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thedrifter
10-02-04, 06:09 AM
Mortar men set aside mortars for heavy machine guns
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 200410154421
Story by Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Garcia



CAMP HURRICANE POINT, Iraq (Sept. 29, 2004) -- Whether riding down the streets of Iraq positioned behind a 50-caliber machine gun turret or in the back of an armored vehicle, they look like any other rifleman in the Marine Corps.

But these Marines aren't riflemen, they're mortar men with Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. Normally, they are an independent group of Marines with the capability of unleashing the destructive power of 81mm mortars on the enemy from a distant position. In Iraq, they will ride and fight alongside their fellow Marines on the ground.

"Every person in those vehicles is doing something completely different from what they are used to," said1st Lt. Paul Callahan, 31, native of Trout Run, Pa., and former 81mm mortar platoon commander for 2/5. "Our 81mm mortar platoon was split in half and integrated into combined arms anti-tank platoons. Basically we are operating as mobile assault platoons."

When the mortar men got the order assigning them to heavy machine guns, these Marines cancelled their scheduled training with mortars and started training to operate machine guns and handle various other tasks.

"What we did for six weeks was train the mortar men as vehicle commanders, machine gunners, drivers and radio operators so we could operate as a movable force for escort missions, raids, cordon and searches and whatever might be tasked," said Callahan. "Some of these drivers didn't even have a drivers license, so the first time they've really driven is here in country in combat."

By taking on these new roles, the mortar men would be able to reduce the amount of damage that mortars are known for causing.

"The mortars were set aside to reduce the amount of collateral damage," said Sgt. Aaron Cadorette, 29, a platoon sergeant with Weapons Company. "Mortars have a large kill radius. It is overkill. This type of environment doesn't call for it. This way, we are on the ground and in the streets were we need to be."

Although there currently isn't a need for the mortars, Cadorette and his fellow mortar men haven't put them out of their minds.

"They are on standby though," said Cadorette, a native of Twining, Mich. "We have them here with us. If they said get them, we can easily break them out."

Although mortars aren't being utilized, Weapons Company has many tasks for their Marines to handle while in Iraq. Currently, Weapons Company is the quick reaction force for the battalion. Within the company, mortar men can be called on to provide escorts, assist in raids, sweep roadsides for improvised explosive devices, conduct cordon and searches and be the quick reaction force at the company level.

"The strength of the Marine Corps is the Marine's ability to adapt and overcome," said Callahan. "These Marines are no exception. They 're just as strong and reliable as any Marine before them."

And like many of the Marines before them, these mortar men hope to make a difference.

"It would be nice to be able to see that progress was being made, to see some changes or at least know progress has been made when we are finished," said Cadorette.

But before they go home, Cadorette hopes to eliminate as many insurgent fighters as possible in their area and do it with out losing any Marines.

"The Marines are doing an outstanding job," said Callahan. "They have been in a few firefights already and they conducted themselves brilliantly, putting down accurate suppressive fire and killing the enemy when they needed to, but also showing restraint when the situation dictated."

With the mortar men's new knowledge they only become more effective and efficient Marines.

"Part of being with Weapons Company means being a jack of all trades," said Lance Cpl. Edmond Parent, 22, a native of Berlinton, Vt., and a mortar man with Weapons Company. "I can jump behind anything in our arsenal and effectively deploy it or teach it."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/20041016258/$file/Mortarmen8lr.jpg

Private First Class Cory Miller, 20, a native of Wichita, Kan. and a machine gunner with Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, keeps a watchful eye on the roads as the sun goes down in Ar Ramadi, Iraq. Miller is the vehicle gunner for a group of mortar men who have been trained a variety of different duties. Miller and his fellow Marines conducted a cordon and search of the city Sept. 24. Their task was to sweep the roads searching for improvised explosive devices and block traffic while other Marines from 2/5 search for enemy on foot.
Photo by SSgt. Nathaniel Garcia
Photo by: SSgt. Nathaniel Garcia

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/F9A44407E548A1CB85256F2000357FB8?opendocument

Ellie

thedrifter
10-02-04, 06:09 AM
Marine corporal was "a kid at heart"

By Judy Chia Hui Hsu
Times Snohomish County Bureau

The drumming began and six Marines appeared in uniform. Their footsteps were silent as they walked down the aisle, escorting a casket covered by an American flag.

