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thedrifter
12-14-04, 07:54 AM
He lost an arm in Iraq; the Army wants money <br />
Spc. Robert Loria is stuck at Fort Hood, Texas <br />
<br />
By Dianna Cahn <br />
Times Herald-Record <br />
dcahn@th-record.com <br />
<br />
Middletown – He lost his arm serving...

thedrifter
12-14-04, 07:54 AM
IRAQ: Iraqi Security Forces, Marines capture 72 Suspected Militants


/noticias.info/ Forward Operating Base, Kalsu, Iraq -- Iraqi police and national guardsmen beat back an insurgent attack on a police station just south of Baghdad on Dec. 12, fueling optimism that the fledgling security forces are growing more confident and capable even in the face of a concerted campaign of intimidation and terror.

The early-morning assault on the Rasheed station north of Mahmudiyah by an estimated 10 militants using mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and small-arms posed the biggest test yet for the 507th ING Battalion, which has been operating alongside the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit since July.

The policemen and soldiers immediately returned fire, holding their ground and summoning their quick-reaction force. Marines were also called to assist but were not needed, as the ING decisively repulsed the attack. Several of the attackers fled to a nearby mosque, where the ING found them and a variety of weapons and ammunition.

In a full sweep of the area, the ING detained 34 suspected insurgents. The soldiers also discovered a car bomb across the street from the police station. Marine explosives experts were called in to defuse and dispose of the bomb.

One ING soldier was wounded in the firefight.

The successful defense of the Rasheed station -- the third in recent weeks -- represents an important psychological victory for the local ISF, who were not yet strong enough earlier this year to prevent the destruction by insurgents of police stations in other south-central cities and towns, including Yusufiyah, Lutafiyah, Haswah, Jurf as Sakhr and Musayyib.

“This engagement is just the latest in which the Iraqi Security Forces have proven themselves in combat,” said Col. Ron Johnson, commander of the 24th MEU. “It demonstrates that a properly trained and equipped Iraqi unit can stand, fight and win.”

While attacks have continued, the arrival of the Marines marked a turning point. The Marines and their Iraqi allies spread out across northern Babil province and southern Baghdad, establishing joint patrol bases and sending a message of unflinching resolve.

With sustained presence and reinforcing firepower provided by the Marines, the ISF have begun to thrive. Though kidnappings and murders -- including the gruesome slaying of 12 ING candidates in a mosque west of Lutafiyah in November -- have led to some attrition, recruitment is on the rise. Not only are the ranks of the Iraqi police and ING swelling, their performance is improving.

ING soldiers are increasingly taking the lead in joint U.S.-Iraqi raids, which coupled with random vehicle checkpoints have resulted in the capture and imprisonment of 537 insurgents in the area since August.

In other action near Mahmudiyah, Marines attached to the 24th MEU rounded up 21 suspected insurgents and seized an assortment of weapons and munitions in a series of raids early on Dec. 13. Elsewhere in northern Babil province, Marines detained 17 suspects in multiple operations on Dec. 12.


Ellie

thedrifter
12-14-04, 07:55 AM
Marines prepare to deploy

Some Camp Lejeune marines are in Wilmington busily preparing for their deployment to Iraq.

The marines are at the State Port loading a ship full of supplies and equipment, such as tanks and HUMVEEs. The Second Marine Expeditionary Force is set to deploy beginning next month, but the equipment is being shipped by sea and it takes about a month to get from Wilmington to Iraq.

The ship is set to leave no sooner than Tuesday. 14,000 marines and sailors will follow after the holidays.

Ellie

thedrifter
12-14-04, 07:56 AM
Words of love

Reading books on videotape allows deployed parents to continue to bond with a child while far from home
By Caroline Dipping
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
December 11, 2004


When Vanessa Zapata watches TV, she gets within a hair's breadth of the set and talks excitedly to the image on the screen. And she cries.

The 3-year-old is not glued to the latest episode of "Dora the Explorer" or "Powerpuff Girls." She is watching a video of her daddy reading books to her and her two older sisters.

