Marine views relief operations with artistic eye

[thedrifter]

Marine views relief operations with artistic eye
Submitted by: MCB Camp Butler
Story Identification #: 200512222414
Story by Lance Cpl. Joel W. Abshier



ROYAL THAI NAVAL AIR BASE, UTAPAO, Thailand (Jan. 19, 2005) -- Sons often consider their fathers as heros, a thought which rings true for Lance Cpl. Michael J. Devoe, even though his father was away for two years of his childhood.

When Devoe’s father came back into his life, he shared, with his five-year-old son, illustrations he had drawn while he was away. Devoe knew from that point on, he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps.

Devoe is currently the graphic illustrator for Combined Support Force 536 in support of Operation Unified Assistance, the tsunami-relief operation being conducted in Southeast Asia.

“It’s Devoe’s job to create images that communicate what (CSF-536) is doing during this operation,” said Chief Warrant Officer Tim E. LeMaster, CSF-536 Marine forces combat camera officer. “Devoe worked for over 60 hours on the logo for the operation alone.”

From creating logos to helicopter warning signs in foreign languages, Devoe remains busy throughout the day.

“It feels good knowing that the warning signs I created will perhaps one day save the lives of the civilians in the areas,” Devoe said.

Without Devoe’s work, which is on display at the helicopter landing zones, the residents of those areas could potentially be at risk of injury or possible death, according to LeMaster.

“Not only as a Marine, but as an artist, my role here is one of the most important things I have ever been tasked with,” Devoe said. “There are a lot of artistically talented Marines out there who don’t know about this (military occupation specialty).”

However, the Marine Corps is considering having the graphic illustration MOS eliminated, according to Devoe.

“If the MOS closes, it would feel like a slap in the face,” Devoe said. “(Graphic illustrators) do more than just create logos for units.”

Devoe will illustrate the devastated areas in Phuket, Thailand, because cameras are not allowed due to the unidentified victims who are currently under forensic investigation, according to Army Maj. Rumi Nielson-Green, the public affairs officer for the U.S. forensic-analysis teams.

“We walk a delicate line when we document operations,” Nielson-Green said. “(CSF-536) wants to maintain dignity for the victims and their families. Devoe can document the area with an artistic eye and without the explicit details.”

The Tampa, Fla., native has been drawing for over 15 years and intends to continue his dream of retiring as an artist.

“I want to use my Montgomery G.I. Bill to help me attend art school,” Devoe said. “The Marine Corps is the best stepping stone for an artist who intends to pursue a career in the civilian world.”

Devoe not only followed his fathers’ footsteps, he walked a little further as the first and only graphic illustrator supporting this operation.


http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200512223443/$file/DEVOE-004lr.jpg

ROYAL THAI NAVAL AIR BASE, UTAPAO, THAILAND — Lance Cpl. Michael J. Devoe focuses on his subject matter as he creates an illustration here Jan. 17. Devoe is a graphic illustrator for Combined Support Force-536 in support of Operation Unified Assistance, the tsunami relief operation being conducted in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
Photo by: Lance Cpl. Joel Abshier

Ellie

[thedrifter]

U.S. In Protect-The-Vote Mission <br />
Associated Press <br />
January 25, 2005 <br />
<br />
ISKANDARIYAH, Iraq - The U.S. military's most critical operation since the capture of Saddam Hussein is putting boat patrols...

[thedrifter]

Pentagon Tries To Explain Secret Group
Associated Press
January 25, 2005

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon says the political uproar over the disclosure of a secret military intelligence group is overblown and based on misinformation about the group's makeup and mission.

Stephen A. Cambone, the Pentagon's top intelligence official, rushed to Capitol Hill on Monday after some members of Congress reacted strongly to a Washington Post report that revealed the existence of the group, which is managed by the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and other Democrats called for hearings, but Republicans balked.

"According to The Washington Post, the Department of Defense is changing the guidelines with respect to oversight and notification of Congress by military intelligence. Is this true or false?" Feinstein wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Feinstein and others appeared puzzled by the disclosure that the Pentagon had created a new battlefield intelligence group - "strategic support teams," in Pentagon parlance - to perform clandestine missions that had been largely the province of the CIA.





Some suggested Rumsfeld had skirted congressional oversight to expand his domain.

Pentagon officials told reporters, however, that the arrangement had been worked out in close coordination with the CIA and that appropriate congressional committees had been fully informed.

A senior military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said CIA director Porter Goss told him Monday that he had "no issue or questions or concerns" about the Pentagon arrangement.

Another defense official said lawmakers may not recognize the news media's descriptions of the intelligence group because its name was changed after they were briefed on it last year.

Now called strategic support teams, they were previously known as humint augmentation teams, the official said, speaking only on condition that he not be further identified. (Humint refers to human intelligence, or information provided by spies.)

In an additional point of clarification, the senior military official said the intelligence teams are not to be used for covert actions, which are unacknowledged by the government and which require a legal "finding" by the president. Rather, they are for clandestine actions, which are meant to be secret but are subject to acknowledgment by the government if publicly disclosed.

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John Warner, R-Va., and the panel's top Democrat, Carl Levin of Michigan, met for more than an hour with Cambone, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence.

Later, Warner said he was satisfied by the briefing and would ensure that other committee members were briefed fully as well.

"In my opinion," he said, "these intelligence programs are vital to our national security interests, and I am satisfied that they are being coordinated with the appropriate agencies of the federal government."

The teams - each with about 10 mostly civilian linguists, case officers, interrogators and debriefers - are designed to provide the military's conventional and special operations forces with more sustainable battlefield intelligence to support combat and other activities.

The defense officials said this is not a new mission for military intelligence; rather, they said, it is being structured in a new way so that it can be provided to battlefield commanders in a more standardized manner. It previously had been done in a more ad hoc way, they said.

Larry Di Rita, the chief spokesman for Rumsfeld, acknowledged the existence of the group, which he said was managed by the Defense Intelligence Agency's Human Intelligence Service.

"There is a desire to connect better intelligence to battlefield operations," Di Rita said, and the DIA unit is an example of things that can be done in support of commanders in the field.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he was confident the Pentagon was taking the right approach.

"The notion by some that various steps taken by the Department of Defense to enhance such intelligence is somehow sinister and illegitimate is nonsense," Hunter said.

Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., urged hearings.

"While I fully support improving the ability of our men and women in the field to get accurate real time intelligence, the creation of this unit raises a number of questions that this committee has a duty to examine," Tauscher said.

The concept of augmenting military forces with specialized intelligence teams was born after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as a means of expanding the military's ability to collect human intelligence - information from spies as opposed to listening devices or satellites.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Torture Still Routine in Iraqi Jails, Report Says

By Gideon Long

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi authorities routinely torture prisoners, a leading human rights group said on Tuesday, citing examples of abuse which will sound all too familiar to those who suffered under Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).


Prisoners have been beaten with cables and hosepipes, and suffered electric shocks to their earlobes and genitals, the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch said. Some have been starved of food and water and crammed into standing-room only cells.


