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thedrifter
02-01-05, 06:59 AM
Commentary

Critical Dilemma -- Loyalty Versus Honesty

General Joseph P. Hoar, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
Proceedings, January 2005

The major conflict in the boardrooms of America is caused by the clash between loyalty and honesty. This was the issue I discussed with a friend as we shared pre-dinner drinks this past July—and his succinct appraisal of the state of American business resonated with me.

In fact, the tension between honesty and loyalty extends far beyond the business community and is raging in the U.S. government. An article in the The New York Times of 3 October 2004 described how uncertainty and disbelief about the acquisition of an Iraqi nuclear capability were played in such a way that the Vice President, the Secretary of State, and the National Security Advisor were able to assert publicly that an aggressive nuclear program was being pursued actively—when none apparently existed. Where were the Directors of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Defense Intelligence Agency when the State Department intelligence office cautioned that the facts did not support this view?

Honesty has been a casualty in the past two years as the U.S. government made major errors planning and conducting the war in Iraq. Moreover, no one has been held accountable and there has been no acknowledgement of failure. President George W. Bush’s characterization of the “catastrophic success”—aside from being an oxymoron—is a poor alibi for mismanagement of reconstruction.

During the past two years, while traveling in the Middle East and visiting in Washington, I listened to the steady drumbeats of retired and active duty flag and general officers, foreign service officers, civil servants, and officials of friendly Middle Eastern governments: stories of spin and information suppressed, senior leaders enunciating desired goals and then tasking subordinates with finding facts to confirm those goals, promotion denied a CIA operative who did not come up with the “right answer” regarding Iraq’s nuclear program, and offers of assistance in the search for peace and stability rebuffed because they came from “terrorist” or “axis of evil” states. Investigative journalists consistently uncover themes of bad news repressed by the government, which often uses security classification as the means of concealing embarrassing information.

No one is naïve enough to believe this kind of behavior is new to Washington. But why should many military and civilian officials continue to favor loyalty over integrity? Arguments for loyalty in some cases are those of political affiliation and friendship. Further, disloyalty might well impede career advancement, retirement plans, home mortgages, and tuition for the kids. Finally, there is the argument that “I can do more to fight this kind of behavior inside the government than I can by resigning or going public.”

The latter view was exemplified in 1971, when former Chief of Staff of the Army General Harold K. Johnson spoke to the student body of the Marine Corps Command and Staff College in an atmosphere of nonattribution. After some 40 minutes of describing the sad state of affairs related to the Vietnam War, an Army major rose to ask him why, given the unsavory situation in 1964-68, he did not resign. General Johnson responded to the effect that he could better deal with the problem inside the government than out. Years later, he regretted his failure to resign his post in protest.

In the U.S. military services, loyalty and honesty—often described as integrity—are highly prized virtues. They rank right behind courage as prized characteristics of an officer. Although there is perpetual friction and competition between them, we need go no farther than the oath taken by all military officers: “I solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic . . .” This provides the necessary direction as to where our primary loyalties should lie—to the Constitution, not to our commanders. As a matter of custom in the Marine Corps, officer promotion ceremonies include a renewal of that oath to underscore at each promotion that there are new opportunities to contribute. Equally important, it reminds officers their overriding fealty is to the nation.

Senior military commanders are most likely to face this dilemma. Because their responses are key to high-level policy decisions, they must realize that weighing honesty against loyalty is an abiding responsibility. When the history of the Iraq war is written, we can be sure that historians, journalists, and government officials will connect the dots dividing those who acted out of honesty and those who acted out of loyalty.

Retired Marine General Hoar, a former commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command, heads J.P. Hoar and Associates, a consulting firm. He is a member of several boards, including that of the Center of Naval Analyses.


Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 07:00 AM
War Makes Job Hard For Army Recruiter
The Philadelphia Inquirer
February 1, 2005

PHILADELPHIA - How do you persuade a high school student to sign up for the Army when the news from Iraq is dominated by insurgent attacks and steadily climbing casualties?

If you are Sgt. First Class David F. Johnson, you start with a firm handshake and a steady smile.

In the West Deptford High School cafeteria last week, Johnson surveyed the tables teeming with teen-agers and noted that few seniors were in the crowd.

But he said, "Juniors do become seniors, and sophomores do become juniors."

A skinny boy with a T-shirt reading "Baseball" approached the fold-out table where Johnson had set out brochures and propped open a laptop computer that played a promotional video showing soldiers jumping out of helicopters.

"You play baseball?" Johnson asked.





The boy nodded.

"What position?"

"Center field."

Johnson wished him luck and handed him two brochures. As one of thousands of Army recruiters, the native of Jacksonville, Fla., visits high schools, colleges, malls and community events looking for young Americans to join the military during a time of war.

Johnson, 34, of Woodbury Heights, Pa., presents a trim and professional appearance despite working 12-hour days and six-day weeks. He wears a neat mustache, and his uniform bears several rows of ribbons. A firm believer in the importance of service to one's country, he has encouraged his own three children, the oldest of whom is 16, to consider joining the armed forces.

"I'm not a salesman," he said. "I'm a soldier. My job just happens to be representing the Army in the community."

Despite the death toll among U.S. soldiers in Iraq and reports of a strained fighting force, the Army has been meeting its recruiting goals, said Douglas Smith, spokesman for the U.S. Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox, Ky.

To meet its wartime needs, the Army is adding more than 500 recruiters for the active-duty forces and 400 for the Army Reserve. The national recruiting goal for fiscal 2005 is 80,000, up from 77,000 the year before.

"Recruiting has been difficult, but we met our goal in 2004," Smith said.

As an inducement, the Army now offers active-duty soldiers as much as $70,000 for college, which was increased in August from $50,000.

Based at the armed-forces recruiting center in Woodbury, Pa., Johnson has enlisted 26 soldiers since starting in 2003. The young men and women are smiling in photos, tacked to a bulletin board in his fluorescent-lit office.

The war in Iraq is the most common concern of potential recruits, said Capt. Martin L. Ratigan, who oversees six Army recruiting stations in South Jersey.

"Pre-9/11, the main objection was 'I don't want to cut my hair. I don't want to move away from home,"' Ratigan said. "Now their biggest objection is the war. ... 'If there wasn't a war, would you be interested in joining?' A lot of people say, 'Yes."'

Resistance is often greatest among parents, he said.

"It's often the parents who don't want us talking to their kids," Ratigan said. "That's our most common barrier - getting through to the parents."

Some potential recruits are drawn to, rather than deterred by, the war.

Jason Ilgenfritz, 19, of Glendora, Pa., an Army applicant who contacted Johnson this month, said the war in Iraq was the main reason he wanted to join.

"I completely believe in what's going on, and I kind of had this feeling I wanted to be part of it," he said.

Critics contend that some recruiters take advantage of impressionable youth.

John Grant, a Vietnam veteran and president of the Philadelphia chapter of Veterans for Peace, has visited area schools to counter the pitches by military recruiters.

"We tell kids it's a simple matter of critical thinking," Grant said. "These recruiters are classical salesman. They're selling something. ... As with other advertisements, a lot of the truth just falls to the side."

Grant added: "I think you'll find a lot of kids that still say, 'I want to be tested, I want to be a man,' and not really understand what it's going to be."

Edward Powick, president of the South Jersey chapter of Veterans for Peace, said low-income teenagers were more likely to listen to a recruiter than wealthier youths.

Ratigan disputed such assertions. "We target all demographics," he said.

Johnson said he was always straightforward and always made it clear that deployment in Iraq or another combat zone was a possibility. He said he also told potential recruits that not everyone who enlisted ended up on the battlefield. "You could be an infantry soldier, a dentist, a medical technician, a computer specialist," he said.

Whatever you think of Army recruiters, they are not forcing anyone to do anything, Johnson said.

"It's an important job," he said. "It's one of the things that keeps this an all-volunteer force."

Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 07:00 AM
Four U.S. Marines Killed In Iraq
Associated Press
February 1, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three U.S. Marines were killed in combat south of Baghdad on Monday and a fourth was killed in a separate operation in Iraq's western Anbar province, the military said.

The three Marines killed south of the capital were conducting a security operation in Babil province, the military said in a statement, giving no further details.

The Marine killed in combat in Anbar province was assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, the military said in an earlier statement. He was killed Sunday during a U.S. security operation, the statement said. His death brought to two the number of Marines killed on Iraq's election day.

The statement did not say exactly where the Marine was killed. The large Anbar province is home to the flashpoint cities of Ramadi and Fallujah.

More than 1,400 U.S. service members have been killed in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion.


Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 07:01 AM
U.S. Guards Kill 4 Detainees In Iraq
Associated Press
February 1, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. guards opened fire Monday on prisoners during a riot at the main detention facility for security detainees, killing four of them, the U.S. command said. Six other prisoners were injured.

The riot broke out shortly after noon at the Camp Bucca internment facility near Umm Qasr in southern Iraq after a routine search for contraband in one of the camp's 10 compounds, the command said in a statement.

"The riot quickly spread to three additional compounds, with detainees throwing rocks and fashioning weapons from materials inside their living areas." the statement said. "Guards attempted to calm the increasingly volatile situation using verbal warnings and, when that failed, by use of non-lethal force."

"After about 45 minutes of escalating danger, lethal force was used to quell the violence," the statement added.

The statement said the riot "resulted from both the use of force to control the situation and from violence by other detainees within the camp during the riot."





The command said names of those who died are being provided to the Iraqi government and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

"The cause of the riot and use of lethal force is currently under investigation by the chain of command and the U.S. Army's Criminal Investigations Division, which is standard procedure whenever a detainee death occurs," the statement added.

Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 07:01 AM
For Iraq's Insurgents, What Next?
Christian Science Monitor
February 1, 2005

BAGHDAD - No car bombs. No mass casualties. No devastating attack that could darken the shine of Iraq's election.

For months, insurgents had one goal: to keep Iraqis from going to the polls. Running their own campaign of targeting election officials and candidates, and promising death to all who took part, they cast election day as a test. But while the fear of attacks and reprisals kept some voters away - turnout in some Sunni strongholds was almost nil - the jubilation and defiance with which as many as 60 percent of Iraqis cast ballots sent a strong signal to the insurgency, analysts say.

"It's unclear what the insurgents will do from here - they are entering uncharted territory," says Sajjan Gohel, a terrorism expert who heads the Asia Pacific Foundation in London. "The fact is, they failed in their objective to stop people from voting."

While no one expects the violence to end, Iraqis say a new political dynamic is at play:

with government more firmly in Iraqi hands, future attacks may no longer be viewed as against American occupation, but against Iraqis themselves.





"The terrorists now know that they cannot win," interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi announced Monday, noting how many Iraqis defied the threats and voted, turning the political tide against the insurgents.

"This vote was our answer [to insurgents]: We will resist you, we are not going to be intimidated by you, no matter how much you try, we will kick you," says an Iraqi doctor who asked not to be identified. The insurgents are "definitely" rethinking their strategy, he says. "I think the situation will change from now on. The vote will give some legitimacy to the new government."

But experts say it is premature to suggest that Iraq's insurgency - driven by extremists among the once-powerful Sunni minority, who are determined to force out the U.S. - is beginning to lose. Three U.S. troops were killed south of Baghdad Monday while conducting security operations.

"One day, election day, [U.S. and Iraqi forces] made it very difficult to target," says Toby Dodge, an Iraq expert at Queen Mary, University of London. "We still have the same Iraq today as we did on Saturday, with a big security vacuum."

"Statistically, the U.S. won on the day - it highlights the fact that in locking down the country, the U.S. military can do it with 150,000 troops," says Mr. Dodge. "The political message [from the vote] - if there is a popular affirmation of the next government - sends a much more important message to insurgents."

After the Fallujah offensive last November, and especially in recent weeks, experts say, U.S. military intelligence has improved, leading to the arrest of several top aides to insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as well as of a key car bomb builder.

"We have been doing a very significant amount of offensive operations in the last two months - we've definitely taken away some of [their] capabilities," says U.S. Army Col. Mike Murray. He says recent explosions have involved "lower quality" car bombs and attacks with fewer explosives, which are taking less of a toll than months past.

"They are just not having the same lethal effect," says Colonel Murray, from Kenton, Ohio. On election day, he noted that many insurgent mortars were inaccurate - one targeted polling station in Baghdad's Sadr City slum was up and running within 10 minutes, despite the death of one person. At the site of one suicide blast, Iraqis were voting within an hour. "[Insurgents] understand as much as we do the importance of this day," says Murray.

The recent offensives include more than 1,000 cordon-and-search operations, and some 400 specific attacks to net insurgents, which yielded the capture or death of 30 to 50 percent of a target list of names, according to The New York Times. "No organization can operate with those kinds of losses," said a U.S. commander quoted by the newspaper.

But the events following a rocket attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, which killed two people the night before the election, may point more toward the kind of success that hurts insurgent capabilities.

The flash of the rocket launch was detected by a U.S. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, or UAV, which watched through its surveillance camera as a group of insurgents fled and entered a house, according to a Western diplomat. Shortly thereafter, U.S. troops swooped on the house, arresting seven - presumably including the one with the expertise to so accurately fire the rocket.

"If the U.S. is able to lift some of those people, that would be interesting and an important breakthrough," says Mr. Dodge.

Still, he warns that the insurgency itself is made up of 60 different, mostly autonomous, groups, and that Mr. Zarqawi - with just 200 loyalists, who have claimed some of the worst atrocities in Iraq in the past year - is a "fringe player."

"Zarqawi is not the insurgency," says Dodge. "If Zarqawi disappeared tomorrow, the insurgency would probably get stronger."

Removing such an extreme element from the insurgent equation could in fact strengthen the mainstream anti-American insurgents, whose attitude about ending U.S. occupation is widely held.

"The problem is that for every [insurgent] captured or killed, five are coming along the assembly line," Mr. Gohel suggests. "They are different groups, but bounded by the common ideology of forcing the Americans out. They won't give up. They will come back again [before the new government is announced], and try to do as much damage as possible."

Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 07:02 AM
Pentagon Would Raise Military Death Pay

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) will propose a dramatic increase to $100,000 in government payments to families of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites) wars and in future combat zones.


The plan to increase the tax-free "death gratuity," now $12,420, will be part the 2006 budget proposal submitted to Congress next week, the Pentagon (news - web sites)'s personnel chief said in an Associated Press interview. Veterans groups and many in Congress have been pushing for such an increase.


"We think the nation ought to make a larger one-time payment, quite apart from insurance, should you be killed in a combat area of operations," David Chu, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in the interview in his Pentagon office.


"We can never in any program give someone back their loved one," he added. "There is nothing we can do about the hurt, to make it go away. But we can make your circumstances reasonable, in terms of finances."


Chu is to unveil the administration's full proposal in congressional testimony Tuesday.


In addition to the higher gratuity, the Pentagon would substantially increase life insurance benefits, Chu said. The current $250,000 coverage offered to all service members at a subsidized rate under the Servicemen's Group Life Insurance program would be raised to $400,000, and for troops in a combat zone the government would pay the premiums on the extra $150,000 coverage.


Even in the case of a service member who did not participate in the basic life insurance program, the surviving spouse would receive a $150,000 settlement if the death happened in a designated combat zone, since the Pentagon is proposing to pay the premiums on that amount of coverage for everyone in a war zone. The spouse or other surviving family member also would get the $100,000 gratuity.


The higher death gratuity would be retroactive to Oct. 7, 2001, the date the United States launched its invasion of Afghanistan in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Chu said the bill for that would exceed $200 million. The 53 military members who were killed in the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon would not get the higher gratuity, a spokeswoman said.


As of Monday, 1,415 Americans had died in the Iraq war, according to the Pentagon's count, and 156 had died in Afghanistan and other locations deemed part of the war on terrorism.


Including the retroactive gratuity payments and the cost of subsidizing more life insurance coverage, the first-year cost of the proposed changes would exceed $450 million, officials said.


The death gratuity is a one-time payment intended to be given to the family immediately after a service member's death; it is separate from an array of other survivor benefits such as housing aid.


The $100,000 would apply only in cases where the service member died in a war zone as designated by the secretary of defense. Thus a soldier killed in a training accident in the United States would get the current $12,420, Chu said. Some in Congress have proposed paying an increased gratuity for all deaths.


In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, defense officials decided that the current death payment for troops killed in battle was too little, particularly in light of settlements paid to Sept. 11 families. The government paid an average $2.1 million to the families of those killed in those attacks.


In 2003 the military gratuity was doubled, from $6,000, where it had stood since 1991, to $12,000, with subsequent increases to account for inflation, bringing it to $12,420 on Jan. 1, 2005. The 2003 legislation also made the payment fully tax-free. Before that, half was taxable.


Lawmakers in both the House and Senate have introduced bills to raise both the gratuity and the life insurance coverage, reflecting a broader trend of more generous military benefit programs, including financial benefits for military retirees, their survivors and families of those killed in battle.


These changes are adding billions to defense budgets and raising questions about whether increasingly costly entitlements are forcing the Pentagon to forgo some investments in weapons programs.


