Combat Marine Needs New Liver or dies in 48 hours

[Expert_Rifleman]

Help urgently needed for combat Marine veteran
Submitted by: Headquarters Marine Corps
Story Identification #: 2005128131947
Story by - Marine Corps News Staff

MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. (Jan. 28, 2005) -- A Marine veteran recently returned in September from a successful combat tour in Iraq only to begin a battle for his own life in the United States.

Lance Cpl. Christopher R. LeBleu, a native of Lake Charles, La., is currently in very critical condition in Loma Linda University Hospital, Calif., for an unexplained complete liver failure.

The Marine came back Sept. 9, 2004, from Iraq where he conducted support and stabilization operations as a rifleman with 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment. The month after his return to the United States, he married his hometown sweetheart, Melany.
The 22-year-old is not expected to last past than the next 48 hours. He may recover if a complete, not partial, liver donor is found. A complete liver donation has to come from a deceased donor.

A liver donor is desperately needed to save LeBleu. Julie Smith, LLUH public affairs, said that the donor must have a matching blood type. LeBleu is O –positive.
If you believe you know of someone who could be a donor, we urge you to contact the transplant donor network immediately at 1-800-338-6112 or via the Web site http://www.llu.edu/llumc

[JAMarine]

God Bless this Marine. I can not wish someone else would die in order for this Marine to live but I do pray God sees to it this Marines needs willl be met.

[SgtMajor_Lee]

god may your blessings be upon LCpl. Chris LeBleu. we are all praying. god speed and semper fi

[Expert_Rifleman]

Feel free to edit copy edit paste the message to any website or chat room you think would help!!!

[SgtMajor_Lee]

will do sergeant

[snipowsky]

I hope this Marine gets what he needs and gets on with his life. He's in my prayers. I wish I could help!

[CAR]

God bless this young Marine. "Keep up the fight LeBleu, God will see you through".

Rifleman- please keep updated on this if you have the info. THX

Semper Fi

[jinelson]

God Bless this Marine my prayers are out for him.

[AshleyMS]

God Bless Lcpl Lebleu! I have sent this email out to everyone I know, and I have posted it on a couple sites. I know its not much but every little bit helps. Keep us updated on any news about Lebleu! Semper Fi

[thiad]

I read this on the Marine Corps website tonight. Absolutely unbelievable.

My prayers.

[kungfu_rider]

My prayer goes to him. May God watch over him.

[jinelson]

God does work in mysterious ways and our prayers have been answered. This Marine now has another shot at life. God Bless him and Expert_Rifleman for getting the word passed.

Thanks Sergeant
Jim

[thedrifter]

January 30, 2005

U.S. troops pleased by quiet, almost ‘festive’ election day
‘It’s like we’re finally accomplishing something’

By Gordon Trowbridge
Times staff writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq — As boots crunched over broken glass and shattered tile, dodging smears of blood, the balding man in the gray coat walked up to the soldiers.
“This is the price of freedom,” the election official said, pointing to the spot where, about 45 minutes before, a suicide bomber standing in the courtyard of a school had detonated a vest loaded with explosives and nails, killing himself and a voter. “In spite of this, we are going to continue.”

It was just the message U.S. military commanders wanted to hear.

The U.S. military command in Baghdad issued an order Sunday barring officers at the level of battalion commander and above from commenting to the media about the day’s events. But over 14 hours of patrolling the more than 100 election sites in their sector of southwest Baghdad, commanders of 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, and its parent command left little doubt that despite violence and administrative problems, they considered the day a success.

For the squadron’s soldiers, who had expected a difficult, dangerous days, the day was almost a relief.

“Much quieter than I expected … much,” said Staff Sgt. Joshua Gillen, 32, of Bunker Hill, Ill., a machine gunner on an armored Humvee.

It was not without cost. In addition to the suicide attack, an insurgent-fired artillery rocket struck a polling site, killing three people. Capt. Todd Napier, a troop commander in 1st Squadron, said 300 people had voted in the first hour of balloting at the site, and that residents had asked to continue voting there even after the attack.

