Reservists guard tons of ordnance;Civilian skills help Marines adapt in war zone

[thedrifter]

Reservists guard tons of ordnance;
Civilian skills help Marines adapt in war zone

Submitted by: 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing
Story Identification #: 200410197028
Story by Cpl. Joel A. Chaverri



AL ASAD, Iraq (Oct. 7, 2004) -- On the outskirts of the air base here lays an old ammunition supply point formerly used by the former Iraqi armed forces.

Nicknamed “Flea,” the ASP now houses captured and uncovered ordnance. Upon arrival to the facility, the weapons caches are slated to be destroyed as soon as possible.

Responsible for guarding ASP Flea are reservists from Battery K, 4th Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, an artillery unit from Alabama.

After augmenting Security Battalion, 4th Low-Altitude Air Defense Battalion, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Battery K became Company K, taking on their mission with a strong sense of purpose.

“We have a lot of support (military occupational specialties) in our unit that are now filling a security role,” said Cullman, Ala., native Maj. Mike H. Ledbetter, commanding officer, Company K. “It was a challenge that we were ready to take on.”

An American Airlines pilot from Dallas, Ledbetter is currently serving his second deployment to the Middle East, where the last time, he flew F/A-18 Hornets.
“I’m a pilot by trade, so being a CO for an artillery unit isn’t my normal job,” said the 37-year-old. “But I’m glad I have had the honor of working with these Marines.”

Making the change from artillery to security duties isn’t normally a painless process; however, the reserve unit was able to make the switch effortlessly due to the wealth of talented personnel within its ranks.

“Being a reserve unit actually made the transition very easy,” said Ledbetter. “Everyone was able to use their civilian skills to help make it all go smooth.”

Civilian carpenters, electricians, plumbers, firefighters, policeman, for example, were able to utilize their civilian expertise for the mission at hand.

“I’ve been really impressed at how well the Marines have adapted,” said Ledbetter. “We couldn’t have done any of this as easily as we did if it weren’t for their contribution.”

After arriving to ASP Flea, Company K immediately assumed control of over 300 tons of munitions.

“Every bunker was filled to the top with all different kind of bombs,” said Ledbetter. “As a result there as only one bunker we could sleep in.”

With large amounts of ordnance being destroyed each day, a few of the weapons bunkers eventually became available as billeting areas.

“We cleaned out a lot of the bunkers and started to use them as barracks,” said Ledbetter. “Our electricians wired them for lighting and hooked up air conditioning.”

Working with air conditioning as a civilian, 41-year-old Mountain Home, Ark., native Gunnery Sgt. Tom E. Clements, field artillery cannoneer, Company K, was able to use his technical skills to install air conditioners for many of the bunkers his Marines live in, indicative of the spectrum of talents within the detachment.

“We have such a variety of skills throughout the unit,” said Clements. “Everyone here has something to add.”

“I’m a licensed electrician in my civilian job,” remarked Athens, Ala., native Staff Sgt. David B. King, field artillery cannoneer, Company K. “I’ve been able to use my skills out here a lot more than I expected.”

Owning a business with his father, the 33-year-old King has had a lot of experience working with electricity and plumbing, which allows ASP Flea to be virtually self-sufficient.

“Being able to do things on our own out here means that we don’t have to wait if we need something done or if something breaks down,” said King. “We can usually take care of the problem without having to rely on someone else.”

Along with guarding ordnance, the Marines of ASP Flea are also responsible for supervising the loading of railway missions, as well as serving as a traffic control point for convoys traveling to Al Asad from places like Fallujah and Ramadi, Iraq.

“We have dozens of vehicles coming through daily,” said Ledbetter. “We do an initial check before they’re allowed to get any closer to Al Asad.”

Because they are located outside of the air base here, ASP Flea Marines don’t get to enjoy a lot of the amenities available to Marines aboard the installation, but they are constantly making strides to upgrade their quality of life.

“We’re working on a (recreation) room to build morale,” said Clements. “Because our guys stand watch all day, boredom can be the biggest morale killer. The key is to keep busy.”

As huge fans of Southeastern Conference college football, the ASP Flea Marines also keep up morale by staying in touch with the games.

“Our cable guy hooked up ESPN (sports netwok) so that we can watch the SEC,” said Ledbetter. “Every week we fly the flag of the team that beats the spread.”

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200410197217/$file/041007-M-2789C-036-FleaLR.jpg

Scanning the desert landscape through binoculars, 24-year-old Birmingham, Ala., native Cpl. Myron A. Fisher, personnel clerk, Company K, Security Battalion, 4th Low-Altitude Air Defense Battalion, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, stands high atop a guard tower at ammunition supply point "Flea" located outside of Al Asad, Iraq, Oct. 07. The reservists of Company K are responsible for guarding and destroying over 300 tons of unexploded ordnance. Photo by: Cpl. Joel A.Chaverri

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/A2204E5EE557C78585256F32003C77CC?opendocument

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Security Operations Continue in Fallujah
Submitted by: Security Operations Continue in Fallujah
Story Identification #: 200410195443
Story by - American Forces Press Service



FALLUJAH, Iraq (Oct. 18, 2004) -- Troops from Multinational Force Iraq continued increased security operations Oct. 17 to isolate anti-Iraqi forces in Fallujah. Officials said the operations were designed to disrupt the enemy fighters' ability to "plan, coordinate and execute criminal acts against the Iraqi people and government."