Chu said he was concerned that in recent years Congress had gone too far in expanding military retiree benefits, but he said the proposed increase in survivor benefits was well justified.





Bigger military benefits that apply mainly to retirees and their families are making it harder for the Pentagon to afford financial incentives targeted at maintaining today's military, Chu said.

"They are starting to crowd out two things: first, our ability to reward the person who is bearing the burden right now in Iraq or Afghanistan," Chu said. "(Second), we are undercutting our ability to finance the new gear that is going to make that military person successful five, ten, 15 years from now."


Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 07:03 AM
Woman Loses Father And Spouse In Iraq
Associated Press
February 1, 2005

DALLAS - A woman whose father died in Iraq last year suffered another tragedy when her husband was killed in a helicopter crash in Baghdad last week.

The latest bad news came just days after Tabitha Bonilla and Army Capt. Orlando A. Bonilla had talked about his anticipated return home in early March.

"He told me he was going to fly a couple more missions before he came home," Tabitha Bonilla, 23, said Monday night from her mother's home in North Carolina. "I was going to welcome him home, since I didn't get to welcome my dad home."

She described her 27-year-old husband, a pilot from Killeen, as "just a wonderful, kindhearted, caring, gentle person."

Her mechanic father, Army Sgt. 1st Class Henry A. Bacon, 45, died last February when he was hit by one vehicle while making repairs on another in Iraq. Bacon, who joined the Army in 1982, had delayed his retirement to serve in the war, relatives said.

Bacon's death delayed his son-in-law's deployment to Iraq, but only for a few months.




"He treated my dad as though he were his dad," Keith Bacon, 18, said of his brother-in-law. "He wanted to be here for us, but he said he wanted to do his job. ... Even though he was going through a troubling time, he was needing to go over there. You know how a military man is."

Bonilla, who had been stationed at Fort Hood, died along with a second pilot in a helicopter crash Friday near Baghdad. He was one of 18 Texans killed in Iraq in January, surpassing the state's previous worst toll for a month.

Orlando Bonilla was attending the University of Texas at Austin and waiting to get his Army commission when he took a part-time job at a Target store in 1999. That is where he met his future wife, a fellow Target employee whose father was also stationed at Fort Hood.

Bonilla's "easy-going, sweet, gentlemanly" personality attracted Tabitha Bacon to him, she said. He told her he had decided in high school that he wanted to be an Army pilot.

She said she supported her father and husband no matter what, and did not pressure her husband to stay home.

"I told him that my biggest regret would be that if he left too and wouldn't come back," Tabitha Bonilla said of her husband. "But I also knew that was his stupid job.

"It's not stupid," she added, through her tears, "but ... I'm just very hurt."

Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 07:03 AM
Marines Return To N.C. After 7 Months In Iraq

POSTED: 7:31 am EST January 31, 2005

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- Tears and cheers marked the return this weekend of several hundred troops from a U.S. Marines battalion that spent seven months in Iraq, including bloody missions in the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

Over three days, about 850 troops from the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment based at Camp Lejeune returned in waves.

Cheers erupted Saturday as eight buses of Marines and sailors pulled up to the crowd assembled at Camp Lejeune's Area One gymnasium.

A tearful Julie Steele hugged her son, Lance Cpl. Timothy Steele, 21, from New Windsor, Md. The infantryman was wounded during one of the early operations in Fallujah, located west of Baghdad.

"They were blowing a door off a building, and the explosion was more than normal; they think it was rigged,'' said Julie Steele, detailing the circumstances that led to the shrapnel wound her son sustained to the back of his right leg. "We heard that he was wounded on Veterans Day.''

Timothy Steele had surgery, spent three weeks recovering and then rejoined his company, according to his father, Bob Steele.

After nearly three days of traveling to get back home, Timothy Steele didn't have much on his mind except returning to his life in the United States.

"The first thing I'm going to is get something good to eat,'' he said.

Emily Jane Munday, a high school art teacher, waited under a big sign announcing the reunion of "Dick and Jane'' _ aka she and her husband, 21-year-old Cpl. Richard Munday, from Muscatine, Iowa.

Things changed so fast during the intense buildup and battles in Fallujah that Emily Jane Munday said she quit watching the news, relying instead on the Key Wives volunteer network for information.

Like Lance Cpl. Steele, Richard Munday, a mortarman with Weapons Platoon, Charlie Company, had little to say.

"It's great to be home,'' he said. "I'm going to go take a long shower.''

Lance Cpl. Evan Bledsoe, 21, of Morgantown, W.Va., and his wife, April, will celebrate their first wedding anniversary Feb. 13.

On Saturday, April Bledsoe anxiously bounced on her toes while she waited for her husband's bus to arrive.

"When they were in Fallujah, I cried every single day. It was very, very scary,'' she said. "He told us (Fallujah) was really hard. They trained for all experiences, but I can't imagine going through it.''

Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 07:56 AM
Two Marines separated by Battalions are linked by blood
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 20051295037
Story by Cpl. Jan M. Bender



CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (Jan. 25, 2005) -- At first glance, they look like a mirror image of one another. Both are 6 feet 1 inch tall with solid builds, dark brown hair, square jaw lines and similar strides. In full uniform their nametapes read the same, U.S. MARINE on one side, LYND on the other. Even their collars display similar the ranks of lance corporal.

The only noticeable difference between the two brothers are the distinct markings on their right forearms. One displays the tattooed numbers “0331” while the other is tagged with “0311.” Their tattoos display the different designator numbers for their military occupational specialties, but both are sure signs of a proud “grunt.”

Justin C. Lynd, a machine gun team leader with Company I, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, and his identical twin brother Jason A. Lynd, a team leader with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, are both currently deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This is the brothers’ second deployment to Iraq and this is what they enlisted in the Marine Corps to do.

Growing up in a suburb of Huntington Beach, Calif., with their loving parents, both Justin and Jason said they felt a calling to enlist in the Marine Corps from a very young age.

“It’s no surprise, after our dad brought us up to be very patriotic. He hates liberals. We were always watching World War I, WW II and Civil War movies,” said Justin.

“I ‘d say by the age of 11 we had made up our minds that we were going to join the Corps as soon as they’d take us,” said Jason.

Until that time rolled around the boys joined the Young Marines, a youth program geared toward military teachings. Later, they filled two varsity spots on their high school’s football team as freshman, as defensive ends and offensive guards.

The twins said they could recall very few times in their youth when they were not side-by-side.

“We’ve always had the same interest, same friends and just did everything together,” said Jason.

“We might as well have been born as Siamese twins,” laughed Justin.

This union between the two would last through their days of boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, and combat training at the School of Infantry at Camp Pendleton, Calif., where they were in the same platoons. However, upon graduation both received orders to their present units that were already staged in Kuwait awaiting orders to push into Iraq. Once they arrived in country, they said their good byes and parted ways.

Justin and Jason would not see each other again for another seven months as they pushed their way north with separate battalions through such hot spots as Al Nasariyah and Al Diwaniyah.

Following their return home the brothers spent their free time and weekends catching up for five months until Justin was deployed again along with the rest of the “Thundering Third”, 3/1,in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Not far behind his brother, Jason deployed just three months later with 3/5 back to the land that had separated him from his brother once before. Although, 3/5’s area of operation was in the same portion of Iraq as 3/1’s, the Al Anbar province, the brothers had not seen each other for five months when they both got word that their battalions would be involved in an operation to clear the city of Fallujah, Iraq, a known insurgent stronghold.

As both the brothers assaulted with their battalions through the narrow alleys and booby trapped houses of the city that was overran by terrorist, they knew their best friend was probably just a few blocks away facing the same enemy.

“Sure you worry about your brother being in the same city, just fighting in a different portion, but you always know he is surrounded by Marines who are just as worried about him as you are,” said Justin.

Both Lynds felt the assault on the city was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

“It was awesome, I can’t even describe it. We battled through and cleared the insurgency strong hold of Iraq,” said Justin. “It makes me have even more pride in being an American, in being a Marine.”

But the push through Fallujah would leave Justin with more than just memories. In one of the last days of intense combat in the city, an insurgent shot Justin in the shoulder while he cleared a house.

This was the second time Justin had been wounded on this tour. The first was from fragmentation he took in the leg after a rocket attack.

“I was just in awe… I didn’t know what to think. I was just glad he was okay,” said Jason, when he found out about his brothers injury days later.

Jason’s command gave him time to visit with Justin while he recovered and the brothers took advantage of the time to catch up.

“We are always talking about home, about old friends, just reminiscing,” said Justin.
“We always had a tight bond, but now each time we get to see each other, it’s just that much better.”


