Four Hours in Fallujah can be exhuasting

[thedrifter]

Four Hours in Fallujah can be exhuasting
Submitted by: I Marine Expeditionary Force
Story Identification #: 200534151511
Story by Sgt. Robert E. Jones Sr.



FALLUJAH, Iraq (March 4, 2005) -- Spending only four hours with Regimental Combat Team 1 can prove to be exhausting but eventful. Just ask Sgt. Michael S. Smith, a section leader for RCT-1's personal security detachment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force.

On days like the March 3 trip into Fallujah, the surprises kept coming, according to Smith, an Amarillo, Texas native. Smith assisted leading the PSD to a combat promotion, a briefing at the Civil Military Operations Center, greeting citizens of Fallujah, detaining a high interest target and the best surprise of the afternoon: the site where one of the largest weapons cache found to date which was located by L Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment. An Iraqi citizen alerted the unit. "Finding the weapons cache helped move pieces on the battlefield successfully, rebuilding Fallujah" said Smith.

On site to congratulate his 1st Marine Division Marines and Sailors was Maj. Gen. Richard F. Natonksi, commanding general, 1st Marine Division. Also on hand were Col. Michael Shupp, commanding officer of RCT-1 and Sgt. Maj. Eduardo Leardo, RCT-1's sergeant major.

The discovery included:
(4,266) 14.5 rounds
(229) 155mm rounds
(389) USSR S-5KP air-to-surface 57mm rockets
(403) USSR S-5M air-to-surface 57mm rockets
(60) 80mm rocket motors
(176) 82mm mortar rounds
(5) RPG rounds
(3) 120mm base plates
(1) 120mm mortar tube
(4) USSR 81mm rockets
(1,728) 20mm rounds
(2) 60mm mortar rounds
(34) 80mm rockets
(15) Recoilless rifle propellants
(234) Chinese M-6 fuses
(106) 120mm mortar rounds
(16) SA-7 missiles

The seizure and subsequent destruction of the weapons cache reduces anti-Iraqi forces' ability to launch attacks against Iraqi and U.S. forces and Iraqi citizens.

Shupp is asked by many to describe Fallujah. Finding the weapons cache and meeting with its citizens in the city was optimistic, according to Shupp. "It was a huge step forward for the fight for freedom,” said Shupp.

"Fallujah's coming to life. They know we're here to provide them opportunities, give them freedoms, and assist the Iraqi people. Freedom starts here and this is just the beginning."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200534152658/$file/Dixondigginglow.jpg

Lance Cpl. Kevin Dixon, Engineer Platoon, 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, digs up munitions in a small town outside of Fallujah, March 3. An Iraqi citizen alerted Iraqi and U.S. forces regarding a weapons cache location outside of Fallujah. He provided detailed information to RCT-1 regarding the location of a large weapons cache at approximately 2 p.m. March 3.
U.S. forces immediately investigated the location and discovered the following weapons and munitions: 4266 14. 5x114 rounds in tins, 229 South African 155mm rounds without fuses, 389 USSR S-5KP Air-to-surface 57mm rockets, 60 80mm rocket motors, 176 Type-53 82 mm mortar rounds, 5 RPG rounds, 3 120mm base plates, 1 120mm mortar tube, 4 USSR 81mm rockets, 1728 US HE/AP/TP 20mm rounds, 2 60mm mortar rounds, 34 USSR S-8KO Heat/Frag 80mm rockets, 15 Recoilless rifle propellant, 234 Chinese M-6 fuses, 5 120mm HE mortar rounds, 101 120mm illumination mortar rounds, and 16 SA-7 Grails. Photo by: Sgt. Robert E. Jones Sr.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

General Refutes Iraq Shooting Info <br />
Associated Press <br />
March 9, 2005 <br />
<br />
WASHINGTON - The top U.S. general in Iraq said Tuesday he has no indication that Italian officials gave advance notice of the...

[thedrifter]

U.S. Expediting Probe Of Italian's Death
Associated Press
March 9, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military decided Tuesday to conduct an accelerated inquiry to learn why American troops opened fire, killing an Italian intelligence agent and wounding an Italian journalist he helped rescue from insurgents in Iraq.

The decision to fast-track the investigation into the attack, which has strained relations with Italy, a key American ally, came as the military also opened an inquiry into the shooting death of a Bulgarian soldier. That death appeared to be another friendly fire incident on the same day.

Both probes were an indication of the pressure being brought on the Bush administration by the few American allies in Europe that have steadfastly supported his policies in Iraq.

Italy and its prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, sent 3,000 troops to Iraq, while Bulgaria has 460. Both countries have said they will not withdraw their troops, but domestic pressure to bring them home has been growing - especially in Bulgaria where it has become an election issue.

In violence Wednesday, a suicide bomber detonated a garbage truck packed with explosives near a hotel used by Western contractors in Baghdad, killing at least three people and injuring more than a dozen, police and hospital officials said.




The dawn blast shook buildings and covered a huge swath of sky with acrid black smoke, much of it coming from the truck's flaming wreckage. Police officer Mazin Hamid said the attacker had driven the truck to a point between the Sadeer hotel, which has been repeatedly attacked by gunmen in the past, and the Ministry of Agriculture.

On Tuesday, American troops fought insurgents in Ramadi, a city 70 miles west of Baghdad. At least two Iraqis were killed in the clashes, and at least six other Iraqis died in other violence around the country.

Interim National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie said ousted dictator Saddam Hussein could stand trial by year's end. "I will be surprised if I do not see Saddam in the box before the end of the year," he said. "I am very much hopeful that Saddam will be in the box around September and October, before the general referendum" on a constitution.

The March 1 killing of a judge and his lawyer son, both appointed to the tribunal to try the former Iraqi leader and his top henchmen, should not affect that trial or any other, experts have said.

The constitution is to be drafted by the National Assembly, which convenes March 16. Negotiations to form Iraq's first democratically elected government focused Tuesday on the makeup of the Cabinet, after Kurds said they were close to a deal with the Shiite clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance.

The shooting Friday that killed intelligence officer Nicola Calipari and wounded Giuliana Sgrena, a 56-year-old journalist for the left-wing Il Manifesto newspaper, angered Italians and rekindled questions about the country's involvement in Iraq.

In Bulgaria, the death of Pvt. Gardi Gardev made the country's presence in Iraq an issue ahead of general elections in June. Opinion polls showed a growing majority of Bulgarians oppose the deployment. The opposition party has promised a withdrawal if it wins the election.

In Rome, Berlusconi's office said the premier had "expressed the satisfaction of the Italian government" at the accelerated U.S. military investigation. Friendly fire investigations typically take months.

President Bush called Berlusconi on Friday and promised a full investigation into the shooting, which took place after nightfall as the car carrying Sgrena, Calipari and two other agents approached Baghdad airport. Another agent also was wounded.

Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini told parliament Tuesday that U.S. troops killed Calipari by accident, but disputed Washington's version of events.

Fini said the car carrying Calipari and Sgrena was not speeding and U.S. troops did not order it to stop, contrary to what U.S. officials say. But Fini dismissed allegations made by Sgrena that the shooting was an ambush.