The squadron’s troops also discovered a set of rocket pods ready to launch from a field in the city’s Tel Aswood neighborhood.

In commanders’ radio conferences and conversations on the ground throughout the day, Col. Stephen Lanza, whose 5th Brigade Combat Team includes 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry, and covers an area of more than 1 million people, said turnout was brisk in several areas where he had expected few voters to appear — including some Sunni Muslim areas where religious leaders had opposed the voting.

Both polling sites attacked in the cavalry squadron’s sector were in predominately Shiite areas, continuing a pattern of violence targeting Shiite political and religious institutions.

Iraq’s Shiite majority stood to gain significant power in Sunday’s voting, which would reverse decades of persecution by the country’s Sunnis. Shiite leaders, led by Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most senior Shiite cleric, encouraged followers to vote, and Shiites were expected to turn out in large numbers.

Violence was not the voting’s only obstacle. U.S. commanders across south Baghdad reported several problems with the Iraqi Independent Electoral Commission, which administered the voting. First Squadron, 8th Cavalry, which patrols a south-central Baghdad, reported electoral workers had sought advice from U.S. officers on how to conduct the voting, something U.S. officials — eager to put an Iraqi face on the process — couldn’t offer.

In Sowaib, a poor, religiously diverse village on Baghdad’s southern fringe, electoral officials had not opened polling booths by early afternoon, saying they had to wait for the arrival of a chief election official. Capt. Dan Mark, another of 1st Squadron’s cavalry troop commanders, said between 500 and 1,000 people were lined up but unable to vote at the village’s single polling station.

And as voting wound down early Sunday evening, squadron officers began hearing from officials at polling sites who had no idea how to get completed ballots from their polling sites to district collection points.

U.S. troops played a delicate role in solving such problems. Though eager to make sure the elections — a vital part of American strategy here — went as planned, they also wanted to remain in the background to avoid the appearance of interfering in Iraq’s internal politics.

The instructions from Lt. Col. William Salter, the squadron’s commander: His troops should escort the ballots if there was no other option, but only when Iraqi security forces were not available, and only after a written request from election officials. In at least one case, an Army patrol picked up ballots to move them to a district office before the decision was reversed and the U.S. troops told to return the ballot boxes to the original polling site.

Despite those problems, U.S. troops were often surprised at the near-festive atmosphere in the city’s streets. Hundreds of residents waved over the course of the day to Salter’s convoy, showing off thumbs dipped in the ink used to prevent voters from casting multiple ballots. And with roads off limits to all but military and election-related traffic, children took to the streets in dozens of impromptu soccer games.

Voters began filing into a polling station in central Amel just after polls officially opened at 7 a.m. Near one station, local residents had added their own security measures, using rusted concertina wire, bricks and old tires to block off a main thoroughfare.

There was a slow but steady stream of voters at several polling stations Salter visited on Sunday. At the site of the suicide bombing, in the city’s al-Amel neighborhood, voters continued to file into a second voting site at the other end of the block even after the blast. Through an interpreter, Salter told the site’s chief election official that he should clean up the glass, blood and human tissue staining the school’s walls and re-open the site.

“If we could open it back up, that would definitely make a statement,” Napier told Salter as they discussed the situation.

At another cluster of polling sites in the al-Bayaa neighborhood, voters continued to file through security checks even while a hail of rifle and machine-gun fire erupted from a nearby neighborhood.

For the squadron’s soldiers, the election was the culmination of 11 months in Baghdad, carrying significance some said they didn’t really recognize until Sunday.

“We’ve usually just got this tiny little piece of this tiny little puzzle,” said Spc. Ryan Fuller, 28, of Brooklyn, N.Y. “But it hit me when I saw people going into the polling centers. In some ways this will be the first good news people see from Iraq in a long time — it’s progress, like we’re finally accomplishing something.”

“Pretty crazy” — in a good way — was Sgt. Thomas Verhagen’s description. Verhagen, 21, of Sheboygan, Wis., said the whole world would be watching what happened on Sunday.

“Obviously, these people are pretty hard-core, because they’re voting even with shooting going on,” Verhagen said. “They won’t be scared away.”

