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thedrifter
10-16-04, 06:49 AM
Marine engineers fortify infantry base in Iraq
Submitted by: 1st Force Service Support Group
Story Identification #: 20041014111423
Story by Sgt. Luis R. Agostini



CAMP BAHARIA, Iraq (Oct. 14, 2004) -- Marine combat engineers with Charlie Company, Combat Service Support Battalion 1, recently improved force protection conditions at Camp Baharia, Iraq.

These improvements are welcomed by the Marines at Camp Baharia, who have insurgents and terrorists as neighbors in the restive town of Fallujah.

"Our job is to make sure the Marines here can identify and repel any enemy assaults that might come," said 2nd Lt. David C. Youngblood, Charlie Co.'s 2nd platoon commander.

The engineers brought out bulldozers, large forklifts, chainsaws and more than 1,500 meters of razor wire to fortify the infantry base. The engineers refurbished gates, chopped down trees and placed razor wire in strategic locations throughout the camp.

"We set up obstacles and force protection measures that enable the grunts to do their jobs safely and effectively," said Youngblood, who served as an engineer advisor during the project.

Projects like the Camp Baharia force protection improvements are not unusual for the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based engineers. Charlie Co. has completed similar work on Camp Fallujah, the headquarters base for CSSB-1. They installed wire around the camp, constructed bunkers and berms, refurbished gates and improved the camp detainee facility.

"We make sure we are as safe as we can be around the camp," said Youngblood.

The company, part of 1st Force Service Support Group, provides engineering services throughout Regimental Combat Team 1's area of operations. The 1st FSSG provides logistical support, including supply, transport and medical services, to all Marine units throughout Iraq.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/20041014112317/$file/bahariachainsawhoriz041013_LOW.jpg

Marine Sgt. Dustin W. Ragsdale, 23, a combat engineer with Charlie Co., 1st Combat Service Support Battalion, 1st Force Service Support Group, walks down an Iraqi highway with a chainsaw in hand during a force protection improvement project at Camp Baharia, Iraq, Oct. 13, 2004. Ragsdale used the chainsaw to chop down trees around the camp to improve visibility. The engineers brought out bulldozers, large forklifts, chainsaws and more than 1,500 meters of razor wire to fortify the infantry base. The engineers refurbished gates, chopped down trees and placed razor wire in strategic locations throughout the camp. Ragsdale is a native of Decatur, Ill. Photo by: Sgt. Luis R. Agostini

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/66D94AEFECA9E76385256F2D0053B6EE?opendocument

Ellie

thedrifter
10-16-04, 06:50 AM
Marine In Iraq: 'It's Worse Every Day'
York Daily Record
October 15, 2004


The summer of 2000, before his senior year in high school, Jonathan Snyder made up his mind. He was going to be a Marine.

That's all he talked about, says his father, Sherman Snyder Jr. That's what he was all about, his dad says. He wanted to be the best, and the best were the Marines. His dad's not sure where his oldest son's desire came from. He has a couple of cousins who are Marines and an uncle served during World War II.

Jonathan, he said, was 100 percent dedicated to becoming a Marine.

He signed up that summer and, upon graduating from Gettysburg High School in 2001, he went off to Parris Island, S.C., for basic training. He was going to be a warrior.

His corps class graduated from basic on Sept. 12, 2001.

Snyder was gung-ho, as many of his Marine brothers were at the time. They were ready to kick ass and take names. They were ready to take vengeance on those who attacked the country they had sworn to defend with their lives.

He was sent to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina where he joined the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines.

He knew he'd be going to battle. His father said that's why he'd signed up to protect his country.

After a few stateside assignments, his unit went to Iraq.

And it is there that the education of Lance Cpl. Jonathan Snyder really began.

His lessons culminated Sunday, when he was quoted in the Washington Post, saying, "Every day you read articles in the states when it's like Oh, it's getting better and better.' But when you're here, you know it's worse every day."

In July, his platoon the 81s, named for the size of its mortar rounds was deployed to Camp Iskandariyah, in Babil Province, about 30 miles southwest of Baghdad. The fighting there has been fierce, even though it's drowned out by headlines from places like Fallujah, Samarra and Sadr City. Since the Marines entered Babil Province, 102 of their ranks have been wounded. Four have been killed.

Nearly every day, the Marines encounter roadside bombs. Hardly a day passes without their camp coming under rocket or mortar attack.

Every day in the Corps, the saying goes, is a holiday a holiday in hell.

When the 81s go out on patrol, the Post quoted the soldiers as saying, they seldom accomplish anything. One Marine told the reporter, "You don't really know who you're fighting." Other Marines said that by the time they respond to an attack, the insurgents have disappeared, and they're left with nobody to fight.

They hear their officers telling them that once they train Iraqi security forces, they'll be able to leave. They think that's nonsense although you'd be hard pressed to find a Marine who uses that word in lieu of a more descriptive term. The soldiers believe the Iraqis are nowhere near being able to take over for the Marines and may never be. Some of the Iraqi police, in fact, have changed sides and have joined the insurgents.

Sherman Snyder has heard some of this from his son. He doesn't hear from him as regularly as he'd like. It's hard to make a phone call or write a letter when you're under attack. Sherman said his son has kept in touch with his wife, Stephanie, and 7-month-old daughter, Ann Marie. They are living with Sherman in Gettysburg while Jonathan is overseas.

His son doesn't say a lot about what's going on in Iraq. He does say, though, that things aren't going well.

And he does question the war.

"I feel about the same way he does," said Sherman, who works for a weatherization company. "We've lost 1,000 soldiers for nothing."

Sherman said, "I don't blame those boys over there. They're doing their job. But the people who got us into this . . ."

The people who got us into this.

You know who they are. They are the same people who told us we had to fear Saddam's weapons of mass destruction and his ties to the people who attacked us things that turned out to be fiction. They are the same people who are now saying they'll delay any large- scale military action in Iraq until after the election playing politics with the lives of guys like Jonathan Snyder.

Sherman said Jonathan has told him that he's supposed to leave Iraq next February. He'll believe it when it happens.

His son, he said, went into the Marines to protect this country. Now, Sherman said, he doesn't know. He just doesn't know.


Ellie

thedrifter
10-16-04, 06:51 AM
October 15, 2004

Planes pound Fallujah; clerics urge resistance

By Tini Tran
Associated Press


BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. warplanes pounded the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah on Friday, a day after the city’s leaders suspended peace talks and rejected the Iraqi government’s demands to turn over terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Fallujah clerics insisted al-Zarqawi was not in the city and called for civil disobedience across Iraq if the Americans try to overrun the insurgent bastion. If civil disobedience won’t stop the attack, clerics said they would proclaim a jihad, or holy war, against multinational forces “as well as those collaborating with them.”