Iraqi security forces and U.S. Marines with the I Marine Expeditionary Force continue to man positions outside the city and have established vehicle checkpoints. Since Oct. 14, the combined force has conducted coordinated actions to locate, isolate and defeat terrorist groups, officials said. The effort is part of an operation to stop terrorists from conducting attacks throughout Iraq.

During operations Oct. 17, Marines returned insurgent small-arms, fire, mortar and rocket-propelled-grenade fire. The Marines engaged with small-arms fire, crew-served weapons, main tank guns, and artillery. The attack originated from positions and buildings in eastern and southern Fallujah, U.S. military officials said.

Insurgents then fired accurate and sustained small arms fire that escalated to heavy machine-gun and indirect fire during a firefight lasting just over nine hours.

After close-air support was requested and several precision-guided munitions were dropped, insurgents were seen putting their mortar tubes into a taxi and pickup trucks then driving to a mosque. Witnesses saw them entering the mosque. Marines did not fire upon the mosque.

The strikes successfully took out the buildings in which insurgents were located. Other strikes interdicted mortar teams and anti-Iraqi forces, officials said. Multiple fighter aircraft, expending various types of precision munitions, were used on more than 10 insurgent positions. The air strikes began late morning and continued into the afternoon.

"MNF-I is committed to assisting the Iraqi Interim Government in stabilizing the country and setting the conditions for a revitalized and independent Iraq," a spokesman said.


http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/69219276A31EAB5285256F32003578FE?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Warm welcome for Marine who lost eye <br />
<br />
PORTER COUNTY: Iraq attack ended Ben McClanahan's service of duty early. <br />
<br />
BY BRIAN WILLIAMS <br />
Times Staff Writer <br />
<br />
This story ran on nwitimes.com on Tuesday,...

[thedrifter]

Father loses son on 56th birthday



By Lisa M. Sodders
Staff Writer


WINNETKA -- Last Thursday, Gus Salazar got an e-mail from his son, stationed in Iraq, wishing him a happy 56th birthday.
Two days later, he got a visit from two Marines and a Navy chaplain -- his son, Cpl. William I. Salazar, 26, had been killed in action.

"Being a Marine was his life," Salazar said Monday. "He was so proud, and he was always very kind and generous.

"Every package that he got from home from friends and relatives, he just simply shared with all of his buddies."

William Salazar -- a combat photographer and videographer who enlisted after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- was killed Friday by a suicide car bomber while on patrol in Al Anbar Province, five months into his Iraqi posting. Two U.S. Army soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter also died in the attack.

"My birthday was Friday, the 15th of October, and he e-mailed me Thursday night and said, 'Dad, I don't know if I'm early or late, but I tried to remember your birthday,"' said Salazar.

Salazar's eldest son, Gus Jr., was killed 13 years ago by a drunk driver in Covina. He has two other sons and a daughter.

"(William) will be put to rest next to his oldest brother. So far, I've lost my oldest son and my youngest son."

William Salazar grew up in Lynwood and attended South Gate High School. He played trombone in the school band and later in the jazz band at East Los Angeles College.

He also studied computer graphic design at Santa Monica College before moving to Las Vegas about four years ago.

Ultimately, William Salazar wanted to follow his father into the film business. Gus Salazar and his wife, Jennifer, 47, work for PSP Productions in Chatsworth, producing commercials, short films, documentaries and celebrity interviews.

"The Marines taught him to be a great videographer, and he also learned how to produce, write and direct and also edit," his father said. "We had big plans for him to join our (company) when he came back."

But, before the film career, William was determined to join the Marines. His father said William had always admired his uncle, Lou Salazar, who served in the Marines in Vietnam. He enlisted after 9-11 and earned the National Defense Service Medal and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.

Staff Sgt. Paul Anstine, 26, who served with Salazar in Iraq, remembered him as a very focused Marine.

"He was a very motivated individual, and he really loved the Marine Corps, and he loved what he was doing," said Anstine, who has since returned to Camp Pendleton. "He was very businesslike. It was all about getting the mission accomplished. That was his No. 1 goal in life."

Prior to going to Iraq, Salazar spent a year in Okinawa, Japan, where he produced training videos for the Marines. After returning to the United States in February, he was sent to Iraq in May.

"He wanted to go, he couldn't wait to go, he felt it was his duty," his father said, choking back tears. "He was a very, very, very proud Marine. A Marine is a rare breed. They're the kind of individual, when they hear gunfire, they run towards it, not away from it.

"When I see a Marine, I find that comforting," Gus Salazar said. "I know that's not my Marine, but it's a Marine."

Lisa M. Sodders, (818) 713-3663 lisa.sodders@dailynews.com

http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~20954~2476825,00.html

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Youth's field honors Marine killed in Iraq


Associated Press
October 19, 2004


WARSAW, Ind. -- A youth football field has been dedicated in memory of a Marine who was the first person from Indiana killed in combat during the war in Iraq.

More than 150 people attended the dedication Sunday of the David Fribley Football Field at Richardson-DuBois Park.

Lance Cpl. David Fribley, a 1996 Warsaw High School graduate, was among nine Marines killed in an ambush near An Nasiriyah, about 230 miles southwest of Baghdad on March 23, 2003.