Vanessa's father, Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Santiago Zapata, has been deployed in Iraq for the past six months, and nobody knows exactly when he is coming home. E-mail exchanges are few and far between, and Zapata's family last heard his voice during a fleeting phone conversation in mid-October.

Santiago Zapata's videotaped recitation of "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and "Green Eggs and Ham" is the only real connection he has had with his daughters in half a year. It arrived at their Camp Pendleton home shortly after he left. With the holiday season in full swing, the now well-worn videotape also will serve as the Zapata girls' only Christmas present from their father.

For children, important holiday memories are formed by sitting down with a parent to read such favorites as "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Those moments can still occur for children whose parents are deployed U.S. military personnel.

An innovative program called Uniting Through Reading is achieving just that. Developed during the Persian Gulf War in 1991 by the Family Literacy Foundation, Uniting Through Reading enables parents aboard U.S. Navy ships, at air stations abroad, and in tents throughout the Middle East to connect with their children.

Solana Beach-based
"This program is tied to our mission, which is all about helping parents and children read aloud to each other and instill the joy of reading," said Betty Mohlenbrock, president and founder of the Solana Beach-based foundation. "It's about helping parents to continue parenting.

"To be apart six to eight months of a child's life is a huge chunk," she added. "Uniting Through Reading is a very important bonding method, and it is also a wonderful way to help teach children the joy of reading."

An educator and reading specialist, Mohlenbrock also is a Navy daughter and the wife of a retired naval surgeon, and she knows firsthand the challenges of being separated for months at a time. When Uniting Through Reading was created, there was no e-mail, only snail-crawling regular mail and audiocassettes. Mohlenbrock took it a step further with the idea of having parents read aloud on videotape.

Uniting Through Reading provides a full circle of communication. Men and women who are deployed act as volunteers to promote the program in their military units, schedule videotaping sessions and provide coaching tips to participants. Homefront volunteers initially assist with creating an at-home library of children's books, and then promote the program to parents whose spouses are deployed.

With cameras provided by the foundation, the deployed parent is given time to go into an office, room or tent and be privately videotaped reading his or her child's favorite books. The tape is mailed to the child. In turn, the parent at home can tape the child's reaction to the deployed parent's video, then send that back.

The program is not limited to parents, either. All deployed personnel can choose to read aloud to a younger brother or sister, niece, nephew, grandchild, or even a child they are mentoring.

Hidden benefits
The program currently connects about 20,000 families on ships and in land-based units. Since its inception, Uniting Through Reading has served more than 75,000 parents and their children.

"We've seen many benefits," said Mohlenbrock. "Children are much less fearful about where the parent is. They don't feel like they are gone forever. And the reunions are better because the child recognizes the parent who is deployed."

And it's a preventive measure to combat the staggering statistic that only 50 percent of children in this country read aloud with an adult. Rather than wait until the child gets to school to practice reading skills, parents can get involved early and help spark enthusiasm for reading.

Even parents whose own literacy skills are poor can overcome their fear of reading with programs such as Uniting Through Reading, Mohlenbrock said. The program training includes techniques to help the parent make the videotaped reading personal and interactive.

The feedback to the literacy foundation is showing that deployed parents are having fun with the program once they get into it, with some parents even acting out parts in the storybooks and employing props such as hand puppets and "Clifford the Big Red Dog" dog ears.

As for their target audience, the deployed parents couldn't be more warmly received. Children are not critical of their parent's performance on tape, and the spouse at home feels as if the deployed parent is being a parent, lending support in absentia, said Britta Justesen, executive director of the Family Literacy Foundation.

Jessica Zapata learned of Uniting Through Reading at a deployment briefing, but under the welter of getting her husband ready to ship out, forgot to pack some of her daughters' favorite books, as the foundation encourages. When he reached his destination in Iraq, Santiago Zapata was able to comb through a trove of donated books and found "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and "Green Eggs and Ham," favorites of 3-year-old Vanessa, 7-year-old Sabrina and 5-year-old Alyssa.