"It was an accident," Fini said. "This does not prevent, in fact it makes it a duty for the government to demand that light be shed on the murky issues, that responsibilities be pinpointed, and, where found, that the culprits be punished."

The U.S.-led coalition said a follow-up investigation would be led by U.S. Brig. Gen. Peter Vangjel and it would to take three to four weeks. Italian officials were invited to participate.

Vangjel is the 18th Airborne Corps Artillery Commander and the investigation was ordered by the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Gen. George Casey. Vangjel, commander of all Army artillery in Iraq, arrived in the country in January.

In Washington, Casey said he had no indication Italian officials gave advance notice of the car's route. "I personally do not have any indication of that, even on a preliminary basis," Casey said.

The U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, which controls Baghdad, said the vehicle was "traveling at high speeds" and "refused to stop at a checkpoint."

An American patrol "attempted to warn the driver to stop by hand and arm signals, flashing white lights, and firing warning shots in front of the car," it said. "When the driver didn't stop, the soldiers shot into the engine block which stopped the vehicle, killing one and wounding two others."

However, Fini said the car was "traveling at a speed that couldn't have been more than 40 kilometers (25 miles) per hour." A light, he said, was flashed at the car after a curve and gunfire started immediately afterward. It lasted 15 to 20 seconds, he said.

The investigation into the shooting of the Bulgarian soldier, killed near the central city of Diwaniya, will focus on reports he also was shot by U.S. troops.

"It's another unfortunate incident," Casey said, adding "we'll get to the bottom of it."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Suicide Truck Bomb Kills Three
Associated Press
March 9, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide bomber detonated a garbage truck packed with explosives outside the Agriculture Ministry and a hotel used by Western contractors Wednesday, killing himself and at least three others, officials said.

Also Wednesday, police said they found the bodies of 20 people who had all been shot to death, near a village in Iraq's western border with Syria.

The corpses were found Tuesday in Rumana, a village about 12 miles east of the western city of Qaim, said Capt. Muzahim al-Karbouli.

Each of the bodies was riddled with bullets and found wearing civilian clothes, al-Karbouli said.

The dead included one woman, but their identities were not known, he said.




In the southern Iraqi city of Basra, guerrillas struck a police patrol with a roadside bomb, killing one officer and wounding three, Lt. Col. Karim Al-Zaydi said.

The attacks came a day after the U.S. military announced it was speeding up an inquiry into the shooting death of an Italian agent killed Friday by U.S. troops at a Baghdad checkpoint - an incident that has strained relations with Italy, a key American ally. The agent was escorting Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena to the airport just after insurgents freed her.

Also Tuesday, the military opened a separate inquiry into the shooting of a Bulgarian soldier who Bulgarian officials believe may have been killed accidentally by coalition troops.

Both probes are an indication of the pressure being brought on the United States by the few American allies in Europe that have steadfastly supported U.S. involvement in Iraq.

Wednesday's massive dawn blast in central Baghdad shook nearby buildings, injuring dozens of people and covering a huge swath of sky with acrid black smoke.

Volleys of automatic weapons fire could be heard before and after the explosion.

Police said a group of insurgents wearing police uniforms first shot dead a guard at the Agriculture Ministry's gate, allowing the truck to enter a compound the ministry shares with the adjacent Sadeer hotel. Guards in the area then fired on the vehicle, trying to disable it before it exploded.

Officials at al-Kindi hospital said at least three dead and eight wounded were taken there. Ibn al-Nafis hospital counted at least 27 wounded, said Dr. Falleh al-Jubouri.

The truck blew up in a parking lot, damaging about 20 cars. The blast also shattered windows in the roughly 10-story hotel and the smaller ministry but caused no serious structural damage.

U.S. troops and dozens of onlookers gathered at the edge of the debris-strewn crater, which measured 10 yards across and two yards deep.

The shooting Friday that killed Italian intelligence officer Nicola Calipari and wounded Sgrena, a 56-year-old journalist for the left-wing Il Manifesto newspaper, angered Italians and rekindled questions about the country's involvement in Iraq.

In Bulgaria, the death of Pvt. Gardi Gardev made the country's presence in Iraq an issue ahead of general elections in June. Opinion polls showed a growing majority of Bulgarians oppose the deployment. The opposition party has promised a withdrawal if it wins the election.

Italy sent 3,000 troops to Iraq, while Bulgaria has 460 here. Both countries have said they will not withdraw their troops, but domestic pressure to bring them home is growing.

In Rome, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's office said the premier had "expressed the satisfaction of the Italian government" at the accelerated U.S. military investigation. Friendly fire investigations typically take months.

President Bush called Berlusconi on Friday and promised a full investigation into the attack, which took place after nightfall as the car carrying Sgrena, Calipari and two other agents approached Baghdad airport. Another agent also was wounded.

Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini told parliament Tuesday that U.S. troops killed Calipari by accident but disputed Washington's version of events.

Fini said the car carrying Calipari and Sgrena was not speeding and U.S. troops did not order it to stop, contrary to what U.S. officials say. But Fini dismissed allegations made by Sgrena that the shooting was an ambush.

"It was an accident," Fini said. "This does not prevent, in fact it makes it a duty for the government to demand that light be shed on the murky issues, that responsibilities be pinpointed, and, where found, that the culprits be punished."

The U.S.-led coalition said a follow-up investigation will be led by Brig. Gen. Peter Vangjel and will take three to four weeks. Italian officials were invited to participate.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

FBI Warns Of 'Special Interest' Aliens
Associated Press
March 9, 2005

WASHINGTON - FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress on Tuesday that people from countries with ties to al-Qaida have crossed into the United States from Mexico, using false identities.

"We are concerned, Homeland Security is concerned about special interest aliens entering the United States," Mueller said, using a term for people from countries where al-Qaida is known to be active.

Under persistent questioning from Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, Mueller said he was aware of one route that takes people to Brazil, where they assume false identities, and then to Mexico before crossing the U.S. border.

He also said that in some instances people with Middle Eastern names have adopted Hispanic last names before trying to get into the United States.

Mueller provided no estimate of the number of people who have entered the country in this manner.

Bush administration officials have previously said al-Qaida could try to infiltrate the United States through the Mexican border.




In recent congressional testimony, Adm. James Loy, deputy Homeland Security secretary, said al-Qaida operatives believe they can pay to get into the country through Mexico and that entering illegally is "more advantageous than legal entry."

But Loy said there's no conclusive evidence that al-Qaida operatives have entered the country via Mexico.

Likewise, Mueller did not acknowledge that terrorists had entered the country through Mexico, only that it's believed people from countries where al-Qaida is active have done so.

U.S. authorities are investigating groups that may be smuggling people from countries with al-Qaida ties, he said.

On another topic, Mueller said it will take until 2008 and cost an unknown amount of money to replace a flawed computer system that was supposed to greatly improve management of terrorism and other criminal cases.

The Virtual Case File project was to have been the final piece of the FBI's overhaul of its antiquated computer system, an instantaneous and paperless way for FBI agents and analysts to manage all types of investigations.