The football field, built with donations and volunteer labor from the community, is now home to the Young Tigers football team in the city about 40 miles west of Fort Wayne.

"We're just tickled to death to have a home of our own," said Dave McCool, assistant commissioner for the Tigers. "To actually have a place to call our own is just awesome."

A special area marked by three poles flying the American, Indiana and Marine flags surrounds a monument honoring Fribley, who was 26 when he died.

The black stone monument is engraved with a message that Fribley had written before his death. "Semper Fi," it begins. "The greatest gift one can give to another is the gift of service. The following is my gift to you."

While some said that Fribley avoided the spotlight, he would have been proud, said his father, Garry Fribley.

"I'm just in awe," he said. "I know David would be just ecstatic."

And maybe just a little embarrassed, said his brother Steve, a senior airman in the Air Force.

"He loved to be the best, but he didn't want people to make a huge deal about him," he said.

Garry Fribley said he and his wife, Linda, have always encouraged their children to follow their dreams.

"What David wanted to do was make the Iraqi people free," he said. "This was the right thing to do."

Since February 2003, 28 Indiana military personnel have died in Iraq-related operations.

http://www.indystar.com/articles/6/187581-4456-009.html

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines went frustration as their comrade die at increasing pace in forgotten western corner of Iraq
By Fisnik Abrashi, Associated Press, 10/19/2004 01:41

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QAIM, Iraq (AP) The sound of the Black Hawk medical helicopter is an ominous sign for the Marines patrolling this forgotten western corner of Iraq that borders Syria. It means that one of them is seriously wounded or killed at the hands of their elusive enemy or the bombs he had laid in waiting.

The sound of roaring engine, shattering evening calm, gets immediately followed up with a quick whisper among the troops, trying to find out who was it, this time.

At this Marine base few miles away from the Syrian border to the far west of the restless Anbar province, the news spreads quickly.

''We are losing guys left and right,'' says Cpl. Cody King, 20, of Phoenix, Ariz. ''All we are doing around here is getting blown up,'' he says, not hiding his anger.

Most of the incidents these days in this far flung corner of Iraq, enveloped by an endless desert, dried up river beds and winding dirt roads, include 155 mm artillery shells, mines and other sort of crude home made bombs, which are among the biggest killer of troops in this war. They make the Marine's enemy faceless and only heighten the feeling of vulnerability, not assuaged by the limited armor at their disposal.

King and his fellow Marines from the weapons company of the 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, spoke in between patrols, huddled together and sifting through their log book venting their anger and frustration, but never speaking of fear.

Among other things their green leather bound book lists are the number of times their company was hit by homemade bombs since they got to Iraqi two months ago. Written in fine careful print, the book contains names of those who were killed or wounded during those incidents.

On Sept. 3, during their first patrol since coming back to Iraq, a thunderous blast ripped through a group of Marines that King was with, as they were providing security for the engineers repairing a bridge over the Euphrates river, near the town of Ubayd.

Four Marines were killed and three were wounded when a home made bomb went off, sending shrapnel and debris flying. Some of the those killed were barely recognizable, said King, who escaped unscathed.

Marine deaths per month in Iraq, have in recent months exceeded those suffered by the Army, even though the Army have at least three times as many troops in Iraq. It is difficult to pinpoint the reasons for the unusually high death toll for the Marines because they limit details on the circumstances of battle deaths to either ''enemy action'' or ''non-combat related.''

The Army specifies the type of weapon that caused the death as well as the city where it happened.

''After you lose so many Marines, you just keep fighting to stay alive,'' King, a son of a Vietnam veteran, say.

But for some of the Marines lack of armor, few vehicles and too restrictive rules of engagement are partly to blame.

''We need more armor, more vehicles and more bodies,'' says King.

Gunnery Sgt. Jason Berold, says that rules, as they are now, are very frustrating. Unless they see insurgents shooting at them or have otherwise what they call positive identification, little they can do but watch as they leg it and melt among the people.

''It is very frustrating,'' says Berold, 38, of Los Angeles.

''All we are doing is getting Americans killed and we cannot do much about it,'' says King, as the other marines in the room nod in approval.

''None of us are scared of going out ... as long as you get one bad guy.''

But now because of the existing rules of the engagement, the only thing left after the incidents, is to ''pick up your dead and wounded and get out of there as soon as possible,'' King says.

Sgt. Ryan Hall, 27, says that a ''50:50'' chance of getting blown on patrol, is a good bet among his troops. As he walks outside the compound, Hall, of Abilene, Texas, points to the damage that their company vehicles, have suffered in the recent patrols. There are cracks in the armored windshield of their Humvees from flying shrapnel. Holes on the back and damage to its side.

As they spoke, shortly after darkness fell in this distant base, another sound of the helicopter signaled what they all knew.

''You do not know whether he will survive,'' King says.

That night alone, only one made it, after a suicide car bomber ram into their patrol near the town of Qaim. Two soldiers and one Marine died.



http://www.boston.com/dailynews/293/world/Marines_went_frustration_as_th:.shtml


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Biloxi Sun Herald
October 19, 2004

'The Most Important Thing'


By Patrick Peterson

BILOXI - While on a trip to Baghdad, U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace said he was often asked by U.S. troops, "Do the folks back home still support us?"