"He sent the video to us pretty quickly after he got there," said Jessica. "I knew it was coming, but the girls didn't. When they first watched it, they just started crying, 'Papi! Papi!' It was very emotional. I had to walk out of the room.

"It took my oldest daughter at least three times before she could watch it through completely."

Continue the tradition
Despite the emotional toll, Jessica says her daughters watch the videos frequently, especially during the holidays, when they are missing their father the most. Being able to see and hear him on tape has been a salve of sorts, especially for Vanessa, who has cerebral palsy and will get her books, plunk down in front of the TV, and talk to her father, sounding out her letters and responding to a joke he has made.

"I think it's great because they get to continue the tradition of having a bedtime story read to them by dad," said Jessica. "I think it is a benefit that they can see him and he is still there. He didn't just go away and forget about them. It's kind of reassuring."

Katrina Meredith, wife of Petty Officer 1st Class Ken Meredith, who is aboard the U.S.S. Mobile Bay, also is appreciative of the positive connection her husband's videotaped reading provides. Attending college full time for her teaching credential and mothering 8-year-old Alex and 2˝-year-old Summer, Katrina is performing the same hectic juggling routine as so many others with deployed spouses.

While Katrina Meredith does get daily e-mail and a monthly phone call from her husband, the children have his videotaped reading of "The Loving Hand," and a tale about a raccoon, which their father embellishes with a hand puppet, to play over and over again, as often as they like.

Alex, a third-grader, loves the videos, his mother said, but they can make him a little sad and compound the hard moments when he misses his father, especially at night. Summer lights up with all a toddler's relish when she watches her father's tape.

"It is not the way to have a family; it's not a normal way to raise kids or be married," said Katrina of the long absences deployments bring. "But I do think the military's gotten better at recognizing this, and they've gotten better with satellite programs.

"We didn't have Uniting Through Reading before," she said of her husband's past deployments. "You get concerned your children aren't going to be able to bond when their father gets home, or not be able to remember.

"But you play that video for them a couple of times a week and the kids look forward to it. And it keeps their father real, and it keeps him alive."

Ellie

thedrifter
12-14-04, 07:57 AM
Options for aiding troops are numerous <br />
<br />
Americans urged to offer holiday help <br />
By Rick Rogers <br />
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER <br />
December 13, 2004 <br />
<br />
San Diegans interested in heeding President Bush's...

thedrifter
12-14-04, 07:58 AM
Two US Marines killed in Iraq's western Anbar province
Dec. 14, 2004


Two US Marines were killed in action in Iraq's volatile western Anbar province, the military said today, taking the number of Marines reported killed in the region in past three days to 10. A military statement said two Marines assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force were killed in action yesterday "while conducting security and stabilization operations" in the vast Anbar province west of Baghdad, which includes the battleground cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. Seven Marines died in action Sunday in Anbar, the deadliest day for the Marines since eight of their service members were killed by a car bomb October 30 outside Fallujah. Another Marine was killed Saturday. It was unclear where in Anbar the Marines died. The deaths brought to nearly 1,300 the number of American troops killed in Iraq since the invasion in March 2003. Fifty-four Americans were among hundreds who died in a bloody weeklong campaign last month in Fallujah to uproot insurgents who had taken control of the city. But violence resumed there over the weekend as US forces and militants clashed in the city and American warplanes dropped at least 10 missiles on suspected rebel positions.



Ellie

thedrifter
12-14-04, 07:58 AM
Study calls embedding of reporters during Iraq war a success


By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, December 12, 2004



WASHINGTON — The decision to embed journalists with U.S. military forces at the start of the Iraq war was a success for the military, the media and the American public, according to a study released Tuesday.

Chris Paul, an associate social scientist with the RAND Corp., who wrote the report, said the embedded reporters provided news outlets with an up-close view of the combat, which allowed them to convey more information to the public.

