne ended up loading his gear into a borrowed SUV.

When they arrived at the staging area shortly before 5 o'clock yesterday morning, two senior members of Ben's company were late and the M-16 rifle clips that should have been loaded with rounds were still empty.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040911/images/deploy6.jpg

JOHN GASTALDO / Union-Tribune
With baby Audrey between them, Ben and Anne Everett, both 26, said a last prayer together before his departure. Anne tucked family photos into the Bible he took to Iraq. "Be safe. Come back," she said. "I will," he responded, "if you pray for me every day."


As Ben took charge, the soft voice he used with Audrey and Anne became taut, with an edge. Soon all that could be heard was the click-click of Marines loading cartridges into clips. Nearby, in the darkness, Audrey napped and Anne talked with others who had come to say their goodbyes.

While the first traces of light broke through the darkness, 300 Marines began filing onto the buses.

Ben and Anne leaned toward each other until their foreheads touched. With the baby between them and Ben's rifle dangling beside him, they quietly prayed.

Then came another glitch.

The Marines' departure to March Air Force Base was postponed because their flight to Kuwait had been pushed back. Everyone got off the buses, and for the next two hours Anne and Ben sat in the borrowed SUV, playing with their baby.

When word came again that it was time to go, Ben asked someone to watch Audrey, and he and Anne hurried together to the bus.

Ben was among the last to board. As soon as he sat down, he opened the window and grabbed for Anne's outstretched hand, his wedding ring glinting in the sun.

"Be safe. Come back," she said.

"I will, if you pray for me every day," he said.

The driver closed the door, and Anne stepped back.

"See you in April or May," Ben called out as the bus pulled away.

For a moment, Anne stood alone and stared. Turning, she walked to Audrey, waiting in the car.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Karen Kucher: (619) 542-4563; karen.kucher@uniontrib.com

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040911/images/deploy7.jpg

JOHN GASTALDO / Union-Tribune
The couple have tried to prepare for the dangers Ben faces in Iraq. He said this deployment, in which his battalion will help keep supply routes open, may be more dangerous than the last.

Photo gallery
http://www.signonsandiego.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=040911separated

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20040911-9999-lz1n11war.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

2nd BCT settles into Iraqi home


By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Saturday, September 11, 2004


CAMP RAMADI, Iraq — The volatile Sunni Muslim city of Ramadi will be in the 2nd Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team’s area of operations during a yearlong deployment to Iraq.

The brigade, known as the Strike Force, deployed to the Middle East from bases in South Korea last month and Saturday officially assumes responsibility for the area from the 1st Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team out of Fort Riley, Kan. The area comes under command of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, responsible for Al Anbar province, west of Baghdad.

Al Anbar province includes Ramadi, the even more violent nearby town of Fallujah and the long desert border with Syria to the west. Other key towns in the province are the border towns of Al Qaim, Hit and Al Asad.

The main Strike Force base in Iraq is Camp Ramadi, but soldiers from the brigade combat team will operate out of several other installations in and around Ramadi, officials said.

Al Anbar experienced violent flare-ups in April and June that resulted in firefights involving Marines in Ramadi and Fallujah. A truce was negotiated in Fallujah after the intervention of a group of former Iraqi army officers, but critics say it amounted to handing the city over to insurgents using it as a base for strikes against coalition forces.

The Associated Press reported this week that U.S. land forces commander Army Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz said assaults on Ramadi and Fallujah, as well as Baghdad’s Sadr City suburb are likely in the next four months as the Iraqi election in January draws near.

Ramadi is one of the most dangerous places in Iraq to work. The 1st ID has sustained more than 500 casualties, including 50 fatalities, during its deployment, officials said. But people living in the smaller villages and in the desert are perceived as friendly by U.S. troops.

Al Anbar encompasses a variety of environments, from harsh, dry desert conditions to moist, fertile farmland near the Euphrates River and the massive lakes Habbaniyah and Thar-Thar. Marines patrol the waterways in small boats and search islands for weapons caches, officials said.

The lakes are tourist attractions for Iraqis, who swim and catch fish in them. But soldiers are not allowed to swim, especially in the Euphrates, which has a strong undertow, officials said.

The standard of living for Iraqis living in Ramadi appears to be good compared with other parts of the country. The city has electricity, running water, police and fire departments, hospitals and an ambulance service, schools and markets.

A significant increase in vehicles on the streets over the past year is evidence of increasing economic activity, soldiers said. The 1st ID has been involved in numerous civil affairs projects, most notably repairing Ramadi’s water system, which was inoperative when the unit arrived, officials said.

Agriculture is a major industry in Al Anbar Province, with many families breeding sheep or goats for their own sustenance. In downtown Ramadi, sheep are slaughtered in the streets and markets sell a variety of produce including melons, fruits such as dates, pomegranates.

The bases that Strike Force occupies vary from a featureless moonscape to the relatively pleasant palm groves at Camp Ramadi. Soldiers there eat the sugary dates that drop from the trees.

Summer temperatures in Al Anbar reach 115 degrees, cooler than the scorching temperatures of up to 138 degrees that Strike Force soldiers saw in Kuwait, where they stopped en route from South Korea.

Late October is the rainy season in the province when persistent, annoying drizzle turns Camp Ramadi, which is affected by groundwater from the Euphrates, into a mud pit, 1st ID soldiers said. In winter, the mercury drops to near freezing, making for some chilly patrols and observation posts.

But many local children do not seem to notice, wearing shorts and T-shirts year-round, the soldiers said.

Camp Ramadi, a former Iraqi army garrison, includes barracks buildings, five Morale Welfare and Recreation facilities, gymnasiums for each battalion stationed there, a post exchange, several basketball and volleyball courts, a soccer field, two softball fields and a horseshoe pit.

All four services work there — Marines, Army, Air Force observers and Navy Seabees. The most visible landmarks near Camp Ramadi are the tall smokestacks of a glass factory that has provided glass ashtrays for some soldiers at the camp.

The base gets rocketed or mortared two to three times a week but the insurgents’ accuracy is low. So far, only one mortar has done major damage, landing among a group of Seabees and killing six personnel a few months ago.

After two weeks of living at Camp Ramadi, Capt. Charles Romero, 37, of Fresno, Calif., is settling into his new home.

“The area reminds me a bit of the Southern Californian desert. It’s a little hotter, but it doesn’t really bother me,” said Romero, of Headquarters and Headquarters Company. “It’s better than the humidity of South Korea.”

Sgt. Jaimee Torres, 24, of Puerto Rico and a 2nd Forward Support Battalion soldier who is living at a camp dubbed TQ, said arriving at the base was a sort of homecoming. He served there on one of two previous Iraq tours, he said.

There have many improvements at the camp, including provision of MWR facilities for every company based there, more air conditioning and better force protection, he said.

“Small-arms fire doesn’t really happen. It’s much safer than Fallujah,” he said, having served a tour there with the 82nd Airborne.

Torres said he has spent three of the last four years deployed: two previous tours to Iraq, one to Afghanistan and one to South Korea.

Lt. Col. Mike Cabrey, commander of the 1st ID’s 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery Regiment, said a year in Al Anbar Province goes by quickly.

“Measure each day by doing something that makes your own life better here,” he said. “The same attention to detail that causes you to be focused on everything you do should be the same the last day as the first day. Nothing is routine. It is serious business every time you go out.”

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=24298


Ellie