The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said he found proof of that support Monday at South Mississippi's Salute to the Military. He thanked the crowd of 1,000 at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center for "making us feel what we are doing is the most important thing in the world."

Army Staff Sgt. Randal P. Bitz of C. Co., 169th Engineer Battalion, 1st Engineer Brigade at the Naval Construction Training Center in Gulfport won the 2004 Thomas V. Fredian Community Excellence Award.

Nearly 1,000 U.S. troops have died in Iraq since the last Salute. And while there seems to be scant progress toward peace in Iraq, the U.S. is nearing the end of a bitter presidential race.

Pace, however, reminded all those in attendance of their debt to the U.S. military by reciting the names of the first seven men to die while under his command.

"I can never repay those men or their families," said Pace, who served in Vietnam and is the first Marine officer to hold his position. "I've been trying for almost 38 years."

Nearly 300,000 U.S. servicemen and women are overseas, often in harm's way. Pace said a tradition of courage helps them, as it helped him during his first moments in combat, when he was afraid but pressed forward in defense of the U.S. Constitution.

"There was no way physical fear was going to stop me that day or any day," he said.

Answering questions from the audience, Pace said that while the U.S. bears 80 percent of the financial and military burden in Iraq, the contributions of other nations are important.

"It's not the size of the unit, it's the quality that counts," he said.

He also said that new armor should be distributed quickly.

"I owe it to all the moms and dads out there that we will provide the equipment as soon as possible."



Ellie

[thedrifter]

Reservist Gets 8 Years In Abuse Case <br />
Associated Press <br />
October 22, 2004 <br />
<br />
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The highest-ranking U.S. soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib prison case was sentenced Thursday to eight...

[thedrifter]

Peter Brookes: Iraq Looking Up

You wouldn't know it from most of the pun dits or the evening news broadcasts, but things are looking up in Iraq. The high-stakes decision to go on the offensive militarily - and politically - over the last couple of weeks has made a big difference.

The airstrikes, ground assaults, local negotiations and international diplomacy will pay substantial dividends in establishing security in the run-up to next January's Iraqi national elections.

Some discouraging days are undoubtedly still ahead (like attacks in the Green Zone). But a number of disparate, but related, events indicate that the political and military momentum is shifting to the Coalition and Iraqi side.

Skeptical? Consider the following developments:

NATO forces: In a significant diplomatic victory last Wednesday, the NATO defense ministers, meeting in Romania, agreed to increase the group's military training contingent in Iraq from 40 to 300 by year's end. The new military advisers (most likely initially from Denmark and Norway) will be deployed to a center outside Baghdad to train Iraqi military officers.

The NATO trainers will help boost the number of Iraqi forces from the current 100,000 to a projected 145,000 by next January. (The NATO forces will serve under American Gen. David Petraeus.) Equipping these forces is also another challenge, and NATO may play a role there as well.

Though France and Germany are still playing hard to get, there are some subtle hints that even they may kick in some assistance later on. Moreover, Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld's NATO agreement is an important step in helping mend the trans-Atlantic rift over Iraq.

Fallujah: The central-Iraq town of 300,000 has been a snake pit since the Marines ended their siege in April. But in recent weeks, precision U.S. airstrikes have killed at least six senior members of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror network. And the Pentagon claims to have eliminated half the foreign fighter leadership in the last month.

The airstrikes have had the added benefit of creating fault lines among Fallujah's bad guys. The pounding has inspired local insurgents to turn against the foreign fighters and al Qaeda. Fallujan vigilante justice resulted in the killing of at least five foreign Arab fighters in recent weeks, including a senior Zarqawi aide.

On the political side, while Iraqis negotiated for return of the city's control to local forces, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi put some political spine into the situation by demanding that Fallujah's citizens hand over Zarqawi - or face attack.

"If they do not turn in al Zarqawi and his group, we will carry out operations in Fallujah," he recently told the 100-member interim Iraqi National Council. Gentle reminders of the successful, joint Iraqi-U.S. assault on Samarra earlier this month may give locals the needed incentive to fork over the terrorists.

Sadr City: Stubborn supporters of rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have agreed to turn in their weapons in exchange for cold cash in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City ($1,000 for a heavy machine gun; $250 for a mortar; $170 for a grenade launcher; and even 25 cents for a bullet).

Early buy-back results are promising, but it's not clear to what extent Sadr's Mahdi Army will really disarm. Cooperation, relative calm and a fragile cease-fire prevail for now. If the peace deal holds, aid to rebuild this dilapidated section of Baghdad is waiting in the wings.

The point: The situation in Iraq is better than you'd think from the "if it bleeds, it leads" news reports.

The seemingly intractable challenges in Fallujah, Najaf, Samarra, Baghdad and Ramadi shouldn't be underestimated by any means. But these problems - confined predominantly to the Sunni Triangle's major urban areas - should be contrasted with the rest of the country, which has been pacified and is under military control. (Remember: Iraq is California's size.)

Iraqis need to take control of the security situation as soon as possible. Military victories, which should include Iraqi forces for confidence-bolstering purposes, must be quickly followed up by economic aid to the contested area.

We'll surely continue to see violence through the U.S. elections next month and the Iraqi elections next January. But if we (in collaboration with Iraqi counterparts) keep pressing the political and military offensive as we have of late, stability and security is in sight.