Al-Zarqawi’s Tawhid and Jihad group has claimed responsibility for Thursday’s twin bombings inside Baghdad’s heavily guarded Green Zone — home to U.S. officials and the Iraqi leadership — which killed six people, including three American civilians. A fourth American was missing and presumed dead.

Two Iraqis were killed, at least one of them a suicide bomber. The identity of the other wasn’t known. The group’s claim, which could not be verified, was posted on a Web site known for its Islamic contents.

A car bomb exploded Friday near a police station in southwest Baghdad, killing one and injuring at least 11 others, according to the Interior Ministry and hospital officials.

Elsewhere, several mortar rounds believed fired from Syria exploded Friday near the border town of Husaybah, Marine Lt. Col. Chris Woodbridge. There were no casualties. Marines say mortar attacks from Syrian territory have increased in recent weeks but it’s unclear who is launching them.

Thursday’s bold, unprecedented attack in the Green Zone, which witnesses and a senior Iraqi official said was carried out by suicide bombers, dramatized the militants’ ability to penetrate the heart of the U.S.-Iraqi leadership even as authorities step up military operations to suppress Sunni Muslim insurgents in other parts of the country.

Jets and artillery hammered Fallujah through the night in an apparent effort to quash terrorists suspected of planning attacks timed with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins Friday.

Witnesses said Friday that U.S. troops have detained Khaled al-Jumeili, a cleric who led the city’s delegates in peace negotiations with the government. They said he was arrested as he left a mosque after the Friday prayers in a village about 15 kilometers (about 10 miles) south of Fallujah.

Another man, Ahmed al-Janabi, also was arrested but was freed soon afterwards.

Iraqi leaders have been in negotiations to restore government control to Fallujah, which fell under the domination of clerics and their armed mujahedeen followers after the end of the three-week Marine siege last April.

Allawi warned Wednesday that Fallujah must surrender al-Zarqawi and other foreign fighters or face military action. Talks broke down Thursday when city representatives rejected the “impossible condition” since even the Americans were unable to catch al-Zarqawi, said Abu Asaad, spokesman for the mujahedeen council of Fallujah.

The U.S. believes al-Zarqawi and his terrorist group are headquartered in Fallujah. Last year, the Ramadan period saw a surge in violence.

During Friday sermons in Sunni mosques in Baghdad and elsewhere, preachers read a statement from Fallujah clerics declaring that al-Zarqawi’s presence “is a lie just like the weapons of mass destruction lie.”

“Al-Zarqawi has become the pretext for flattening civilians houses and killing innocent civilians,” the statement said.

The clerics said that in the event of an all-out attack, they would call on all Muslims to launch a civil disobedience campaign against the Americans and their Iraqi allies.

“In case the interim government and occupation troops make no response following the civil disobedience campaign, Muslim scholars and representatives of all Islamic and national groups will declare jihad all over Iraq and declare a mobilization against the occupation troops as well as those collaborating with them,” the statement said.

During operations early Friday near Fallujah, Maj. Francis Piccoli, spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said two Marine battalions were trying to “disrupt the capabilities of the anti-Iraqi forces.”

“The operations were designed to target the large terrorist element operating in the area of Fallujah,” the U.S. command said. “This element has been planning to use the holy month of Ramadan for attacks.”

Targets hit included several key planning centers, a weapons transload and storage facility, two safehouses, a terrorist meeting site and several illegal checkpoints used by the Zarqawi network, the U.S. military said.

Three people were killed and seven others injured during the night, according to Dr. Rafia Hiyad of Fallujah General Hospital. On Thursday, the hospital said at least five people were killed and 16 wounded.

Late Thursday, Fallujah residents reported the most intensive shelling since U.S. forces began attacks aimed at al-Zarqawi’s network. U.S. planes flew overhead Friday but the city was quiet.

Following Thursday’s attack in Baghdad, the U.S. military said security measures were being “significantly increased for an undetermined period” in several areas, including the Green Zone and Baghdad airport.

The Americans killed in the Green Zone bombing were employees of DynCorp security company. Two other DynCorp employees and three State Department employees were wounded.

The attack was the first time bombers had gotten inside the 10-square kilometer (4-square-mile) compound — surrounded by concrete walls, razor wire, sandbag bunkers and guard posts — and detonated an explosive. A homemade bomb was found in the zone last week but was defused.

The U.S.-guarded enclave — home to about 10,000 Iraqis, government officials, foreign diplomats and military personnel — spreads along the banks of the Tigris River in the heart of the capital.

The zone is centered on Saddam Hussein’s mammoth Republican Palace, and there are dozens of smaller palatial buildings, houses, office buildings and a hospital once used by high-ranking members of the old Baath Party regime.

Witnesses to the Thursday attack in Baghdad said two men were seen entering the Green Zone Cafe clutching large bags. The two men ordered tea and talked for about 20 minutes. Then one of the two walked out and hailed a taxi, the witnesses said. Minutes later a loud explosion rocked the compound.

The Green Zone is a regular target of insurgents. Mortar rounds are frequently fired at the compound, and there have also been a number of deadly car bombings at its gates. Last week a bomb was found in front of the Green Zone Cafe but did not explode.

On Thursday, four U.S. soldiers were killed in Baghdad and Ramadi, the U.S. command said. Two died in Baghdad, when one on patrol came under small arms fire and the other in a roadside bombing. Two more soldiers died when their Humvee was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade and caught fire during a raid in Ramadi, 70 miles (112 kilometers) west of the capital, the military said.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-453832.php

Ellie

thedrifter
10-16-04, 06:52 AM
October 15, 2004 <br />
<br />
Injured Marine’s quintuplets show improvement <br />
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Associated Press <br />
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NAPERVILLE, Ill. — The Horton quintuplets, born four days after their Marine Reserves father was wounded in...

thedrifter
10-16-04, 06:54 AM
Company B, 3rd Amphibious Assault Battalion, heads home
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 2004101575313
Story by Cpl. Matthew R. Jones



CAMP RIPPER, Iraq (Oct. 2, 2004) -- The Marines of Company B, 3rd Amphibious Assault Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 7, are heading back to the United States after their deployment to the western Al Anbar Province. The Marines completed their duty and now hand over the reigns to Company C, 2nd Amphibious Assault Battalion.

During a farewell ceremony Oct. 2, Colonel Craig A. Tucker, commanding officer of RCT-7, thanked the Marines for their hard work. The unit conducted various missions in the province often operating outside of their occupational specialties.

In addition to supporting the movement of troops throughout the province, conducting counter rocket and counter mortar patrols, cordon and knocks, security patrols and maintaining supply routes, some of these Marines were made into provisional infantrymen, while others served as instructors at the Al Asad Police Academy.

The Marines looked forward to the opportunity to get out into the community and better the future of Iraq in anyway, according to SSgt. Daniel H. Loyola, 25, a native of Marion, Texas, and a section leader with Company B.

The Marines of Company B completed their deployment without losing any of their Marines. To them this accomplishment makes their time here a major success. Company B contributes its success to their leadership and determination.