For the military, allowing that access built credibility among the media and their audience, Paul said. By giving reporters uncensored access to the troops, military officials conveyed that they believed the soldiers would come across as professional and noble public servants.

“If [the military] has nothing to hide, they can only benefit from the coverage,” he said. “It really became good public relations.”

The report said that despite conflicting goals in the battlefield — winning the war versus observing and recording the fight — the military and the media developed a respect for each other’s work.

In the past, tension between the two has resulted in distrust and a lack of information on U.S. forces’ progress. Paul said that during the Vietnam War, military leaders would often ignore or mislead news reporters, and the media coverage would voice doubt in official statements from commanders.

Defense department spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Venable said the goal of the embed program was to make sure the American public was given a full and honest view of operations overseas, and officials believe that was successful.

“If we have any disappointments with the program it’s that the news media has not taken as much advantage of it as they could have,” he said. “Since the end of major combat operations, the numbers have ebbed and flowed.”

During major combat operations more than 500 journalists were embedded with U.S. forces, according to the defense department. More than 100 accompanied troops during the recent fighting in Fallujah.

Aly Colon, ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute in Florida, said from a journalistic standpoint the embed program was an opportunity most news organizations had never had before.

“For the first time many reporters were getting a clear and direct picture of exactly what was happening at the front,” he said. “They got to see how life was lived there, see that environment up close.”

Paul said embedding reporters with military units will likely become commonplace in future military conflicts, but thinks that more restrictions will be placed on live reports from the battlefield. In the future enemy troops might be able to use background landmarks, satellite signals or other cues from the live broadcasts to uncover military positions.


Ellie

thedrifter
12-14-04, 07:59 AM
Car bomber kills 13; nine Marines die
By Katarina Kratovac, Associated Press | December 14, 2004

BAGHDAD -- A suicide car bomber linked to Al Qaeda killed 13 people just outside Baghdad's Green Zone yesterday, the first anniversary of Saddam Hussein's capture. Clashes resumed in Fallujah, a former insurgent stronghold that American forces believed they had conquered, and nine Marines died in combat in western Iraq and around the capital.

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The violence underlined the difficulties US-led forces have encountered in the year and a half since Hussein's ouster in trying to end a rampant insurgency and bring the country under control. US military commanders acknowledge that they initially underestimated the strength of the insurgent backlash and that coalition-trained Iraqi security forces are not yet up to securing their own country.

The fighting in the western Anbar province, which includes Fallujah and Ramadi, killed seven Marines yesterday, the deadliest for US forces since eight Marines were killed Oct. 30 by a car bomb outside Fallujah. Today, the US military said two soldiers from the First Marine Expeditionary Force died in Baghdad province.

The deaths brought to nearly 1,300 the number of American troops killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003.

In Baghdad, a militant in an explosives-laden car waiting in line to enter the western Harthiyah gate of the Green Zone detonated the vehicle as he drove toward the checkpoint, police said. The heavily fortified area houses the US Embassy and Iraq's interim government.

Dr. Mohammed Abdel Satar of Baghdad's Yarmouk Hospital said 13 people were killed and 15 wounded in the suicide blast. The US military said there were no injuries to its troops.

Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Al Qaeda in Iraq group claimed responsibility for the bombing in a statement posted on an Islamic website regularly used by militants.

"On this blessed day, a lion from the [group's] Martyrs' Brigade has gone out to strike at a gathering of apostates and Americans in the Green Zone," the group said in a statement, the authenticity of which could not be immediately verified.

A blast also struck the checkpoint this morning. Police and US officials, however, had no details on the explosion.

The international zone has seen frequent insurgent attacks in the past 18 months. Dozens of people have been killed.

Also yesterday, a US soldier died in a vehicle accident north of Baghdad, the military said. Another soldier was injured.

In Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded and wrecked two US Humvees, wounding three US soldiers and an Iraqi civilian, Lieutenant Colonel James Hutton said.

Jubilant Iraqi men were seen holding up pieces of the Humvees and dancing around their charred hulks, near a large crater in the road.

