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thedrifter
09-23-04, 05:44 AM
Marine awarded for lifesaving actions on convoy <br />
Submitted by: 1st Force Service Support Group <br />
Story Identification #: 20049222249 <br />
Story by Sgt. Enrique S. Diaz <br />
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CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq (Sept....

thedrifter
09-23-04, 05:45 AM
Two Marines are gone but not forgotten
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 2004922103819
Story by Lance Cpl. Graham Paulsgrove



CAMP SNAKE PIT, Iraq (Sept. 19, 2004) -- "They gave the ultimate sacrifice so others may live a better life," said Lt. Col. Randoll Newman.

Riflemen, Lance Cpl. Gregory Howman and Pfc. Jason Poindexter, with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, were killed in action while in contact with enemy insurgents.

"We come together to honor two of our fellow warriors who did their duty to the utmost and paid the ultimate sacrifice for it," said Newman, battalion commander, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. "There's probably no greater honor we can give than to forever remember that and conduct ourselves in a manner that reflects respect for that."

Howman, a Mecklenburg, N.C., native was killed Sept. 16. He is survived by his father, Gary Howman and nine siblings and was known as a fearless leader.

"He was fearless, unhesitant, willing and professional, and he died doing his job as well as any Marine has or ever will," said Cpl. Eugene Harper, a team leader with 1st Platoon, Company E, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. "He will be with us and watching over us while we are on patrol, on post, in trucks or on rooftops. He will be missed by all."

"As a leader, he was the perfect Marine," said 2nd Lt. Nathan Kurland, 1st Platoon commander with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. "He never complained about anything and he always did what he was told, even with a big goofy smile on his face. More importantly, members of 1st Platoon knew him as a friend."

Poindexter, a Green Tom, Texas, native was killed Sept. 12. He is survived by his parents, Sharon Westbrooke and Samuel Poindexter, and was known as a good man.

"I will always remember Poindexter because he had the biggest heart out of anybody I have ever known," said Lance Cpl. Brian Marren, a rifleman with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine regiment, 1st Marine Division.

"I once asked him why he joined the Marine Corps, and his answered surprised me. He didn't join for God and country, it wasn't because of 9/11, he did it simply to set a good example for his brother," said 2nd Lt. Ryan Schramel, 2nd Platoon commander with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. "That was simply the type of man Pfc. Poindexter was. He was a good man, and a damn fine Marine."

They did their job honorably, paving the way for a future of stability and freedom in Iraq, their sacrifice will not be forgotten.

"The enemy has struck our heart but has only strengthened our will to fight," said Harper. "Let us go on now, with our heads up and do our jobs because that is what they would want us to do. We owe them our best efforts to honor their sacrifice."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/2004922105645/$file/2-5Memorial15lr.jpg

A pair of dog tags hangs on each rifle belonging to two Marines who have fallen in the line of duty. Lance Cpl. Gregory Howman was killed by enemy fire Sept. 16 and Pfc. Jason Poindexter was killed by enemy fire Sept. 12. A memorial ceremony was held for the two Marines Sept. 19 at Camp Snake Pit, Iraq.
(Official USMC photo by SSgt. Nathaniel Garcia)
Photo by: SSgt. Nathaniel Garcia

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/1879E6447F22C47F85256F17005069E9?opendocument


Ellie

thedrifter
09-23-04, 05:45 AM
Vets Seek Support For Unit <br />
Associated Press <br />
September 22, 2004 <br />
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CUMBERLAND, Md. - When Army reservists from the 372nd Military Police Company are welcomed home Friday at a belated public...

thedrifter
09-23-04, 05:46 AM
Transport troops' return proves hellos much easier than goodbyes
September 22,2004
MIKE SHERRILL
DAILY NEWS STAFF

Hellos are much easier than goodbyes. The hugs and tears are founded in joy and possibilities instead of worry.

And for Marines in a Camp Lejeune transportation battalion, Tuesday brought family and friends instead of another day on a dangerous desert road.

About 200 troops from the 2nd Transportation Support Battalion, 2nd FSSG, returned in charter busses to banners and balloons after seven months in Iraq.