"It has been a learning experience for all us," said Lance Cpl. Neufang S. Tsosie, 21, a native of Phoenix. "We have done so well because we have good leaders and Marines that work hard."

The Marines pushed themselves mentally and physically while in the arid desert of Iraq. They also pushed their equipment and supplies, often beyond what the Marines thought possible, according to Sgt. Jared R. Minard, 24, a native of San Diego, and an assistant section leader with Company B.

The Marines had to push themselves everyday to better the future of Iraq, according to Sgt. Jeremy D. Petersen, 27, a native of Gainesville, Fla., and the communication technician chief for the Iraqi Border Police Academy. The Marines worked countless hours training the Iraqis and overcame the language barrier.
The Marines wanted their time in Iraq to have a positive influence on the future of this country.

The unit has formed a close bond that is only achievable through the stress of the hard work they endured. The cohesion of the Marines helped them conduct the varied missions necessary while deployed but now they are ready for home.

"I am ready to go home, it will be awesome to get back to the states, but I would stay out here if needed," said Cpl. Josh G. Hawkins, 26, a native of Kingsville, Texas, and a crew chief with Company B.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/2004101583646/$file/Tracks2lr.jpg

Petty Officer 3rd Class Jason L. Marnne, 22, a native of Kingman, Ariz., and a corpsman, and Sgt Jeremy D. Petersen, 27, a native of Gainesville, Fla., and the communication technician chief, conducts morning colors at the Al Asad Iraqi Border Police Academy. The Marines, from Company B, 3rd Amphibious Assault Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 7, were the first instructors of the Academy and have trained over 400 Iraqis to be Border Policemen. Photo by: Cpl. Matthew R. Jones

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/F63AC7A29A907DFB85256F2E00414C10?opendocument

Ellie

thedrifter
10-16-04, 07:55 AM
A happy Halloween <br />
for children of Marines <br />
Party will provide an escape for families <br />
<br />
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <br />
<br />
By KELLY GILBERT - GM...

thedrifter
10-16-04, 08:39 AM
Combat vet: 'I didn't want to let anyone down' <br />
Submitted by: MCRD San Diego <br />
Story by Sgt. Len Langston <br />
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MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, Calif. (October 15, 2004) -- The staff sergeant...

thedrifter
10-16-04, 09:28 AM
"Dear America" by Lt. Kevin Brown, USMC, a Marine Cobra pilot and 2001 graduate of the United States Naval Academy
"Dear America"

Received this from Seamus via Col Myers. JDL is a retire two star who forwarded this letter from Lt. Brown in Iraq. It's another must read.

This letter was written by Lt. Kevin Brown, USMC, a Marine Cobra pilot and 2001 graduate of the United States Naval Academy. He expresses a basic thought that is becoming a common thread in emails sent by those serving in Iraq.

Those who are serving there are smart enough to detect a basic fallacy in the words of many. Simply stated, one cannot say that one is supporting the troops in Iraq while saying that one does not support what they are doing. In the words of Lieutenant Brown, "you cannot both support the troops and protest their mission".

What they see coming is another version of Vietnam...eventually the charade will be played to its natural conclusion and neither the troops nor what they are doing will be supported. With the rug pulled out, they will then become a latter day version of the Vietnam Veteran. Those who had the Vietnam experience know exactly what I mean. It is our duty to do our best to make certain that it doesn't happen to our successors. Which, of course, is why this email, one that was provided by a major retired Marine circuit, is forwarded to so many.

What they are also seeing is that a large segment of the public has forgotten who attacked whom on 9/11 and who suffered more casualties that day than were suffered on 7 December 1941.
JDL

Dad, you asked me what I would say to America from Iraq on 9/11 if I had a podium and a microphone. I have thought about it, and here is my response.

Your Son,
Kevin
September 11, 2004

Dear America,

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -George Orwell

The Marine Corps is tired. I guess I should not say that, as I have no authority or responsibility to speak for the Marine Corps as a whole, and my opinions are mine alone. I will rephrase: this Marine is tired. I write this piece from the sands of Iraq, west of Baghdad, at three a.m., but I am not tired of the sand. I am neither tired of long days, nor of flying and fighting. I am not tired of the food, though it does not taste quite right. I am not tired of the heat; I am not tried of the mortars that occasionally fall on my base. I am not tired of Marines dying, though all Marines, past and present, mourn the loss of every brother and sister that is killed; death is a part of combat and every warrior knows that going into battle. One dead Marine is too many, but we give more than we take, and unlike our enemies, we fight with honor. I am not tired of the missions or the people; I have only been here a month, after all. I am, however, tired of the hypocrisy and short-sightedness that seems to have gripped so many of my countrymen and the media. I am tired of political rhetoric that misses the point, and mostly I am tired of people "not getting it."

Three years ago I was sitting in a classroom at Quantico, Virginia, while attending the Marine Corps Basic Officer Course, learning about the finer points of land navigation. Our Commanding Officer interrupted the class to inform us that some planes had crashed in New York and Washington D.C., and that he would return when he knew more. Tears welled in the eyes of the Lieutenant on my right while class continued, albeit with an audience that was not very focused; his sister lived in New York and worked at the World Trade Center. We broke for lunch, though instead of going to the chow hall proceeded to a small pizza and sub joint which had a television. Slices of pizza sat cold in front of us as we watched the same vivid images that you watched on September 11, 2001. I look back on that moment now and realize even then I grasped, at some level, that the events of that day would alter both my military career and my country forever. Though I did not know that three years later, to the day, I would be flying combat missions in Iraq as an AH-1W Super Cobra pilot, I did understand that a war had just begun, on television for the world to see, and that my classmates and I would fight that war. After lunch we were told to go to our rooms, clean our weapons and pack our gear for possible deployment to the Pentagon to augment perimeter security. The parting words of the order were to make sure we packed gloves, in case we had to handle bodies.

The first Marine killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom was in my company at The Basic School, and was sitting in that land navigation class on September 11. He fought bravely, led from the front, and was killed seizing an oil refinery on the opening day of the war. His heroism made my emergency procedure memorization for the T-34 primary flight school trainer seem quite insignificant. This feeling of frustration was shared by all of the student pilots, but we continued to press on. As one instructor pointed out to us, "You will fight this war, not me. Make sure that you are prepared when you get there." He was right; my classmates from Pensacola are here beside me, flying every day in support of the Marines on the ground. That instructor has since retired, but I believe he has retired knowing that he made a contribution to the greatest country in the history of the world, the United States of America.

Many of you will read that statement and balk at its apparently presumptuous and arrogant nature, and perhaps be tempted to stop reading right here. I would ask that you keep going, for I did not say that Americans are better than anyone else, for I do not believe that to be the case. I did not say that our country, its leaders, military or intelligence services are perfect or have never made mistakes, because throughout history they have, and will continue to do so, despite their best efforts. The Nation is more than the sum of its citizens and leaders, more than its history, present, or future; a nation has contemporary values which change as its leaders change, but it also has timeless character, ideals forged with the blood and courage of patriots. To quote the Pledge of Allegiance, our nation was founded "under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." As Americans, we have more freedom than we can handle sometimes.