In Mishahda, 25 miles north of Baghdad, gunmen attacked an Iraqi National Guard patrol, killing three soldiers and wounding three others. The attackers fled, witnesses said.

US forces retook Fallujah from insurgents in a bloody battle last month in which hundreds died, including 54 Americans. The city had fallen under the rule of radical clerics and their mujahedeen fighters after Marines lifted a three-week siege of the city in April. After the latest campaign, US commanders claimed that they had broken the back of the insurgency in the mainly Sunni Muslim areas of western Iraq, but fighting in the region has continued.

In the central Iraqi city of Samarra, insurgents attacked patrolling US soldiers with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. One missed the troops and detonated near a group of children, killing a 9-year-old boy and injuring another child, US military spokesman Major Neal O'Brien said.

Ellie

TRLewis
12-14-04, 07:59 AM
What the ****?! I normally don't like to speak againsnt the military but something as bad as this is truly ****ed up. I believe there may be more to the story. Because I dont know what CO would deny getting a soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine home.

Namvet67
12-14-04, 08:03 AM
I agree TRLewis...more screwed up incomplete information that don't make any sense.

DSchmitke
12-14-04, 08:24 AM
Something smells rotten in Ft Hood.

thedrifter
12-14-04, 08:29 AM
U.S. Troops on Emotional Rollercoaster in Iraq
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue Dec 14, 2004 08:04 AM ET
By Alastair Macdonald

CAMP ISKANDARIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - The day began in despair of ever confronting a hidden enemy who had killed two young Marines from Bravo Company two days before.

It ended in the heat of a tropical battle as elated U.S. troops unleashed a devastating barrage on Iraqi guerrillas who ventured from a palm grove to bombard the Marines with mortars.

For the most part, it was a routine day in one of the most hostile parts of Iraq for a group of young American men dealing with personal grief and the collective frustration of fighting insurgents they rarely see, knowing that hunting them through farms and homes risks driving local people into the enemy camp.

Without rest for six months, the mission for the 150 or so men of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, begins just after midnight as they gather at their trucks at Camp Iskandariya, a tented compound around a power station on the banks of the Euphrates, 40 miles south of Baghdad.

They are to hunt for arms and guerrillas in an area of farms and villas on the river's far, western shore where loyalty to Saddam Hussein was strong and troops are attacked regularly by mortars and makeshift roadside bombs.

In the trucks, the talk is of Hanson and Brooks, lance corporals from 3rd Platoon whose vehicle was blown up by a bomb buried in the road. Brooks, aged 20, was from Manchester, New Hamphire; 22-year-old Hanson from Panacea, Florida.

"This is really making us mad," said Lieutenant Chris Richardella, the 45-man platoon's 23-year-old commander from Washington D.C.

"These were two very popular men in the platoon."

"At first I wanted to go home," admits one Marine in the dead men's 3rd Squad. "Now I want to go out and get those guys."

After a race through the freezing night constantly braced for ambush, Marines bail out of their trucks. Dozens of houses are surrounded, the men brought out as women and children cower while the dozen or so heavily armed men of 3rd Squad search cupboards and household goods.

Through an Iraqi interpreter, Staff Sergeant Raymond Barth goes through a prepared list of questions: "Have you seen anyone planting bombs on this road? Do you have weapons?"

Blank looks, nervous smiles, short, defensive answers are the common response. In this bastion of the Sunni Muslim minority, which did relatively well under fellow Sunni Saddam, most are hostile or too afraid of the insurgents to cooperate.

"He's happy to be rid of Saddam Hussein," the interpreter tells Barth.

"Sometimes he hears bombs but doesn't know who does it," adds the interpreter through the black ski mask he wears out of fear.

"Nobody ever knows anything round here," grumbles Barth.

After hours of fruitless searching in the growing heat of the day, of handing out sweets to silent children and fending off packs of growling dogs, it gets too much for some Marines.