The audience then sang a somber rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

About 400 friends and family members, including more than 20 Marines, assembled at University Presbyterian Church in Seattle yesterday to celebrate the life of Lynnwood Marine Cpl. Steven Arnold Rintamaki, an active child, a talented musician and a constant jokester who matured into a caring young man.

Uplifting music and moments of laughter punctuated the memorial service as family and friends remembered the 21-year-old who died in a bomb explosion Sept. 16 in Iraq. They described Cpl. Rintamaki as a loving son, grandson, brother and friend who valued relationships above all else.

Myra Rintamaki of Lynnwood, who adopted her son when he was 8 months old, shared memories of him as a comedian, a violinist, a drummer, a skier, a model — Cpl. Rintamaki once worked for Nordstrom and The Bon Marché — and a Marine.

"He's a mischievous risk-taker," she said. "He searched for challenges all through his life, including in the Marines and Iraq."

The Rev. Kay Broweleit, who has known Cpl. Rintamaki since he was a boy, recalled when he played the violin to lead his youth camp in a call to worship, a rare moment of focus for the energetic child. "Steven was one of those boys that covered a lot of territory," she said.

Lindsay Rintamaki swallowed tears as she spoke about her brother. "A kid at heart," he was the only 5'10", 175-pound guy she'd seen with kids hanging from his limbs swinging like monkeys, his sister said.

Cpl. Rintamaki attended Meadowdale High School and Westside Place, a former private school in Seattle. A few years ago, he was reunited with his biological parents.

Stacey Malaspino Swinson, Cpl. Rintamaki's birth mother, who lives in Tacoma, said she cherishes the conversations they've been able to have for the past three years.




"I don't have the memories to share of Steven growing up," she said, sobbing. "Yet secretly, behind the shadows, I watched with such pride."

Swinson lauded her son's wisdom and said she will always remember one thing that he taught her: "Steven said to me, 'Love is the one true language in the world. Without it you have nothing.' "

Cpl. Rintamaki was a squad leader assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif. He died when a bomb exploded near the Humvee where he was a gunner in Iraq's Al Anbar province.

Marine Gunnery Sgt. Gary Bass, who recruited Cpl. Rintamaki into the Marine Corps, also paid tribute to Cpl. Rintamaki's character.

"He was very honorable and he was always above reproach," Bass said. "In my memories he will always be a hero, a patriot and a friend."

Donations to the Cpl. Steven A. Rintamaki Memorial Fund can be made to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, P.O. Box 3008, Princeton, NJ 08543, or by credit card to www.marine-scholars.org.

Judy Chia Hui Hsu: 425-745-7809 or jhsu@seattletimes.com


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/snohomishcountynews/2002050993_rintamaki01m.html


Ellie

thedrifter
10-02-04, 06:11 AM
Company C, BLT 1/4, Marine memorialized
Submitted by: 11th MEU
Story Identification #: 200410165141
Story by Cpl. Matthew S. Richards



FORWARD OPERATING BASE BAKER, Iraq (Oct. 1, 2004) -- Lance Cpl. Larry L. Wells was a warrior poet fighting for the Marine Corps and rapping in his spare time. He lived with the spirit of an ancient bard, and fought beside his fellow Marines in many intense battles. He was killed in action Aug. 6 deep in the holy Shia "Wadi al Salam" cemetery of An Najaf, Iraq.

He was the only Company C, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), Marine that died during the vicious fighting against Sadr's Mahdi Militia.

Company C paid their final tribute to him in the orange glow of the sunset here Sept. 12. Marines, soldiers, sailors and even American and Iraqi contractors took part in paying quiet respect during a solemn celebration of Wells' life among his fellow Marines.

"People say that Lance Cpl. Wells didn't die in vain, and they'll give you reasons like the cause is worthy or that we avenged his death. But I think the most important reason Wells didn't die in vain is because he didn't live in vain," said 1st Lt. Jeremy T. Sellars, Wells' platoon commander, 1st Platoon, Co. C.