“We always have a lot of good laughs together. I’m glad it worked out that we could see one another,” said Jason.

Justin is now preparing to head home with the rest of his unit at the end of January. Just before he left the brothers were able to get together one last time.

“I don’t like leaving him here. He’s going to be half way across the world and I’m going to be back home drinking beer,” said Justin, as he joked with his brother. “I’ll be thinking about him though.”

Jason was glad to see his brother head home.

“I’m actually happy cause he’s going to be out of harms way. He’ll be safe at home,” said Jason. “And at least he’ll be able to really celebrate our 21st birthday.”

“Yeah it’s about time,” laughed Justin. “ I’ve done two combat tours and taken two Purple Hearts. It’s about time I can legally drink a beer back home.”

“Don’t worry bro, you know the fridge will be stacked full, ready and waiting for when you get back,” said Justin, talking to his brother.

The two brothers also plan to put in some time at the beach, spend time with family and buy a pair of pickup trucks, when they are home. They also said they can’t wait to catch up with old friends and just relax.

“We’ll be the first kids on our block to have confirmed kills,” the brothers laughed, quoting a line from the movie “Full Metal Jacket.”

Although, Jason is expected to be home by April, the brothers know their time stateside together will be short lived.

Justin is scheduled for a third deployment in support of OIF with his battalion, in late fall.

Jason, who would not deploy again if he were to stay with 3/5, because of the amount of time left on his contract, has a plan.

“I’d much rather transfer to 3/1 and come back with him. I don’t want to stay at home and watch this guy come over here again,” said Jason, as he knocked on wood. “If he got hurt or something, I’d never be able to forgive myself.”

Even though the two Marines have already spent more time over seas during their enlistment than they have at Camp Pendleton, Calif., they are enthusiastic about what they are called to do.

“I wouldn’t want be anywhere else, “ said Jason

Jason finished his brother’s sentence, “Do my job, serve my country …it’s a great honor.”

http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200512951227/$file/LYNDBOYS3low.jpg

Justin C. Lynd, a machine gun team leader with Company I, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, and his identical twin brother Jason A. Lynd, a team leader with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, are both currently deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This is the brothers’ second deployment to Iraq and this is what they enlisted in the Marine Corps to do. Photo by: Cpl. Jan M. Bender

Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 09:01 AM
January 31, 2005

31st MEU engaged in election-day battles with insurgents

By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer


OCEANSIDE, Calif. – The weekend’s turnout of several thousand voters in Iraq’s vast western province came as Marines continued to battle insurgents set on disrupting the elections, a top Marine commander said.
More than 1,000 “were able to vote,” Col. Walter Lee Miller Jr., who commands the Okinawa, Japan-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, said today by satellite phone from Iraq.

“The opportunity was presented to them,” said Miller. “The polling stations were open and secure.”

The Los Angeles Times reported today that fewer than 20,000 people, among a quarter-million eligible voters across the entire province, cast their votes Sunday. Turnout was lower than in other parts of the country.

The voting went on despite insurgent threats in the Anbar region. “I, for one, am very proud of the people who had come out to vote. They were under tremendous threats,” Miller said. “There were attacks to prevent them from voting, but they still came.”

The 31st MEU, temporarily based at Camp Ripper on the sprawling Asad Air Base, has been operating across the deserts west of the Sunni Triangle and along the Jordanian and Syrian borders.

While Iraqis voted, several thousand Marines with 31st MEU and the 1st Marine Division provided security at polling places amid other operations throughout Anbar province. “We had fights going on in all three corners of our (area of operations) all day,” Miller said. “We did, in fact, detain a couple of people.”

The attacks and threats against voters weren’t random. “It’s definitely organized,” he said.

In the coming days, the 31st MEU is expected to prepare for a return to the ships of the Essex Expeditionary Strike Group, which has been operating in the Northern Persian Gulf since the naval force was ordered to the Fifth Fleet area from the Seventh Fleet region. The unit is tentatively scheduled to arrive in Japan sometime in early April, Miller said.

They will return home with hearts heavy from the loss of 30 Marines and one sailor killed when a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter crashed near the western desert town of Rutbah. Most of those killed were with the MEU’s ground-combat arm, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, from Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

“They were here for a just cause,” he said of the Marines who died in the crash. “and they did a great job. I am extremely sorry and I pass on my condolences to our families.”

Gidget Fuentes is the San Diego bureau chief for Navy Times and Marine Corps Times. She can be reached at (760) 677-6145.

Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 09:48 AM
Marine Gets Organ, in the Nick of Time
The Twentynine Palms lance corporal, who returned from Iraq in September, had only a few days to live, doctors say.

By Hugo Martín and Jason Felch, Times Staff Writers


With just days to live, a Marine who survived a treacherous tour of duty in Iraq only to be struck down with liver failure received a liver transplant Sunday at Loma Linda University Medical Center.

Friends and family of Lance Cpl. Christopher R. LeBleu, 22, broke into a standing ovation when a team of doctors completed the 10-hour operation Sunday afternoon.

LeBleu had fallen critically ill in December — three months after returning from Iraq.

Eric Lamendola, LeBleu's stepfather, said the Marine's family was joyful about the liver donation but sad that someone had to die for the transplant to take place.

"It's tragic that someone has to lose for someone else to gain," he said.

LeBleu, a native of Lake Charles, La., remains in critical condition. Doctors say it will be several days before they know if the transplant was a success.

"The next 48 hours are going to be really, really important," said Sgt. Jennie Haskamp, a spokeswoman for the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, on Sunday. LeBleu was stationed there before he was deployed nearly a year ago.

Hospital officials declined to identify the liver donor or discuss the conditions of the donation. But they said LeBleu's critical condition before the transplant qualified him for the top of the national transplant list.

"We were ecstatic," Lamendola said. "Our son has a second chance."

On Friday, doctors at Loma Linda hooked LeBleu to a ventilator to keep him alive, but they worried that he would not live through the weekend without a transplant.

He returned Sept. 9 from a seven-month tour of duty, where he was a rifleman with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, conducting operations in Fallouja and provinces near the Syrian border. Twenty of LeBleu's comrades were killed and dozens injured.

Once he returned to California, LeBleu got on with life. He applied to sniper school, planning on a military career. He married his hometown sweetheart, Melany, in October.

But in December, LeBleu visited his doctor, complaining of fatigue. Dr. Donald J. Hillebrand, director of liver transplants at Loma Linda, said he suspected LeBleu was the victim of a form of hepatitis but couldn't say how he might have contracted the disease. Family members said doctors were told that no others from LeBleu's battalion had suffered similar problems.

Once word arrived Saturday night that a donor had been found with LeBleu's blood type — O positive — his family and friends rejoiced. Word spread quickly to LeBleu's hometown, where neighbors and family were praying for LeBleu and his wife.

"They're so much in love," said Julie Parham, who is related to LeBleu through marriage. "It would be terrible to have had just a few months of married life."

Nearly 4,000 people in California are waiting for a liver transplant, according to the United Network of Organ Sharing, a nonprofit group dedicated to matching donors with patients. An average of five people awaiting liver transplants die each day nationwide, Hillebrand said.

The donated liver arrived at the hospital Saturday night from New Mexico. Surgery began at 6 a.m. Sunday and lasted nearly 10 hours.

Haskamp, the Marine spokeswoman, said the waiting room at the hospital Sunday was packed with family members, worried Marines and other supporters who learned about LeBleu's condition from media reports.

In Louisiana, family members kept track by telephone, fielding calls for information as well as offers of assistance.

"People were calling all the time asking how they could help," said Anne Marie Parham, Julie Parham's daughter. "One older man … said he would give him his liver, that he had lived his life. These are complete strangers. They had seen the local news articles and wanted to do something."


Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 09:51 AM
Shi'ites exult over voting; Sunnis receive no sympathy


By Borzou Daragahi
THE WASHINGTON TIMES


BAGHDAD — Sunni Arabs yesterday appeared shocked by the large turnout of Shi'ites and Kurds in Sunday's elections, with some anxiously looking for ways to bolster their representation in the new government that will emerge from them.
But many Shi'ites, triumphant after voting in high numbers in spite of terrorist threats, had a simple message for the Sunnis who stayed home: Tough luck.
Yazin al-Jabouri, a spokesman for the Sunni-led Homeland Party, said many people in Sunni parts of the country hadn't voted because the electoral commission had not sent enough ballot boxes and forms.