"The people of Iraq (news - web sites) were promised something better than this after the government of Saddam Hussein fell," said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the group's Middle East and North Africa division.


"The Iraqi interim government is not keeping its promises to honor and respect basic human rights. Sadly, the Iraqi people continue to suffer from a government that acts with impunity in its treatment of detainees."


Iraqi Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin told Reuters in an interview he acknowledged that abuses had occurred and said it would take time for Iraqi forces to change their behavior after decades of dictatorship under Saddam.


"The Iraqi security forces have their shortcomings," Amin said, adding that this was partly due to the legacy of "three and a half decades of dictatorship, widespread torture and human rights violations."


Human Rights Watch said it interviewed 90 Iraqi prisoners between July and October last year, just after the government of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi assumed power from the U.S.-led forces which toppled Saddam.


Seventy-two said they had been tortured or mistreated.


BEATINGS, ELECTRIC SHOCKS


"Detainees report kicking, slapping and punching, prolonged suspension from the wrists with the hands tied behind the back, electric shocks to sensitive parts of the body ... and being kept blindfolded and/or handcuffed continuously for several days," the group said in a report.


"In several cases, the detainees suffered what may be permanent physical disability."


The report also said Iraq's intelligence service had violated the rights of political opponents.


It highlighted the systematic use of arbitrary arrest, pre-trial detention of up to four months, improper treatment of child detainees and abysmal conditions in pre-trial facilities.


The report follows a scandal over U.S. treatment of prisoners in the American-run Abu Ghraib prison, which erupted last year after the discovery of photographs showing prisoners being tortured and sexually abused.


While the Human Rights Watch report looked solely at Iraqi institutions and did not address torture of prisoners by U.S. soldiers, it said international police advisers, mostly Americans, had turned a blind eye to Iraqi abuse.


"The Iraqi security forces obviously face tremendous challenges, including an insurgency that has targeted civilians," Whitson said.


"We unequivocally condemn the insurgents' brutality. But international law is unambiguous on this point: no government can justify torture of detainees in the name of security."





Amin said Iraq was working to solve the problem.

"We are in the process of rebuilding all our institutions. We have a structural and organizational crisis," he said.

"There were mistakes made in the recruitment of security forces from day one ... Infiltrators from organized crime groups, terrorist groups, fanatics and Saddamists infiltrated into these institutions."

Despite the abuses, Amin said, Iraq's government condemned torture. "Under no circumstances is torture, ill-treatment and cruelty against any detainee justified or acceptable by any norms and standards."

(Additional reporting by Huda Majeed Saleh and Mariam Karouny)


Ellie

[thedrifter]

5 U.S. Troops Die In Accident In Iraq
Associated Press
January 25, 2005

TIKRIT, Iraq - A Bradley Fighting Vehicle rolled into a canal during a combat patrol north of Baghdad, killing five U.S. soldiers and wounding two others, the military said Tuesday.

The soldiers from the Army's 1st Infantry Division were pronounced dead on arrival at a military medical clinic.

One of the two wounded soldiers was in serious condition, the other was stable, a military statement said.

The M2 Bradley rolled into a canal during the patrol near the town of Khan Bani Saad on Monday night.

The military was investigating the cause of the accident.

At least 1,377 U.S. service members have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Bush Wants $80B More For Ongoing Wars
Associated Press
January 25, 2005

WASHINGTON - President Bush is getting ready to ask Congress for an additional $80 billion for conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, as budget analysts prepare new estimates of the federal deficits that would have loomed even without the wars.

An $80 billion request would push the total provided to the Defense Department so far for those wars and for U.S. efforts against terrorism elsewhere in the world to more than $280 billion. An additional $25 billion has been provided to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan, all but $4 billion for Iraq.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office was expected to project Tuesday that federal shortfalls over the next decade will total perhaps $1 trillion less than the $2.3 trillion it estimated last September, said congressional aides of both parties.

The agency was also expected to project that this year's shortfall would be close to the $348 billion it forecast last fall. If accurate, that would be the third largest deficit ever in dollar terms, behind only last year's $412 billion and the $377 billion gap of 2003.

The deficit estimates for 2005 and for the next 10 years, however, were excluding war costs and other expenses, thanks to quirks in the way the law requires the budget office to make its estimates.




Also omitted were the price tags of Bush's goal of revamping Social Security, which could cost $1 trillion to $2 trillion and dominate this year's legislative agenda; an estimated $1.8 trillion for extending Bush's tax cuts and easing the impact the alternative minimum tax would have on middle-income Americans; and other expenses.

Those omissions prompted Democrats to warn about the deficit forecasts.

"Whatever we get" Tuesday from the budget office "needs considerable adjustment before it is brought back to reality," said Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina, top Democrat on the House Budget Committee.

On the war financing front, White House budget chief Joshua Bolten or other administration officials were expected to describe Bush's forthcoming request for funds on Tuesday, according to congressional aides who spoke on condition of anonymity. The package won't formally be sent to Congress until after Bush unveils his full 2006 budget on Feb. 7, the aides said.

White House officials declined to comment on the war package, which will come as the United States confronts continued violence in Iraq leading up to that country's Jan. 30 elections.

Aides said about three-fourths of the $80 billion was expected to be for the Army, which is bearing the brunt of the fighting in Iraq. It also was expected to include money for building a U.S. embassy in Baghdad, estimated to cost $1.5 billion.

One aide said the request will also include funds to help the new Afghan government combat drug trafficking. It might also have money to help two new leaders the U.S. hopes will be allies, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko.

The aides said the package Bush eventually submits to Congress will also include money to help Indian Ocean countries hit by the devastating December tsunami.

The forthcoming request highlights how much war spending has soared past initial White House estimates. Early on, then-presidential economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey placed Iraq costs at $100 billion to $200 billion, only to see his comments derided by administration colleagues.

By pushing war spending so far beyond $280 billion, the latest proposal would approach nearly half the $613 billion the United States spent for World War I or the $623 billion it expended for the Vietnam War, when the costs of those conflicts are translated into 2005 dollars.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Monday it was Congress' "highest responsibility" to provide the money that American troops need. But in a written statement, she said Democrats would ask questions about Bush's goals in Iraq, the eventual costs, and why Iraqi troops aren't playing a larger role in security.

The White House had not been expected to reveal details of the war package until after the release of the full budget.

But lawmakers, as they did last year, want to include war costs in the budgets they will write. They argue that withholding the war costs from Bush's budget would open it to criticism that it was an unrealistic document, one aide said. Last year, the spending plan omitted war expenditures and received just that critique.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines battle a hidden enemy



Navy Corpman Fredy Delgado of Santa Monica, Calif., keeps an eye on the second floor as Marines search a house in Ramadi, Iraq. Unlike the house-to-house searches in Fallujah, Marines have to handle residents in their homes as they search for weapons caches daily.
L.G. Francis / Marine Corps Times

By Gordon Trowbridgwe
, Army Times

"You can't just take out anything that moves" in urban combat, but suspicion is necessary.
Ramadi, Iraq — Without warning, Pfc. Kristopher Cramer suddenly had to decide: Do I kill this guy?