Wells, a 22-year-old native of Mt. Hermon, La., was well remembered by his fellow Marines for his ability to smile, among his other talents.

"He was always making jokes and he was always happy," said Cpl. Marcus A. Cannon, Wells' team leader, 1st Platoon, Co. C.

Wells and Cannon came to know each other on their long journey aboard ship to Operation Iraqi Freedom I. Wells asked Cannon what he thought about a rap song he had written on ship.

"I didn't know him very well before that, and I guess he did that to just sort of break the ice," Cannon said. "After that we sort of hit it off and he was always singing."

The two fought together in OIF I and shared a barracks room together when they came back. Cannon remembers how Wells would be singing and writing "freestyle" rap songs to cheer up his fellow Marines in the worst of conditions.

"He was always willing to bring up the cheer of those around him that didn't seem to have it that day, and he never let it get to him no matter how long we were in one crappy place or another," Sellars said.

It didn't matter where they were. Wells was always writing his songs and sharing them with his fellow Marines. He wrote all kinds of songs to be serious and to inspire laughter.

"Even during the war, we'd be sitting in a fighting hole and he'd be writing them on a (Meal Ready-to-Eat) box," Cannon said. "They weren't always serious either. Sometimes he'd do them just to be funny."

Rapping became a common ground where the two grew to be friends.

"He was always trying to help me learn to do it," Cannon said. "He was trying to help me learn how to write the lyrics."
But Wells had a serious side also.

"He was definitely a pleasure to worth with and an honor to lead. At all times he was motivated. He'd stand right beside you, he worked and he made sure you worked," said Sgt. Phillip Ledesma, Well's squad leader, 1st Platoon, Co. C.

Wells even left that impression on his commanding officer.

"As the CO it's hard to get to know all of (my Marines) on a personal level. What I did know about Wells was that he was determined and motivated," said Capt. Matthew T. Morrissey, commanding officer, Co. C. "Those are two words that get thrown around quite a bit in the Marine Corps… probably too much. But in Wells case, they meant something."

But the friend that Cannon lost is what he remembers most.

"He was a close friend that was always there whether you needed him or not," Cannon said.

This camaraderie can be seen in part of the lyrics to one of Wells' songs that Cannon read aloud to the mourning onlookers.

"… I joined the Marine Corps; this is the country I live for
Just another band of brothers fighting for the freedom of each other
We're like brothers closer than Batman and Robin
Ya slip up and you're gonna get snuck, stowed and stuck up by all of us…"


http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200410165814/$file/040912-M-4358R-026lowres.jpg

Corporals Everett A. Brown, left, Joey W. McBroom, center, and Jason O. McFarlane, all with Company C, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), somberly hold a helmet, rifle and boots during a memorial at Forward Operating Base Baker, Iraq, Sept. 12, dedicated to Lance Cpl. Larry L. Wells, 1st Platoon, Co. C, who died during combat operations in An Najaf, Iraq, Aug. 6. Photo by: Cpl. Matthew S. Richards

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/AD1AA4076B1672A885256F20003BAA20?opendocument

Ellie

thedrifter
10-02-04, 06:12 AM
Issue Date: October 04, 2004

Man-hunting and mine ops
15th MEU tackles unique training to prepare for float

By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer


CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — As he prepares his force of 2,300 Marines and sailors for a deployment that is likely to include combat operations, Col. Thomas C. Greenwood has paid close attention to the battles Marines are fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In response, the commander of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit is ordering up a little extra training beyond the recently added exercise scenarios Marines go through before deployment to the war zones. The unit is expected to deploy in December.

Already, Marines undergo war zone-specific training that includes practice in convoy operations, identification of improvised explosives and combat patrolling in urban environments.

To build on what they’re learning in this training, Greenwood sent a group to Florida for an anti-terrorism course that included instruction in evasive driving techniques for avoiding a potential ambush or attack. Others recently attended a man-hunting course to learn the art of tracking, and another group went to Sacramento, Calif., to learn more about about caves and deep mines. Most of the Marines involved in the specialized training are with the MEU’s battalion landing team.

It’s definitely not the stuff of the usual pre-deployment MEU work-up, but the specialized courses give the Marines opportunity to train in unconventional ways.