Ellie

[thedrifter]

January 30, 2005

In Sunni area, U.S. troops surprised by how smoothly election went

By Gina Cavallaro
Times staff writer

Baqubah, Iraq — Expected violence in the heavily Sunni Diyala province north of Baghdad failed to materialize on election day, but sporadic attacks by an weakened insurgency wounded at least one soldier.
The soldier took shrapnel from an indirect fire attack in the Buhriz area south of Baqubah, an area soldiers call “mini-Fallujah” because of the chronic activity by a band of insurgents there.

The target was a polling place on the north end of Buhriz, which was attacked about halfway through the day and had to be evacuated under heavy fire. Escorted by Iraqi and U.S. soldiers, the poll workers hunkered down and carried plastic boxes containing completed ballots to a waiting pick up truck. The polling place was closed and the workers reassigned to another polling site a few blocks away.

Except for the events in Buhriz, voting took place across the province without significant disruption.

“I’m surprised. I can only attribute that to the work our soldiers and the Iraqi security forces have done in the past two weeks,” said Maj. Gen. John Batiste, commanding general of the 1st Infantry Division. “There’s been a lot of disruption of insurgent activity.”

Third brigade commander Col. Dana Pittard allocated 75 percent of his 4,000-strong task force to pull security during Sunday’s elections. The soldiers did roving and dismounted patrols and took positions in the woodline along main highways.

Pittard said he expected about five car bombs to go off in Baqubah, the province’s largest city about 30 miles north of Baghdad which had about 600,000 registered voters. He ordered his soldiers to keep a 400-meter distance from the province’s polling places.

Provincial election officials planned to use 170 schools identified as good polling places, but that number went down to 164 after some, mainly in Baqubah, were consolidated and the one in Buhriz was closed.

Baqubah’s downtown landscape, parts of which are scarred from the effects of car bombs and suicide attacks that have taken the lives of dozens of Iraqi police and soliders in recent months, was desolate for most of the day, partly due to the ban on vehicular traffic in the entire sector. But at one polling station at a secondary school in the center of town, a boisterous throng of Iraqi voters lined up to cast their ballots.

One small group of men sang a celebratory peace song, part of which said “there is no war, only solidarity.” About a third of the voters were women. Everyone was searched with a metal detector before entering the site, which was cordoned off with several meters of concertina wires and concrete barriers.

“The elections are against terrorism, to cut the terrorists arms,” said Saad Mohammed, 50, a Shiite from Baqubah. “These elections are also so that the coalition forces can go home to their country.”

Making a point with his right index finger, which was stained with a deep violet ink showing he had voted, Mohammed recounted how his back had been broken in one of several times he was arrested by Saddam Hussein’s army. “I will stick this finger in the terrorists’ face.”

Mohammed Serman, 25, a Baqubah IECI worker, herded the voters into two columns and defused a scrap between two voters who argued over a place in line. Voters emerged from the ballot room with their purple fingers and some hung around to watch the goings on.

“There is no fear among Iraqis who want the elections, no difference between Sunnis and Shias,” Serman said.

People lined up at Serman’s polling place beginning at 7 a.m. when the polls opened, but in greater Baqubah and in certain areas of Diyala the polls didn’t open in some cases until 10:30 a.m.

Attempts to keep himself and his troops more than an arm’s length from the election process didn’t stop Pittard and his quick reaction force from helping to fix some of the problems plaguing a disorganized IECI, including obtaining a bus to ferry poll workers to some of the 36 polling sites in Baqubah.

In the Muqdadiyah sector of northern Diyala, poll workers didn’t show up until about 10 a.m., while in the southern Kaan Bani Saad sector, there were people on stretchers who had been taken out of the hospital so they could vote. The director of the Joint Coordination Center in that sector, Abbas Muhssin Sukran, 45, boasted of having the oldest voter in the country, a 120-year-old man.

Soldiers on duty in Kaan Bani Saad said that aside from some mortar fire early in the day, there was no violence.