When Barth lets a man keep a rifle, Corporal David Carroll boils over: "He killed my best friend and we give him his weapon back?" yells Carroll, who wears Hanson's name tag above his own on his helmet. "I'm not playing this game any more."

"The Marines are very highly strung," Barth concedes.

Others hurry to explain Carroll's anger: "It's like he lost his brother," says Lance Corporal Joe "Venti" Ventimiglia, vocal New Yorker and self-appointed squad spokesman.

"It's the unseen enemy. He's a coward," he said of the guerrillas who plant roadside bombs. "It's very frustrating."

Just then a burst of gunfire cranks up the tension. Another Marine, it turns out, has vented his frustration on a dog. Rage turns to laughter -- and teasing that the marksman had missed.

Talk turns to going home in two months. Medic Seamus Marron wants to use the free college place he earned from his Purple Heart-winning gunshot wound to become a history teacher.

Ventimiglia wants a business degree. Others will stay Marines.

Through the teasing they talk of loving each other and of getting out of Iraq, complaining the Iraqis seem so ungrateful.

As 3rd Squad searches what will be the final house, they take pictures of each other with their trophy find of the day -- a Nazi-era German carbine with armor-piercing bullets.

Then, out of the blue, the crash of mortars falling around.

Playful boys are suddenly men in battle, sprinting toward the enemy. The pent-up frustration of the day, of taking losses and of months of hard grind is released in a fury of shooting.

For half an hour, the entire platoon, joined by an Abrams tank and two helicopters, devastate the area with rifles, machineguns, grenades and mortars. Convinced they have killed four to six insurgents in the mortar team, they are joyful.

"It was like Vietnam!" yells one. "Warriors, dude!"

As night falls in the palms, the glow of cigarettes dots the gloom: "This is going to help a great deal," said Barth.

"This was such a wasted, frustrating day. Now I'm so happy," said another contented voice from the darkness of the truck.

Afterward, Lieutenant Richardella was proud of the way his men had pulled through, though officers have yet to break it to the platoon that they found no guerrilla bodies in the field.

"When some of the guys get wounded or killed, it's very tough on them," Richardella said. "But they snapped out of it.

"They suppress their feelings ... The time to grieve is when we get home and they all know that. They can get frustrated, coping with a faceless enemy.

"But they are disciplined and they take care of each other."


Ellie

thedrifter
12-14-04, 12:04 PM
Hospital nurses adopt Marines unit in Iraq

Joelle Babula
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 14, 2004 12:00 AM

Several nurses at Chandler Regional Hospital are playing Santa Claus to hundreds of U.S. Marines they've never met.

The nurses recently stuffed more than 70 holiday stockings and wrapped dozens of gifts, shipping them off to troops in Iraq, the latest in a series of exchanges that began this summer.

The correspondence between nurses and Marines began when nurse Jackie Borresen noticed the daughter of one of her patients crying in the hospital. She went to help the distraught woman and discovered the reason behind the tears - her son was shipping out to Iraq the following day. advertisement




"I told her that we'd all make sure that he got letters and goodies from home," Borresen said. "I was trying to make her feel good and let her know that we would all take care of her son."

The woman, Tammy Raynor, and her son, 21-year-old Eric Spruill, are from Spokane, Wash. Raynor and Borresen met when Raynor traveled to Chandler to visit her father in the hospital the day before Spruill left for Iraq.

"I think it's so wonderful what these nurses have done. They are so sweet," Raynor said from her home in Washington. "The more support we can give our guys over there, the better. It's hard enough to try to stay busy and not think about him over there and wonder if he's safe."

Borresen and Spruill have been e-mailing each other since July. Other Chandler Regional Hospital nurses soon followed suit and are now corresponding with many soldiers in Spruill's unit.

"It's really fun," Borresen said. "The soldiers are so young and we're all old enough to be their mothers, but they really appreciate the mail."

The holiday stockings are stuffed with a variety of items including toothbrushes, baby wipes, board games, soap, razors, candy and gourmet coffee. Stockings for female soldiers also include lip-gloss, shower gels and manicure sets.