Greenwood is a veteran of operations Uphold Democracy and Support Democracy, the 1994 military missions in Haiti, and former commander of 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines. He will take the 15th MEU on a Western Pacific and Persian Gulf deployment aboard three San Diego-based amphibious assault ships.

Whether the 15th MEU, which consists of Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines; Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 165; and MEU Service Support Group 15, will see orders to Iraq or Afghanistan is unclear. But Greenwood is getting his Marines ready.

Adding to his challenges is the short time frame.

For example, 1/1 only returned home from deployment in March, which left the battalion less time to train newly arrived Marines, he said.

“You’ve got 150 days [to train]. You have six months of workups, whatever you do,” he said. “Time is our worst enemy.”

Gidget Fuentes can be reached at (760) 677-6145 or gfuentes@marinecorpstimes.com.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-MARINEPAPER-367947.php

Ellie

thedrifter
10-02-04, 06:12 AM
Echo Company welcomed home


OCEANSIDE, Calif. - Herald Wire Services

Echo Company marched up one last arid road this Friday morning, a gently curved swath to a Southern California Marine base that marked the final 100 yards of a long, brutal voyage.

Seven months and 22 deaths after they shipped out, the Marines kept formation in the face of something that might make even the most disciplined warrior break ranks: a parking lot full of weepy moms and almost weepy dads, wives, scantily dressed girlfriends and beer-toting brothers, decorated family dogs and still-unseen newborns, their signs, banners, balloons and windshield decals all welcoming their boys home from Iraq.

Among the members of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division killed in April in Iraq was Pfc. Christopher Cobb, a Bayshore High School graduate.

Cobb's mother, Sheila, made the trip from Manatee County and carried a poster with pictures of her son and several other Marines. The poster also had newspaper obituaries of 12 of the dead Marines of the battalion.

The deaths of their sons had brought Sheila Cobb and Diane Layfield from Fremont, Calif., together. Layfield's son was Lance Cpl. Travis Layfield.

"Our sons were in the same Humvee," Cobb said. "My boy is dead, but I'm here to tell all the boys how much I love them."

After the buses brought the Marines here from March Reserve Air Force Base, they unloaded quickly. Marines sought out Cobb, Layfield and the others to embrace them, offer condolences and whisper private thoughts to them.

Mike Stanley from Snyder, Texas, vowed to keep it together when he welcomed home his son Robert. Eddie Waechter from outside Dallas toted a banner that cheered on his son Marcus, who survived an ambush that killed half his squad. Lana Adams, whose son Cody returned three weeks ago, came to welcome home his comrades, whose parents she befriended online as Echo Company endured one of the deadliest tours of duty any American unit has faced in Iraq.

The company's darkest days in early April were chronicled for Knight Ridder by Philadelphia Inquirer photographer David Swanson, who was embedded with the company in Ramadi, a hotbed of Iraq's Sunni Muslim insurgency.

"It just makes you want to cry to see them," said Doug Jones, on hand to welcome home his son Chris. "Two of my son's best friends were killed."

When the company was dismissed a little after 9 a.m. with a salute and a whooping cheer, the waterworks opened up on both sides.

"I'm just so happy he's home," said Noemy Bernardino, 19, of San Diego, alternately kissing her husband, Jose, and posing for pictures for friends. "I'm so glad he's safe. Just so glad. It's been hell these last seven months."

"I can't believe it," stammered Lance Cpl. Jose Bernardino.

That about summed it up. For the roughly 150 men who returned home on Friday, figuring out what it meant to be fighting in Iraq and what it would mean to be home in America could wait for another day.

"Relief," said Lance Cpl. Robert Stanley of his return. "It just feels good."

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Unified by their grief, the four parents of dead sons were compelled to be at this Marine base early Friday morning.

Sheila Cobb came from Tampa, Fla.; Sandra Aceves from Chula Vista, near San Diego; Mark Crowley from San Ramon in northern California; and Diane Layfield from Fremont, also in northern California.

All had sons killed in the Marines' months-long fight against insurgents in the Sunni Triangle city of Ramadi.

Tearful and determined, they wanted to be here when their sons' battalion returned home. Their sons were part of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, which has suffered more casualties than any Marine battalion in Iraq: 35 dead, 180 wounded and scores injured.