If you are an atheist you might have a problem with that whole "under God" part; if you are against liberating the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Asia, all of Europe (twice), and the former Soviet bloc, then perhaps the "liberty and justice for all" section might leave you fuming. Our Nation, throughout its history, has watered the seeds of democracy on many continents, with blood, even when the country was in disagreement about those decisions. Disagreement is a wonderful thing. To disagree with your neighbors and your government is at the very heart of freedom. Citizens have disagreed about every important and controversial decision made by their leaders throughout history. Truman had the courage to drop two nuclear weapons in order to end the largest war in history, and then, by his actions, prevented the Soviets from extinguishing the light of democracy in Eastern Europe, Berlin. Lincoln preserved our country through civil war; Reagan knew in his heart that freedom is a more powerful weapon than oppression. Leaders are paid to make difficult, sometimes controversial decisions. History will judge the success of their actions and the purity of their intent in a way that is impossible at the present moment. In your disagreement and debate about the current conflict, however, be very careful that you do not jeopardize your nation or those who serve. The best time to use your freedom of speech to debate difficult decisions is before they are made, not when the lives of your countrymen are on the line.

Cherish your civil rights; I know that after having been in Iraq for only one month I have a new appreciation for mine. You have the right to say that you "support the troops" but oppose the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. You have the right to vote for Senator John Kerry because you believe that he has an exit strategy for Iraq, or because you just cannot stand President Bush. You have the right to vote for President George W. Bush if you believe that he has done a good job over the last four years. You might even decide that you do not want to vote at all and would rather avoid the issues as much as possible. That is certainly your option, and doing nothing is the only option for many people in this world.

continued.........

thedrifter
10-16-04, 09:28 AM
It is not my place, nor am I allowed by the Uniformed Code of Military Justice, to tell you how to vote. But I can explain to you the truth about what is going on around you. We know, and have known from the beginning, that the ultimate success or failure of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the future of those countries, rests solely on the shoulders of the Iraqi and Afghani people. If someone complains that we should not have gone to war with Saddam Hussein, that our intelligence was bad, that President Bush's motives were impure, then take the appropriate action. Exercise your right to vote for Senator Kerry, but please stop complaining about something that happened over a year ago. The decision to deploy our military in Iraq and Afghanistan is in the past, and while I believe that it is important to the democratic process for our nation to analyze the decisions of our leadership in order to avoid repeating mistakes, it is far more important to focus on the future. The question of which candidate will "get us out of Iraq sooner" should not be a consideration in your mind. YOU SHOULD NOT WANT US OUT OF IRAQ OR AFGHANISTAN SOONER. There is only one coherent exit strategy that will make our time here worthwhile and validate the sacrifice of so many of our countrymen. There is only one strategy that has a chance of promoting peace and stabilizing the Middle East. It is the exit strategy of both candidates, though voiced with varying volumes and differing degrees of clarity. I will speak of Iraq because that is where I am, though I feel the underlying principle applies to both Iraq and Afghanistan.

The American military must continue to help train and support the Iraqi Police, National Guard, and Armed Forces. We must continue to give them both responsibility and the authority with which to carry out those responsibilities, so that they eventually can kill or capture the former regime elements and foreign terrorists that are trying to create a radical, oppressive state. We must continue to repair the infrastructure that we damaged during the conflict, and improve the infrastructure that was insufficient when Saddam was in power. We should welcome and encourage partners in the coalition but recognize that many will choose the path of least resistance and opt out; many of our traditional allies have been doing this for years and it should not surprise us. We must respect the citizens of Iraq and help them to understand the meaning of basic human rights, for those are something the average Iraqi has never experienced. We must be respectful of our cultural and religious differences. We must help the Iraqis develop national pride, and most importantly, we must leave this country better than we found it, at the right time, with a chance of success so that its people will have an opportunity to forge their own destiny. We must do all of these things as quickly and efficiently as possible so that we are not seen as occupiers, but rather liberators and helpers. We must communicate this to the world as clearly and frequently as possible, both with words and actions.

If we leave before these things are done, then Iraq will fall into anarchy and possibly plunge the Middle East into another war. The ability of the United States to conduct foreign policy will be severely, and perhaps permanently, degraded. Terrorism will increase, both in America and around the world, as America will have demonstrated that it is not interested in building and helping, only destroying. If we run or exit early, we prove to our enemies that terror is more powerful and potent than freedom. Many nations, like Spain, have already affirmed this in the minds of the terrorists. Our failure, and its consequences, will be squarely on our shoulders as a nation. It will be our fault. If we stay the course and Iraq or Afghanistan falls into civil war on its own, then our hands are clean. As a citizen of the United States and a U.S. Marine, I will be able to sleep at night with nothing on my conscience, for I know that I, and my country, have done as much as we could for these people. If we leave early, I will not be able to live with myself, and neither should you. The blood will be on our hands, the failure on our watch.

The bottom line is this: Republican or Democrat, approve or disapprove of the decision to go to war, you need to support our efforts here. You cannot both support the troops and protest their mission. Every time the parent of a fallen Marine gets on CNN with a photo, accusing President Bush of murdering his son, the enemy wins a strategic victory. I cannot begin to comprehend the grief he feels at the death of his son, but he dishonors the memory of my brave brother who paid the ultimate price. That Marine volunteered to serve, just like the rest of us. No one here was drafted. I am proud of my service and that of my peers. I am ashamed of that parent's actions, and I pray to God that if I am killed my parents will stand with pride before the cameras and reaffirm their belief that my life and sacrifice mattered; they loved me dearly and they firmly support the military and its mission in Iraq and Afghanistan. With that statement, they communicate very clearly to our enemies around the world that America is united, that we cannot be intimidated by kidnappings, decapitations and torture, and that we care enough about the Afghani and Iraqi people to give them a chance at democracy and basic human rights. Do not support those that seek failure for us, or seek to trivialize the sacrifices made here. Do not make the deaths of your countrymen be in vain. Communicate to your media and elected officials that you are behind us and our mission. Send letters and encouragement to those who are deployed. When you meet a person that serves you, whether in the armed forces, police, or fire department, show them respect. Thank the spouses around you every day, raising children alone, whose loved ones are deployed. Remember not only those that have paid the ultimate price, but the veterans that bear the physical and emotional scars of defending your freedom. At the very least, follow your mother's advice. "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." Do not give the enemy a foothold in our Nation's public opinion. He rejoices at Fahrenheit 9/11 and applauds every time an American slams our efforts. The military can succeed here so long as American citizens support us wholeheartedly.