Peter Brookes is a Heritage Foundation senior fellow.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

October 25, 2004

Help springs eternal
Marines save officer after ambush, while others aid family back home

By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer


CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — A rocket-propelled grenade took a chunk out of 1st Lt. Christopher Ayres’ right leg, knocking him down and nearly killing him during a fiery ambush in Fallujah last spring.
His group of two Amphibious Assault Vehicles was trying to resupply grunts with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, when it was hit by insurgents.

As Ayres’ men fled the vehicle, two of the lieutenant’s “angels” — biblically named Staff Sgt. Ismael Sagredo and Lance Cpl. Abraham McCarver — carried him to safety in a nearby house. There, the Marines fought a pitched battle before Humvees raced the wounded to safety.

It wouldn’t be the first time Ayres, or the rest of his family, would get much-needed help.

Not long after he and his wife, Renee, returned to their hometown of San Antonio, Renee went into premature labor. For weeks, the mother of two shuttled between a hotel and the two hospitals that held her husband and her newborn daughter, Faith. Money was getting tight.

“It was hard,” she said. “Looking back, I’m not sure how I made it.”

What she didn’t know was that help, from their Marine Corps family, was again on its way.

Ambush!

The timing of the assault on Ayres’ vehicle couldn’t have been worse.

The two amtracs were trying to resupply the Bravo Company Marines on April 13 when they were hit with a barrage of small-arms fire and RPGs. Ayres’ amtrac was hit, and constant enemy fire kept nearby Bravo Company Marines from rescuing the leathernecks in the burning vehicle.

As one amtrac split off, Ayres decided to close on the enemy and get out of the kill zone. But the route took them deep into the city seething with black-clad insurgents ready for a fight. Smoke from the burning amtrac signaled to the insurgents that the Americans were in trouble, and more enemy fighters poured into the streets.

Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Sergio Villegas watched Ayres fall into the turret. “I saw another explosion,” said Villegas, 21. “I just remember putting my hands to my face and then thinking, I’ve got to get the lieutenant out of here.”

The men fled the vehicle with Ayres and ran into a nearby house, the amtrac gunner dead in the vehicle.

The Marines fought approaching fighters while corpsmen handled battle dressings, tourniquets and morphine to keep Ayres and several injured men alive.

Nearly 90 minutes later, with the men low on ammunition, a rescue force led by four tanks arrived. Two Humvees raced the wounded to the battalion aid station.

Ayres died three times that day when his heart went into cardiac arrest, but he was resuscitated each time. At Camp Fallujah, two Marines donated blood to save him, and eventually doctors managed to save his torn leg.

Help comes from afar

Three days after he was wounded, Chris Ayres was brought to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. Not long after that, Renee Ayres went into premature labor.

But help was coming.

Fisher House provided free space for Renee and their older daughter, 5-year-old Lauren, who suffers from Down syndrome. A group of wives, now organized as the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund, gave the family child-care money. Friends assisted her with the newborn.

Renee’s brother flew in from Holland and “took care of me and let me sleep,” she said. Marines with 4th Reconnaissance Battalion in San Antonio visited Chris Ayres, boosting his spirits and plastering his hospital room with leatherneck paraphernalia — posters, stickers, shirts, hats and a “Welcome to the 4th Recon Family” blanket.

Stories in local newspapers drew cards and donations of money and gifts. Their family’s church donated $200 worth of baby supplies. A large box of donations from the “Sgt. Grit” Web site (www.grunt .com) “made me cry,” Renee added.

Even today, their mail brings a note wishing them well and sometimes, she said, “someone does something nice for us.”

‘Because of what they did’

By mid-July, Chris, who spent 74 days in the hospital, was back at Pendleton working at 1/5, still grappling with muscle loss and pain from burns and skin grafts. But he’s relishing his circle of friends and family.

“I’m definitely blessed,” he said.

The lieutenant moves around his house with a slight limp, looking lean and mostly healthy. He lifts his shorts to show the grafted skin and scars covering where his hamstring, the muscle that contracts to raise the leg, once was. He can walk, though his leg often tingles, and he’s able to ride a stationary bike for several minutes.

He has scattered memories of the ambush and knows he felt a “sense of dread” that day.

Sitting in his home office, he glances at his computer screen and a photo of his mangled leg. “I don’t know how anybody can walk after that,” he said.

“He died a couple of times, but through everyone’s actions, he’s here with me,” Renee said. “And he may be disabled or whatever for the rest of his life, but I don’t care. He’s home with me and his two little girls, and the important thing for those guys to remember is it’s because of them that he’s here, because of what they did.”


http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-MARINEPAPER-391730.php


Ellie

[thedrifter]

October 22, 2004

East Coast squadron replaces Red Devils on Abe cruise

By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer


SAN DIEGO — For three months this summer, the “Red Devils” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 232 trained for a deployment aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln that was planned for early next year.
But in September, the Navy ordered Lincoln to leave much sooner — in mid-October instead of next spring — on a “surge” deployment.

And when the new orders came down, the squadron from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar couldn’t be ready in time.

So when Lincoln left Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado and headed west on Oct. 19, its flight deck took on F/A-18 Hornet jets from an East Coast-based Navy squadron, in place of the Marines.

The ultimate decision to pull the Red Devils from the float came from Naval Air Forces and Marine Corps Headquarters, according to Naval Air Forces officials.