Layfield knew it would be difficult to watch her son's buddies return safely to their loved ones. But she said the idea of staying away was unthinkable.

"I needed to be here to support the other families," she said between sobs. "These were my son's brothers, so they're my sons, too. Travis would want me here." Layfield and other members of her family wore T-shirts adorned with a picture of Lance Cpl. Travis Layfield, 19. On the shirt's back was the notation: "KIA, April 6, 2004, Al Anbar Province."

Crowley, wearing a T-shirt with a picture of his son, Lance Cpl. Kyle Crowley, embraced Maj. John Harrill, operations officer for the battalion.

"He was only 18 years old, just 10 months out of high school," said Crowley, haltingly. "I really hadn't finished raising him yet. There was so much that he and I were going to do ... " Crowley, a sheet-metal worker, told Harrill that he would like to take him fishing. "Whenever you want," said Harrill.

Cobb carried a poster with pictures of her son, Pfc. Christopher Cobb, 23, and several other Marines. The poster also had newspaper obituaries of 12 of the dead Marines of the battalion.

The death of their sons had brought Cobb and Layfield together. "Our sons were in the same Humvee," Cobb said. "My boy is dead, but I'm here to tell all the boys how much I love them." After the buses brought the Marines here from March Reserve Air Force Base, they unloaded quickly. Marines sought out Cobb, Layfield, Crowley and Aceves to embrace them, offer condolences and whisper private thoughts to them.

"I'm Doc Mendez's mother. That's how I want to be remembered forever," said Aceves. Her son, Fernando Mendez-Aceves, 27, a Navy medic, was killed while trying to save the life of a wounded Marine.

"I'm so proud of my son, I'm proud of all of them," she said. "I wanted to come and be sure these boys got home safely." It was a morning of tears -- mostly tears of gladness that a seven-month ordeal was finally over, seven months when family members were terrified that every phone call and every knock on the door might bring the dreaded news.

"You're always on edge. It never leaves you, never," said Bruce Groves, father of Lance Cpl. Bill Groves, 20.

"You live day-by-day, prayer-by-prayer," said Pam Arneson, of Janesville, Wis., whose son is Lance Cpl. Gregg Arneson, 19.

"It was hell," said Paula West, whose husband is Sgt. Dustin West, 33.

As the casualties mounted, family members began to exist in a perpetual twilight.

"It's like your son has a terminal illness and you're just waiting each day to see if this is the day he's going to die," said Connie Moore of Waxahachie, Texas, mother of Sgt. Eric Smith, 22.

For the Groves, Arneson, West and Moore-Smith families, the news was good, and there was talk of reunions, steak dinners and trips back home where more family members, in some cases entire communities, await the Marines' return.

When the homecoming began to wind down, Layfield, who works for a company that publishes children's books, said she was glad she made the trip.

"After Travis was killed, I stayed away from people, I became a basket-case," she said quietly. "Today was good for me: to see they're all home. I just wish my son was with them."


http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/9755774.htm


Ellie

thedrifter
10-02-04, 06:13 AM
US troops take to river, opening new front against insurgents
By Thanassis Cambanis, Globe Staff | September 30, 2004

ON THE EUPHRATES RIVER, Iraq -- The three flat-bottomed boats ease onto the river under a full moon.

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It's 11 p.m., and First Lieutenant Andrew Thomas, 25, is hoping that on this night he'll catch some of the attackers who rocketed his base earlier in the day, and who have mortared American troops and Iraqi security forces in the area around Iskandariyah with impunity.

''There's a lot of mortar firing from the banks of the river, and we can get to that a lot faster than a vehicle can," Thomas said.

With a top speed of about 45 miles per hour, the Riverine Assault Craft can move in just 9 inches of water.

The US Marines just debuted patrols on the Euphrates in this part of Iraq, from the vicinity of Karbala to just south of Fallujah, about 60 miles away. Insurgents, the Marines believe, have used the river effectively to their advantage -- staging ambushes from across the water or using it as an escape route after planting roadside bombs.

With the riverboat patrols, the Marines are adding yet another facet to the counterinsurgency effort in Iraq, which according to officers faces persistent and ever-more sophisticated attacks.