Sleep well on this third anniversary of 9/11, America. Rough men are standing ready to do violence on your behalf. Many of your sons and daughters volunteered to stand watch for you. Not just rough men- the infantry, the Marine grunts, the Special Operations Forces- but lots of eighteen and nineteen year old kids, teenagers, who are far away from home, serving as drivers, supply clerks, analysts, and mechanics. They all have stories, families, and dreams. They miss you, love you, and are putting their lives on the line for you. Do not make their time here, their sacrifice, a waste. Support them, and their mission.


This gallery is empty.


Ellie

thedrifter
10-16-04, 10:20 AM
Car Bombs Kill Five U.S. Troops in Iraq

By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Car bombs killed five U.S. troops in Iraq (news - web sites), the U.S. military said Saturday, the latest in a string of such attacks at the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Blasts also targeted five churches in the Iraqi capital.


Later on Saturday, a group identifying itself as the Islamic Brigade in Mosul claimed to have kidnapped two Turkish drivers on a highway near Mosul, the group said in a videotape it released. One of the kidnappers said the Turkish government must order the company where the two men worked to leave Iraq or they will be killed.


The two car bombs that killed the U.S. soldiers went off Friday, the military said. One, carried out by a suicide bomber driving an explosive-laden vehicle, targeted a U.S. patrol near the town of Qaim, an insurgent hotspot near the border with Syria, killing four U.S. troops, according to Lt. Col. Chris Woodbridge, commander of the 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment.


The other blast went off in the northern city of Mosul, 225 miles north of Baghdad, killing a U.S. soldier assigned to Task Force Olympia, the military said.


U.S. commanders have warned that insurgents may increase violence during Ramadan — just as there was a surge in attacks last year with the start of the month of fasting. In recent days, U.S. and Iraqi forces have launched sweeps around several cities in an attempt to suppress guerrillas ahead of Ramadan. Most Iraqis began observing the sunrise-to-sunset fast on Friday, though some Shiites began Saturday.


The U.S. military loosened a cordon around the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah after several days of intense clashes with rebels there, residents said. The surge in violence in Fallujah came as negotiations with city leaders aimed a deal to re-establish government control broke down.


A vehicle bomb reported Friday by the U.S. military blasted near a police station in southwest Baghdad, killing 10 civilians — including a family of four who were driving by at the time of the blast. Iraqi hospital officials said 14 people were wounded.


In Baghdad on Saturday, bombs rang out outside five churches in quick succession over an hour and half starting at 4:00 a.m., the Iraqi Interior Ministry said. There were no injuries, but all the churches had windows blown out, said ministry spokesman Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman.


"It is a criminal act to make Iraq unstable and to create religious difficulties," Rev. Zaya Yousef of St. George's Church said. "But this will not happen because we all live together like brothers in this country through sadness and happiness."


Iraq's community of 750,000 Christians has grown increasingly anxious at the rise of Islamic fundamentalism since the ouster of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) last year. Hundreds have fled to neighboring Jordan and Syria.


In August, coordinated attacks hit four churches in Baghdad and one in Mosul, killing at least seven people and wounding dozens more in the first significant strike against Iraq's minority Christians since the U.S. invasion began last year.


In other Baghdad violence, a mortar round exploded in the garden of the Ibn al-Betar hospital, killing one person. Officials said the blast at the hospital could have been far worse — The building was under renovation at the time and there were no patients there.


Another mortar round hit the parking lot of al-Mansour Hotel, where some foreign journalists and diplomats stay. There were no reports of casualties there, the Interior Ministry said.


Meanwhile Saturday, the U.S. military said the deadline for Shiite militiamen to turn in their weapons in the Baghdad district of Sadr City was extended to Sunday. Friday had been the deadline for militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to exchange guns for cash under a deal to end weeks of fighting with U.S. troops there.


Once the handover is complete, the U.S. military will verify that no major weapons caches remain and Iraqi forces will assume responsibility for security in Sadr City. The Americans hope the deal will enable them to focus on the more dangerous Sunni Muslim insurgency.


In Fallujah, the center of the Sunni insurgency, residents said the Americans relaxed a cordon they threw up around the city after stepped up air and ground attacks this week against insurgents, including those loyal to terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.


U.S. troops were allowing residents to leave the city through the northern exit and people were walking freely about the streets Saturday, residents said.





U.S. jets and artillery had pounded targets in the southern and eastern part of Fallujah around sundown Friday as residents were taking the traditional meal that breaks the daily fast during Ramadan.

The attacks began Thursday after peace talks between the Iraqi officials and city leaders broke down over the government's demand that they hand over al-Zarqawi, believed responsible for suicide bombings and beheading foreign hostages.

Khaled al-Jumeili, an Islamic cleric who served as the city's top negotiator in the talks, was arrested as he left a mosque after Friday prayers in a village about 10 miles south of Fallujah, witnesses said. There was no confirmation from U.S. authorities.

Fallujah fell under control of radical clerics and their armed mujahedeen fighters after the Marines lifted their three-week siege of the city in April.

On Friday, the Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni group with ties to some insurgents, called upon political parties to withdraw from the government to protest bloodshed in Fallujah, Samarra and other cities.

In a separate statement read Friday in Sunni mosques in Baghdad and elsewhere, Fallujah clerics threatened a civil disobedience campaign across the country if the Americans try to overrun the city.

The clerics said if civil disobedience were not enough to stop a U.S. assault, they would proclaim a jihad, or holy war, against all U.S. and multinational forces "as well as those collaborating with them."

They insisted that the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi was not in Fallujah, claiming his alleged presence "is a lie just like the weapons of mass destruction lie."

"Al-Zarqawi has become the pretext for flattening civilians houses and killing innocent civilians," the statement said.

Al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group claimed responsibility for Thursday's twin bombings inside Baghdad's heavily guarded Green Zone — home to U.S. officials and the Iraqi leadership — which killed six people, including three American civilians, and wounded 27 others, mostly Iraqis. A fourth American was missing and presumed dead.

Also Saturday, a member of the Turkoman Front political group was assassinated in northern Iraq while driving his children to school, police said. Gunmen opened fire on the car of politician Ghafour Abu Bakr, killing him and slightly injuring his two children, Col. Burhan Taha said. The four assailants then pushed the children out and stole the car, he said.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041016/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&cid=540&ncid=716


Ellie

thedrifter
10-16-04, 11:45 AM
Two more Florida Marines killed in Iraq

Associated Press


BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - A Marine officer who volunteered to replace a fellow lieutenant who was killed in Iraq and a corporal who joined the Marines because he wanted to follow his fathers into a law enforcement career were both killed in Iraq, officials said.

Second Lt. Paul M. Felsberg, 27, of West Palm Beach, died Wednesday from injuries received from enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, according to officials at Camp Pendleton. His family was told he died on the way to the hospital.

Cpl. Ian T. Zook, 24, of Port St. Lucie, was killed Tuesday in Al Anbar Province, the Department of Defense said.