For VMFA-232, the decision came down to whether the squadron could be ready for the early deployment — and time wasn’t on their side.

The squadron’s commander, Lt. Col. Douglas S. Kurth, said he weighed the risks and the missions ahead, and recommended one month ago that “it’s not smart for us to deploy in an earlier emergency surge on a carrier, because of the experience level onboard the carrier specifically, that I had in the squadron.

At the time, he said, he had only three pilots with carrier experience and eight enlisted Marines who have worked on carrier flight decks.

Kurth notified his boss, Col. Earl S. Wederbrook, commander of Marine Aircraft Group 11 at Miramar. Wederbrook, a veteran F/A-18 pilot, said that while VMFA-232 was ready to deploy, “they weren’t necessarily ready to deploy on a carrier just yet.”

“There was no way we could get them ready for a carrier deployment,” he added. The Red Devils hadn’t deployed on a carrier, he noted, and two experienced squadrons in the group were unavailable to replace them.

Instead of deploying with Lincoln, VMFA-232 is expected to deploy with the carrier Nimitz early next year. Gidget Fuentes covers West Coast units and may be reached at (760) 722-0367 or by e-mail at gidgetf@earthlink.net.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-292925-466553.php

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Deployed Troops, High-Risk Groups to Get Flu Shots on Time
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22, 2004 – All deployed and deploying servicemembers and high-risk beneficiaries will be vaccinated on time this flu season, the Defense Department's chief medical officer said here Oct. 21.

Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said changes made in the flu vaccination program make him "confident that this will allow us to sustain our military mission."

He said the revised plan protects military medical beneficiaries most at risk. "The health and well-being of our troops and our military beneficiaries are our priorities," he said.

The doctor said for servicemembers and their families not part of these categories, DoD "will be conducting a vigorous public health campaign against the flu."

Winkenwerder said the effect on DoD of the flu vaccine shortage is similar to that on rest of nation. He estimated DoD has 60 percent of the vaccine it had last year, which is slightly better than the general nationwide situation.

Deployed troops and those deploying get priority for flu vaccinations. "We are committed to protecting our troops who go in harm's way every way we can," Winkenwerder said. The program has started for troops already deployed and for troops readying to leave.

Winkenwerder praised the commitment of Aventis Pasteur – the maker of the flu vaccine – to America's fighting forces.

For the high-risk population, DoD will follow Centers for Disease Control guidelines. High-risk groups are children between 6 months and 2 years old, adults over 65, those with underlying health problems, health care professionals, pregnant women and caregivers in direct contact with infants.

DoD ordered 3.6 million to 3.7 million doses of vaccine for this flu season. In a usual flu season, all active duty servicemembers and their families and all beneficiaries in a military direct-care system would receive a shot.

"This year we'll be working with at least 2.1 million doses, most provided by Aventis Pasteur," Winkenwerder said.

The department also is receiving an order of 50,000 doses of FluMist, a nasal spray flu vaccine. The department will receive 200,000 more doses of FluMist in late November, or early December, he said.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Documents Shed Light On Prison Abuse <br />
Associated Press <br />
October 22, 2004 <br />
<br />
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Poor living conditions for U.S. soldiers and an immersion in an unfamiliar culture may have...

[thedrifter]

Insurgents Infiltrate Iraqi Forces <br />
HeraldNet <br />
October 22, 2004 <br />
<br />
WASHINGTON - Iraq's new security forces are heavily infiltrated by insurgents, and the guerrilla groups have access to almost...

[thedrifter]

October 22, 2004

Planes hit Fallujah targets; Marines battle insurgents on city’s outskirts

By Tini Tran
Associated Press


BAGHDAD, Iraq — Marines clashed with insurgents on the outskirts of the rebel stronghold of Fallujah and launched airstrikes at militant targets, the U.S. command said Friday, ignoring a call from the city’s leaders to halt new attacks.
Around sundown Thursday, militants fired small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars at U.S. forces, who hit back with ground fire and airstrikes. Hospital officials in Fallujah reported that eight people were killed and two wounded in the fighting.

The U.S. command said it had no information on “anti-Iraq forces” killed.

Insurgent attacks across the country have increased by about 25 percent since the beginning of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month that began last weekend, with mostly car bombs and strikes on civilians rather than direct assaults on U.S. forces, Pentagon officials say.

The latest U.S. attacks came after Fallujah leaders had demanded Thursday that Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s government force a halt to the frequent U.S. airstrikes in the city. A day before that, a senior Sunni cleric, Sheik Harith al-Dari, urged Iraqis to boycott elections scheduled for January elections if the Americans launch an all-out attack on the city.

“We demand the suspension of airstrikes and call on the government to call on families to return to their homes as a gesture of goodwill and a prelude to the solution of all outstanding problems,” the Fallujah leaders said in a statement after an emergency meeting at city hall.

Late Thursday, Al-Arabiya television reported that the Iraqi government had rejected the latest demands.

On Friday, the military said that “combat operations” have not begun and American forces have not entered the city. Coalition forces are still conducting “security operations,” the military said.

An airstrike Thursday at 10 p.m. hit one suspected militant site where “20 armed individuals were seen moving crates and equipment from house to house,” the U.S. military said. Multiple secondary explosions were seen but the military said it had no information on casualties.