Like the swift boats used in Vietnam, the assault crafts -- known as RACs -- intend to draw attacks as much as to surprise insurgents. Already, Thomas's crews have been attacked twice on the river, with machine guns as well as mortars. Other RAC teams have surprised attackers on islands near Fallujah.

This night they will patrol a 20-mile stretch, marked in the south by a major bridge over which pilgrims heading to Karbala, home to a Shi'ite shrine, are marching, and in the north by a hairpin turn in the river where Thomas' patrol was attacked two days earlier.

In that attack, the boats drew machine-gun fire. Within seconds, a mortar was fired into the river, missing the craft by less than 100 yards.

''That's organized insurgency," said Sergeant Andrew Vasey, 25. ''They probably had a forward observer, who fired the machine gun as a signal for the mortar."

Turning to the gunners, he shouts, ''Keep your fingers off the trigger unless you're shot at."

The boats' engines roar, belching diesel fumes, and the crew is off to comb the riverbank for insurgents who plant dozens of land mines on the highways and lanes that crisscross the heavily trafficked region south of Baghdad.

As they creep up the river, the boats emit a steady hum. All the lights are covered with black tape so the boats can't be seen at night. Armed with three heavy machine guns and a grenade launcher, and navigating by radar, the crew of six US Marines scans the riverbank with night-vision scopes, looking for suspicious movements.

The moon's glow illuminates riverfront villas and farmhouses, lighting the wakes of the boats. When a road appears alongside the river, the patrol boats slow down and hug the riverbank.

Thomas leans over the edge, peering intently through his night-vision scope. Private First Class Richard L. Rupert, knees bent, squares his shoulder and aims his machine gun at the date palm groves, prepared to fire.

After half an hour, two helicopter gunships call to say they're joining the patrol. They're barely visible overhead, but stay in constant radio contact.

At the northern limit of their patrol, the boats stop and move in formation toward the riverbank. Above, the helicopters arc in wide circles. ''This is where we got hit the other day," Thomas explains. ''We want to make sure there's nobody here now."

Satisfied after five minutes, Thomas orders the boats back downriver.

At midnight, the three RACs circle the bridge to Karbala. ''I don't want to see anybody near the bridge," Thomas radios to the other crews.

A family of five walks across the bridge overhead, appearing not to notice any of the boats quietly watching them.

Half an hour later, the boats return to their mooring. ''Nothing happened tonight and that's a good thing," Thomas said.

His boat's driver, Lance Corporal Jackson Wilson, disagreed.

The two helicopters, a Huey and a Cobra, carry a lot of firepower, he said: ''That would have been nice if we had gotten in a firefight."

Thanassis Cambanis can be reached at tcambanis@globe.com.

© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/09/30/us_troops_take_to_river_opening_new_front_against_ insurgents/

Ellie

thedrifter
10-02-04, 09:36 AM
October 01, 2004

Assault launched on insurgents in Samarra

By Zidan Khalaf
Associated Press


SAMARRA, Iraq — U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a major assault Friday to regain control of the insurgent stronghold of Samarra, trading gunfire with rebel fighters as they pushed toward the city center. The United States said 96 insurgents were killed.
Troops of the 1st Infantry Division, Iraqi National Guard and Iraqi Army moved into Samarra after midnight in a bid to secure government and police buildings in the city 60 miles north of Baghdad. As they advanced, insurgents attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, a military statement said.

Master Sgt. Robert Powell, a spokesman for the 1st Infantry Division, said 96 insurgents were believed killed during Friday’s clashes. Dr. Khalid Ahmed said at least 80 bodies and more than 100 wounded were brought to Samarra General Hospital, but it was not immediately clear how many of them were insurgents. The hospital was running out of bandages, oxygen and other supplies, Ahmed said.

One American soldier was killed and four were wounded, Powell said.

It was not known if the push into Samarra represented the start of a larger campaign to retake several cities that insurgents have rendered “no-go” zones for U.S. and Iraqi troops. Officials have said that recapturing those cities is key before nationwide elections scheduled for the end of January.

The offensive came a day after a string of bombings across the country that killed at least 51 people, including 35 children in a series of blasts as U.S. troops handed out candy at a government-sponsored celebration to inaugurate a sewage plant in Baghdad.