Is he just some poor soul in the wrong place? Or is he trying to take us all out?

It was yet another pop quiz in Counterinsurgency 101, where U.S. forces are constantly confronting enemies hiding among innocents, and innocents stumbling into a fate they don't deserve.

Often this is a war fought in seconds. Some of its most important decisions are made not by generals, but by young privates facing a ghost enemy.

Cramer's platoon recently was sweeping through a neighborhood just north of Ramadi's heavily booby-trapped main highway. The unit was partly in a search for intelligence, partly in hopes of drawing insurgents out, mostly letting residents and rebels know the Marines were around.

But as Cramer stood guard outside the gate of a home other Marines were searching, a maroon Hyundai sedan appeared around a nearby corner.

Cramer stepped into the street and waved the car away.

That's when the driver pumped the gas and his fast-approaching car became potentially one of the gravest threats to U.S. troops in Iraq: the car loaded with explosives.

Car bombs combine massive firepower with speed and stealth. It is easy to hide a half-dozen artillery shells in the trunk of a car, and easy to conceal that car in traffic.

Cramer had little time to think. He stepped forward, raised his weapon, and listened to the sound of the speeding engine.

"I was going to fire a warning shot, but he was already past that," Cramer said.

If he followed the standard procedure — warning shot, a shot to the tires, before finally firing on the driver — the car would already be on top of him.

With no more than a few feet to spare, the middle-aged Iraqi man slammed on the brakes, lifted his hands from the steering wheel, then gingerly shifted into reverse and backed away.

"I'm continually amazed at the Marines' bravery," said Capt. Eric Dougherty. "That they're willing to wait that extra second to make sure they don't take innocent lives is amazing."

This was a day like any other in Ramadi, the sullen dusty capital of Anbar Province.

Just 40 miles east of Ramadi in Fallujah, Marines won a decisive battle in November, clearing that town of insurgents in one of only a handful of traditional force-on-force confrontations since Baghdad fell in April 2003.

But now in Ramadi, it's back to fighting with surgical precision: plucking insurgents from innocents, deciding in a blink when to kill. Restraint is difficult here, especially when anger and fear play off one another.

"If we took the reins off, we could roll this whole city over," Cpl. Justin Oxenrider said. "But you can't just take out anything that moves."

Capt. Ed Rapisarda praised his men in Ramadi for adapting to the nightmarish scenario of urban combat that war planners thought they had avoided.

"Everyone has adjusted to this lifestyle, grown accustomed to it, accepted it," he said.

The learning curve is steep. Marines say they're learning to spot where insurgents might hide improvised explosive devices that blow up when a foot patrol or a convoy passes.

But the insurgents are adapting, too.

As the Marines set up observation posts along the main east-west highway that passes through Ramadi, the insurgents figure out the view from the posts and then place explosives in blind spots.

The result is a never-ending suspicion.

"We have to treat every garbage bag, every pile of rocks or dirt mound, as a threat, because it is," said 1st Lt. Zachary Buitenhuys.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

'We Take Care of Our People,' DoD's Top Medical Official Says
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2005 – Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, used six words today to sum up the military's health care mission: "We take care of our people."

Winkenwerder, who addressed several hundred people here attending the first day of the annual TRICARE conference here that runs until Jan. 27, lauded the many "bright and creative" military, civilian and contracted caregivers for the important work that they do.

"We will carry on in excellence," he stated, as DoD strives "to find better and better ways to fulfill our mission."

Winkenwerder cited several health-system successes as the war against global terrorism continues. For example, he noted, medical technology advances have caused more severely wounded servicemembers to be saved than at any time in U.S. military history.

He also said that more than 600,000 pre- and post-deployment health assessments have been completed. The collected data, Winkenwerder remarked, "is already helping us to better plan follow-up care and treatment" for service members returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.

"War," Winkenwerder acknowledged, "is always a difficult undertaking." He noted that stress, uncertainty, separation from loved ones, the daily risk of death or bodily harm and the witnessing of horrible events causes "mental injuries for many servicemembers – even the very strong and the very brave."

Attending to servicemembers' mental health needs, Winkenwerder noted, represents "a challenge that we must meet, and we will, in a straightforward and timely fashion." Overseas combat-stress control teams, he said, "are doing a great job and they're making a difference."

And servicemembers' post-deployment health assessments and family support services, he said, identify those troops who need care and support upon redeployment.

"However, we must do more," Winkenwerder asserted. Therefore, he said the current post-deployment health follow-up program will be expanded as of today, "to include a required visit" with a health care provider, along with the submission of a health questionnaire.

All active, Guard and Reserve members, he explained, are required to make the visit and submit the questionnaire within three to six months after returning from deployment. Experience shows "this is the period of highest risk for mental and family readjustment problems," Winkenwerder noted.

Not every returning servicemember has serious mental readjustment issues, Winkenwerder emphasized. Those so affected, he pointed out, represent a minority of the total force.

"We want to remove stigma," he explained, "and bring every servicemember in and ask him or her personally, "How are you doing? How's your family?" If things aren't going well, Winkenwerder emphasized, "then, we want to help you."

There is no greater mission, DoD's top medical officer declared, "than to care for the uniformed servicemembers who keep this nation safe and secure, and to care for their families.

"I think there's no greater calling, or cause," he concluded.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Militants Show Video of U.S. Hostage; Judge Killed

By Luke Baker

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Insurgents distributed a video Tuesday showing a U.S. hostage pleading for his life, and militants assassinated a senior judge in Baghdad, pressing their campaign of violence ahead of Sunday's watershed election.


The undated video shows American contractor Roy Hallums, who was seized with five colleagues in Baghdad in November, sitting cross-legged in front of a black background anxiously rubbing his hands as he makes an appeal to the camera.


The release of the tape came just days before the Jan. 30 election and amid a nationwide surge in tension, as Sunni-led militants, intent on disrupting the vote, step up attacks.


"I have been arrested by a resistance group in Iraq (news - web sites)," 56-year-old Hallums, dressed in civilian clothes and his beard flecked with white, says on the tape.


"I'm asking for help because my life is in danger because it's been proved that I work for American forces."


As he speaks, the barrel of an assault rifle is held inches from his head. Unlike other tapes made by militants of hostages seized in Iraq, no flags or banners of an organization appear in the picture and no demands are made.


It is the first tape to emerge of Hallums since he and his colleague were kidnapped on Nov. 1, 2004. Four of those have since been freed, while the whereabouts of a Filipino remain unknown. All worked for a Saudi Arabian food contracting firm.


Judge Qais Hashim Shameri was killed along with his son in an ambush as they left home in eastern Baghdad during morning rush hour, police sources said. The attack again showed the ability of insurgents to strike at the heart of Iraq's U.S.-backed interim government.


Guerrillas killed the provincial governor and deputy police chief of Baghdad earlier this month and have vowed to continue targeting officials and security forces members.