“They were small mortars. They were more of a nuisance,” said Staff Sgt. Jeff Gustafson, 37, of Omaha, Neb.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marine fights to return to duty
Submitted by: I Marine Expeditionary Force
Story Identification #: 200512722026
Story by Sgt. Clinton Firstbrook



BAGHDAD, Iraq (Jan. 25, 2005) -- On a hospital bed at the 86th Combat Support Hospital, a Marine lies on his back, teeth clenched and face contorted in pain as he slowly pulls his knees to his chest.

Cpl. Jose Melendez and the rest of 2nd squad, 3rd platoon, Company E with 2nd Battalion 24th Marine Regiment were taking the Iraqi National Guard out to set up a road checkpoint outside Al Yusufiyah when they started receiving fire.

“I looked toward one of the directions we were taking fire, but when I didn’t see anyone I turned around to engage an insurgent who was firing at us from a van,” said Melendez, 2nd squad team leader.

Seconds later, the van exploded.

“When it blew up I just remember going airborne,” said Melendez. “When I opened my eyes after hitting the deck the first thing I did was make sure I still had my rifle. Then I saw half of an alternator lying next to me.”

Melendez’s platoon sergeant ran over and checked him for injuries, making sure he stayed awake as he was medi-vaced to the emergency room at the 86th Combat Support Hospital.

“The first thing we do when someone comes in is assess the life support system vitals,” said Internal medicine physician Maj. Jennifer Greco. “We gave him a CT scan, making sure he didn’t have any internal bleeding. When Melendez came in he was disoriented, but still able to answer the questions we asked him.”

Melendez’s gear caught most of the damage, but he still suffered a concussion and soft tissue damage from the blast.

“The docs told me my gear saved my life,” said Melendez. “I’m never going to complain about wearing it again no matter how heavy or hot it is.”

Twice a day, Melendez slowly walks to a back room at the hospital where he spends two or three hours for physical therapy.

“Right now we’re having him do a lot of rhythmic activities to decrease his pain and inflammation,” said Physical Therapist 1st Lt. Justin Laferrier. “That and a lot of ice. He has a fantastic attitude. You can tell he’s in pain during his exercises, but he never complains. He only wants to get back to normal and return to his unit.”

While Melendez has shown improvement, Laferrier says they plan on keeping him for another week before re-evaluating him to see if he can return to duty.

“When I got here I could barely walk,” said Melendez. “A week or two from now and I should be back to normal.”

Laferrier sees up to 45 people each day for physical therapy and says the majority of his patients want the same thing Melendez strives for.

“I just want to get back with my boys,” said Melendez. “Although there are hundreds of other service members here, it’s lonely without them. We all started together, so we all want to finish our tour together.”


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Blue Diamond comm Marines go medieval with counter battery
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 200513163358
Story by Capt. Brad V. Gordon



CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, Iraq (Jan. 30, 2005) -- The Marines of Data Platoon, Communications Company, Headquarters and Service Battalion, 1st Marine Division, brought the Middle Ages to Mesopotamia as they built their own siege engine here at the Blue Diamond Headquarters in Ar Ramadi, Iraq. Although they are not a recognized counter-battery unit, the trebuchet is an operational piece of equipment and has been used in a way to build teamwork and espirit de corps within the unit.

The trebuchet was the dominant siege weapon throughout Europe from 850 to 1350 AD, lasting 100 years after the introduction of gunpowder. In England it was called the Ingenium and the technicians who worked on the weapon were Ingeniators (Engineers). Larger versions of the weapon were able to throw large stones, cows or even shunned negotiators. Another popular source of ammunition was rotting flesh of those besieged in previous crusades.

"On an (almost) daily basis Camp Blue Diamond receives indirect fire," said Sgt. David Kaiser, network administrator, and lead designer for the project. “Data platoon simply got tired of sprinting for bunkers. We desired to return fire."

The platoon took a little more than seven weeks to take the artillery piece from concept to the first lanyard pull. All of the construction was done during the Marines off-hours; therefore, they could only work on the construction for a few hours a day.

"The thought of building something out here as a platoon that would be fun and fun to shoot seemed like a great way to pass time," said Sgt. Daniel S. O'Brien, network administrator.