Residents cowered in their homes as tanks and warplanes pounded Samarra. The sound of shelling mixed with the crackle of automatic gunfire continued into the morning. At least three houses were flattened and dozens of cars charred, residents said.

“We are terrified by the violent approach used by the Americans to subdue the city,” said Mahmoud Saleh, a 33-year-old civil servant. “My wife and children are scared to death and they have not being able to sleep since last night. I hope that the fighting ends as soon as possible.”

During the push, soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division rescued a kidnapped Turkish construction worker who was being held in the city. He was identified as Yahlin Kaya, an employee of the 77 Construction Company in Samarra.

U.S. and Iraqi forces blocked the roads into the city to prevent insurgents from moving in and out, said Maj. Neal O’Brien, another spokesman for the 1st Infantry Division.

As Iraqi forces secured the Samarra bridge, American soldiers observed insurgents in speedboats loading ordnance on the banks of the Tigris River, the military statement said. Soldiers fired warning shots and the insurgents returned fire, prompting U.S. forces to destroy the boats, killing their occupants, the statement said.

Smoke was seen rising from the area around the Imam Ali al-Hadi and Imam Hassan al-Askari shrine, raising fears for one of the holiest sites for Shiite Muslims. O’Brien said the shrine was not damaged and Iraqi forces had secured the site.

“Coalition forces and Iraqi security forces will do everything possible to protect the valuable site from damage,” he said.

Along with U.S. troops, soldiers from the 202nd Iraqi National Guard Battalion and 7th Iraqi Army Battalion were taking part in the operation. Such formations would normally involve several thousand troops.

Water and electricity services were cut off, and troops ordered residents to stay off the streets as they moved from house to house in search of insurgents. A 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew was announced.

The offensive came in response to “repeated and unprovoked attacks by anti-Iraqi forces” against Iraqi and coalition forces, the military said in a statement. Its aim was to “facilitate orderly government processes, kill or capture anti-Iraqi forces and set the conditions to proceed with infrastructure and quality of life improvements.”

“Unimpeded access throughout the city for Iraqi security forces and multinational forces is non-negotiable,” the statement said.

The military said insurgent attacks and acts of intimidation against the people of Samarra had undermined the security situation in the city, regarded as one of the top three rebel strongholds in Iraq, along with Fallujah and the Baghdad slum known as Sadr City.

The Americans returned briefly on Sept. 9 under a peace deal brokered by tribal leaders under which U.S. forces agreed to provide millions of dollars in reconstruction funds in exchange for an end to attacks on American and Iraqi troops.

In recent weeks, however, the city witnessed sporadic clashes between U.S. troops and insurgents.

Masked gunmen carrying the flag of Iraq’s most feared terror group, Tawhid and Jihad, surfaced in force in Samarra on Tuesday, staging a defiant drive through the streets.

Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s Tawhid and Jihad group claimed responsibility for bloody attacks in Baghdad on Thursday, according to a statement posted on a militant Web site.

The authenticity of the statement could not be verified, and it was unclear whether the three “heroic operations” it cites — attacks on a government complex and “a convoy of invading forces” — included the bombs that killed the children.

Some of the children, who are near the end of a nationwide school vacation, said they were attracted to the neighborhood celebration by American soldiers handing out candy.

“The Americans called us. They told us: ‘Come here, come here,’ asking us if we wanted sweets. We went beside them, then a car exploded,” said 12-year-old Abdel Rahman Dawoud, lying naked in a hospital bed with shrapnel embedded all over his body.

Deputy Interior Minister Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal said intense military pressure on insurgents holed up in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, was forcing them to turn their bombs on the capital. He said the day’s attacks were “definitely coordinated.”

“They are killing citizens and spreading horror. They have no aims except killing as many Iraqis as they can,” Kamal told The Associated Press.

Earlier, a suicide attacker detonated a vehicle packed with explosives in front of a government complex in the Abu Ghraib area, on the western outskirts of Baghdad. The bombing killed a U.S. soldier and two Iraqi policeman and wounded more than 60 people, including three American soldiers.