Two policemen were killed in the capital Tuesday when gunmen opened fire on their building, police said.


AMERICAN HOSTAGE


On the tape, Hallums pleads for help from Arab leaders but not President Bush (news - web sites). The video appears designed to pressure the U.S. administration ahead of Sunday's election.


"I'm not asking for any help from President Bush because I know of his selfishness and unconcern to those who've been pushed into this hell-hole," he says.


"I am asking for help from Arab rulers ... so that I can be released as quickly as possible from this definite death. I would remember this favor for the rest of my life, should my life remain."


Hallums is one of more than 100 foreigners to have been taken hostage in Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites). Around a third of those have been killed, several by beheading.


There has been international condemnation of the insurgents' tactics, but a leading human rights group Tuesday also accused U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces of routinely torturing prisoners, citing abuse reminiscent of Saddam's rule.


Human Rights Watch said international police advisers, mostly Americans, had turned a blind eye to Iraqi violations. It said prisoners had been beaten with cables and hose pipes, had suffered electric shocks to their earlobes and genitals and some had been starved of food and water.





The report follows a scandal over U.S. treatment of prisoners in the American-run Abu Ghraib prison, which erupted last year after the discovery of photographs showing prisoners being tortured and sexually abused.

Iraqi Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin acknowledged in a Reuters interview that abuses had occurred and said it would take time for Iraqi forces to change their behavior after decades of dictatorship under Saddam.

THREAT OF "SPECTACULAR" ATTACK

The judge's assassination came hours after a top U.S. general said insurgents might be planning a "spectacular" attack before or during Sunday's elections, Iraq's first vote since a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam.

Brig. Gen. Erv Lessel, deputy director of operations in Iraq, told CNN there had been a 50 percent decline in attacks in recent days but that the lull was not expected to last.

Despite that, he said Iraqis would not be deterred from voting by a new audio tape declaring all-out war on the election from al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who tops the U.S. military's wanted list.

In the tape, aired Sunday, Zarqawi berated Iraq's long-oppressed Shi'ite majority for embracing the poll and urged the Sunni minority to fight "infidel voters."

Zarqawi, a Sunni with a $25 million bounty on his head, says the election is a plot by the United States and Shi'ite allies against Sunni Arabs, who were dominant during Saddam's rule.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Iraqis defy insurgents for Spirit of America
Submitted by: 24th MEU
Story Identification #: 200512561942
Story by Cpl. Sarah A. Beavers



MAMIDIYAH, Iraq (Jan. 25, 2005) -- One of the many challenges Marines have encountered while working to bring peace and prosperity to Iraq is convincing the Iraqi people they have the strength to stand up for themselves. Despite constant threats from extremists targeting Iraqis who accept coalition assistance, Marines from 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines, were finally able to persuade a local hospital staff here to accept a donation of supplies.

The humanitarian mission - dubbed Operation Spirit of America - was no easy task. It took almost a year from the initial planning stages to final delivery and survived a handoff between two different units.

"It takes a lot to make this happen," said Senior Chief Petty Officer Andrew Tennessen, 43, a Chicago native and senior medical department representative with 2/24. "Everyone there - Iraqi and military - (cooperated) to help move the equipment. There weren't any evil stares. The people at the hospital were happy to receive the supplies."

The project was initially envisioned in March 2004 by Lt. Col. James G. Kyser, commanding officer of 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines, who had contacted hospitals across America requesting donations.

"He (Kyser) wanted people all over the (area) to see that the (multinational forces) want to help the Iraqi people," said Staff Sgt. Richard Suttles, 34, of Macon, Ga., and civil affairs team chief with 4th Civil Affairs Group, attached to 2/24.

The supplies, however, didn't arrive until September - right before his rotation from Iraq - so he handed the responsibility over to Lt. Col. Mark A. Smith, commanding officer of 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines. Yet, with such a large time lapse, it seemed the window for a successful delivery had already been closed - at least temporarily - as the hospital found itself increasingly targeted by the insurgents.

"By that point, the dynamics out in town had changed. It was more dangerous, and the hospital no longer wanted the supplies," added Suttles. "They had started getting threats, drive-bys and doctors that had helped us before were getting killed."

It seemed impossible to convince the hospital director to actively oppose the threats until a recent suggestion to him finally turned the tide.

The Marines proposed to work directly with his chief of security to strengthen the perimeter around the hospital. This would ensure the safety of the patients and staff inside the compound as the Marines maintained a watchful eye and a ready arsenal for any suspicious activity that could threaten the success of their mission.

"We were fortunate to have an enclosed area due to the hospital walls," said Cpl. Chris Miks, 29, of Pleasant Prairie, Wisc., a fire team leader with Echo Company, 2/24. "(There was) a gated entrance, so we were more able to control traffic, and adequate over-watch positions were available from the rooftops."

In all, more than 13,500 pounds of equipment were delivered. This included items such as gowns, "scrub packs" to prepare wounds, anesthesia and electrocardiograph machinery, various surgical-related items, needles, defibrillators and suture material, all hand-picked according to what the hospital requested.

"The corpsmen were given a 'shopping list,' and would go out to the pallets to (find) the items and repackage them (so they could) be taken to the hospital," said Tennessen.

Even the few doubts remaining among the Marines, sailors and soldiers involved in the operation quickly evaporated with the overwhelming enthusiasm shown by the Iraqis as they received the donations.

"When I first heard of the mission, I was (afraid) the equipment would be sold," said Tennessen. "When I (arrived), they were not only receiving the equipment, but distributing it to their different departments. It looks like they're actually going to use it instead of just putting it in a closet."

As the Iraqis see the improvements made in their lives by working with the coalition forces, they become more willing to sacrifice their own personal safety for the welfare of the people they care for.

"They (insurgents) can't fight the majority of people, so they target the leaders and make a personal intimidation campaign (so it's) up to the leader to back down or make a stand," said Suttles. "And regardless of this leader's previous decisions - he was there to make a stand."

Suttles said such breakthroughs bode well for Iraq's future.

"I saw proof that the Iraqis are going to be okay without us," said Suttles. "One day they're going to be able to operate on their own."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Air Force, Navy to shrink while Army, Marines expand

USA TODAY

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WASHINGTON - The Air Force and Navy have more people than they need and are trying to get thousands to leave without resorting to layoffs.
Over the next year, the Air Force will shrink by 20,000, downsizing from 379,000 troops to 359,000. The Navy will trim more than 7,300 and fall from about 373,200 sailors to 365,900.

In contrast, the Army will grow from 493,000 to 502,400 and the Marines from 175,000 to 178,000. Their growth reflects the demands of open-ended wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that are about to trigger second tours of duty for tens of thousands of ground troops.

The high-tech Air Force and Navy, which have few rifle-toting troops, believe they can absorb personnel cuts that might threaten to debilitate the Army or Marines. Part of the reason the two services can draw down: High-tech weapons are changing warfare. A single Air Force B-1 or B-2 stealth bomber flying with satellite-guided bombs can now destroy more targets than an entire squadron of Air Force or Navy planes dropping unguided bombs in the 1991 Gulf War.