"They didn't think people were going to vote," he said, adding that he had sent a letter to the commission urging an extension in the balloting.
Nabeal Younis, a Sunni Arab university professor and frequent critic of the U.S. and interim governments, said he still considered the elections illegal "because it happened under the will of the United States, not because of the will of the Iraqi people."
"But," he said, "I have to respect the will of other people. We have to wait and see what they're going to do after the election."
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi called a press conference yesterday for unity among Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds.
"We are entering a new era of our history and all Iraqis — whether they voted or not — should stand side by side to build their future," he said. "Now is a suitable time for us to work together so that the whole world can watch the capabilities of this great country."
A U.S. diplomat echoed that attitude, saying it was important for the winners of the elections to reach out to Sunnis.
"This is an important 20 percent of the population, with a lot of the technological elite involved in it," said the diplomat, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity. "So it's not a group that you can afford to alienate."
But many in the newly triumphant Shi'ite community were in no mood yesterday for magnanimity.
"We carried our father three hours to get him to the polls," said Muthana Jaffar al-Tamimi, 30, a grocery store clerk and art school graduate in Baghdad's middle-class Shi'ite neighborhood of Karada.
The Sunni Arabs "could have made the process successful themselves," he said. "They could have gotten involved, but they didn't. We decided our destiny. They decided theirs."
He added, "It's their problem."
The American diplomat said the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad had only preliminary figures on the turnout from various parts of the country.
"But we have good anecdotal information that Sunni participation was considerably lower than participation by other groups," the diplomat said, "especially in areas that have seen a good deal of violence and where intimidation is most easily carried out — not by major military actions but by neighborhood intimidation and threats."
The Sunni turnout was better in cities like Baqouba, which have a mixed population of Sunni and Shi'ite Arabs, he said. He attributed the low turnout in mainly Sunni cities like Tikrit to "intimidation, supplemented by boycott calls," and the absence of any obvious Sunni party or leader.
"But please remember that they had the chance to participate and purposely excluded themselves," the diplomat said.
The U.S. official expressed his gratitude to French diplomats, who, he said, have been reaching out to the leaders of Sunni factions.
But he had harsh words for Sunnis who have tried to cling to power through a violent insurgency rather than by participating in the democratic political process.
"They consistently don't want to go to the ballot box; they want to get into the game at the point of a gun," the diplomat said. "I doubt that has changed.
"They want to be at the table. They want power [but] they do not want power through the ballot box. They want power because they have a gun and they will kill you if you do not respect their authority."


Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 10:01 AM
Father of Indiana Marine killed in Iraq calls elections 'momentous day'

Associated Press


MARION, Ind. - The father of an Indiana Marine killed in Iraq said his son would be proud knowing he fought and died to help Iraqis vote in an election.

Cpl. Lance Thompson, 21, of Marion, died in November during fighting in Ramadi, one of 38 Indiana military personnel to have died after being sent to the Mideast for the war in Iraq.

His father, Greg Thompson, 52, of Marion said his son sent him a letter in September, two months before he was killed by a truck bomb, which said, "Freedom is not free. It requires sacrifice."

Greg Thompson said the millions turning out to vote in Iraq Sunday was "fantastic" and said it was a "momentous day in the Middle East."

"Are you asking me was it worth Lance losing his life?" Greg Thompson asked a reporter Monday from the Chronicle-Tribune. "Being the gung-ho Marine that he was, he would say yes. So I'll say yes. That is a tough, bitter pill to swallow. It hurts. God, I didn't want to give up my son."

Partial results from Sunday's election could be released as early as Tuesday, though final results from the hand counting of ballots could take up to 10 days, election officials said.

Army Maj. Brian Rickey, 54, of Marion, said it is refreshing to watch television images of Iraqis celebrating democracy.

Rickey returned home in April after spending 11 months in Kuwait.

"You can see the smiles on their faces," said Rickey, commander of Alpha Company, 203 Area Support Medical Battalion. "They're dancing in the streets because they could vote. That's great. You know, that's why we're there."

Rickey said he did not know what to expect in Sunday's election.

"I've had people over here - Americans - say they wouldn't vote with that kind of situation, with the terrorist shadow there," Rickey said. "But people who have been confined, people who have been under suppression for so long, the desire for freedom overweighed the fear of being hurt."

Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 10:33 AM
Recovering from Liver Transplant

January 30, 2005
Reported by Vince Atkinson

Lance Corporal Christopher LeBleu of Lake Charles first served our nation as a Marine in Iraq, but he is now fighting a more personal battle. LeBleu has undergone a liver transplant and is recovering in a California hospital.

It was less than a week ago when Chris LeBleu was placed on the national list for an emergency liver transplant. The odds of finding a match are considered slim at best, but Chris is beating those odds.

LeBleu's friends and family are celebrating after a last minute life saving organ transplant surgery. LeBleu has been hovering between life and death for the last four days. Doctors at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California say LeBleu had almost no chance of survival without a complete liver transplant. Now, his prognosis is looking much better.
Dr. Donald Hillebrand, one of LeBleu's transplant surgeons says, "He clearly has some recovering that he needs to do, but all the indicators would suggest that he is going to get back to the Christopher that all of his friends and family new."

LeBleu's fight for survival has captured national attention. His family says they have received support from across the entire United States. Melany LeBleu, Chris' wife says, "We are grateful for all the prayers that you have sent out for my husband and the support that you have given to us."

The LeBleu family is also using the media attention to encourage others to sign up for organ donation. While Chris continues his recovery, his family is mindful of what made it possible. Erik Lamdolin, Chris' stepfather says, "It's tragic that someone has to go through a loss were somebody else can gain, but there is always that possibility that you can continue a life and save the life of a family. Those are the people we have to be extremely thankful to right now. There is some one out there that lost someone yesterday, but they have given us Chris back."

It took a team of doctors nearly 12 hours in the operating room to complete the surgery, but they are still unsure of what caused Chris's mysterious liver ailment. Dr. Hillebrand says, "We don't have any evidence that it's related to his time in Iraq. It may have been acquired after he returned. Still a lot of investigation that we need to do."

While doctors continue to look for what caused the problem, they have said that LeBleu now has a 60 to 90 percent chance of survival. Doctors say that LeBleu's transplanted liver is already beginning to function, but it could still be several days before he completely wakes up from the extensive surgery.


Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 10:34 AM
FAST Marines train in Germany
Submitted by: Marine Forces Europe
Story Identification #: 200513125425
Story by Master Sgt. Phil Mehringer



PANZER KASERNE, Germany (Jan. 31, 2005) -- Marines from 5th platoon, 3rd Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team Company recently spent a week training in the Swabian region of southern Germany. The Marines are near the end of their six-month rotation to Rota, Spain, providing a quick reaction force for the U.S Navy's Sixth Fleet and the U.S. European Command.

The Marines arrived in Stuttgart, home to U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Europe, where during their stay they completed a training package consisting of small unit infantry skills as well as live-fire drills.

As a theater-wide first response force, the Marines must be ready to operate in any area of their assigned region. The U.S. European Command's area of responsibility includes 91 countries, ranging from Ireland to Russia and from Norway to South Africa.

"What we try to do is conduct training packages throughout the entire theater in an effort to not only focus on METL type training but on embarkation and rapid response at the same time, gaining efficiency and the ability to move," said Capt. Greg Gordon, Platoon Commander.

Operating only a few kilometers from the Mercedes-Benz and Porsche factories, the Marines were able to take advantage of local firing ranges. Offering MOUT facilities, live-fire ranges, and a wooded area for patrolling, the area has, "one stop shopping," according to Capt. Gordon.

"There are no similar MOUT facilities in Rota," said Gordon, from Nashville, Tenn. "Here, the training facilities are all centrally located and provide a wide assortment of training opportunities."

The Marines spent a total of four days in the field honing their patrolling and infantry skills as well as practicing Close Quarter Battle training.

"We have to be ready to transition from an infantry to a security force mind set. That transition has to happen seamlessly and it has to happen instantly, due to the nature of changing operational environments and rules of engagement" said Gordon.

The environment of the field training added additional challenges for the FAST Marines, who had to operate in a 40-degree temperature shift from when they left sunny Rota to their arrival in Germany. The addition of the snow completed the training package.

"We are kind of spoiled with the weather in Rota -- 60 to 70 degrees all of the time," said Lance Cpl. Thomas Ingram, 20-year-old rifleman from Douglas, Wyoming.

Operating in the colder environment made the Marines focus on their clothing. "Watch your layers and try to stay comfortably cool," said PFC Joshua Helton from Wise County, Virginia. "When you are moving a lot you want to stick with the Under Armor, but if you're sitting around in an ambush, make sure you put your fleece on," added the 19 year-old-infantryman. "When the wind starts blowing at one, two or three o'clock in the morning, it gets cold, real cold."

Although maintaining the proper layer of clothing kept the Marines focused, both Helton and Ingram agreed that their biggest challenge was dealing with sleep deprivation. "We had very little sleep," said Helton.