For most, it was a reunion, like Cpl. Bernard Ocharo, who cradled his 4-year-old son, Adrian.

The boy is old enough to know his father was gone, wife Irene said, even if he didn't know how dangerous a mission can be.

"He just missed him," she said.

For some, like Lance Cpl. Obed Sexton, the day came with a surprise, his in the form a custom chopper adorned in Marine Corps globe and anchor emblems, built by his dad during late nights in the last five weeks.

From Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the family was delayed in crafting the bike by recent storms, but as they made the trek up I-95, they got as many stares as they did Tuesday in Lejeune.

"I think he was just kind of dumbfounded," Steve Sexton said.

"It's getting more attention than I am," Obed Sexton's wife, Maria, said.

Lance Cpl. Seth Schiffman will also be greeted when he returns home to New Jersey by a new Jeep Cherokee. Arriving home with a small group Saturday, he was on duty unloading bags Tuesday.

His mother, Carol Schiffman, joining the large welcome home party, said the family bought the Jeep, the exact make, model and price he wanted, in June.

"He's never seen it. He's never ridden in it," she said. "He has no idea that we decorated it all up for him."

In the last seven months, the battalion ran convoys, supported aircraft and fixed vehicles that broke. The suffered long days, and weather that ranged from freezing to sweltering.

"A lot of the work was not the most glorious stuff. But they were professionals," Lt. Kate Marshall said. "And we brought everyone home in basically one piece."

Lance Cpl. Serafin Lopez was looking forward to a hot shower, regular food and a chance to relax. But he knows he has some work ahead - the roof in his Palm Bay, Fla., home collapsed in Hurricane Frances.

But after fixing broken vehicles, sometimes convoyed in the field, where stationary object are target, Lopez didn't seem to mind the impending repairs.

"You got to stay moving in the desert," he said. "We only had about 15 minutes to decide what we were doing. (Now) I just want to catch up with family."

Family was the theme Tuesday, many exhilarated and exhausted.

Michigan Mom Vanessa Mudloff, herself a bus driver, her son part of the support convoys, giggled and snapped photos.

"I'm so excited I can't you," she said.

Her son Lance Cpl. Robert Mudloff picked up his sea bags and sighed.

"No, no more pictures, Mom."


Contact Mike Sherrill at msherrill@jdnews.com or 353-1171, Ext. 237.


http://www.jdnews.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=25857&Section=News


Ellie

thedrifter
09-23-04, 05:48 AM
Sarasota Marine wins Bronze Star for heroism in Iraq

By MIKE SAEWITZ



mike.saewitz@heraldtribune.com

SARASOTA -- It was just before 10 a.m. that day in April when 400 Iraqi insurgents surrounded the government compound in Al Kut, a town southeast of Baghdad.

"We're under attack!" came the voice over the radio, from one of 87 people trapped inside. "You guys need to come in and get us."

Listening from a base about a mile away, Marine Corps Maj. Jamie Purmort of Sarasota had not slept for 60 hours. "I was already burned," he said.

But the firepower control team officer began doing what he was trained to do: play chess in the sky, lining up aircraft with enough strategical precision to kill the right people.

To target the six insurgents hiding in the trees, Purmort sent in AC-130 gunships. To frighten the insurgents into hiding, he used the Apache helicopter, with a few warning shots to let the Iraqis know they were not playing around.

After the shooting had gone for hours, he sent in the Apache again to scare the fighters away long enough for the 87 people to slip away from the compound unharmed.

His work that day prevented a "strategic disaster," one high-ranking official wrote.

It also earned him a Bronze Star, which he received Sunday in West Palm Beach.

"We knew how important it was that the (Central Provisional Authority) maintain its presence, maintain its dignity," he said. "That was the message we tried to send … That, and we'll be back."

Roughly eight months after going to Iraq, Purmort, 34, returned in June to his normal life as an insurance agent for his father's company and junior varsity football coach at Sarasota High.

He told his family about the incident that earned him the medal. But he didn't even know about the award until Friday, two days before he accepted it.