American commanders have spoken of a new offensive ahead of the January elections aimed at suppressing insurgents who control a number of central Sunni Muslim cities, particularly Fallujah, where peace negotiations broke down several days ago.

Despite the threat of an election boycott, the top U.N. electoral expert in Iraq said that preparations for the vote are “on track” and the absence of international observers due to the country’s tenuous security should not detract from the credibility of the process.

“International observation is important only in that it’s symbolic,” Carlos Valenzuela told The Associated Press on Thursday. “I don’t think that the process will be less credible without observers, absolutely not. They are not the essence. They are not essential. They are not important. If they can come, fine, of course.”

The election is seen as a major step in Iraq’s path to democratic rule. The United States, which formally ended its occupation of Iraq in June but still wields vast influence, sees the vote as a key step toward establishing a stable government.

Iraqis will select a 275-seat assembly whose main task will be to draft a constitution. If adopted, the document will be the foundation for a second vote to be held by Dec. 15.

On Thursday, the British government agreed to a U.S. request to transfer 850 British troops of the First Battalion, Black Watch Regiment from southern Iraq to an area near Baghdad so U.S. troops could be shifted to insurgent hotspots.

The decision has been highly controversial with major opposition within the governing Labour Party among lawmakers who saw it as a political move to aid President George W. Bush ahead of November elections in America.

Fallujah leaders on Thursday had called on the Iraqi government to pursue a peaceful solution to the military standoff around the city and order a halt to frequent U.S. airstrikes.

They had also issued a list of other demands, including compensation for damaged property and withdrawing U.S. troops from the city’s outskirts. Fallujah leaders want any Iraqi military units which deploy into the city to consist exclusively of Fallujah natives.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-466312.php

Ellie

[thedrifter]

October 25, 2004

High-tech tracking tools sought for war on terror
DoD panel calls for civil-military development push

By Jason Sherman
Times staff writer


If the United States is to win its far-reaching war on terrorism, the Pentagon must marshal the nation’s brightest scientific minds to develop technologies that can track individuals, items and activities in ways that exist today only in the realm of science fiction.
Technologies that can identify someone by unique physical characteristics — fingerprints, voice, odor, gait or even the pattern of iris — must be merged with new means of “tagging” so that enemies who escape into a crowd or slip into a labyrinthine slum can still be located by U.S. forces.

A high-level advisory panel to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recently recommended the Pentagon spearhead a massive federal effort to put in place a new array of tagging, tracking and locating (TTL) technologies that it believes are essential to winning the war on terrorism.

A Defense Science Board study this summer, “Transition to and From Hostilities,” calls for this new array of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.

“The global war on terrorism cannot be won without a ‘Manhattan Project’-like TTL program,” state briefing charts summarizing some of the study’s findings. The top-secret Manhattan Project was a military-led effort involving many civilian scientists during World War II to develop the atomic bomb.

Such a focused undertaking could help future operations in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, where enemy leaders do not wear military uniforms and can easily blend into the civilian population, move around in vehicles difficult to detect in traffic and use schools, mosques, hospitals and factories as operations bases.

Traditional U.S. military intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems from the Cold War and conventional war were “never designed for these purposes,” state the charts used to brief Rumsfeld in late August.

The objective is to “locate, identify, and track people, things, and activities in an environment of one in a million to give the United States the same advantage in asymmetric warfare it has today in conventional warfare,” the briefing charts say.

This tagging and tracking could be used for:

• Individuals such as enemy leaders or sympathizers, nuclear weapons or explosives experts, terrorist paymasters or other groups of interest.

• Things such as weapons of mass destruction, materials or components, precision machinery, pharmaceutical plans, specialized instruments, pathogens and seed stocks or vehicles.

• Activities such as recruiting, financial transactions, Internet activity, pathogen genome sequencing or organizational activity or meeting.

These sorts of practices would require the federal government to wrestle with many legal and ethical issues, as well as jurisdiction and determining who would pay for such a project.

Whatever the price, the stakes are high, the panel said. “Cost is not the issue; failure in the global war on terrorism is the real question,” state the briefing charts.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-MARINEPAPER-448364.php

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines learning nonlethal tactics, too


By Charlie Coon, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, October 20, 2004


STUTTGART, Germany — Marines are taught to kill soon after they become Marines.

Some, though, are currently in Stuttgart learning nonlethal ways to do their jobs.

“If we were going up against rioters or even peaceful demonstrators, we’d have a way to disperse the crowd without having to use lethal force on them,” said Sgt. Scott Hill of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe, one of 14 Marines taking two weeks of Nonlethal Weapons Training at Panzer Casern.

Nonlethal munitions, such as rubber and foam bullets and sting-ball grenades, are available for use right now in Iraq, according to Staff Sgt. David Smith, an instructor with the 2nd Special Operations Training Group, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force from Camp Lejeune, N.C.

The situation in Iraq might currently be too threatening for U.S. troops to use anything other than real bullets, Smith said. But he said nonlethal weapons could eventually play an increasing role in helping troops control crowds wherever it’s needed.

“I wouldn’t want to replace my lethality with [nonlethal weaponry],” Smith said. “But I’d like to augment with it.”

Nonlethal force, the Marines are being taught, is a better option to use in some situations: to keep people away during rescues or evacuations, to help local police quell out-of-control riots and demonstrations and to enforce keep-out zones.