"It's nothing to really complain about," said Helton. "When you go into battle, you're going to have that. They're just trying to get us ready for it."

"Sleep deprivation, cold MREs. Every Marine knows what fun I am talking about," added Ingram.

Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 11:23 AM
Iraqi Police Officer killed during SASO
Submitted by: MCB Camp Pendleton
Story Identification #: 2005131154523
Story by Cpl. Tom Sloan



MARCH RESERVE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (Jan. 15, 2005) -- An Iraqi Police officer was killed by small-arms friendly-fire while Marines with 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, conducted pre-deployment Security and Stabilization Operation training here Jan. 11-16 before heading to Ar Ramadi, Iraq in late February.

The simulated mishap was recreated from similar situations that, in the past, actually occurred in Iraq. It was all effort to prepare Marines for how to handle it, according to Cpl. Corey J. Hill, an instructor for Urban Warfare Training Center Detachment, which administers SASO training.

The situational training exercise was pulled straight from actual events in Iraq.
Three officers tried to force their way through a vehicle checkpoint in an unmarked car and enter the forward operating base. Marines posted at the gate shot at one of the occupants, who appeared to be aiming a rocked propelled grenade launcher at them, Marine officials reported.
“This is a tough situation to deal with,” said Hill, a 20-year-old from Baton Rouge, La. “That’s why we through it at them. They felt threatened.”

“They were driving fast, and it didn’t look like they were going to stop,” Pfc. Chase B. Newland, 19, of Bellefourche, S.D., rifleman with Security Platoon, Headquarters and Service Company, said. “I stepped in front of the car and they almost ran over me. I had to jump out of the way or they would have. We immediately opened fire on them. It was intense.”

The Marines were following protocol and “were in the right,” explained Hill, adding no one in Iraq is authorized to posses RPGs. “They didn’t violate the rules of engagement.”
“For all we know, they could have a couple hundred pounds of explosives in the trunk,” Newland continued. “If we let them in, there goes our company commander and most of the officers. We have to check every vehicle.”

Though it was a simulation, the incident humbled Newland.

“It got out of control so fast.” He said. “It showed me what could happen in Iraq. I have a big responsibility at the VCP.”

After the officers received fire, they halted their entry and fled the scene. Moments later, they showed up at a different VCP and unloaded the their mortally wounded companion. Infuriated by the death, the two officers demanded to be let inside and get an apology from a Marine officer.

“We want to talk with “Big Boss,” screamed a Marine with the detachment playing the part of police chief Abdul-Ghaffer Al Bundi abu Hamid while pointing his finger in the face of a Marine posted at the VCP. “You killed one of us.”

“Big Boss,” according to Hill, is what many Iraqi Police officers call captains and above. “They know the rank structure.”

Marines at the VCP tried to de-escalate the intense situation, and “handled it very well,” Hill said.

“They were irate and in our face accusing us of killing one of them,” said Lance Cpl. David L. Wilkie, a rifleman for Security Platoon. “They were very mad.”

The two officers refused to hand over their weapons – AK-47s – and be searched.

They could have entered “if they would have let us search them,” said Wilkie, 20, from Vista, Calif. “There’s no ifs, ands or buts about coming in with out being searched, so we turned them away.”

Wilkie added the training he is receiving is well worth it and has made him more confident about deploying.

“I had no idea what to expect before actually seeing it in action,” he said. “I’d rather it happen here and now (in a training evolution) than in Iraq. Now that I know how to deal with situations like this, I feel better prepared and will know what to do if it happens again.”


Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 11:35 AM
Marine eager to return
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amy Coutee / acoutee@newsadvance.com
February 1, 2005

The first thing Lance Cpl. Mark Miller of Forest is going to do when he gets home is spend time with his family and friends.

In a telephone interview from a hospital in Germany on Monday, Miller said he is more than ready to return to Virginia.

"I feel like I've done my part," said Miller, 20, who was injured last week in an ambush in Iraq that killed four other Marines from his Lynchburg reservist unit.

Shrapnel hit the 2002 Jefferson Forest High School graduate in his right arm and left leg last Wednesday as he was walking alongside a convoy with six other Marines from Company C, 4th Combat Engineer Battalion. Three other Marines from the Lynchburg unit were also injured, including Cpl. Timothy Franklin of Lynchburg, who was treated for minor shrapnel wounds.

"I'm in a little bit of pain; it's pretty painful," said Miller, who has been glued to CNN watching for news from Iraq, where elections were held Sunday.

"I was watching to see how the election went and just to make sure that none of my fellow Marines got hurt," said Miller.

"I'm just glad to see that it was pretty much a success and that there wasn't too much insurgency. It makes me feel like what we are doing over there is an accomplishment and that it was worthwhile."

A few days after the attack, Miller was flown to Germany for medical attention. He hopes to be back in the United States by at least Thursday or Friday.

Once he arrives in Bethesda, Md., he will undergo surgery to repair the damage to his arm.

His unit is not scheduled to come home from Iraq for another two months.

Michelle Ramsey, Miller's mother, said she and her husband, Ronnie, plan to be in Bethesda by Wednesday to wait for his arrival. She said they would stay with him for several days, possibly longer depending on his condition.

Miller hopes to heal in time for the start of fall classes at VMI, where he was studying civil engineering before his unit was called up.

Miller said Monday that he has fond memories Sgt. Jesse Strong, a 2003 Liberty University graduate and one of those killed in the attack. Miller said that Strong, 24, treated him and the others in his unit as if they were brothers.

"He was pretty much there for all of us. He was an outstanding Marine and an outstanding person in general. Very godly and very Christian," Miller said.

Miller said Strong was kindhearted and enjoyed joking around.

"He was very upbeat and energetic you know, always making the best of situations."

The News & Advance has not been able to reach friends or family of the other local Marine who was wounded, Cpl. Timothy Franklin. Anyone with information on his friends or family can e-mail cglickman@newsadvance.com or call (434) 385-5552.


Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 12:45 PM
Iraq Group Says Holds U.S. Soldier - Web

DUBAI (Reuters) - A little-known Iraqi insurgent group said on Tuesday it was holding a U.S. soldier and threatened to kill him within 72 hours if Iraqi prisoners were not released, according to an Internet statement.


"Our mujahideen ... have managed to capture the American soldier John Adam after killing a number of his colleagues," said the Mujahideen Squadrons in the undated statement.


It carried a picture appearing to show a U.S. soldier sitting in front of a black banner with a rifle pointed at his head. The authenticity of the claim, which did not say where the man was seized, could not be verified.


"We will cut his throat in 72 hours if our male and female prisoners in the occupation jails are not released," it said.


A group using the same name, Mujahideen Squadrons, last month claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of a Brazilian engineer in Iraq (news - web sites).


Insurgents in Iraq, including al Qaeda's wing in Iraq, have been waging attacks on U.S.-led forces since they invaded the country in 2003.


Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 01:01 PM
Marine for Life Injured Support Program to be developed
Submitted by: MCAS Iwakuni
Story Identification #: 200512618450
Story by Pfc. Lukas J. Blom



MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan (Jan. 28, 2005) -- The Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Michael W. Hagee, recently established a new program that will continue medical assistance for Marines injured in combat situations after they separate from the Marine Corps.


The Marine for Life Injured Support Program was established Dec. 31, 2004, to provide continuing support for Marines who have suffered injury in the War on Terror.


“The Marine Corps has a long history of caring for its fallen and injured Marines,” said the commandant in White Letter 11-04. “As we all know, many Marines have recently suffered extremely serious combat injuries. Many of these Marines would not have survived in previous wars. However, because of our magnificent medical care and our ability to get our wounded treated so quickly, they are fortunately still with us. Nevertheless, their trauma still has a potentially devastating impact on them, their families and their future.”


The program will be the first in Marine Corps history to deal directly with the issue of Marines directly supporting Marines after separation from the Corps, according to www.hqmc.usmc.mil. The Marine Corps has often relied on various federal agencies to care for the wounded after they separate from the Marine Corps.


“This program will be our direct link to these injured Marines and their families,” said Hagee.


The implementation of this program is currently underway through out the Corps.


“M4L-IS (Marine for Life Injured Support Program) will address all aspects of care for the Marine and family to include the very best in medical care, travel and lodging for family members, coordination with external support agencies, retention in the Marine Corps if desired, transition support to Department of Veterans Affair care, priority employment in the civil sector, continued monitoring after separation, and other forms of assistance as required,” said the Commandant.


Although the Marine for Life program has existed for many years, this addition to the program will ensure that we will be able to be “Marines for Life” for a much longer time, according to the Web site.