Felsberg went to boot camp after graduating from John I. Leonard High School, then majored in criminal justice at Florida International University, where he graduated with honors.

He was completing school when he answered a call for volunteers to replace a lieutenant killed in Iraq.

"I told him he was crazy," his mother, Arlene Felsberg, told The Palm Beach Post. "He said, 'This is what I signed up to do, this is what I trained to do, and that's what I do.'"

He arrived Sept. 2 in Iraq, which he described in an e-mail as "kind of like the wild west." Meanwhile, his mother feared he would be killed, or he would return maimed.

"Now," she sobbed, "I'd take him in as many pieces as I could have had him."

Felsberg was a platoon commander assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines at Camp Pendleton, Calif. He was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and the National Defense Service Medal.

Zook had joined the military as a stepping stone to law enforcement, his family said. He wanted to follow his father, a corporal and a traffic homicide investigator with the Florida Highway Patrol.

He enlisted in the Marines in May 2001 and had been based at the Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., since Jan. 6.

His father, Mark Zook, remembered the day his son called to say he had been promoted to corporal.

"He said now we have two corporals in the family," Mark Zook said.

A straight A-student, Ian Zook was valedictorian at Faith Baptist School in Fort Pierce in 1999. He performed mission work during high school and attended a year of Bible college while deciding his future.

The family received a photo of him just last week, standing beside a dusty Humvee in Anbar province.


http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/9921847.htm

Ellie

thedrifter
10-16-04, 02:04 PM
Fallujah Seeks Peace Talks if Attacks End

Sat Oct 16,10:03 AM ET World - AP



FALLUJAH, Iraq - A Fallujah delegation offered Saturday to resume peace talks with the government if the United States ceases attacks against the city and releases the chief negotiator.


"We are ready to resume talks," delegation member Khaled Fakhri al-Jumeili told reporters. "We suspended the talks because we felt that the Iraqi government, especially Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, was meeting the demands of the Americans."


He said that if attacks and airstrikes stop, "we are ready to return to the negotiating table."


Sheik Abdul Hamid Jadou, another delegation member, added that the delegation also wanted its chairman, Khaled al-Jumeili, freed. Witnesses said he was arrested by the Americans on Friday after prayers at a village south of Fallujah.


Talks between Iraqi officials and Fallujah clerics had been underway for weeks to restore government control in the insurgent stronghold 40 miles west of Baghdad.


The talks broke down Thursday over the government's demands that the city hand over Jordanian-born terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whom the Fallujah leadership maintains is not in the city.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&ncid=535&e=3&u=/ap/20041016/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_fallujah_1


Ellie

thedrifter
10-16-04, 02:36 PM
Poll Shows Military Has Iraq Doubts

By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Members of the military and their families say the Bush administration underestimated the number of troops needed in Iraq (news - web sites) and put too much pressure on inadequately trained National Guard and reserve forces, according to a poll released Saturday.


The National Annenberg Election Survey found that 62 percent in the military sample said the administration didn't send an adequate number of troops to Iraq. And 59 percent said too much of a burden has been put on the National Guard and the reserves when regular forces should have been expanded instead.


Family members were more critical of the administration's Iraq policy than those on active duty.


This critical view comes from a military group that has a more favorable view of President Bush (news - web sites), Iraq, the economy and the nation's direction than Americans in general.


A slight majority of the military and families, 51 percent, said showing photos of flag-draped coffins being returned to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware would increase respect for the troops.


The Pentagon (news - web sites) has refused to release government photos of the coffins, saying it has begun enforcing a policy installed in 1991 intended to respect the privacy of the families of the dead soldiers.


On other military matters:


_Four in 10, 42 percent, said gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the military, and 50 percent said no. Family members narrowly supported the idea, while those in the active military opposed it.


_One-fourth said the military draft should be reinstated, three-fourths said no. That is about the same level of opposition to the draft in the general population.


_Six in 10 of the regular military in the sample said they were properly trained and equipped.


_Only four in 10 of the Guard members and reservists questioned said they were properly trained and equipped.


_The military sample overwhelmingly approved of the work of women in the armed forces. Three-fourths said they performed as well as the men they work with.


_Eight in 10 said soldiers responsible for the Abu Ghraib prison abuse and their immediate commanders should be punished. Half said higher-level commanders should be punished and three in 10 said civilians in the Pentagon should be punished.


The poll of 655 in the active military (both regulars and reserves) and their families was taken Sept. 22-Oct. 5 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Their answers were compared with those of 2,436 adults surveyed Sept. 7-Oct. 3 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.


___


On the Net:


National Annenberg Election Survey: http://www.naes04.org


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=5&u=/ap/20041016/ap_on_re_us/military_poll


Ellie

thedrifter
10-16-04, 02:49 PM
The children of military families
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In today's military families it isn't unusual for both parents to be deployed at the same time leaving their children at home with family members. This story brought tears to my eyes and made me even prouder of the sacrifice of our military families today.



War in Iraq creates an unlikely hero
12-year-old, with parents in military in Iraq,
saves a life at home

By Mark Potter
Correspondent
NBC News
Updated: 7:37 p.m. ET Oct. 15, 2004

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - Shortly before heading off to war in Iraq last year, Master Sgt. Albert Brown had one last family matter to attend to, a quiet heart-to-heart talk with his then-12-year-old stepson, Ty Kenney.

"He said I have to take responsibility and be the man of the house," Kenney said

His mother, Staff Sgt. Octavia Brown, had already deployed overseas with the 101st Airborne Division — also bound for Iraq.

With both parents gone, Kenney and his two younger sisters were left in the care of their maternal grandmother, Joan Swinson.

Soon, however, a life-threatening situation developed that would test the strength and character of any adult — let alone a 12-year-old.

Swinson, a diabetic, began having problems with her sugar levels, and her health deteriorated. Sometimes she became listless, or her speech was slurred. More than once she fell into a diabetic coma.

It was then that young Ty Kenney took control. "I feel I had to take all the responsibility," he said.

‘This kid is amazing’
Concerned that his grandmother needed immediate medical attention, Kenney called 911 more than 20 times, according to officials at Blanchfield Army Hospital at Fort Campbell.

Paramedics made repeated trips to the house, and always found the boy waiting by the door.

"He was always very calm, very cool, never panicked," said paramedic Teresa Herndon. "This kid is amazing. He was a grown-up in a kid's body."

What surprised medics most was Kenney's level of knowledge about diabetes, and his hands-on involvement in caring for his grandmother.

"The kid's selflessness was so sincere.... You couldn't help looking at this kid and go, are you for real?" Herndon said. "I wanted him to be my son."

Before heading off to Iraq, Kenney's parents had taught him how to test Swinson's blood sugar levels, and to give her medicine, juice or sweets to moderate her condition.