Instead, faced with mounting evidence that the system is inadequate and outdated, the FBI is undertaking a new project.

"We intend to develop and implement a state-of-the-art case management system," Mueller said.

The new system, as yet unnamed, will be deployed in four phases, Mueller said. An estimate of the additional cost should be ready by the end of March, when planners should know what aspects of the system will have to be developed from scratch and what software can be purchased off the shelf, he said.

"Ultimately, it will be better than VCF," Mueller said.

But skeptical lawmakers, who heard similar predictions before, were not reassured.

"Can you tell us how you guarantee there won't be a third failure?" asked Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., the subcommittee chairman, alluding to problems with the Virtual Case File and an earlier FBI computer system.

The FBI director said the new project would be better managed and put into place in distinct pieces.

After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Mueller made improvement of the agency's computer systems a priority. Members of Congress and the independent Sept. 11 commission said the overhaul was critical to enabling the FBI and intelligence agencies to "connect the dots" in preventing attacks.

The first two phases of the "Trilogy" project - deployment of a high-speed, secure FBI computer network and 30,000 new desktop computers - have been completed.

But the upgrade already is 2 1/2 years behind schedule and, at nearly $600 million, more than 25 percent over its initial budget.

Mueller has said he expects the loss to taxpayers from the Virtual Case File to be $105 million.

Before the overhaul, begun in November 2000, many of the FBI's computer systems were 30-year-old hand-me-downs from other government agencies. Few of the bureau's 56 field offices had connections to the Internet and its networks couldn't even transmit a digital photo.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marine's accuser: No grudge <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
BY BRIAN KATES <br />
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER <br />
<br />
The sergeant who accused a New York Marine lieutenant of summarily executing two unarmed Iraqi detainees says the...

[thedrifter]

March 14, 2005

Corps debuts system to track supply orders

By Laura Bailey
Times staff writer


CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Equipment requests went unmet and urgently needed spare vehicle parts went missing, sometimes hampering Marines’ ability to fight, as coalition forces blazed north to Baghdad at the outset of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
But two improvements making their debut in Iraq will ensure the right gear gets to the right troops at the right time, say Marines with 2nd Force Service Support Group.

Now, instead of spending hours hunting down a vehicle part or shipment of goods ordered weeks ago, commanders will be able to tell exactly when equipment and supplies will arrive, whether they’re two hours or 10 days away.

Marines with 2nd FSSG’s 2nd Supply Battalion are the first to try out the system, which incorporates high-tech identification tags and a Web-based tracking system, in what will be a larger, servicewide supply chain overhaul intended to cut delivery time on the battlefield.

During the major combat phase of the Iraq war, expedited equipment arrived in theater and “we never knew it,” said Maj. Mike Lepson, commander of 2nd Supply Battalion. “Stuff would come in, and we’re in a sandstorm with flashlights in the cargo area looking for it.”

The new technology meant to curb such problems includes two key components. The first is a pallet tracking system that allows supply specialists and commanders to track shipments.

The system uses small “radio frequency identification tags” to scan product information codes of up to 1,500 pieces of gear or equipment. The devices, each about the size of a shoe, store the information and are attached to shipment pallets.

A network of portable satellite stations called “interrogators,” set up near the entrances of all major camps and supply hubs in Iraq, detect and read the tags when the shipment passes within 300 feet. The information is transmitted to an Internet-based tracking system so commanders seeking the location of a shipment need only hop onto the Web to find it.

Entire convoys also can be tracked, thanks to another new system in which Marines attach iridium modems to their trucks. The modems transmit a constant signal to a satellite that passes the truck’s location to a supply command center.

“With this, a commander can see where his stuff is at any point in time in the supply chain,” said 1st Lt. Scott Beatty, operations officer for the Material Distribution Center at Lejeune.

“During OIF, it was more or less a cell phone saying, ‘Hey, where’s my stuff?’ With this, we can see where our stuff is, what time it got there and the path that it has taken so far,” he said. “Because I know what I put on that truck, I know where my assets are at all times.”

If it works as envisioned, the system will help cut down on reordering of parts by Marines who think their order has been lost, saving thousands of dollars, Lepson said.

“We want commanders to be able to say, ‘Where’s my tank part?’” Lepson said. “I’m not promising them a rose garden, but I promise them when they pick up a phone, somebody will be able to do something about it.”

The Defense Department’s assistant deputy undersecretary for supply chain integration, Alan F. Estevez, visited Lejeune to discuss the program’s progress. During his visit, he said he hopes the Defense Department will apply this system across the Corps and then into the other services as part of a larger supply chain overhaul.

Estevez said he hopes to use lessons learned from Camp Lejeune to push the same technologies to the Army within the next six months.

“The Marine Corps has stepped up to the plate to lead this,” he said. “We’re going to use the leverage we have here to say, ‘Hey Army, the Marines have it. It’s working.’”

Ellie

[thedrifter]

March 14, 2005

‘My son helped make history’
Mothers of the fallen protest exhibition’s use of sons’ names

By Laura Bailey
Times staff writer


Mothers of Marines and soldiers killed in Iraq are gearing up to protest a traveling exhibition that they say disgraces their sons’ names.
The “Eyes Wide Open” exhibition has traveled through more than 50 cities since its debut in Chicago more than a year ago, but it wasn’t until late February that many mothers discovered their sons’ names were being used in the exhibit.

Organizers say the exhibition is meant to honor the fallen and show the human cost of war, but the mothers say its anti-war message is one their sons would not have agreed with.

“I know that Jason did exactly what he wanted to do. ... I know that he would never ever want his name associated with an anti-war demonstration, especially not one that seems to bash the military,” said Sharon Westbrook of San Angelo, Texas, whose son, Pfc. Jason Poindexter, 20, died in Ramadi, Iraq, on Sept. 12.

“My son helped make history. He was part of that, and I’m proud of that,” she said.

The exhibition, sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, includes pairs of combat boots lined up in rows on the ground. Each pair represents a service member who died in Iraq and has a tag attached with the name, state of residence and age of the service member killed.

Westbrook asked the organizers to remove her son’s name after looking at the exhibition’s Web site, which she believes has an anti-military agenda.

“He wouldn’t have liked it at all,” she said.

Organizers say the exhibition was designed to memorialize lives lost in the conflict and show the realities of war.

“This is an exhibition that seeks to memorialize those who have fallen regardless of what their political perspective was. It’s not a political statement. It’s a way to really call attention to the sacrifice that they gave,” said Janis D. Shields, a spokeswoman for AFSC, a Quaker organization with a history of advocating nonviolence.

Shields said the group used the names to make the cost of war tangible to viewers. “These aren’t nameless faces.

These are people that really have lost their lives in this war. ... It’s easy to depersonalize it. These are real people. We wanted to show people what that looks like,” she said.

Sharon Cortez McLeese, whose only son, Lance Cpl. Justin McLeese, died Nov. 13 in a battle in Fallujah, found out about the exhibit when a woman who had visited the show phoned to tell McLeese she had been praying over Justin’s boots.