In future years, the Navy and Air Force will sail fewer ships and fly fewer aircraft because of improvements in weapons. Whereas the 1980s-era Pentagon envisioned building up to a 600-ship fleet from 450 in 1982, the Navy now has a total of 289 ships and submarines.

"The outcome for us, we are using the skills and talents of our people the best we can, and we are harnessing technology," says Cmdr. Ron Hill, a spokesman for the chief of naval personnel. "We're getting rid of outdated systems and getting rid of work that doesn't need to be done by uniformed people."

Personnel is among the biggest expenses for the military. The cost of 10,000 additional troops is $1 billion or more a year when recruiting, training, salaries and benefits are included.

In the civilian world, a corporation with personnel shortages in one part of the company could shift workers around. In the all-volunteer military, it doesn't work that way. Each service has its own culture and is responsible for recruiting and retaining its work force. There is little crossover among branches, and the Pentagon cannot simply order troops from one service to another.

As part of their efforts to downsize, the Navy and Air Force last year began encouraging sailors and airmen to consider transferring to the Army. But since the "Blue to Green" program began, only 50 sailors and 89 airmen have switched to the Army, according to Navy and Air Force figures.

The Army, Army Reserve and Army National Guard continue to have a difficult time recruiting. The Army Guard and Army Reserve are part-time forces made up mostly of troops who typically serve one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer, but who have frequently been called up for full-time duty since the invasion of Iraq in early 2003. Guardsmen and reservists make up about 40 percent of the 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq now.

During the first two months of fiscal 2005, which began in October, the Army Guard fell from 25 percent to more than 30 percent short of its recruiting goals. Earlier this month, the Army Reserve's top commander, Lt. Gen. James Helmly, sent a memo to Army leaders, saying the Army Reserve was suffering severe personnel problems and becoming a "broken force."

The active Army was able to meet its 2004 recruiting goal of 77,000, in part because it rushed 6,000 recruits it had planned to enlist in 2005 to boot camp early, leaving less margin for error this year. In one sign of the concerns in the Army, the service is adding 574 new recruiters to bring its nationwide force up to more than 6,000.

The Marines say they expect to make their goal of about 38,000 recruits this year, but not without difficulty.

"It's a challenging recruiting environment. Nobody would tell you otherwise," says Maj. Dave Griesmer, a Marine spokesman.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Returning Marines Report Smooth Transition Home
For Some, Worries Of War Are Left Behind

POSTED: 7:55 pm PST January 24, 2005
UPDATED: 8:00 pm PST January 24, 2005

SAN DIEGO -- Marines returning from Iraq told NBC 7/39 Monday that readjusting to civilian life has so far been an easy transition.

For me, it was not a shock or anything like that," said Sgt. Timmothy Ledgister, a member of the Marine Special Reaction Team. "My family is very understanding. Wherever I go in uniform, people thank me for what I do and that makes me really happy."

Many said they had quickly left the worries of being in harm's way behind.

"I think about my family, about my wife, about my son," said Staff Sgt. Reggie Johns, a Marine supply chief. "I live day by day, that's the only thing I can do. If you try to focus on what's going on in Iraq, you're not going to make it, in my opinion."

Some of the Marines interviewed by NBC 7/39 said they were going to return to school. Marines returning home with injuries said their primary goal was taking care of their health. Others expressed interest in buying a house.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

3/1 Marines uncover hidden weapons
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 2005124115846
Story by Cpl. Jan M. Bender



FALLUJAH, Iraq (Jan. 19, 2005) -- The Marines of 3rd Platoon, Company I, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, uncovered the largest consolidated cache of weapons Jan. 5, since the initial assault into the city ended in mid December.

The buried cache was discovered along a wall outside a resident’s home in an area of Fallujah known as south -Queens. Inside the cache were weapons like surface-to-air missiles, anti-tank rockets ad mortar systems.

The hoard of arms was found because of the platoons persistence and attention to detail, according to 2nd Lt. John A. Zaal, a platoon commander with 3rd Platoon, Company I, 3/1.

“We had just taken three civilians into custody, after we discovered a small cache in their residents, when our engineer picked up a reading on his metal detector just 200 meters away, along this wall,” said Zaal, 23, a native of Charlotte, N.C.

As the Marines began to excavate the site, some doubted their efforts would bare any reward.

“We all figured it was just a long metal pipe. Once we had dug through all the trash and debris put their to disguise it, we found all the munitions wrapped in plastic and stacked in layers,” said Lance Cpl. Lawrence A. Parkhill, a team leader with 3rd Platoon, Company I, 3/1. “As we worked our way deeper into the hole and continued uncovering more and more, the munitions seemed to keep growing in size. I laughed telling our lieutenant that I was just waiting to find a nuclear warhead.”

Although the Marines didn’t discover any weapons of mass destruction, many of them were surprised by what was inside one of last crates they pulled out of the chest-deep hole.

“We heaved this six-foot wooden crate out of the hole,” said Parkhill. “And as we looked it over, this cover popped off. We noticed this glass bubble on the end of the missile that had some sort of camera in it.”

What they had discovered was a pair of surface to air missiles, a weapon that if fired properly, could’ve posed a threat to coalition aircraft.

“I was surprised, I was expecting to find something, but that was enough to supply a whole insurgent cell,” said Staff Sgt. Terry L. McElwain, a platoon sergeant with 3rd Platoon, Company I, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment.

The cache included two surface-to-air missiles, 73 57mm rockets, two 122mm rockets, 14 rocket propelled grenades, 11 Russian made anti-tank rockets, just under one hundred 120mm and 82mm mortar rounds, more than 20 assorted fragmentation grenades, 1700 AK-47 rounds, 14 blocks of TNT, 15 expedient rocket launching systems and eight mortar systems.

“It was different from those caches we found during the push because it was buried and well hidden,” said McElwain, 31, a native of Burden, KS. “This was probably an insurgent cells main stash, now they will have to go out, risk their lives to get more and hopefully get caught in the process. It will keep more Marines safe and it makes the whole city a safer place for re-entering civilians.”

Once the day’s findings had been documented and the munitions had been turned over to Marine Explosive Ordinance Disposal technicians for disposal, there were no doubts in the platoons’ mind that they had made a difference.

“That’s the same stuff, that they used to launch at us out at (our firm base) before we pushed through Fallujah,” said Parkhill. “When you find this kind of stuff in your own area of operation it’s really a good feeling. You know you saved some Marines lives.”

Company I, is nearing the end of their seven-month tour in Iraq and is expected to return to Camp Pendleton, Calif., with the rest of their battalion in the coming days.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200512412626/$file/slide3lr.jpg

Marines from 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, uncovered hidden weapons in Fallujah. Even after the major assault on the city, Marines continue to find mass weapon caches. Photo by: Courtesy Photo

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Radio Station Apologizes for Song Mocking Tsunami Victims
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
January 25, 2005

(CNSNews.com) - There's nothing funny about the tsunami disaster that killed more than 220,000 people in South Asia, an Islamic civil rights group said, after a New York radio station played a song making fun of what happened.