But, Kenney also learned more on his own. "I didn't like my kiddie books or nothing, so sometimes I would read Grandma's diabetic books," said Ty.

Whenever paramedics arrived at the home, Kenney was ready with his grandmother's latest sugar readings, and even her weekly and monthly averages. He also had mastered her glucose-testing machine, the same one used by the paramedics.

"And he's there pushing buttons, making this machine do things I didn't even know our machines did," Herndon said.

While overseas, Kenney's stepfather would call home whenever he could. He worried about his children and Swinson's medical condition, but during one call found himself being reassured by a seventh grader. "Ty said, ‘hey Dad, she's in good hands. I will let you know if we need you.’"

Helped save a life
Kenney, meanwhile, said he always worried about his parents' safety in Iraq, but over time became more comfortable watching over his grandmother and her diabetes while they were gone.

"At first I would wish they were there to help me, but then as I started to learn the stuff better I knew that I was able to do it on my own, and I didn't need help every single time," he said.

Kenney is now widely credited for saving his grandmother's life more than once.

"He helped save a life, mine, my life, yes indeed," said Swinson, who is now recovered and back to work at the base commissary.

"I believe, seeing Grandma today, that he was the difference between life and death," said his proud stepfather. "Thank God he was there for us."

Life-saving award
After being away for months, both parents finally returned home to Fort Campbell. "It took a couple hundred pounds off my shoulders," Kenney said. His mother, however, has already been re-deployed to Korea.

Master Sgt. Brown, the stepfather, said he regrets Kenney had to carry such a heavy burden, adding, "He went from a boy to a man," that year.

He also promised he would never put Kenney in that position again, even if re-deployed to defend the country.

"I really feel bad if I have taken his childhood away by growing him up so fast," said Brown.

For his calm under fire on the home front, Ty Kenney received the first-annual life-saving award from the paramedics at Fort Campbell.

When they were considering whom to honor during National Emergency Medical Services Week, the decision was easy.

"I know on our shift when he talked about it, we were like, 'It's gotta go to Ty,'" Herndon said. "There was not even a runner-up."

The award was presented at Kenney's school. For him, his parents and his grandmother it was a big surprise. Brown said he had no idea why they had all been summoned. "Usually when the school principal calls, you're thinking, oh, what did he do this time?"

After his name was announced, Kenney walked to the front of the assembly to receive his award, as his grandmother beamed. "I was there. Tears came to my eyes. I was very pleased that he got that."

"Oh, I was happier than he was," his stepfather said.

With rescue squad members standing behind him, Kenney gave a brief speech and had his picture taken.

"I feel proud of myself, that I did the right thing," he said of the award. "It all turned out for the best, and my grandma is still here with us."

Mark Potter is an NBC News correspondent.


Ellie

thedrifter
10-16-04, 03:20 PM
Military service part of Marine's family history


Published in the Asbury Park Press 10/09/04
By KIRK MOORE
STAFF WRITER
SANDY HOOK -- Back in summer 2002, Andrew D. Hoffman was a summer park ranger on the overnight shift, working on the radio dispatch desk for Gateway National Recreation Center, not far from the hulking concrete forts that a century ago protected America before it was truly a world power.

Now Hoffman, 22, is a lance corporal and Javelin anti-tank gunner with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, patrolling roads and villages in Iraq's northern Babil Province. He's one of some 2,200 soldiers and sailors who trained in southern California before departing in July for Kuwait, and then convoying by vehicles to the Baghdad region.

The Marines are patrolling an area that's notorious for road ambushes and insurgent activity. Last week the 24th MEU mounted a major sweep to capture insurgents and cut off their links with Baghdad, according to the Associated Press.

A Marine expeditionary unit is a force designed to bring its own ground combat troops, helicopters and Harrier jets, armor and artillery to land virtually anywhere in the world and operate as an independent combat unit. Some in the 24th MEU are veterans of the march up to Baghdad during the 2003 invasion and the fighting in Nasiriyah, but this is the first deployment for Hoffman, the son of Wendy and Thomas J. Hoffman of Highlands and Red House, Va.

"I think he got the idea from his grandfather," said Wendy Thomas, thinking of her father-in-law John T. Hoffman of Garfield, who served in the Marines on Pacific islands during World War II. Andrew Hoffman spent his early childhood on the Monmouth County Bayshore and is a 2000 graduate of the Randolph Henry High School, near the Hoffmans' home in southern Virginia.

Hoffman enlisted in the Marines under the service's delayed entry program, which allowed him to continue his education while preparing for a four-year tour of duty, his mother said. Tom Hoffman, who is the National Park Service historian for Fort Hancock at Sandy Hook, said he remembers his son working out with a military physical training regime even before he went to boot camp at Parris Island, S.C. in April 2003.

Hoffman grew up amid a lot of military history. Before it became a national park, Fort Hancock was a major bastion of seacoast defenses for New York City, and the family's early 1800s home is a few miles south of where the Civil War ended at Appomattox.

Then there's that family connection that makes Hoffman the second generation in his family to join the Marines.

"My dad (John Hoffman) worked for the Federal Radio and Electronic Corp.," and as a war industry worker could have been exempted from military duty, Tom Hoffman recalled. But in late 1941, John Hoffman had the same reaction his grandson's generation did after Sept. 11, 2001.

"It was right after Pearl Harbor, and I think my father went in to enlist in January" 1942, Hoffman said. He served with the Third Marine Division on the islands of Guadalcanal and Bougainville, and would have been in the invasion of the Japanese home islands had the war not ended with the atomic attacks of August 1945.

In his basement office here, surrounded by stacks of books and plans of Sandy Hook's fortifications, Hoffman the parent is proud --- but worried too, both as a father and as a professional historian.

"Every war is different, because the technology is different," he said. "But bottom line, it's dangerous."

The Hoffmans stay in touch via brief e-mails when Andrew can come in from the field. The expeditionary unit has suffered casualties, but Wendy Hoffman said her son says withdrawing would be a mistake.

"He'd rather stay there and get the job done," she said. "He told us, 'If we don't help these people, they will be worse off than they were with Saddam.' "

On the Web: 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit at www.24meu.usmc.mil.

Kirk Moore: (732) 557-5728

http://www.app.com/app/story/0,21625,1073671,00.html


Ellie

thedrifter
10-16-04, 04:12 PM
Letters From The Warlords

October 16, 2004


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Thomas D. Segel
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Most Americans receive their war news from the mainstream media in the form of battlefield casualty reports, each painting a darker picture than the previous announcement. Few reporters filing stories from Iraq bother to tell Americans of our many victories or even address the human side of the news. That may be the war as most of us hear about it, but it was never so for the family members of one Marine unit.

They are officially designated the 2 nd Battalion, 2 nd Marine Regiment, 2 nd Marine Division, headquartered at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. While deployed to Iraq, the regiment served as a unit of the lst Marine Division. Unofficially, the 2 nd Battalion is known as The Warlords.