Taken aback, McLeese looked at the Web site. She says the site’s literature portrayed Marines in Fallujah in a negative light.

“Justin was a proud, strong Marine. He would have never wanted to be associated with this,” she said.

McLeese said she respected the right of the organizers to put on their display but that they should have been more sympathetic to the wishes of the families involved.

“My take in the whole thing is we should have been asked if we wanted to participate. It’s attached to an agenda that our sons would not have been for in a million years,” she said. “The minute they put my son’s name on it, it becomes personal.”

In late February, McLeese traveled from her home in Covington, La., to the exhibit (then in San Antonio) to demand the tag of her son. McLeese said organizers told her the boots were in a storage truck but promised they would comply once the boots were unpacked.

McLeese went home and alerted other mothers by using various military family Web sites.

“The last thing I wanted is to make this a personal crusade. I just wanted them to know and for them to make their own decision,” she said.

A week later, families were asking McLeese, who traveled to the exhibit’s next location in Dallas, to check for their sons’ names and ask to have them removed.

Asking in writing

Although McLeese made sure that her son’s boots now read “name withheld at request of family,” she said she was told the other families would have to ask in writing for that change.

McLeese said she’s angry she had to take several steps to get the name removed.

Organizers said that some military families have been supportive of the exhibit.

“We’ve involved military families from the onset,” Shields said. “Parents who have lost loved ones speak at the activities. Family members have left flowers.”

She said the organization is granting requests from mothers to take their sons’ names down, but that requests must come in written form to ensure they are from actual family members, another point of contention with mothers.

Now, many of the mothers say they are planning to visit the exhibition on the West Coast in the coming weeks to ensure their sons’ names are not used.

The exhibition was to be in San Diego on March 9 and 10 and will visit other locations in California and the West Coast throughout April. For dates, see www.afsc.org/eyes/.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

VMGR-352 returns from tsunami operation after short notice <br />
Submitted by: MCAS Miramar <br />
Story Identification #: 200532112346 <br />
Story by Sgt. Kristen L. Tull <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR,...

[thedrifter]

Photo Essay: 3/5 rolled through Saqlawiyah
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 2005328596
Story by Lance Cpl. Miguel A. Carrasco Jr.



AL SAQLAWIYAH, Iraq (Feb. 28, 2005) -- Marines, sailors and soldiers with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1, I Marine Expeditionary Force, along with Iraqi forces patrolled through the city in search of insurgents, weapons caches and explosives during Operation Saqlawiyah.

The Marines with I Company, 3/5, took the lead Feb. 24 ,during the operation, and secured sections of the town for the next 72 hours as they patrolled through the small urban city. Saqlaqiyah is northwest of Fallujah, Iraq, and located in the Al Anbar Province.

After securing the city, members of the battalion provided humanitarian assistance to needy families in the cities.

The 4th Civil Affairs Group, attached to 3/5, handed out rice, grain, tea, flour and other food supplies to the Iraqi people, and also gave money and medical supplies to the local clinic in the city.

The battalion, which took part in the battle for Fallujah, Operation Al Fajr, is near the end of its seven-month deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200532102652/$file/SAQ9low.jpg

Sgt. Todd B. Bowers, 25, a native of Washington, D.C., and a member of 4th Civil Affairs Group, attached to 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, provided security during a patrol through the heart of Al Saqlawiyah, Iraq, Feb. 26 as part of Operation Saqlawiyah. The Marines with Company I, 3/5, lead the operation Feb. 24 and continued to secure the town as they patrolled the small urban city for the next 72 hours. Saqlawiyah is northwest of Fallujah, Iraq, in the Al Anbar Province. After securing the city, members of the battalion provided humanitarian assistance such as rice, grain, tea, flour and other food supplies to the Iraqi people. Photo by: Lance Cpl. Miguel A. Carrasco Jr.


More Photos click Link
http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/A15D7B8F405538A785256FB8004CD283?opendocument

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Duty calls for II MEF unit
March 09,2005
ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF

The weather pretty much said it all.

A stern wind whipped around the winter raindrops Tuesday as six buses idled in a French Creek parking lot at Camp Lejeune. There, they waited to take Marines and sailors from II Marine Expeditionary Force forward command element to Cherry Point Air Station and on to Anbar Province, Iraq.

The group, numbering about 150, includes high-ranking specialists in administration, intelligence, operations, logistics, communications and planning, said Lt. Col. Dave Lapan, a II MEF spokesman.

"I'm a little nervous," said Lt. Col. Tom Fuhrer, II MEF's comptroller, from Pittsburgh, Pa. "The hardest part is leaving,"

Fuhrer, who will allocate the money needed for reconstruction projects in Iraq and other Marine programs there, is expecting the deployment to last at least seven months. He has been married to his wife, Joan, for 21 years - a member of the Corps for roughly the same duration - but this will be the first time he's left his wife and 13-year-old daughter, Erika, for such a long time.

"He's been gone for a couple of months at a time, but not for this long," said Joan, watching the buses pull away.

"I can handle the house things - I just hope nothing major goes wrong (in Iraq)."

Nearby, 2-year-old Emma Graves waved goodbye to her daddy, Maj. David Graves, 34, a supply officer from Coshocton, Ohio. Her tiny hands barely made it out the window of their car as she stood on her mother's lap. On the other side of the car, 5-year-old Isaac waved frantically.

"We're doing better now," her mother, Jamie Graves, said as she wiped away tears.

"If you would have caught us when the rain came in, it would have been different."

Col. Al Will, 47, a senior logistics officer, hugged and kissed his wife, JanEl. A few feet away, Lt. Col. Tom Leonard, 49, a logistics liaison officer, did the same with his wife, Terry. These two senior Marines first went to Iraq in the early 1990s. Leonard went again in spring 2003.

"We were married for four months when I did this the last time," Leonard said. "We're taking it one day at a time and trying to get all the things done."

Leonard will be assigned to the Multi-National Security Transition Command in Iraq and will likely see Baghdad at some point. Will, who expects to be in Iraq between seven months and a year, turned and strode quickly to his bus, responding to those already aboard who motioned that they were ready to leave.

"I miss my wife," Will mumbled. "She's the most important thing God's given to me."

II MEF troops will continue to deploy to Iraq through the weekend. They'll join others from Camp Lejeune, New River and Cherry Point air stations already there. Among them:

n The 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment left Lejeune in mid January and has been patrolling the city of Fallujah, according to Marine Corps sources.

n Other reports say advance elements of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, which left in late February, will be stationed at Camp Baharia near Fallujah and replace the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, from Camp Pendleton's 1st Marine Division.

n 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing forward assumed command of Marine Corps flight operations from the West Coast's 3rd MAW, according to a Marine Corps' release. The 3rd MAW arrived at Asad Air Base west of Baghdad in February 2004, and members of that unit have been rotating through the base on deployments typically lasting between seven and 13 months.

II MEF forward commander Maj. Gen. Stephen T. Johnson leaves in the next couple of weeks and will assume command of all Marine forces in the region from I MEF by the end of the month.