U.S. forces guard the compound, which houses the mayor’s office, a police station and other buildings, police 1st Lt. Ahmed Jawad said.

In the northern city of Tal Afar on Thursday, a car bomb targeting the police chief killed at least four people and wounded 19, including five policemen, police and hospital officials said. The police chief escaped unharmed.


http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-382917.php

Ellie

thedrifter
10-02-04, 01:32 PM
Marines to get fishing trips




By Ed Zieralski
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
October 1, 2004

A group of Marines, healing from wounds suffered in Iraq, had a great day of sailing Sept. 18 on the Pacific.

The San Diego Rotary Club teamed with the San Diego Yacht Club to give the Marines a break from their painful and trying routines at Balboa Hospital. The five Marines and the wife of one of the Marines were treated to sailing and a barbecue at the San Diego Yacht Club.

But Paul Hartley, a member of the Rotary Club and the yacht club, said, "All the Marines could talk about that day was their desire to go fishing."

Hartley called Chuck Hope Jr., president of Hope Engineering and captain of the SDYC anglers, to see if any of the club's boat owners and fishermen would be interested in taking the Marines out for a day of fishing.

Hope is in the early stages of planning, but he already has committed his own boat to take injured Marines fishing the weekend of Oct. 23 or Oct. 30.

"This is the least we can do for fellow Americans who are willing to risk their lives to defend our country," Hope said. "My goal is to get at least 15 Marines out for the day."

Hartley, retired Navy and now in the insurance business, was busy yesterday with the Rotary Club's military affairs committee. He said the Rotary Club is trying to do whatever it can to support the military during the war in Iraq, particularly the wounded at Balboa Hospital.

The fishing outing will depend on how and where the fish are biting and how ambulatory the injured Marines are and whether they can handle the trip safely. It could be a local trip or one farther offshore for yellowfin or yellowtail.

In addition to private boats, sport fleet boats will be welcome to join in, Hartley said. He has contacted Bob Fletcher, president of the Sportfishing Association of California, to see if any sport boat owners might be interested.

As Mike Rivkin, a local representative to the International Game Fish Association, said, the invitation to take out an injured Marine is open to "anyone with a suitable boat and an ounce of red, white and blue in their veins."

Boat owners may call Chuck Hope Jr. at (619) 232-4673.


Noteworthy
Spiny lobster season opens tonight at 12:01 a.m. for divers and hoop-netters. The daily bag and possession limit is seven spiny lobsters. The minimum size is 3¼ inches, measured in a straight line on the midline of the back from the rear edge of the eye socket to the rear edge of the body shell. Be sure to carry a measuring device and measure the bugs before taking them out of the water or picking them out of a hoop net and stashing them on a boat.
Lobsters may only be taken by baited hoop nets or by hand. Fishermen are limited to five baited hoop nets each, and no more than 10 baited hoop nets may be fished from any vessel. Pier fishermen are permitted to fish two baited hoop nets.

Want to see the biggest lobsters taken on opening night? Werner Kurn, president of Ocean Enterprises, is celebrating the 25th anniversary of his shop's Largest Lobster Contest tomorrow at 9 a.m. at 7710 Balboa Ave., Suite 101 (off 805 in Kearny Mesa). Prizes, such as a regulator, wet suits and other diving gear, will be given for the 10 largest lobsters brought into Ocean Enterprises.

Kurn said his shop will be open all night tonight so divers can bring their lobsters in for the contest.

"We're going to keep them alive so the representative from the Birch Aquarium can come Saturday and take the bigger lobsters and preserve them," Kurn said. For more information, call (858) 565-9474, ext. 108.

Also, the Diving Locker in Pacific Beach is sponsoring a free night dive tomorrow at 8 at Casa Cove. New owner Jake Shelton said he had 15 divers signed up so far for the lobster dive. To sign up or to get the latest diving conditions, call the Diving Locker at (858) 272-1120. Shelton said diving conditions look favorable for tonight. Water visibility was 25 feet yesterday off La Jolla, with light surge and good overall conditions.

Lake Jennings in Lakeside reopens for fishing today and will be open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, a half-hour before sunrise to a half-hour past sunset.


http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/outdoors/20041001-9999-1s1outdoors.html


Ellie