WQHT-FM, known as Hot 97, later apologized on its website, saying it "regrets the airing of material that made light of a serious and tragic event. We apologize to our listeners and anyone who was offended."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations said it received complaints about the song, which mentions "Africans drowning, little Chinamen swept away." It also says God was laughing and telling victims to "swim."

The chorus, sung by a Michael Jackson imitator, says, "So now you're screwed -- in the tsunami, You better run or kiss your ass away, go find your mommy. I just saw her float by, a tree right through her head. And now the children will be sold in child slavery." The song is sung to the tune of "We Are the World."

"There is nothing funny about the massive death and destruction we all witnessed so recently in South Asia," said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper in a statement. "If this was an attempt at humor, it was poorly conceived and badly executed."

HOT97, a hip-hop and R&B station, said it "takes pride in its community involvement," and said it has "joined with broadcasters nationwide to raise money for victims of the Tsunami. Our relief effort will result in a substantial cash donation," the station's website said.

Following complaints about the tsunami song, the station said Tarsha Nicole Jones -- the program director and morning DJ -- along with her entire staff "have agreed to contribute one week's pay to tsunami relief efforts."

Miss Jones, as she is known to listeners, also apologized on air.

Wire reports said some New York lawmakers are demanding that the FCC crack down on the station that aired the song.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

A bomb in Iraq leaves a void in local town

--------------------


BY KIMBALL PAYNE

247-4765


January 23 2005


WAKEFIELD -- Stumbling across her grandparents' living room carpet in pink-and-white-striped pajamas, Claire Michelle Patterson reaches toward one of the piles of photographs strewn around the home and snatches up a large print.


Her pale blue eyes narrow as she absorbs the desert scene. Sitting in front of the fireplace just feet away, Frank and Sharon Patterson slouch slightly, their eyes tracking the toddler. When the room falls silent, their faces hang expressionless, betraying little more than exhaustion.


Claire scans the photo for a moment before settling on a stubble-faced grunt in full camouflage. The corners of her mouth turn up into her cherubic cheeks.


"Da-da," she gurgles, looking up in triumph. The Pattersons pause almost imperceptibly before heaping adulation on the 15-month-old.


"That's right," Sharon Patterson says. "That's Da-da." The smile quickly melts from Sharon's face, and her eyes focus off in the distance.


Claire bounces away undaunted to another stack of photos. Under blond bangs, her eyes widen once more. She calls out again: "Da-da!"


The camouflage-clad grunt is Claire's father, Sgt. Jayton Patterson. Patterson was killed by a roadside bomb last weekend while his unit was on patrol in northern Iraq, just weeks before the 26-year-old Marine was to come home. His wife, Stephanie, was unpacking dust-laced boxes of desert souvenirs and planning a vacation in the Bahamas when a pair of Marines arrived at her door.


Raised in Southampton County just outside Wakefield, Jayton had rural roots. In a place where homes are left unlocked, where neighbors recognize each other by car and where everyone from the bank to those in the Tasty! Treat knows "that Patterson boy," his death has cut deep.


Here, lost troops will never be just pictures. "They belong to someone out there," said Pam Harrell, whose husband baptized Jayton and later performed his marriage ceremony in the same church. "And we forget that."



--------------------



Route 460 shadows the James River from Norfolk to Petersburg. It winds through peanut farms and small towns like Ivor, Waverly and Zuni. It cuts through the heart of Wakefield, where a one-mile stretch doubles as the town's business district. A single stoplight slows traffic.


Billboards urge hungry drivers to visit the renowned Virginia Diner, where roasted peanuts are one of the specialties. Under the shadow of the water tower, stores and factories hawk all things peanut - from oils to cookbooks.


An addition atop the city-limit sign boasts that the town is home to Maralyn "Mad Dog" Hershey, one of the unsuccessful challengers on the second season of "Survivor."


Each spring, Wakefield becomes the center of Virginia's political universe, when generations of lawmakers descend on the town for the annual Shad Planking Festival to chew over bony fish and insider gossip.


During the winter, the town slumbers as some locals track the months by the changing hunting seasons. Frank Patterson was bobcat hunting a week ago Saturday when the Marines arrived in Wakefield. A search party sprang immediately to life. CB radios crackled, state troopers cruised back roads and game wardens checked popular spots until Frank finally got word that he had to get home.


Jayton's high school basketball coach, Walter Westbrook, was chaperoning a field trip in Chincoteague that night, when one student's cell phone started ringing. After hanging up, the teenage girl turned to Westbrook and told him that Jayton would not be coming home alive.


"People don't understand when they live in a community that has 2,000 kids in nine! through 12," Westbrook said. "Here, we've got 225 from pre-school to 12th. It's like a family."


The class of '96 at Tidewater Academy of Wakefield, Jayton's class, boasted a total of 18 students.


"The grapevine in Wakefield works wonders," said Paula Bailey, a librarian at Tidewater Academy, where Jayton spent his final two years of high school. "Around here, you don't talk bad about anybody because you might be talking to their cousin."


In Wakefield, family ties get blurry.


"We all had a special relationship with Jayton," said Harrell, who watched him grow up in the church. "He wasn't just Frank and Sharon's child - he was all of ours. They shared him with all of us."



--------------------



Jayton Patterson was part choirboy, part stand-up comic. The teenager who was never shy about his faith carried with him an electricity that you could feel when he walked into a room.


In high school, Jayton played baseball, basketball and football but picked up the nickname "Bible boy" when he started a nondenominational youth group called the Logos Society. Gathering among other students in the lunchroom, Jayton and the other members would hash over biblical lessons.


"As an adolescent, you don't go out on a limb like that," said his English teacher, Loretta Hellyer. Jayton endured the gentle ribbing with his trademark smile. "They weren't being hurtful or anything like that," Hellyer said, "but he wasn't ashamed of it."


Hiding his faith was never an option for Jayton. He had a certain air.


"If people had a problem in school, they'd go talk to him," said Virginia State Trooper Mark Chitwood, who graduated in the same class. "It didn't matter what it was or what he had going on, he was kind of like a minister like that."


Jayton gravitated to it. He spoke frequently at Millfield Baptist Church in Southampton County and developed a great rapport with the church's pastor, the Rev. Mike Harrell.


"He had an endeavor. He was setting out to find out how he fit into the big scheme of things," said Harrell, now a chaplain for inmates at Southampton Correctional Center. "Most people just live day to day. He was searching for his destiny."


After high school, Jayton studied the Scriptures at Bluefield College and later Liberty University - a pair of Christian bastions of higher learning.


In the late spring of 1999, Jayton was asked to a senior prom. He accepted but became enamored with his date's best friend, another Wakefield local, Stephanie Bays.


"He just kept coming over here, and we didn't know him from Adam," said Stephanie's father, Rodney Bays. "But you keep hanging around Jayton, he'd rub off on you."