"He's very modest about it," said his father, Wells Purmort of Purmort, Martin, and Mercier Insurance Agency. "Nobody in our office knows. We're very proud of him. It's a neat deal."

The elder Purmort says he always knew his son was bound for heroism.

In 1991, after college in North Carolina, Purmort enlisted in the Marine Corps, which took him to such places as Hawaii, Japan and Cuba. Two years later, he began officer candidate school and served on active duty until 1997.

He was in the inactive reserve until 1999 and then joined a West Palm Beach reserve unit, the 4th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company.

Last year, he and his team of seven Marines were sent to Al Kut to lend o lend support to the Ukrainian Brigade Combat Team.

In the small town, he and friends used to joke about the fact that he was the highest-ranking American in the region, which he said made him seem more important than he really was.

He said his unit had been active for the most part. But April 6 was unlike any other day he had in Iraq.

Purmort himself was fired on as he tried to man six different radio lines that day. He perched on a Humvee as sniper bullets whizzed by his ears and skipped by his feet.

But he rolled to the ground and kept talking, kept directing, until the attack on his own unit died down.

"That Major Purmort's team was able to accomplish this was … noteworthy," wrote a Marine Corps official in recommending Purmort for the award. "That they were able to do this while taking and returning significant fire was herculean."

Two other Marines, Staff Sgt. Derrick Leath of Coral Springs and Staff Sgt. Andre Rivera of Boynton Beach, were also awarded the Bronze Star for their actions during the attack.
http://shimg.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=SH&Date=20040922&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=409220327&Ref=AR&Profile=1006&MaxW=250

STAFF PHOTO / ROB MATTSON

Marine Corps Maj. Jamie Purmort of Sarasota stands for a portrait with the Bronze Star citation he earned for actions this year in Iraq. Purmort is a reservist with the 4th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040922/NEWS/409220327/1006/SPORTS&Page=2


Ellie

thedrifter
09-23-04, 05:49 AM
9/11 was Marine's call to duty


By JAY PRICE, Staff Writer

Lance Cpl. Greg Howman, 28, of Charlotte was killed Sept. 15 in an ambush during a night patrol in Ramadi, Iraq, his sister said.
The 6-foot-5-inch former high school baseball player was on his second tour in Iraq, said Rebecca Lehmann, 30, of Navarre, Fla. An explosion sprayed him with shrapnel; he lived for less than 15 minutes.

Howman's unit had been one of the first to invade Iraq last year when the war started and had gone to Baghdad and beyond. Even after a 10-month tour, he returned to Iraq eagerly, Lehman said.

"He loved it," she said. "He thought the people were wonderful, and the kids were wonderful, and he really believed in what we were doing there."

Lehmann last saw Howman when he went to her home six weeks ago on leave to bury their mother, Hannah Howman, 64.

Howman told his sister that the job had become more dangerous on his second tour in Iraq, but he still believed in the war.

Howman's father, Gary, lives in Charlotte, and the family gathered at his home this week.

Howman had wanted to be a Marine since he was a child but stopped talking about it after he graduated from Olympic High School and got a job. Then came the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and he signed up, even though he knew he would be older than most of the troops. In photos taken in Iraq, Lehmann said, he always wore a smile, and he was unwavering in his belief in his mission.

"It's not often you can say someone lived a full life in 28 years, but my brother did," she said. "And if he could have picked any way to go, this would have been it."

Howman will be buried Sept. 29 at Arlington Cemetery with full military honors.

(News researcher Brooke Cain contributed to this report.)

Staff writer Jay Price can be reached at 829-4526 or jprice@newsobserver.com.
News researcher Brooke Cain contributed to this report.

http://naowc-proxy.nandomedia.com/images/xtq_photos/2004-1/xtq_20040922-images/reg-660059-390666.jpg

Howman was eager to go to Iraq.

http://newsobserver.com/news/story/1661156p-7892868c.html


Ellie

thedrifter
09-23-04, 05:50 AM
Bridge dedicated to honor Marine

GALLATIN — An enormous American flag flapped in the background as the family of Marine Cpl. Patrick Nixon, the first Tennessean killed in combat in Iraq, stood teary-eyed as a bridge was dedicated yesterday to his memory.