They'll focus on organizing, training, equipping and advising Iraqi security forces, and rebuilding some of their bases, training academies and border crossings.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines on high alert for fraud
Submitted by: 1st Marine Corps District
Story Identification #: 200538162223
Story by Staff Sgt. Jerry Wright



HARRISBURG (Mar. 7, 2005) -- Judge Advocate Legal Advisory 20 announced the Bank of America, suffered the loss of five
computer data tapes. These tapes contained names, social security numbers, account numbers
and addresses of 933,000 Department of Defense Bank of America government travel cardholders.

“There were two letters sent to all DoD personnel,” said Gunnery Sgt. D. E. Senft, Recruiting Station Harrisburg’s Agency Program coordinator. “Each letter informs cardholders of the missing tapes. However, one letter clearly states that the missing tapes did not contain the recipient’s data.”

According to the JAL Advisory, DoD cardholders who receive a letter from the Bank of America
should be especially vigilant for any signs that other people may have attempted to exploit
their personal information.

“Cardholders who get this letter are advised to place a fraud alert on their alert credit
files,” said Senft.

A fraud alert stays on a credit file for 90 days and tells creditors to contact the cardholder before the creditor opens any new accounts or changes existing accounts.

Cardholders can call any one of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, 800-525-6285;
Experian, 888-397-3742; TransUnionCorp, 800-680-7289) and place a fraud alert.

“Although a fraud alert has been placed on file, cardholders must still remain vigilant about
their account activity,” said Senft. “They should periodically check their credit report to
ensure there is no suspicious activity.”

For more information, visit www.consumer.gov/idtheft.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200538163815/$file/cc_low.jpg

Judge Advocate Legal Advisory 20 announced the Bank of America, suffered the loss of five computer data tapes. These tapes contained names, social security numbers, account numbers and addresses of 933,000 Department of Defense Bank of America government travel cardholders.
Photo by: Staff Sgt. Jerry Wright

Ellie

[thedrifter]

3rd MAW completes longest deployment in recent history
Submitted by: MCAS Miramar
Story Identification #: 200538181024
Story by - 3rd MAW Public Affairs



AL ASAD, Iraq (03/01/2005) -- The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing has completed the longest deployment of its 62-year history.

The Miramar, Calif.-based command arrived in February 2004 at this former Iraqi air base to support Operation Iraqi Freedom II , deploying more than 13,000 service members and more than 200 aircraft over the course of the 13-month span.

Wing aircraft flew close air and convoy support missions and ground support units escorted convoys and kept aircraft well maintained and in the air.

The command was based primarily out at Al Asad, located about 120 miles northwest of Baghdad, and at numerous other Forward-Operating Bases across Al Anbar province in western Iraq. The wing saw major combat action over Fallujah in April 2004, in An Najaf in August 2004 and then again in Fallujah during Operation Al Fajr, or "The Dawn" in November.

During the second battle to destroy insurgents in Fallujah, Marine and multinational aircraft supported Iraqi security forces and U.S. Marines and Soldiers on the ground with aerial reconnaissance, precision air strikes and casualty evacuation missions.

In a two-week span, multinational force aircraft, comprised mostly of jets and helicopters from 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, dropped or launched more than 500 precision-guided munitions against terrorist targets in the city.

The airspace above Fallujah was controlled by the Marine Aircraft Wing, which meant managing as many as 25 combat aircraft at a time, aloft over the urban battlefield. In this dense urban environment of nine square miles, and more than 10,000 friendly troops in action, there were no incidents of air-to-ground friendly fire.

The wing not only supported combat operations but was also integral in the success of the Iraqi election on Jan. 30, 2005. Wing helicopters and transport planes ferried more than 1,500 Independent Election Commission of Iraq poll workers to voting sites throughout Al Anbar Province, enabling the nation to hold its first free election in more than 50 years.

Active duty forces comprised most of the deployed wing, but reserve units played an integral part, deploying as a whole unit or as individual augments. During the first rotation of forces from February to September of 2004, reserves comprised approximately 10 percent of the air wing, but during the second rotation, from September 2004 to March 2005, reserve participation shot up to 20 percent.

Not all Marines will be returning with the wing. Sadly, eight Marines died while serving during the deployment and 222 were injured.

The deployment in statistics:
* 40 million pounds of cargo transported

* More than 100,000 passengers ferried across the country

* More than 75,000 flight hours flown

* Driven more than 400,000 miles for various convoy operations that carried over 61 million pounds of cargo.

* Provided security for over 5,400 metric tons of unexploded ordnance.

* Disposed of over 2 million pounds of enemy ordnance

* More than 1,000 security patrols conducted

* Pumped in excess of 25.5 million gallons of fuel to support combat operations throughout the theater.

* Executed more than 200,000 air traffic operations at the various airfields and forward operating bases.

3rd Marine Aircraft Wing has transferred the aviation authority and responsibility for western Iraq as of March 1 to 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, which is based out of Cherry Point, N.C. This is 2nd MAW's first deployment as a wing for Operation Iraqi Freedom.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

To protect - and to serve their country
By MARTIN DeANGELIS Staff Writer, (609) 272-7237, E-Mail

ATLANTIC CITY - When Troy Bezak went to the Middle East with his Naval reserve unit, he figures three out of four people he served with had something important in common with him: They worked in law-enforcement jobs back home.

The police percentage isn't that high in every military reserve unit, but when the state Police Benevolent Association put together a quick list of its members called up for military duty since Sept. 11, 2001, officials came up with about 275 names - and an estimate that at least twice that many officers actually were deployed.

Bezak, a Little Egg Harbor Township officer, and other police honored Tuesday for their active-duty military service by the PBA in a convention at the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, see a natural connection between their hometown jobs and their work protecting their homeland. But their assignments to military duty can create strains on their partners back on the beat.

Bezak, for example, had to go overseas three times in less than three years, both before and after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. That record helped keep him home when his unit was sent back overseas yet again, he says - without about 10 people who had to go the three previous times.

Margate Police Chief David Wolfson now has 34 members in his department - and six have been called away for military service, he says.

"At one point I was down five people, all out of here," Wolfson says. "And right now, I have two on active duty in Iraq."

He knows that high rate of reserve deployments isn't standard in police work - "I just took a heavy hit," he says - but losing officers will have an effect in any department.

"We're very supportive of the guys and we know they have a job to do," Wolfson said. "But it does take its toll on your manpower and on overtime."

Partly because of its high percentage of officers with military commitments, Margate is in the process of adding six officers, the chief said. Three have started at Gloucester County's police academy, and three more are set to start training at Atlantic County's academy in June. But, Wolfson adds, one of the new recruits is also eligible for military duty, and one of his veterans, a lieutenant, just shipped out for Iraq last week.

Bob Surtees, a Lacey Township patrolman, was in Iraq with his Marine reserve unit in 2003 when the war started there. That was one of three places he was stationed overseas in his two-year call-up to active duty fixing Marine helicopters, which came just two years after he started his job in Lacey Township.

Surtees agrees that his bosses were supportive when he got the call, but "I can't say enough about" how his fellow members of PBA Local 238 treated his wife after he had to go - and leave her with their first child, a 7-month-old son.