“Quite simply, it is the right thing to do,” said Hagee. “Once a Marine always a Marine.”


Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 01:14 PM
Mother helps marines fight new enemy - cold
By Matt Arado Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted 1/31/2005
Mary Brown knew her son faced a lot of dangers in Iraq, but she never dreamed that cold would be one of them.

Marine Corps Cpl. Anthony Buckel, 24, is a gunner with the 2nd battalion of the 24th Division Weapons Co., a Chicago-based reservist unit now fighting in Iraq. His job is to ride, armed with a machine gun, into potential combat situations on top of military vehicles.

Given the almost unimaginable dangers already tied to that job, Brown couldn't believe it when her son told her that on top of everything else, he and most of the other soldiers in his company were forced to battle their latest enemy - cold nighttime temperatures - without the help of blankets.

"I was shocked," Brown said. "It never occurred to me that soldiers would need something so basic."

Brown, a Mount Prospect resident and the business services director for River Trails Elementary District 26, didn't wait when she heard the news. With her sister's help, she spent nearly $900 to buy and ship 175 fleece blankets to her son's company.

The gesture didn't go unnoticed. Brown said the Marines recently sent her a thank you card in which they referred to the blankets as "lifesavers" and "a godsend."

"Most people don't associate cold weather with Iraq, but my son said the temperature dips down into the mid-30s at night now," Brown said.

Marine Corps Capt. David Nevers, a public affairs officer with the 24th Expeditionary Unit in Iraq, said via e-mail that while blankets are not part of a Marine's standard combat gear, each soldier is equipped with a Gore-Tex sleeping bag system, designed to provide warmth even in below-zero temperatures.

"An extra blanket doesn't hurt, but it is not standard issue," Nevers said.

Still, Brown suggested other parents, relatives or friends of soldiers in Iraq check to see whether they need blankets, too.

"I haven't seen blankets included on suggested supply lists, but they might come in handy," she said.

Buckel, a Rolling Meadows resident and a graduate of Prospect High School, is the oldest of Brown's four children. He joined the Marines in 2001 and has been in Iraq since September. Late last year, he was awarded the Purple Heart after being shot in the ar•while on duty.

The nature of her son's job and the continuing violence in Iraq make Brown worry whenever the phone rings. Still, she remains confident that her son will return home safe.

"Every time I answer the phone, I wonder for a second if this will be 'the call,' " Brown said. "But I'm a numbers person, and the numbers tell me he's coming home."

Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 02:33 PM
1/5 support element cross-trains, hones warfighting skills
Submitted by: MCB Camp Pendleton
Story Identification #: 2005131132252
Story by Cpl. Tom Sloan



MARCH RESERVE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (Jan. 11, 2005) -- Marines with Headquarters and Service Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, put their regular duties on hold to sharpen their infantry skills during the battalion’s Security and Stabilization Operations here Jan. 11 - 16.

Devil dogs with H&S usually carry the responsibility of supporting the other companies within the battalion - A, B, C and Weapons Co. They made that second priority, however, while they took on the role of their infantry Marine counterparts during the weeklong SASO. Chow, ammo and other various mainstays got delivered too, which kept H&S busy.

“Once we are in Ramadi, we will be called upon to support the battalion in a number of ways,” explained Staff Sgt. Robert D. Oehler, 28, of Jacksonville, Fla., and the battalion’s intelligence chief.

Oehler explained an example would be a food service or administration Marine being augmented at a moments notice to carry out missions ranging from clearing houses of insurgents and weapons to riding shotgun in Humvees providing security for convoys.

Marines from the H&S conducted convoy operations, Military Operations in Urban Terrain and attended detainee-handling classes during the weeklong training. Poor conditions created by Southern California’s recent torrential storms made for an unpleasant stay in the field for the Marines.

The Marines patrolled the flooded streets and cleared the now abandoned Matilda Village base housing area here of insurgents. Marines role-played as members of the Iraqi insurgency to add to the training’s realism.

“We are trying to give H&S Marines a basic understanding of urban combat,” explained Sgt. Seth J. Carr, 22, of Mahopau, N.Y., and an observer controller for Urban Warfare Tactics Center, 1st MarDiv. He added that every Marine is a rifleman, regardless of military occupational specialty.

The training gave some H&S Marines encouragement despite having a deployment to Iraq looming over them.

“It’s good to receive this training because it gives us a heads-up on what to expect there,” said Lance Cpl. Chris M. Johnson, 23, of Maybee, Mich., and legal clerk. “Since we are in an infantry battalion, our primary MOS becomes our secondary when in a combat environment.”

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Brian K. Copeland, 35, of McAlester, Okla., an intelligence officer for Training and Education Detachment, ran the Marines through a 30-minute course on detainee handling.

The objective is to better prepare each Marine “to quickly and safely handle detainees and get them off the battle field,” explained Copeland.

Copeland showed how to properly execute the two types of searches during the course, hasty and detailed. He taught them to run through the checklist – search, silence, segregate, safeguard and speed – when capturing and or handling detainees.

There is a detainee handling facility in Ramadi that 1/5 will handle, and the chances for Marines from other fields other infantry to work there are likely if the facility is short handed, added Staff Sgt. Gary T. Pokorny, 27, of Fresno, Calif., and platoon sergeant, for A Co.

This means junior Marines within the battalion from such fields as intelligence, like Pfc. Mark V. Bonker, could take on new roles.

“The class showed me how to treat them (detainees) correctly,” said the 19-year-old from Saint Johnsville, N.Y. He added learning the techniques made him more confident with taking on the looming task.

Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 04:44 PM
America Supports You: Company Offers Voice Messaging
By Sgt. 1st Class Doug Sample, USA
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1, 2005 -- Though letters, text e-mail, and telephone calls are the most popular ways for deployed servicemembers and their families to communicate, a telecommunications company in Cleveland is offering yet another option.


OnlyOne, which provides voice communication and messaging services to individuals and businesses, is using its technologies to bring servicemembers and their families together through a voice messaging service it calls "TroopTalk."

The company is providing the service through the Armed Services YMCA.

Judi Bonadio, executive vice president for the company, said the idea behind the TroopTalk is to provide servicemembers and their spouses and families a way to communicate "anytime, anywhere," just by picking up a telephone.

Each servicemember is assigned a TroopTalk account with an associated 10-digit telephone number. The spouse or family member dials the number and leaves a voice message. TroopTalk then converts the messages to an attachable voice file, and sends the voice attachment to the servicemember's e-mail. The attachment and the voice message are then played through the computer.

There is no limit to the number of messages a servicemember can receive, and callers will never hear a busy signal, she said.

Bonadio noted an example of how TroopTalk helped benefit those at home.

During a Christmas party, the discussion came up about a servicemember who was deployed, she said. "Someone remembered that this servicemember had a TroopTalk number. The party attendees called the TroopTalk number and took turns sending voice messages of love, merriment, encouragement and even a few jokes," she said.

Bonadio said although TroopTalk won't replace the "ultimate" experience of speaking to family members over the phone, the service will help those servicemembers who, due to mission requirements, may miss hearing messages from home because they do not have access to a telephone.

"Quite frankly, if a servicemember can get to talk to their family live, that's the ultimate," she said. "But what we do is bridge the gap, so that those that are left at home … can pick up a phone at any time and voice their love and concern.

Another unique feature of the service is that the servicemember's TroopTalk number is accessible by as many family members and friends as care to send voice and fax messages, she said.

There is a cost for the service, which ranges from $118 per servicemember for a six-month subscription to $220 for 12 months, but Bonadio said she is hopeful she can get companies to sign up to defray the cost by sponsoring a servicemember or a unit.

"The cost is only $16.95 a month for an individual subscription; however we see our corporate donors presenting gifts of six-month subscriptions for $118 and 12-month subscriptions for $220 that are earmarked for units," she explained.

Already, several companies have promised to support TroopTalk with donations for subscriptions, she said. And the Armed Services YMCA is helping to match companies with servicemembers and units deploying overseas, she added.

Point Blank Body Armor, which makes protective vests worn by the U.S. military, and Interactive Intelligence, which provides business communications for small- to-medium-sized businesses, each have become sponsors.

Meanwhile, she said, the World Wrestling Entertainment Group has loaned the voices of several of its stars to entice callers to leave messages for TroopTalk subscribers.

Bonadio is asking that more companies come forward. Only about 100 families are currently being sponsored in the program, she said. "We would like to find more donors that could come in. … It's bringing such joy to the people we are starting to set up for this service," she explained.

The focus of her company's effort, Bonadio said, is solely to help the troops and their families. She said it's important that the troops not be forgotten.