An unusual twist to the Marines' project was that prior to the design stage most of the materials were scavenged from around Blue Diamond and then the trebuchet was designed around the materials. A unique piece of the trebuchet is the 20-foot metal light post, which was welded to an axle from a broken generator.

"The entire evolution reminded me of TLC's series 'Junkyard Wars,’" said Kaiser.

The trebuchet utilizes gravity to create kinetic energy by displacing a hanging basket counterweight a distance above the ground. When the counterweight is released the basket drops straight down causing the swing arm to accelerate rapidly for the first 90 degrees of movement. The rapid motion of the swing arm pulls the attached sling, which holds the projectile. When the sling reaches a certain point in it's path the O-ring is released from the trigger and the projectile takes flight.

"The trebuchet is an extremely complicated example of dynamics," said Kaiser. "The basic concept is that objects rotating around a pivot point travel faster, the farther from the pivot point they are."

According to members of the platoon, building the trebuchet has made them better Marines because they have displayed great ingenuity, teamwork and the essence of espirit de corps.

Although the siege engine lacks true accuracy and at times shoots the wrong direction, even hitting a few hummers on the camp, the Marines seemed to have truly enjoyed building it and showing it off to their fellow Blue Diamond residents.

"My Marines love talking about it," said 2nd Lt. Michael Taylor, platoon commander. "Especially with the spectators it draws when we shoot it."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Reserve Retention NCOs Help Soldiers Continue Serving
By Sgt. Stephanie L. Carl, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Jan. 31, 2005 –– Active duty soldiers here who are preparing to go back to civilian life get plenty of help if they're thinking about continuing their service in the National Guard or Army Reserve.

"Meeting with our retention officers is part of the pre-separation brief," Army said Master Sgt. Scott A. Spencer, Reserve Component Retention senior operations sergeant, said.

After attending a pre-separation brief, soldiers receive an appointment letter and the opportunity to meet one on one with a retention officer. For deployed soldiers who know this is an option they want to explore, the Army Reserve Affairs office at Bagram Air Base is here to help. "We are able to help soldiers prepare their packets and get the ball rolling," said Master Sgt. Gregory Jacobs, ARA senior retention noncommissioned officer.

Although the packet can be prepared early, soldiers may not actually submit their packets until 90 days before separation from the Army.

In preparing packets, there are a few decisions soldiers must make. First, they must decide whether they want to join the National Guard or Reserves, or the Active Guard and Reserve. The majority of National Guard positions are combat arms, while the Reserves are typically combat service support, said Jacobs. Together, they make up an important part of the Army's total force.

While the military can't operate successfully without the reserve component, the reserve component couldn't operate without the AGR. "You can't run a part- time force with just part-time operations," said Jacobs.

The AGR provides an opportunity for soldiers to work full-time supporting either a National Guard or Reserve unit. Soldiers in these positions often change duty stations every three to five years, but can often transfer to other units in the same area.

One question many soldiers ask, regardless of the branch they are interested in, is whether they will lose rank when they join the reserve component, said Jacobs. "Normally, we are able to find positions that don't require a loss of rank," he said. "We also have a very high success rate in helping soldiers change job specialties when they join the National Guard or Reserves."

Soldiers can check on either of these options by knowing the geographic area they plan on moving to. Once this is determined, ARA personnel can help soldiers identify what positions are open to them. "The important thing is knowing what positions are available and meeting the requirements for those positions," said Spencer.

Regardless of the position soldiers choose, it is important to the Army, he said. "The Army couldn't successfully accomplish its mission without the reserve component," he said.

(Army Sgt. Stephanie L. Carl is assigned to the 17th Public Affairs Detachment.)

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Tattoo parlors see trade rise before deployments
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
January 31, 2005
DIANE MOUSKOURIE
DAILY NEWS STAFF

Roni Falgout uses a needle to draw the fine lines of her designs.

And rather than creating on paper or canvas, she prefers skin. More often than not, that skin belongs to a Marine, she said.

"I'd say 80 to 90 percent of our business is Marines," Falgout said.