''It is only fitting that a bridge should be named for Patrick, since it was at a bridge where he gave his life helping unlock the door to rid the world of that monster, Saddam Hussein,'' said David Nixon of Gallatin, the honoree's father and himself a former Marine.

Cpl. Nixon was part of a unit that was ambushed March 23, 2003, while trying to secure a bridge at Nasiriyah. He was one of eight Marines initially declared missing and was confirmed dead seven days later. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

The Sumner County Board of Commissioners decided to honor the Marine in naming the bridge over the Gallatin bypass on State Route 386.

David Nixon said his son was always trying to bridge gaps by urging his family and friends to get along, so it is only fitting that a bridge should symbolize the American spirit of getting along — even with different viewpoints, religions and ideas.

— Jane Stegmeier,

The (Gallatin) News Examiner

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/04/09/58141410.shtml?Element_ID=58141410


Ellie

thedrifter
09-23-04, 10:26 AM
Militants Claim to Have Killed Italians

CAIRO, Egypt - A militant group claimed in a Web posting Thursday that two Italian women taken hostage in Iraq (news - web sites) had been killed, a day after another group made a similar statement. Neither claim could be immediately verified.


Italy cast doubt on the claims, saying the communiques could be part of a terrorism campaign through the media.


"Italian intelligence services have confirmed ... that they believe these claims to be completely unreliable," Enzo Bianco, a lawmaker who heads the parliamentary commission overseeing secret services, told Italian news agencies.


"I urge caution because this will be a long and complicated story. A war through the media is under way," Bianco added.


The new posting about the purported beheadings of Simona Pari and Simona Torretta appeared on a little-known Web site and was signed by a group calling itself the Supporters of al-Zawahri. That group's name refers to Ayman al-Zawahri, a deputy of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden (news - web sites).


That same group was the first to claim responsibility for the Sept. 7 capture of the two women.


A second militant group, the Islamic Jihad Organization in Iraq, also claimed to be holding the two women. On Wednesday, a purported statement from the group had said the two aid workers were killed because Italy had ignored demand to withdraw troops from Iraq.


The latest statement from the other group promised that video of the slayings would be released.


"The heads of the two criminal agents of Italian intelligence, Simona Pari and Simona Toretta have been chopped off by knife without pity or mercy," said the claim. "The video of cutting off the heads of the two Italian hostages will be issued soon."


The statements were impossible to verify immediately.


Pari and Torretta, both 29, were seized from their Baghdad offices by armed militants on Sept. 7. They worked for "Un Ponte Per ..." ("A Bridge to ...") and were involved in school and water projects in Iraq.


The Supporters of al-Zawahri first claimed to have kidnapped the women on Sept. 10, three days after they were seized in their Baghdad office. In an Internet statement at the time, the group accused the Italian government of helping U.S. soldiers abuse Iraqi prisoners and gave Italy 24 hours to pledge to release all Muslim women held in Iraqi prisons.


In its posting Thursday, the group defended the beheadings by saying they were a response to numerous alleged events apart from the failure to release all Muslim women in Iraqi prisons.


The group accused the Italian troops of committing "brutal bloody massacres" in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriyah and accused "Crusader Zionist troops in Iraq" of raping Muslim women and men. It also referred to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's remark that Western civilization was superior to Islamic civilization, calling it a "humiliation." Berlusconi had apologized for the remark.


The demand that female prisoners be freed was also made by the Iraqi insurgents who kidnapped two Americans and a Briton last week. The Americans were beheaded this week after the U.S. forces refused to free two Iraqi women in their custody and militants said the third was next.