"They told her, 'If you have any problems whatsoever, you still have family in Lacey Township,'" Surtees said Tuesday, after a performance by the Marine Corps Band - with a color guard of PBA members - brought the ceremony to a moving close.

"They would just check up on her and make sure everything was OK," said Surtees, adding that his wife was lucky enough not to need much help. "She was the strong one out of us."

He didn't serve with many police in the Marines, he suspects because there isn't much call for cops to specialize in fixing helicopters. Tony Wieners, a vice president of the state PBA, says many police who enlist for military-reserve duty tend to get steered toward military-police units.

It took 40 minutes Tuesday to read off the names the union was able to track down of its members called to active duty, although Wieners believes the number is far higher. But several local departments had lists of names read, including five from Atlantic City, five from Vineland and four from the Ocean County Sheriff's Department. And Galloway Township Police Sgt. Norman Meyers picked up certificates for seven members of PBA Local 77, which covers most departments on Atlantic County's mainland.

After the ceremony honoring its members for their military service, the PBA convention went on hold for most of the rest of Tuesday.

"We had a much longer agenda," Wieners said, "but unfortunately, there's a funeral to go to" for Thomas J. McMeekin Jr., the Atlantic City officer who died Friday after he was hit by a bus while directing traffic.

To e-mail Martin DeAngelis at The Press:


Ellie

[thedrifter]

March 14, 2005

Hard as hell
Shot 7 times, this first sergeant shielded a wounded grunt from a grenade explosion

By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer


OCEANSIDE, Calif. — When two Marines helped a badly wounded fellow leatherneck from a house in Fallujah, it was a moment that could have been quickly forgotten amid the chaos of the November assault on the insurgent-held Iraq city.
Only the handful of Marines who were there would know that 1st Sgt. Brad Kasal was shot seven times after killing an insurgent at point-blank range.

Few would know that, despite his wounds, Kasal used his body to cover a fellow Marine from a grenade blast — one that peppered the first sergeant with 40 pieces of shrapnel. Or that he did it all to save three wounded Marines.

But Lucian Read, a World Picture News photographer, captured the moment the bloodied first sergeant made it out of the house.

In the photo, Kasal’s face is caught in a grimace of pain. His arms are hooked over the shoulders of two fellow Marines, his finger straight and off the trigger of the 9mm pistol in his right hand. His desert camouflage trousers are soaked with blood from crotch to boot tops.

It’s a powerful picture, one that has spurred intense curiosity, speculation and rumors in online journals and discussion groups; chief among the rumors as the photo is e-mailed from Marine to Marine is that Kasal has been nominated for the Medal of Honor for his actions. Kasal, 38, says the medal rumor isn’t true and downplays the attention.

But there’s no escaping the pull of that picture. It’s a gung-ho photo. And once you hear the story behind it, you know Kasal and his team are, too.

On high alert

It was Nov. 13 and Kasal’s unit, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, was among six Marine and Army infantry battalions gripped in house-to-house combat in the fifth day of the fight to regain control of the insurgent hotbed in Iraq’s Anbar province.

The deployment was Kasal’s second in Iraq and the 20-year veteran was serving as the top enlisted Marine for Weapons Company, 3/1. Over four days, the battalion moved south through a train station and the city’s Jolan District.

“We were encountering fighting and engagements with the enemy the whole way in there and out,” he said.

Enemy fire rained on them from rooftops.

“We were doing house-to-house and receiving fire every day,” he said, recalling the sight of abandoned homes and predominantly middle-aged men.

At the time, Kasal was traveling with a combined anti-armor team section supporting Kilo Company, 3/1, and his senses were on high alert. In his Humvee, Kasal kept his radio close to his ear, he recalled, “so I could listen for casualties.” That morning, Kasal and his vehicle crew were traveling with Kilo Company’s 3rd Platoon in an area of Fallujah south of Jolan, an area the Marines knew as “Queens.”

Around 10:30 a.m., he saw a bloodied sergeant walking down a street. “I could tell that he was wounded, so I ran out into the street and I grabbed him and pulled him between two buildings behind a wall to take some cover,” Kasal said.

“He told me that [he] and a few other Marines went into a building, about three houses up, and there were four bad guys. He described it like a shootout of the OK Corral.”

The sergeant made it out of the building, but three others were trapped inside. “So knowing that … I started grabbing a bunch of Marines to begin an assault on the building” 75 yards down the street.

Kasal hustled his team to the entrance of the two-story house and stepped inside.

Into the darkness

As they entered, the Marines found three dead Iraqis in the first room and doorways to three adjoining rooms.

In one, a Marine lay on the ground, wounded in the legs by gunfire. In another, an Iraqi man lay dead. The third room was almost completely dark.

Kasal directed several Marines to care for the wounded, clear adjoining rooms on the first floor and up to the second floor, then led Pfc. Alexander Nicoll toward the darkened room.

With Nicoll at his shoulder, he stepped through the doorway to clear the room, lit only by a tiny window at the far end.

But as he did, “that’s when I see an Iraqi man was inside. He had his AK pointed right at me. I saw him, and he saw me.

“As I backed up, he shot a burst right in front of me that hit the wall,” Kasal said. The first sergeant responded by raising his M16 barrel, sticking it against the man’s chest and pulling the trigger.

“I shot him about seven or eight times before he hit the ground. And before he hit the ground, I shot two more in his forehead just to make sure.”

Nicoll covered the doorway, and Kasal yelled for the other Marines to provide cover fire.

Then, “just out of the blue, from behind me and probably from upstairs … from behind, somebody opened up on fully automatic.

“All I remember is rounds hit all around me, hit my leg. I felt round after round just hit my leg. It felt like somebody was hitting me in the leg with a hammer.”

He fell. “I heard Nicoll scream behind me, so I could tell he was hit,” Kasal said. “The back part of my leg came out in front, and then it collapsed me because my leg was shattered. I fell onto the ground.

“He was still shooting, so I used my arm and I crawled on my stomach to try to get out of the doorway and get around that corner and try to get out of the line of fire.”

Nicoll had fallen into the doorway and was still taking fire, so Kasal crawled back toward the doorway to reach him.

“That’s when I got shot in the butt.”

As he pulled the wounded Nicoll out of the line of fire, two fears filled his head: that Nicoll could die and that they could take friendly fire from the Marines trying to clear the house.

Kasal’s radio was in the vehicle, so he improvised. He placed his M16 near the doorway to mark their location. Then, he applied a compression bandage to Nicoll’s leg to staunch the bleeding. Seeing blood under the Marine’s flak vest, he tried to remove the body armor and kept yelling at Nicoll to keep him conscious and awake.

But the fighting wasn’t done.

A telltale ‘thud’

“I heard a noise to the back of me,” Kasal recalled. The telltale “thud” told him one thing:

Grenade.

Rolling over to his right side, “I saw a hand grenade — a pineapple grenade — right inside the doorway … about four feet away, just far enough out of arm’s reach.

“I pushed Nicoll’s down leg off me … I rolled over on top of him and kind of bear-hugged him to try to cover him up with my arms and body.”