She works for Unique Ink and Kustom Tattoo on U.S. 24, one of two businesses owned by Tom Boehm, a retired gunnery sergeant. Falgout has been tattooing for nearly 13 years, the first two as an apprentice at a professional shop in Seattle. Back then, being a tattoo artist was her way of rebelling, she said.

"When I was young that was important to me - not anymore," the 36-year-old said. "Now, it's just not so important."

On a recent Saturday, Falgout spent nearly two hours transforming Jody McCarty's side and stomach into a biblical scene featuring the archangel Michael.

"I showed him a few drawings that were obviously taken from the Bible," she said. "He didn't like that style, so I modified it to something he did like.

McCarty, a 20-year-old Marine stationed at Camp Lejeune, said he wanted something "uniquely my own, something I would not see on anyone else."

He was 18 and still in high school the first time he got a tattoo, McCarty said.

"I always wanted a tattoo and when I finally (got one), I wanted more," he said. "I was still in high school when I got the first one, and my mother didn't even know until the next morning."

Now, McCarty has four tattoos: the archangel, which covers half his stomach and side; an 8-inch drawing of St. Christopher with the words "Protect Us" on his chest; a skeleton coming out of a coffin on his upper arm that says "No Excuses, No Regrets"; and another on his other arm that says "My Life for Freedom."

His friend Christopher Jackson got his first tattoo about two years ago when he came back from his first tour in Iraq. It's a 4-inch black-and-gray design of the grim reaper on his chest. Although Jackson has no plans to get another tattoo, he wants to have some shading done that shows death and angels around the existing art, he said.

"It's sort of the same as the ying and yang," Jackson said.

Another local tattoo artist, Eric Reust, opened his first parlor on Court Street during the early 1970s. Reust owns Odyssey Tattoo, which is now located on U.S. 17.

Similarly, most of his business comes from Marines - about 80 percent, Reust said. And it's not just the young men and women fresh from boot camp either, he noted. Business tends to spike just before or after a deployment.

Upwards of 14,000 Lejeune Marines are headed to Iraq during the next few months. Some units have already left.

"A Marine is a special animal; he's going to get a tattoo," Reust said. "Usually on Saturdays, after pay day, I'll have as many as 30 Marines waiting their turn."

Oyssey's walls are covered with photos of Marines, male and female, who have been away fighting in Iraq. They send Reust autographed Iraqi money as a sort of souvenir. Those hang on the wall near their photos.

Then there is the bulletin board covered with photos of various tattooed arms, legs, backs and bare chests. There are some body parts that Reust, nor any of the other tattoo artists at Odyssey, will do, he said.

"We send them down the street for that," he said with a hearty laugh.

The shop does offer body piercing, but Reust won't do that himself, he said.

"I don't have the stomach for it," he said.

During his more than 30 years in the business, Reust has seen many fads come and go. In the past, black panthers were a popular choice as were skulls, Reust said.

Customers choose from hundreds of variations on various themes, or they have Reust design an original - another trend Reust has noticed in recent years.

"Young people want to have a tattoo that is just theirs; one that they'll never see on anyone else," he said.

Popular choices for today's Marines tend to revolve around what Reust calls God and country - Marine Corps symbols such as the globe and anchor or bulldogs. Some choose to be branded with the information contained on their dog tags: name, rank, social security number, blood type and so on. And with U.S. casualties in Iraq still routine, Reust says he's also tattooing more Bible verses, praying hands and crosses.

"I have done more crosses on these guys who are going over there than I can count," Reust said.

He shares the story of one Marine who recently returned from Iraq. He was still recovering from three gunshot wounds and was bandaged around his middle, drainage bags hanging from his side, Reust said.

Reust wasn't sure how he would handle the work, but he found a way. The Marine had come to him specifically for a tattoo of a globe and anchor before going home to complete his convalescence, he said.

"Combat vets rate whatever they want in my book," he said. "These guys are unbelievable what they're going through."


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Hallmark 'America Supports You' Bouquet Honors Troops <br />
By Samantha L. Quigley <br />
American Forces Press Service <br />
<br />
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31, 2005 -- Now when America wants to show it cares for its...