The demands appear to be a militant attempt to tap into widespread disgust in the Arab world over the U.S. abuse of Iraqi men at Abu Ghraib prison as well as strong feelings about female honor in the Muslim world.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&ncid=535&e=2&u=/ap/20040923/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_italian_hostages

Ellie

thedrifter
09-23-04, 10:33 AM
Marine receives combat meritorious promotion <br />
Submitted by: I Marine Expeditionary Force <br />
Story Identification #: 200492205911 <br />
Story by Lance Cpl. K. T. Tran <br />
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CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq -- (Sep. 22,...

thedrifter
09-23-04, 11:07 AM
U.S. Hopes To Retake Rebel Areas
International Herald Tribune
September 21, 2004

Faced with a growing insurgency and a January deadline for national elections, U.S. commanders in Iraq say they are preparing operations to open up rebel-held areas, especially Falluja, the restive city west of Baghdad now under control of insurgents and Islamist groups.

A senior U.S. commander said the military intended to take back Falluja and other rebel areas by the end of the year. He did not set a date for an offensive but said that much would depend on the availability of Iraqi military and police units, which would be sent to the areas once they were retaken.

The U.S. commander suggested that operations in Falluja could begin as early as November or December, the deadline the Americans had given themselves for restoring Iraqi government control across the country.

"We need to make a decision on when the cancer of Falluja is going to be cut out," the U.S. commander said. "We would like to end December at local control across the country.

"Falluja will be tough," he added.

At a minimum, the U.S. commander said, local conditions would have to be secure for voting to take place in the country's 18 provincial capitals for the election to be considered legitimate. U.S. forces have lost control over at least one provincial capital, Ramadi, in Al Anbar Province, and have only a tenuous grip over a second, Baquba, the capital of Diyala Province, northeast of Baghdad. Other large cities in the region, like Samarra, are largely in the hands of insurgents.

Senior officials at the United Nations are concerned that legitimate elections might not be possible unless the security conditions change. Violence against U.S. forces surged last month to its highest level since the war began last year, with an average of 87 attacks per day. A string of deadly attacks in the past month continued on Saturday, with a car bombing that killed at least 19 people in the northern city of Kirkuk.

At the same time, the Americans and the Iraqi interim government appear to be giving negotiations to disarm the rebels a final chance. Members of the Mujahedeen Shura, the eight-member council in control of Falluja, said they were planning to come to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi officials to talk about disarming the rebels and opening the city to Iraqi government control.

"Although the Americans have lied many times, we are ready to start negotiations with the Iraqi government," said Qasim Muhammad Abdul Sattar, a member of the shura.

Ahmed Hardan, a doctor in Falluja who was to take part in the negotiations starting Sunday, said that at least some members on the council might be willing to strike a deal with the Americans.

Under the proposal to be discussed, Hardan said, the guerrillas would turn over their heavy weapons and allow a military force gathered from around Al Anbar Province to enter the city. That unit would replace the Falluja Brigade, the local militia composed almost entirely of insurgents and former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, which was formed in an effort to bring an end to the insurgency after an assault by U.S. Marines was halted in April. The Falluja Brigade was routed by the insurgents, and the Iraqi government disbanded it this month.

The Iraqi government will also demand that the insurgents turn over their heavy weapons and that foreign fighters leave the city.

Similar negotiations, also at the threat of force, appear to have borne some fruit in the city of Samarra. American military forces entered Samarra last week for the first time in months and are hoping they can restore Iraqi government control there before the elections.

The driving force behind the coming military operations is concern that under the current security conditions, voting will not be possible in much of the Sunni Triangle, the area generally north and west of Baghdad that has generated most of the violence against the U.S. enterprise in Iraq.

"Bad elections will open wounds rather than heal them," said Ghassan al-Atiyyah, the director of the Iraqi Foundation for Development and Democracy, an independent governance group here. "If the Sunnis do not vote, then you could end up with a polarized parliament that could lead to civil war."

Still, Iraqi and UN officials say they have begun preparations to hold the elections across the country despite the chaotic security environment.

Ellie

anglico9295
06-18-09, 08:35 PM
I would like to contact Gunny Morales or any other member of FCT 8 1st Anglico who served from1992-1995. Please Email me at rosemary.tovar@yahoo.com
Cpl Tovar,Mark A