Leading this elite band of warriors is a veteran of almost twenty years service in the United States Marine Corps. He is Lieutenant Colonel J. G. Kyser IV and he really has been a Marine all his life. The son of a career Marine and Vietnam veteran, Giles, as family and friends know him, grew up surrounded by those who wear the forest green uniform. He graduated from the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen, Texas in 1981 and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps upon graduation from the United States Naval Academy in 1985.

As Commanding Officer of 2nd Battalion he has led his Marines into some of the deadliest fighting in Iraq, where his Warlords proved time and time again that they were one of America’s finest fighting units.

Commanding Officers often have the responsibility of writing to family members when someone from their unit is lost in combat. Few communicate with those at home on a regular basis. Giles Kyser, however, found time to periodically report to family members on the lives of those Warlords under his command. At any time during combat operations 1,100

To 1,200 Marines and Sailors will be found in the ranks of the battalion. That is a lot of families to inform, but Lt Col Kyser did it throughout this Iraq deployment.

In February 2004 the colonel wrote to family members, “The Battalion is returning to Iraq to help its good people build a future of the same promise that we have been blessed with as Americans. This will be a difficult and dangerous mission and your Marines are very aware of the challenges that face them. Your Marines are ready! The demanding training they completed during the past three months prepared them exceptionally well to meet those challenges head-on, and I am supremely confident in their ability to execute the broad range of tasks before them.”

He concluded that letter saying, “You have every right to be proud of your Warlord, because you have helped make him what he is today…the protector of our nation and the most respected warrior in the world. With that in mind, I must tell you that I am immensely proud of you for all you have done for your Marine or Sailor and that your sacrifices are recognized and appreciated as much today as they have been at any time in our nation’s history.”

Other excerpts from the Commanding Officer’s letters home include…”As of the 19 th of April we are still in our original location of Mahmudiva, about 30 miles south of Baghdad and we were making significant progress in developing and improving relationships and the security situation in four of the major urban centers…

“Radicals and terrorists began to take action wherever they could to try to stir up hate within the populace. The Warlords responded and at one point the comment of our enemies was that, ‘The Marines are everywhere…we can’t do anything.’

The battalion was next moved to Fallujah and the report to those back home was…”the battalion has moved in force to the southern portion of Fallujah and slammed the back door on the terrorists operating in the city.”

Another report says, “The Engineer platoon was the driving force and the primary architects of the weapons cache search plan that has netted more caches in a 40 day period that had been found by the entire division since arriving in country. Literally tons of rockets, mortars, explosives and other lethal materials were found, thus eliminating the terrorists ability to mix more lethal concoctions to attack the people of Iraq and the forces here to help them.”

About the people, he wrote, “During operations at our previous location our initial contact with local tribal Sheiks was met with coolness and an admonition that they would never work with us and would continue to fight us. Your Warlords met this challenge with their normal tenacity, compassion, and willingness to show people the content of their character. Within a month they were being invited to dinner, being offered tea while on patrol and referred to as a new branch of the Zobai tribe. Amazing? Absolutely!”

Another report informed those at home “After only 48 hours of fighting, the battalion had succeeded in killing between 100 and 200 of the terrorists.” The colonel further reported that within hours the terrorists were at the negotiating table proposing a solution that developed into new Iraqi forces taking over the Marine positions with what was later called the Fallujah Brigade.

Writing home in June, the CO stated “As an overall summery I must say once again what an honor it remains to be privileged to lead your husbands in this campaign to bring democracy to Iraq. They continue to set the standard for the Division and Regiment with their courage, flexibility and determination to get the job done regardless of the circumstances or challenges facing them. They have truly shown the people of Iraq that they have no better friend or no worse enemy that a Warlord from Task Force 2/2”

A letter in September told those at home …’The Marines and Sailors of the Task force performed magnificently…At every turn, the Marines of Easy, Fox, and Golf (rifle companies) met the enemy on his home ground with raids, cordon and search operations and coordinated stay-behind operations designed to ambush the insurgents. On every occasion when he chose to challenge the Warlords, he was defeated. There was no doubt in the minds of these cowards that there was a’ New Sheriff in Town.’

As the battalion prepared for its October return to the United States, Giles Kyser again wrote to the families. “As uplifting and inspiring as the performance of your Warlords has been, those successes have not been without cost. Sadly, as we close in on the end of this deployment I am reminded of each of the more than 150 wounded and our six fallen. I ask each of you to continue your prayers for these men who gave the last full measure in support of their fellow Marines and against those terrorists who would do our nation harm and steal the future from generations of Iraqis who have never known freedom.”

Did the Marines and Sailors of the 2 nd Battalion perform their duties with valor? Two were recommended for the Silver Star and another 37 were recommended for the Bronze Star. Other recommendations for awards include 56 for the Navy-Marine Corps Commendation Medal with combat “V”, 21 for the Navy-Marine Corps Commendation medal, 79 for the Navy-Marine Corps Achievement Medal with combat “V”, 55 for the Navy-Marine Corps Achievement Medal and 1,365 for the Combat Action Ribbon.

Not to be forgotten are the 154 Warlords who were awarded the Purple Heart.

In an email to his wife, written near the end of the deployment, Lt Col Kyser wrote “As I award these young men their medals, as they stand in front of me in their combat gear, sweaty, dirty and so very young, I am struck by the purity of their service to our nation and to each other. They accept the recognition but more often than not are embarrassed by it, and always concerned more for the welfare of those wounded along with them. They personify those things that so many people speak of but can never really know; the feeling of camaraderie, the commitment to the point of death to the men around them, and the unspoken hardness of their patriotism. God they are a blessing to me…and I feel so unworthy to stand in front of them to offer them such small tokens. I feel inadequate and humbled to be in their shadow, regardless of their age, and I walk away feeling so damned honored to be with them.”

Thomas D. Segel


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Thomas D. Segel is a twice wounded, former combat correspondent who saw enemy action during the Korean War and two tours of duty in Vietnam. He retired from the Marine Corps as a Master Gunnery Sergeant after 26 years of service. His next assignment was as Director of Information and adjunct faculty member of the Marine Military Academy. He then completed a new career and recently retired from service with the State of Texas, where he was Director, Division of Information, Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Rio Grande State Center. He holds the Thomas Jefferson Award for Journalistic Excellence, The Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association Distinguished Performance Award and six Armed Forces Writers Association Distinguished Achievement Awards. Segel has authored four books, including "Men in Space" which received the honor of being placed on both the National High School and National Junior High School Library Lists. He currently writes for several on line publications, national magazines and newspapers. His writings are distributed nationally to more than 1,300 publications by the Paragon Foundation News Service. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Texas Pan American and earned his masters degree at Vanderbilt University. He is a past national president of the United States Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association. Segel resides with his wife, Pattie, in Harlingen, Texas.

http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive/s/segel/2004/segel101604.htm

Ellie