Smith, of Springfield, Ohio, told about a humanitarian mission in Somalia when the crowd rushed a food giveaway site.

“They just wanted food; they didn’t mean to be aggressive,” he said. “They were just hungry.”

Hill, of Chesterland, Ohio, said that two years ago when the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade reopened the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, he might have felt more comfortable having nonlethal munitions available.

Nothing happened as the Marines were escorting the Afghan workers around the compound, Hill said, but nonlethal weaponry “could have been useful.”

The nonlethal munitions included beanbags, foam and rubber slugs, and rubber balls that are fired like buckshot. All are fired by Mossberg 590-model 12-gauge shotguns or from grenade launchers attached to the Marines’ M-16 rifles.

There also are hand-thrown grenades that shoot eraser-size rubber “sting-balls” when they detonate.

The munitions aren’t for sharpshooters; their effective ranges are usually closer than 50 meters.

“Any time we’re dealing with crowds we’re going to be up close with them,” Hill said. “So the range of the ammunition shouldn’t be a problem.”

The Marines are being taught the course so they can turn around and train their units. Ten of the students were from MARFOREUR; four made the trip from U.S. Marine Corps Security Forces in Rota, Spain.

Among the topics: the effective range of the different weapons; circumstances when the nonlethal weapons could actually kill someone; and which munitions are appropriate for different situations.

Maj. Shannon Geaney of Long Beach, Calif., and MARFOREUR, said nonlethal weapons are for “military operations other than war.”

“No longer do we look at every enemy as a mortal enemy,” she said.

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=24158&archive=true

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Army Reserve Unit to Train Iraqi Army

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon (news - web sites) is making a key change in its approach to providing trainers for the fledgling Iraqi army in hopes of getting Iraqis to take control of their nation's security sooner.


For the first time since the U.S. military began training Iraqi security forces more than a year ago, the Pentagon is giving a lead role to an Army Reserve unit that specializes in soldier schooling, but has never performed that mission abroad.


Up to now, the Iraqi army has been trained by a hodgepodge of U.S. infantry and other units. The Army says the decision to send the 98th Division — one of seven units in the Army Reserve that specialize in training other soldiers — will stabilize the effort. The 98th will have a 12-month tour.


The division is sending about 700 of its 3,600 part-time soldiers to provide a mixture of training, including basic combat skills and the development of a noncommissioned officer corps, its commander, Maj. Gen. Bruce Robinson, said Thursday.


They also will serve as live-in advisers to the Iraq (news - web sites) army, staying with individual Iraqi units until they are deemed ready for combat, Robinson said.


Few in the 98th Division speak Arabic, Robinson said, so making effective use of interpreters will be crucial. The American soldiers will receive some rudimentary language and cultural instruction at Camp Atterbury in Edinburgh, Ind., before they leave for Iraq, he said.


About one-third of the 700 soldiers are either already in Iraq or are on their way. The rest should be there by early December, Robinson said.


The 98th Division normally trains U.S. active-duty soldiers at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and does Reserve Officer Training Corps instruction at more than 20 colleges and universities.


Its goal in Iraq will be to expedite the training of a native army "so that there can then be some relief for the coalition forces, who will then be able to be redeployed out of Iraq," Robinson said.


Such a training mission is an unprecedented challenge for the U.S. Army, said Anthony Cordesman, who has closely studied the progress in training Iraqi security forces.


"We're having to improvise a lot of this," Cordesman said Thursday. "We're not talking about something people have done before. Even in Vietnam we had a great many problems, but it's quite clear that this is one of the most critical single missions that can be performed" in Iraq.


Cordesman noted that the 98th Division has not tried this before.


"On the other hand, nobody's done it before," he added, referring to the task of building an army virtually from scratch in the midst of a violent insurgency.


In an assessment of Iraqi security forces published in September, Cordesman estimated that Iraq's forces would not be ready to replace most U.S. and coalition forces until late 2005 or early 2006.


Infiltration by the insurgency also is a problem. A defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said this week that the country's new security forces overall are heavily infiltrated by insurgents. The official pointed to a mortar attack Tuesday on an Iraqi National Guard compound near Baghdad as a probable inside job. The attackers apparently knew precisely when and where the unit's members were gathering and dropped mortar rounds in the middle of their formation. At least four Iraqis were killed and 80 wounded.


Robinson said the 98th Division has been given no deadline or other timeline for accomplishing its mission, although he said it was likely the effort would be handed off to another Army Reserve training division — probably the 80th Division from Richmond, Va. — next fall.


The 98th Division, headquartered in Rochester, N.Y., is made up of reservists mainly from eight states: New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Robinson said it last deployed abroad during World War II as an infantry unit, but has never gone overseas to train a foreign army.





The decision to mobilize the 98th Division, which does not have its own vehicles and weapons, apparently came as a surprise to many.

Lt. Gen. James Helmly, chief of the Army Reserve, said in disclosing the decision last month that when word went out he received a flurry of cards, letters and e-mail messages asking, "How can you do that?"

___

On the Net:

98th Division: http://www.usarc.army.mil/98thDIV/

Cordesman's study: http://www.csis.org/press/wf_2004_0929.pdf


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&e=32&u=/ap/20041022/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/iraq_army_trainers


Ellie