The grenade detonated, blasting metal across the room, cutting into the walls and into the Marines’ bodies. Kasal was hit by as many as 40 pieces.

“It was more like real severe stinging or mosquito bites,” he said. “The biggest thing is it rang my bell pretty good.”

Kasal was still stunned as then-Cpl. Robert Mitchell ran into the room and an insurgent opened fire from the second floor. The bleeding staff NCO told Mitchell, “Don’t worry about me; take care of Nicoll.”

Kasal pulled his 9mm pistol to provide cover fire for the doorway so insurgents “couldn’t come in and spray us.”

With Nicoll “bleeding to death,” Kasal and Mitchell yelled through the little window for help. Marines with Kilo Company’s 2nd and 3rd platoons fought their way into the building to pull out Nicoll and Kasal.

The first sergeant kept a tight grip on his pistol as two Marines helped him up off the floor and out of the building. “I was prepared to shoot my way out, if I had to.”

Willpower

That Kasal had the instinct to risk his own life to save fellow Marines doesn’t surprise those who know him. Kasal, they know well, is a grunt through and through.

The military has been in his blood all along. His brothers joined the Army, but he wanted to be a Marine. When he turned 17, Kasal enlisted and headed to boot camp. His latest tour in Iraq was his tenth deployment, including the Persian Gulf War in 1991.

While lying in a stretcher at 3/1’s battalion aid station, he saw his commander, Lt. Col. Willy Buhl. Days earlier, the CO had told him to “stay out of trouble.”

At the aid station, “he asked me what happened, and I said I found a little trouble.”

By the time he reached the surgical unit, Kasal had lost much blood but remained alert and awake. He had been shot seven times, shattering the bones in his right leg. Nicoll, now a lance corporal, had his right leg amputated; the gunfire had severed an artery.

Kasal spent 66 days at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., enduring 16 surgeries, worrying about his men and wondering what lay ahead for him.

He cut short his stay because he knew 3/1 was heading back home to Camp Pendleton, Calif. He wanted to be there when they arrived and welcome them back. He wanted them to know that he was OK. But more, he missed them. “I was missing the Marines, the brotherhood,” he said.

Ten days after his last surgery, Kasal left for California, arriving just in time for the homecoming.

These days, Kasal is on convalescent leave coping with sharp and constant pain.

He stretches and moves during physical therapy, and he can walk on crutches or move using a wheelchair.

The shrapnel remains, although some pieces have shifted to the surface as his body rejects the metal.

The worst is the metal contraption that surrounds his right leg, a device he calls the “Medieval Torture Machine.”

Enemy fire destroyed four inches of his leg bones.

Now, 22 screws are drilled into the remaining bone and the machine is designed to help lengthen and stretch the leg.

Such devices — known as “fixators” — are attached to the two halves of the bone to be lengthened, applying pressure to keep the bone from setting too soon.

Kasal turns a knob one click at a time, which lengthens the machine — and his leg — by a tenth of an inch. It’s a source of excruciating pain.

The 16 surgeries he’s had won’t be all. Doctors won’t know what’s next until they remove the device and evaluate how his leg has healed.

“Oh, I’ll have a career,” Kasal said with confidence. “I’ll get back to health and have a career.”

He is grateful for his life and considers himself lucky and blessed. “If anything, I love the Marine Corps more,” he said.

The experience has strengthened his belief in the war as “a just cause.”

The enormous support from family, friends, comrades in his unit and countless other well wishers has buoyed him.

“I’ll will myself back to health,” he vows.As for the photo, he’d almost rather just dismiss it.

“My troops call me a tough B-A-S-T-A-R-D,” he acknowledged. “But again, it’s just survival.”

Kasal says he’s no hero.

“I did what anyone would do in a survival situation and for any fellow Marine,” he said. “If I was in Nicoll’s shoes, Nicoll would do the same thing to protect me. I have no doubt in my mind.

“It’s a survival situation; you do it or you die,” he added.

“As far as protecting another Marine, that’s what Marines do. There’s nothing heroic about that.”

Gidget Fuentes is the San Diego bureau chief for Marine Corps Times. She can be reached at (760) 677-6145 or gfuentes@marinecorpstimes.com.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Enemy contact isn't criteria for Purple Heart
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To the editor, Jacksonville Daily News

This is in response to two recent letters to the editor, one from John and Vera Sullivan and the other from Elizabeth O'Neill.

I agree with both letters that this incident (revocation of Purple Heart medals) should never have happened in the first place, as it certainly has opened a real can of worms. Closer scrutiny should be of paramount importance.

To help clarify concerns over this incident, perhaps a little explanation is in order. A so-called "minor wound" could be a projectile (bullet or shrapnel) that penetrates the fleshy part of the body (i.e. upper arm, thigh, calf, etc.) that tears through the flesh and, of course, causes bleeding. A serious wound usually occurs when bones or vital organs are involved. Most wounds involving bone or organ damage (serious) usually require evacuation to more sophisticated medical facilities and may involve long periods of recuperation and rehabilitation. Most so-called "flesh" wounds (minor) are treated with battle dressings from the wounded's own first-aid kit and those with minor wounds are usually sent right back into the fray - as it was in my case.

My twice-cited "flesh and blood left behind" was the result of an enemy grenade as we were assaulting a well-entrenched North Vietnamese Army unit hunkered down in well-concealed and fortified bunkers. And though it wasn't what actually caused my "minor wound," had the AK-47 rifle whose muzzle blast actually burned my face been a few inches closer, my wife and three sons would have been the recipients of my posthumous Purple Heart.

The point I'm trying to make is that the awarding of the Purple Heart was not the result of my involvement in an automobile accident.

Had the Marines in question been blown off the road by an enemy landmine or if they had been ambushed in route to their destination with the same resultant injuries, they would have certainly rated award of the Purple Heart.

But as horrific as the injuries were, especially in Lt. Dustin Ferrell's case, they were the result of an automobile accident not as a result of enemy contact - thus the Purple Heart is not authorized.

I hope that O'Neill's concerns about "taking away his Purple Heart" now make a little more sense, and I, too, hope everyone has learned from this unfortunate incident.

God bless America and all of her warriors - wounded or not.

Mac McGee
Jacksonville


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Sent to me by Mark (Fontman) <br />
<br />
Phoney Marine busted <br />
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <br />
By DAN BENSON <br />
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel <br />
Posted: March...

[thedrifter]

DOD initiative offers child care for deployed troops
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, March 9, 2005

ARLINGTON, Va. - For the first time, a new Defense Department initiative gives all mobilized or deployed military parents access to government-subsidized, high-quality child care - including members of the reserve components, who until now have been excluded from DOD's on-base programs.

Operation Military Child Care is funded by the Defense Department, and administered by the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, or NACCRRA, a Washington-based network of more than 850 child-care resource and referral centers nationwide.

Participants will receive referrals to licensed community child care providers and get discounts of up to 25 percent.

The exact amount of the subsidy will be based on family income, as well as the average cost of child care in that area [see box].

Operation Military Child Care, which kicked off Thursday, is also available to the families of deployed active-duty members who are wait-listed for child care at their home base.