When Stephanie's grandparents brought the family together for their 50th wedding anniversary, Jayton stood up and serenaded them with a Britney Spears song. Another time, he pulled his father-in-law on stage at a dingy karaoke bar to sing "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy." Shaky at first, the duet gathered steam.


"A pair of old ladies started throwing dollar bills at him," Rodney Bays recalled.


Once while they were dating, Jayton planned a night on the town for Stephanie, then dressed up for it in her younger sister's Tweety Bird sweatshirt.


"The sad part is he thought he looked good in that," Stephanie's mother, Debbie, recalled.


At his going-away party last spring, Jayton ripped off all his clothes and went running toward the center of Wakefield.


"Off he went," Rodney Bays said. "He didn't care."



--------------------



Stephanie, who graduated from Suffolk Central in 1998, did not know Jayton in school, didn't know the "Bible boy." When they met, he was waiting to head off to boot camp. Jayton and Stephanie dated off and on for five years, but once they met, it was clear to everyone around them that Stephanie was the focus of Jayton's attention.


They married in 2003, on the day after Valentine's Day, in Millfield Baptist Church. They'd wanted to get married on the holiday but waited a day - the next day was a Saturday - so friends and relatives from out of town could attend.


Claire was born in October. For her first Christmas, Jayton bought her a white Michael Vick jersey to match his. Then he pulled it on over her brand-new Christmas outfit.


"It was like a dress," Stephanie said. "It went down past her knees."


Sometimes, when baby-sitting duty rolled around, Jayton would sing uncensored Marine cadences to Claire to calm her fussy ways.


The Marine Corps was a culture that Jayton adored - an ethos that brought maturity. "He needed structure, like myself," said Chitwood, a childhood friend who grew up riding three-wheelers and hunting with Jayton.


The two were supposed to go through boot camp together, but Chitwood opted out of the Marines to pursue a job with the Virginia State Police. Trooper Chitwood said the Marines gave Jayton a solid base.


"He had benefits and a place to make a life."


But the decision shocked others, even though both of Jayton's grandfathers served in the Navy.


"It was out of the blue," Sharon Patterson said. " 'Fulfillment' was the word he used."


During his first four years in the Marines, Jayton served on a special detail at the White House. Traveling with the president, he toured the rubble of the World Trade Center in New York after the terrorist attacks of 2001 and got a firsthand look at the burning hole in the Pentagon.


The searing images pushed Jayton to continue. "I don't want that for our people here," he told his father shortly after the attacks. On the ground in Iraq, Jayton continued to be a study in contrasts. He quoted from the Bible, inspired and consoled his unit, which was made up primarily of 19- and 20-year-olds.


Jayton watched Marines around him bleed and di! e in the street fight for control of Fallujah.


His battlefield bravery earned him a commendation for hunting down a roving group of insurgents firing mortars.


His lucky black-and-white scarf came from the first Iraqi he killed in combat.


"He used to complain about the media," Frank said. "They don't show the schools being built and the grocery stores going up and the water being turned on."


He was proud to be a Marine, proud that he was making a difference.


"It's not that he liked being there," Sharon said. "But he had to be there."



--------------------



After Jayton deployed, Stephanie and the Pattersons packed boxes full of magazines, powdered lemonade and Pringles, guessing what he might need or want. It took a few months before Jayton broke down and told Stephanie not to send any more peanut butter crackers in her care packages.


"Honey," he said. "I'm not trying to be mean, but you're sending me the same ones we get in our MREs."


Eventually, Stephanie got better at packing for the desert, winning kudos for her battlefield-friendly Thanksgiving dinner of turkey jerky and potato chips.


Then, early last fall, one of the Pattersons' neighbors got pupils at Southampton Elementary School to put together a care package for Jayton. Later, the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders wrote him letters.


"We live in such a isolated world," Jane Stephenson said. "I just felt like my children needed to be involved."


Jayton wrote back to all 49 pupils. Soon, the whole school started sending over goodies - even a tiny Christmas tree. That same tree, surrounded by mortars and rifles, turns up in one of the photos that Jayton sent home.


His combat address was posted on the community bulletin board at Millfield Baptist Church along with a care-package most-wanted list - baby wipes, beef jerky and AA batteries.


Jayton wrote a pair of letters to the entire congregation, thanking members for the "godliness armor" that he drew from their thoughts and prayers. The support snowballed. One day, Jayton got 13 packages. "He said it was like Christmas," Frank Patterson said.



--------------------

continued..........

[thedrifter]

In the days since word arrived of Jayton's death, the community that once reached across oceans to help Jayton has reached out to his family. Friends flocked to the Patterson home, where the family gave up on a visitors log after about 200 people dropped by in the first 24 hours, including seven preachers.


"Good kitchen help, telephone help and the maid brigade has arrived," Sharon said, cuddling close to Claire. "You don't realize that you don't have time to do anything, like answer the phone."


One neighbor brought over an extra refrigerator for the heaps of comfort food that have continued to flood in. It's plugged in and sitting on the back steps, and the kitchen counter is never lacking for fried chicken or ham biscuits.


Across town, relatives fight for couch space at the Bays home, where a revolving door of Jayton's and Stephanie's friends means limited parking in the driveway. Inside, Jayton stories come bubbling out. "When I'm here by myself, that's when it's the worst," Stephanie said.


She's seldom alone. The outreach extends well past the two homes. When Stephanie went to pick up some medication, the pharmacist refused to take her money. "They just said they were so sorry," she said.


On Friday, as the family shuttled to Norfolk to pick up Jayton's casket, the Patterson van got a flat tire a few minutes from home. In less than five minutes, neighbors had two cars idling next to the disabled van. "They said, 'Don't worry about it - we'll have the tire fixed when you get home,' " Frank said. At Millfield Baptist Church, a group of parishioners spent a day last week setting up for Monday's funeral. Expecting a crush, they wired closed-circuit television into the parish hall so more people could say goodbye to Jayton.



--------------------



On the community bulletin board at Millfield Baptist Church, someone scribbled a tiny note next to Jayton's combat address a couple of weeks ago.


"Don't send any more mail to Jayton," it read. "Coming Home!"


At Southampton Elementary, Stephenson's pupils won't get the reunion that they'd hoped for with the Marine who wrote to each of them.


"That'll never happen," Stephenson said. "They're going to see him going home, rather than coming home."


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Iraqi Judge, Son Gunned Down in Baghdad


United Press International


A senior Iraqi Justice Ministry official and his son were assassinated by gunmen outside their home in Baghdad Tuesday morning.

Judge Qais Hashim al-Shonmari was leaving his home when the drive-by shooting took place, the most recent in an escalated attempt by insurgents to disrupt elections scheduled for Sunday.

Elsewhere, the U.S. military announced Tuesday the loss of six soldiers -- one by a roadside bomb, and five others in a traffic accident.

The roadside bomb attack came late Monday in western Baghdad as a U.S. patrol was passing.

Five 1st Infantry Division soldiers died and two were injured in a vehicle accident near Khan Bani Saad, a military statement said.