"They're in this terrible place, and we want them to feel pretty even for just 10 minutes," Borresen said.

Gifts also include books, basketballs, cards and magazines.

"We just wanted to pamper them all a bit," she said. "We want to give them a bright spot in their day."

Spruill's grandfather, Nelson Noggle, said he's grateful to the nurses who not only took care of him in the hospital but are also continuing to support his grandson.

"I think it's so cute. I really do," the Chandler man said. "The boys really need to know that people back here are thinking about them. The nurses are among the best to do that because they really care about people."

It's too late to ship holiday-related items, but to donate items for later shipment to the Marines, contact Borresen at (480) 993-4286.


Ellie

thedrifter
12-14-04, 12:47 PM
Marine's Father: He Held On For Family
Philadelphia Inquirer
December 14, 2004

Some people on the ground in Iraq didn't think Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle Renehan would live very long after being critically wounded in a mortar attack on Nov. 29.

But he showed them.

The 21-year-old survived for 11 days, long enough to be flown out of Iraq to Germany, long enough for his parents to travel from their home in Oxford, Chester County, to his bedside.

His parents and one of his brothers, also a Marine serving in Iraq, were with him when he died on Thursday.

"We're convinced he fought those 11 days until we got over to see him because his brother was telling him to fight, be strong, that we were coming," Kyle Renehan's father, Jim, said yesterday. "A lot of people didn't think he'd survive the initial operations but he fooled 'em."




He choked back a sob, "Tough kid."

The Oxford community continued to rally around the Renehan family yesterday. About 90 percent of the homes in the Renehans' neighborhood were adorned with yellow ribbons. The family has received at least five personal notes from strangers - such as the man who sold Kyle Renehan his first car, another who sold him car insurance - who wanted them to know what a wonderful man he was.

"That's the advantage of living in a small town," Jim Renehan said. "People get it, understand you, support you."

Funeral arrangements had not been completed yesterday. His father said Kyle Renehan's body was expected at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware early this week.

Kyle Renehan was the third of five sons, born to Jim Renehan and his wife, Theresa, on St. Patrick's Day, 1983. The family moved to Pennsylvania from Maryland about five years ago.

Theirs was a large, tight-knit family. Kyle Renehan, his two older brothers and about eight cousins were a posse that would "go out together, double-date, you name it, they did it together," Jim Renehan said. "They were all very close and they stayed close as they grew up."

Kyle Renehan graduated from Oxford Area High School in 2001 and joined the Marines soon after. He was an air-traffic controller for the Second Marine Aircraft Wing out of Cherry Point, N.C.

"Part of it was he saw his older brother do it and his grandfather was retired from the Air Force," Jim Renehan said. "Part of it was he loved his country and he wanted to do something good. Part of it was adventure."

Kyle Renehan went overseas in June on a tour scheduled to end in January. He called or e-mailed his parents once a week or so, seeking news on his grandparents, his 13 aunts and uncles, his more than 40 cousins.

He talked to one or more of his brothers via instant messaging almost every night.

"If it got to two weeks and we didn't hear from him, we'd check with his brothers," Jim Renehan said. "That's how his mom and I got a lot of updates."

A Marine spokesman said Kyle Renehan's injury was the "result of enemy action" in Babil province, south of Baghdad, on Nov. 29. In Oxford, Jim Renehan got the news that his son was injured about three hours after it happened. He immediately started to write an e-mail to his son Chris, the other Marine, who was stationed about two hours from his brother.

"They were just telling him as I was e-mailing him," Jim Renehan said.

Chris Renehan followed his brother to Baghdad then to Germany. Although Kyle Renehan officially never regained consciousness, there were signs he knew what was going on around him, his father said. In Baghdad, a group of Marine officers visited him in the hospital and someone suggested taking a photo.

"Kyle hadn't moved in four days, but his arm came up," Jim Renehan said. "He was either flexing his biceps - his 'guns,' he called them - or he was going to salute."