[thedrifter]

America Supports You: Foundation Benefits Servicemembers <br />
By John Valceanu <br />
American Forces Press Service <br />
<br />
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31, 2005 -- A nonprofit foundation created by a military- related credit...

[thedrifter]

Sent to me by MarkFontman)



Freedom Update from Iraq
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Below received in today's e-mail from LtCol Mark A. Smith

As you are all probably already aware, the polls have closed in Iraq. Due to the historic significance of this day and YOUR loved ones role in it, and while I have just a few minutes, I must communicate a few things to you.

First, the fight is not over! Much work remains to be done, and the Mad Ghost Marines and Sailors of TF 2/24 will slacken not one inch in our cause.

Second, I violated my own rule. I'm sorry, I could not resist. I just had to know how the media was portraying this day. I turned on the dust covered TV in my "office" at the FOB and caught the initial lead in to a network broadcast from their main anchor. It took all of about 30 seconds before I had hit maniacal rage stage, known around here as "oh crap, they tripped Mayhem 6's switch again." Moral of the story, in Cliff's Notes version, is this: after describing both the violence and the turnout, this anchorman said that the best way to handle the coverage of what has actually occurred is "to do it the same way we do in the states, and wait until all the facts are in," or words to that effect.

Well...knock me over with a feather, slap my face and call me a stupid hillbilly! "do it the same way we do it in the states." Did I hear that right? You have got to be kidding me! This was not an election in the only country that has known true representative democracy for 229 years. This was not an election in a country that has overcome the human indignity of slavery, survived a civil war, slowly and, to our shame, took hundreds of years to bring the vote to women and minorities, has fought through TWO World Wars, all in the name of evolving and perfecting the human condition. THIS WAS AN ELECTION IN THE HEART OF THE ARAB WORLD, AND BY AN ELECTORATE THAT HAS NOT ONLY SUSTAINED DECADES OF REPRESSION, BRUTALITY AND TERROR, BUT VOTED UNDER THE THREAT OF DEATH, AND THE ACTUALITY OF VIOLENCE!

No, I quite disagree. The only FACT of interest in this election is that ANYONE showed up to vote. And they did, and to my initial understanding, they did in droves. That, I get from the web; but what I know, is that tens of thousands VOTED in our zone. And, they did, multiple times while the enemy was firing mortars at the polls. YOU HEARD ME, WHILE THE ENEMY WAS FIRING MORTARS AT THE POLLS! We did have some Iraqi's injured. On each and every occasion, YOUR Mad Ghosts returned fire and pursued the enemy. I take no displeasure in telling you that while some of those enemy awoke this morning with the intent of slaughtering innocent men, women and children, the destiny of their day was that IT WAS TO BE THEIR LAST!

And, what did the Iraqi citizens do, they waved at YOUR Marines, they smiled at YOUR Marines, they kept the hands of their children gripped tightly and held them close, AND THEY KEPT RIGHT ON VOTING!!!!! There are many things to not understand about the Iraqi people from an American perspective. There are some that can easily lead one to hate. But there is so much more to respect and admire. TODAY, in the Mayhem AO, the enemy has earned even more of our disdain, but the people, well the people, they have earned our undying RESPECT and ADMIRATION! For today, in the Mayhem AO, and under the watchful, compassionate and professional cover of YOUR Marine, they demonstrated courage to a degree that would, and rightfully should, shame lesser people!

God Bless 2/24, God Bless the wonderful families of 2/24, God Bless the USMC, God Bless America, and God Bless Iraq!

LtCol Mark A. Smith, MAYHEM 6 CO, Task Force 2/24
"Mayhem from the Heartland" or as the terrorists call us "The Mad Ghosts" Mahmudiyah, IZ
2nd Bn, 24th Marines, H&S Co, Bn Cmdr Unit 43495
FPO-AP 96426-3495



Ellie

[Expert_Rifleman]

GREAT NEWS!!! I saw on the local news that the Marine was placed on an emergency need list and recieved his new liver from a donor in New Mexico. He is expected to recover but it is still not known if he will fully recover and its not known what will become of his military carreer. SEMPER FI!