It said one of the wounded was in a serious condition, but gave no further details.

In other violence, a firefight broke out midday Tuesday near the Rashad police station in southeastern Baghdad, according to the Iraqi Interior Ministry. Two Iraq police officers were killed in the battle.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

U.S. Building Forts On Iraq Border

By CBS News Correspondent Cami McCormick

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The line of trucks and cars waiting to approach this Iraqi- and U.S.-manned checkpoint on the border with Syria stretches for dozens of miles. Drivers are forced to wait days before they're allowed to pass into Iraq. And many are turned back. Most of them are men of fighting age.

A force of about 500 Iraqis patrols this area of the border. Overseen by U.S. Marines, the Iraqis call themselves the "Desert Wolves." Many are former soldiers from Saddam Hussein's regime and most are recruited from Tikrit (Saddam's hometown), Samarra and Baghdad.

They were trained in Jordan to take over for a border police force that was largely disbanded because of corruption. Acting on the orders from the interim Iraqi government, Marines stripped many of the former guards of their weapons and vehicles.

Securing these borders is a priority of Task Force NAHA, based at Camp Korean Village near the town of ar Rutbah. And at the remote Al Walid border crossing, just over two dozen Marines work with the Iraqis, overseeing their inspection of cars and trucks.

The U.S. military is also supervising a complex of 32 forts being built along the borders with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria. The Marines move the Iraqis into them as quickly as possible, because in the past the forts have been looted and destroyed before they could be manned.

U.S. officials say the number of foreign fighters they've detained has decreased in this area. But while the order to turn back men at the al Walid checkpoint may be having some effect, military officials admit they still see evidence the Syrian-Iraqi border is being infiltrated elsewhere.

Flyovers suggest desert berms have been breached and there is evidence of "rat lines," where foreign fighters may be making their way into the country.

At one outpost in the so-called "Triangle," where Iraq's border meets Syria and Jordan, 50 Iraqis are manning a fort, still under construction. It sits so close to the border, Syrian soldiers are clearly visible, and come out to watch, as a convoy of Marines heads to the fort to check on the progress of the Iraqis. When the Marines arrive, the Iraqi commander asks for kerosene (for heating) and drinking water.

U.S. military officials admit supplying these outposts will be difficult and they're working with the Iraqi government to speed up deliveries. Logistics will continue to be a problem as more of the forts are built and manned.

Still, Capt. Abbas, the commander of this unit of Desert Wolves, says his men feel good about the job they're doing. He says they believe much of the violence in Iraq is being inflicted by foreigners. In the future, he hopes to keep those outsiders from making their way into the country undetected.

The Marines hope the border patrol forces will eventually number more than 1,200.

"But this is a start," said Marine Capt. Chris Curtin. "They understand and have demonstrated a desire to make a difference out here."

And when the Iraqis become more competent at their jobs, Curtin says that will not only protect U.S. forces fighting insurgents elsewhere in the country but will stabilize all of Iraq.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

US military may face shortage of reserves
By Associated Press | January 25, 2005

WASHINGTON -- At the current pace of US deployments to Iraq, the Pentagon may be hard-pressed by next year to provide enough reserve combat troops suitable for the mission, judging from the military services' estimates of available manpower.

ADVERTISEMENT
The notion of running out of reserve troops might have been dismissed a year ago, but the strain of fighting a longer, harder war than US commanders foresaw is taking a heavy toll on part-time troops of the Army National Guard, Army Reserve, and Marine Corps Reserve.

The problem may ease if, as the Bush administration hopes, security in Iraq improves substantially this year as more US-trained Iraqi troops join the fight against the insurgency. But few inside the Army think they can count on such an optimistic scenario.

Of the 150,000 US troops in Iraq, nearly 50 percent are from the Guard and Reserve.

The National Guard, with a total force of about 350,000 citizen soldiers, says it has about 86,000 available for future deployments to Iraq -- fewer than it has sent there in the past two years. It has virtually used up its most readily deployable combat brigades.

In an indication of the concern about a thinning of its ranks, the National Guard last month tripled reenlistment bonuses offered to soldiers in Iraq who can fill critical skill shortages.

Similarly, the Army Reserve has about 37,500 deployable soldiers left, about 18 percent of its total troop strength.

The Marine Corps Reserve seems to be in a comparable position because most of its 40,000 troops have been mobilized at least once already. Officials said they have no figures on how many are available for future deployments to Iraq.

The Army and the Marines are soliciting reservists to volunteer for duty in Iraq. ''The reserves are pretty well shot" after the Pentagon makes the next troop rotation, starting this summer, said Robert Goldich, a defense analyst at the Congressional Research Service.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Mount Clemens, Mich., native helps enlistment retention
Submitted by: 2nd Marine Division
Story Identification #: 200512584036
Story by Pfc. Terrell A. Turner



MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Jan. 24, 2005) -- With the war on terrorism raging across the world, the Marine Corps is making every effort to not only recruit new Marines but retain the ones currently enlisted.

For this cause, Pfc. James D. Sirois is doing his part to maintain the enlistment retention effort.

As an administrative clerk with Headquarters Battalion, 2d Marine Division’s Career Retention Specialist Office, Sirois’s job is to maintain a record of who reenlists or extends their contract in the Marine Corps.

“We maintain a record of who stays in and gets out,” Sirois said. “This gives us an accurate number of Marine personnel still with the division. We also set up Special Duty Assignment classes for division personnel.”

The Mount Clemens, Mich., native joined the Marine Corps nearly a year ago.

“There are many reasons why I enlisted,” Sirois said. “I mostly wanted to better myself and learn more. That’s what the Marine Corps is doing for me.”

The 2003 graduate of Lutheran High North, a private school, had many hobbies before enlisting in the Marine Corps.

He enjoyed playing basketball, running and singing.

He has competed in many Great Lakes regional singing competitions performing popular songs and even placing first a few times.

Since high school, Sirois has attended Michigan State University for a year, majoring in criminal justice. Now, Sirois attends classes at Coastal Carolina Community College and continues to pursue his degree.

The 20-year-old is scheduled to deploy to Iraq this year where he will continue to support the enlistment retention effort.

“I’m motivated about deploying,” Sirios said. “Its only seven months and then I can get back here and see my family.”

He spends a lot of time reassuring his family of his safety.

“My family has a lot of concerns, especially my mother, but I try to reassure them that I will be okay,” Sirois said. “My mother is sad but happy and proud at the same time. My whole family is very supportive.”

Sirois has a few years before he looks towards the end of his enlistment but says for him it may not be the end.

“I plan on maintaining my education but I also think I will stay in,” Sirois explained. “I like the Marine Corps so far and haven’t made a decision yet.”

While Sirois is undecided in his decision to stay in the Marine Corps, he will continue to work so that others who plan to stay in know all their options.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Suspect in Wal-Mart clerk's death balks at extradition <br />
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <br />
Associated Press <br />
<br />
BISBEE, Ariz. - An ex-Marine charged in...