And Kyle could hear his brother's voice. Of that his family is certain.

"One thing we're most thankful for is his brother was with him the whole time," Jim Renehan said. "His brother was talking him through."

Ellie

thedrifter
12-14-04, 04:22 PM
NEW: Elway on celebrity morale mission in Iraq

By The Associated Press





Camp Liberty, Iraq - About 1,000 soldiers at this sprawling western Baghdad base took a break today from the Iraq war's day-to-day grind to be entertained by former Broncos quarterback John Elway, actor Robin Williams and sportscaster/model Leeann Tweeden.

The three stars landed in Baghdad along with Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, in military helicopters for a visit to boost troop morale during the holiday season.

The VIPs were greeted with deafening cheers from soldiers representing units including the 1st Cavalry Division based in Fort Hood, Texas, the 256th Brigade of the Louisiana National Guard, and the 2nd Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum, N.Y.

Hall of Famer Elway said he thought twice about making the Baghdad trip, considering the worsening security situation.


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"But once my kids told me that it'd be a great idea, I knew it was the right thing," he said before showing off his trademark quarterback skills by tossing several balls into a crowd of clambering soldiers.

"I'm not funny, I'm not pretty, but I can sure throw a ball," he said.

"I know we in America wouldn't have the life we have if it wasn't for people like you," said Tweeden, who visited Baghdad last year with Williams for a pre-Christmas event organized by the United Service Organizations.

Williams was gang-tackled into autographing dozens of photos of himself, posing for pictures and displaying his rapid-fire humor.

The USO is a nonprofit charity organization established before World War II to boost morale, provide welfare and deliver recreational services for American troops.


Ellie

bobpage
12-14-04, 08:42 PM
As all of us know, NPD (no pay due) comes around at the most inconvenient times. In his case, it came after 10, read 10 months of taking family separation allowances, and other entitlements for...

greensideout
12-14-04, 08:44 PM
I really find this story hard to believe! It had me going till the phone conversation part, that's when an eyebrow went up with question about what I was reading. <br />
<br />
It sounds like a fabrication at...

bobpage
12-14-04, 08:45 PM
Again I say. Read my post!!!!!!!!!!!!!

greensideout
12-14-04, 09:10 PM
What post? I'll read it.

greensideout
12-14-04, 09:24 PM
Ok, see it now. We posted 2 minutes apart, (while I was writing you entered) so I missed it.

I'm not sure about what you mean with the, "Again I say" part?

Good post however, thanks for the scoop.

MillRatUSMC
12-14-04, 09:37 PM
Must be the holidays...I can see every side to this story...yes NPD (No Pay Dued) by the Army...the taking of pay more than was dued and not reporting...now a reservist with no gas to get home.
Now a question just came to mind; if he had a car, who been driving him or it around Fort Hood?
If he can drive, someone or somebody could advance him transportation home even if its at the Government convenience.
If it wasn't the time of the holidays, I best this story wouldn't even make a headline.
Could you see the story;
Disabled Veteran of Iraq, has to hitch hike home in the cold because he was lacking in funds or pay!
Some would say; if there had been no war in Iraq, this veteran wouldn't be disabled or missing a hand.
Must be the holidays, I'm getting a big headache think about all this.
Who's right and who's wrong?
Maybe everybody...

Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo

greensideout
12-14-04, 09:57 PM
I don't think that "everybody" is wrong in this. The bean counters will catch up with the truth. TMND (Take Money Not Due) and you must pay it back.

LivinSoFree
12-15-04, 12:18 AM
Note on another story in today's media thread: Have a buddy at Iskandryia right now, talked to him last week, was in 3rd Pltn. with the 2 LCpls mentioned in the story, said they got hit by an IED with a TNT booster... f**ed with him pretty good, after some Iraqi ran a checkpoint with a kid in the front seat. They layed down some fire, stopped the vehicle, wounded the driver, killed the kid... and this is normal... we're gonna need a lot more headshrinkers after this one's over with.