"I saw such a flurry of activity to support our troops over the holidays, now I want to make sure our troops are not forgotten. Yes, the holiday is over, but our servicemembers are still away from home. It's important for us to remember them every day".

Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 05:21 PM
Claims of GI Hostage in Iraq Raises Doubt

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A Web site posted a photograph of what it claimed was a kidnapped U.S. soldier, but doubts were quickly raised about its authenticity and the U.S. military said no soldiers were missing.


An American toy manufacturer said the figure in the photo resembled one of its military action figures, originally produced for sale at U.S. bases in Kuwait.


The statement appeared on a Web site where militants' statements are often posted and was in the name of a group that has claimed previous kidnappings, the Mujahedeen Brigades.


The Arabic text, however, contained several misspellings and repetitions.


Staff Sgt. Nick Minecci, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said "no units have reported anyone missing."


The photo in the posting showed a figure dressed in desert fatigues, wearing a vest and knee pads and with a gun pointed to its head. All the items are similar to ones that come in a box with the action figure, named "Cody."


The figure in the photo has its arms behind its body, as if tied, and is leaned against a concrete surface. Hanging on the wall is a black piece of cloth with the Islamic profession of faith written on it in white letters.


But the figure appeared stiff and expressionless. The statement said he was named "John Adam."


Liam Cusack, of the toy manufacturer Dragon Models USA Inc., said the image bore a striking resemblance to the African-American version of its "Cody" action figure.


"It is our doll ... To me, it looks definitely like it is," Cusack told The Associated Press. "Everything the guy is wearing is exactly what comes with our figure. If you look at the two pictures side by side, it'd be a huge coincidence."


The company, based in City of Industry, Calif., produced 4,000 of the figures in 2003 for the U.S. military for sale in its Kuwait bases. It was never sold in the United States but is traded on line among collectors, sometimes to use in highly realistic dioramas, he said.


The Mujahedeen Brigades claimed responsibility for the April abduction of three Japanese, who were released, and of a Brazilian engineer who is missing since last month.


More than 180 foreigners have been kidnapped in the past year. At least 10, including three American civilians, remain in the hands of their kidnappers, and more than 30 have been killed.


The only American soldier known to have been taken hostage is Pfc. Keith M. Maupin, who was shown in a video in April being held by militants. A later video purported to show his slaying, but it could not be confirmed and the military still lists him as missing.


If proven a fake, Tuesday's posting would not be the first hoax associated with kidnappings in Iraq (news - web sites). In August, television stations around the world showed a video in which a 22-year-old San Francisco man faked his own beheading by Iraqi militants.


Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 05:44 PM
Marine Reports From Iraq Election Site

By Karen Hensel

An Indiana State Trooper and Marine helped safeguard the elections in Iraq over the weekend while dodging enemy fire. He spoke to News 8 exclusively by satellite phone.

Lt. Col. Mark Smith of Indianapolis is a part of world history. "My Marines know the fight is not over," he said.

As a top Marine commander in Iraq, he has spent the day defining Iraqi history. Pictures tell the story of gratitude, with Iraqis holding up signs saying ‘Thank you, USA’ or ‘Thank you, Mr. Bush.’ Tens of thousands of Iraqis voted in his area under enemy fire.

"Almost every poll we ran received mortar fire from the enemy. Did the Iraqis break and run? No. They stood right there in line with their children knowing we would shoot back and we would go hunt down the guys firing the mortars and they kept voting,” said Smith.

Lt. Col. Smith took time to mark the elections by remembering his fallen Marines to their families. “The families are as usual the most amazing human beings on this planet because they get it. As painful as it is for them and it will be painful the rest of their life, they could not be prouder of the sacrifice their sons left on the battlefields of Iraq,” he said.

Even as we talked via satellite phone, there were sounds of gunfire in the background.
"An amazing day...that's the only way to describe it. For Americans - boom, there went another arty round, that's always good,” said Smith. The Marines had just fired on a suspected enemy mortar launch site.

Smith knows it is just the beginning. "What we know and felt in our hearts today is today set the course for an undeniable and unstoppable future for this part. The people of this part of the world have tasted freedom and the power that comes with the ballot," he said.

Lt. Col Smith says it was one of his proudest days as a Marine for his men and his country.


Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 08:29 PM
Service members brighten lives of 125 Thai children
Submitted by: MCB Camp Butler
Story Identification #: 20052122251
Story by Lance Cpl. Martin R. Harris



PATTAYA, Thailand (Feb. 1, 2005) -- Thirty service members currently assigned to Combined Support Force 536, in support of the tsunami relief Operation Unified Assistance, brought hope and joy to more than 125 under-privileged children living at the Redemptorist Street Kids Home here Jan. 28.

The home, founded by Ray Brennan, has been in operation for 13 years and is largely funded by private donations from donors in England and the United States, explained Phennipa Rachakit, a worker at the home for underprivileged, orphaned and abused children from six to 18 years old.

“Some of these children are from families that don’t want or can’t support them,” Rachakit said. “Many of the children have been physically and sexually abused or sold in and out of prostitution.”

The service members, who represented the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, brought snacks and candies for the children and spent the day playing games with the children.
The service members enjoyed the visit almost as much as the children, explained Cpl. David A. Nista, a food service specialist.

“Seeing the children’s faces light up when we came was so encouraging. To know we are making a difference in their lives is incredible,” said Nista, a Chicago, Ill., native. “Being able to see the results of what you do for the children is very rewarding.”

The visit is very important and a treat for the children, who have no family for support, explained Rachakit, one of 22 workers who run the home.

“These children have seen some very horrible things,” said Rachakit. “It is very important for them to see that there are adults in the world that will not hurt them, but love them. It is a chance for them to feel safe and maybe a chance to forget their past.”

The children can stay at the 20-acre complex, until they have completed their education and can get a good job to support themselves, Rachakit explained.

The importance of the visit is boundless, explained Air Force Capt. Dominic J. Vitaliano, a chaplain.

“As members of Operation Unified Assistance, it’s important to show people that we really care,” said Vitaliano. “It helps us get in touch with the community and develop a strong relationship. It is of great importance that we be good ambassadors to these people in need.”

For more information on the Redemptorist Social Project in Pattaya, Thailand, visit: http://www.pattayaorphanage.net/index.htm

Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 08:40 PM
Was 'Abducted' U.S. Soldier a Toy?

DUBAI (Reuters) - A picture of an "abducted" U.S. soldier in Iraq (news - web sites) appeared on a Web site on Tuesday, but suspicion grew it was a hoax after a U.S. toy maker said it appeared to show a model soldier made by the company.


"Our mujahideen ... have managed to capture the American soldier John Adam after killing a number of his colleagues," said the Mujahideen Squadrons in the undated statement on a Web site monitored in Dubai. It threatened to kill him.


But Liam Cusack, marketing coordinator for California-based Dragon Models USA, said the picture appeared to show a special forces operative figure the company had made for collectors.


Defense officials at the Pentagon (news - web sites) in Washington said the U.S. military had no indication any of its soldiers were missing in Iraq.


Cusack said the striking similarity between his company's action figure, which was marketed under the name "Cody," and the published picture, were pointed out to him early on Tuesday by an Arizona retailer.


"I worked on the development of that figure so I had seen the look of that head before," Cusack said. "We don't want to be the ones to say that it is (a hoax) for sure. Because if there is a search and rescue, that needs to be done."


Cusack, speaking from his office at City of Industry, California, noted the rifle being pointed at the figure in the photograph posted on the Web site also appeared to be the plastic M4 rifle included with the figure.


The message and photograph were posted on a site run by a group calling itself al-Muntada al-Ansar, which has in recent months restricted access to the site to registered users in an effort to avoid unknown groups posting messages.


The site has been the main channel of communication in recent months for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.


Insurgents in Iraq, including al Qaeda's wing in Iraq, have been waging attacks on U.S.-led forces since they invaded the country in 2003. (Additional reporting by Kevin Krolicki in Los Angeles)

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20050201/capt.ny11802012115.iraq_soldier_ny118.jpg

Ellie

thedrifter
02-01-05, 11:51 PM
I Ain't No Senator's Son

So the 1960's Vietnam War protest song went. Though generally true, a handful of congressional offspring have served in Afghanistan or Iraq. Here they are:

Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) — son Perry is serving as a Marine in Iraq.
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) — son Duncan served as a Marine in Iraq.
Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) — son Brooks served in the Army in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) — son Alan served in the South Carolina Army National Guard in Iraq.

These members of Congress have sons in the military:

Sen. Joseph Biden (D-MD)
Sen Kit Bond (R-Mo.)
Rep. John Kline (R-MInn)
Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.)
Reb. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.)


Ellie