"But the goal is to reach out to people especially if they're not on a base, such as reservists and the National Guard," said NACCRRA spokeswoman Katherine Chamberlain.

Reserve component members, in particular, often have problems finding and paying for child care during deployments, Chamberlain said in a Monday telephone interview.

Reserve family incomes may nose-dive when the spouse left at home requires more child care than usual, and sometimes a working spouse may even be forced to give up her job because child care is so expensive, "especially in big cities," Chamberlain said.

"In New York [City, if a spouse] is making $30,000 per year, child care can be up to 50 percent of that salary," Chamberlain said.

"By setting up quality child care at a discounted rate," Operation Military Child Care can "significantly reduce" such burdens, she said.

To ensure the same standards as providers in DOD's on-post Child Development Centers, the program will subsidize only licensed, legally operating community-based child-care programs and providers, Chamberlain said.

Families can request a preferred state-accredited and licensed child-care provider or program, or NACCRRA will provide a list of referrals. Military families who live near installations may also be referred to an on-post child-care program, if there is space available.

Operation Military Child Care officials are hoping to attract at least 6,000 participants, Chamberlain said.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

NBCSandiego.com - Slideshow

US Marines drive armored amphibious vehicles, Fallujah, Iraq. This and the following slides are from April 2004.


http://www.nbcsandiego.com/slideshow/news/2979470/detail.html?qs=1&s=1&dm=ss&p=news

Ellie

[thedrifter]

26 bodies found in Iraqi village



BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. Marines are investigating the killings of 26 people whose bodies were found Tuesday in an Iraqi village near the Syrian border, all with gunshot wounds to the forehead.



The investigation was still under way as violence continued Wednesday, with suicide bomb attacks in Baghdad and al-Habbaniya and an attack on a bus carrying workers to a job site in Abu Ghraib.



The 26 bodies were found Tuesday evening by Iraqi police in the village of al-Rumana in western Iraq near the city of Qaim, part of the restive region where U.S. forces have cranked up their hunt for insurgents during the past few weeks.



According to Qaim hospital director Dr. Hamdi al-Aloussi, all of the victims were shot in the forehead. A woman's body was among the dead. Police had not identified the bodies.



Police think the killings happened four days ago. That was toward the end of Operation River Blitz, the Marine-led assault on insurgents in Euphrates River valley towns such as Ramadi, Hit, Hadita and Qaim.



The operation started February 20 and ended Saturday, but Marines say they intend to maintain the momentum from the push, which resulted in many arrests and the discovery of weapons.



"In an operation like River Blitz, where we have disrupted their operations, detained high-level individuals, and reduced their weapons caches, he's (the enemy) is going to come back with something," said Craig Tucker, commander of Regimental Combat Team 7 of 1st Marine Division.



Last summer, 13 bodies were found in Qaim, victims of another mass killing.



The al-Rumana mass killing was the second discovered Tuesday. Earlier, 15 beheaded bodies were found in a vacated military warehouse, an officer from the Iraqi emergency police services said.



The Iraqi army discovered the unidentified bodies, the officer said. The warehouse is on the road from Latifya to Karbala, south of Baghdad. It has not yet been determined when the people were killed.



In southern Baghdad, the bodies of two people thought to be working with U.S. forces were found stuffed in barrels Tuesday night, a police official said.



The official said the two -- Sajed Radi Ali and Ali Kadhem Mohammed -- were believed to have been working for the multinational forces at a nearby base.



The dead men were in separate barrels found in the Canal Street area, he said, and with each body was a note that said: "He was a traitor working with the Americans, so he was to be killed."



Insurgents in Iraq have targeted anyone perceived as cooperating with the interim government or multinational forces.



Garbage truck used in attack

In central Baghdad, meanwhile, a suicide bomber driving a garbage truck detonated early Wednesday near the Ministry of Agriculture, killing two people and wounding 22 others, emergency police said. The bomber also died in the attack.



According to police, the truck was approaching the hotel through a courtyard when ministry security officers became suspicious and opened fire on it, causing it to detonate.



Iraqi police said they believe the truck was using the open courtyard to approach the hotel without passing through hotel security checkpoints.



The attack took place around 6:30 a.m. (10:30 p.m. ET Tuesday), leaving a massive crater and littering the area with burning vehicles.



Also in Baghdad, gunmen early Wednesday opened fire on a minibus carrying employees to work, killing one and wounding three others, according to Iraqi Police Emergency Services.



The workers, employed by a Kuwaiti company, came under small-arms fire in the Zayuna neighborhood around 7:30 a.m. (11:30 p.m. ET Tuesday). They were headed to work in Abu Ghraib.



And in al-Habbaniya, about 25 miles east of Ramadi, a suicide car bomb exploded Wednesday afternoon near a joint U.S.-Iraqi military checkpoint on a road leading to a U.S. base. There were initial reports of casualties.



U.S. investigates Italian, Bulgarian deaths

The U.S. military said Tuesday it has launched two investigations after the recent shooting deaths of an Italian security agent and a Bulgarian soldier.



A top U.S. commander said the timing of the fatal incidents is troubling.



On Friday, U.S. troops at a Baghdad checkpoint fired on a car carrying an Italian journalist -- newly freed hostage Giuliana Sgrena -- and Italian security agent Nicola Calipari, wounding Sgrena and killing Calipari.



The U.S. military initially said the car carrying Sgrena was rapidly approaching the checkpoint and ignored repeated warnings to stop.



Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini, while saying Tuesday that the actions were a tragic mistake, disputed the military's account based on the driver's version of the incident. Fini demanded a thorough investigation.



A little more than an hour before that incident, Jr. Sgt. Gardi Gardev died in what the Bulgarian government said a preliminary investigation showed was probably the result of "friendly fire."



"[The multinational force] values greatly our partnership with Bulgaria in helping the Iraqis achieve democracy," the U.S. military said. "We are committed to working with our Bulgarian partners to determine the cause" of the death.



Interior Ministry official slain

Gunmen early Tuesday killed a top official with Iraq's Interior Ministry as he was leaving his home in western Baghdad, Iraqi police said.



The attack took place around 7:30 a.m. (11:30 p.m. ET Monday) in the Ghaziliya district. Shots from the four gunmen struck the official in the head and stomach.



Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror group, Al Qaeda in Iraq, purportedly claimed responsibility in an Internet statement for the killing of Gen. Ghazi Mohammed Issa, the deputy chief of the ministry's immigration office, according to The Associated Press. The claim could not be confirmed.



CNN's Ayman Mohyeldin and Arwa Damon contributed to this report.



Ellie

[thedrifter]

Building a better radio
Marine captains offer ideas to speed development of JTRS

BY Bob Brewin
Published on March 7, 2005

More Related Links
Some Marine captains have several ideas about how to use commercial wideband wireless network technology to speed development of the Defense Department's troubled Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS).


Capts. Robert Guice and Ramon Munoz argued in their master's thesis at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif., last year that long-range WiMax technology that hundreds of companies worldwide are developing could, with some modifications, meet all the broadband data-networking requirements of the multibillion-dollar JTRS program.


WiMax vendors said they could license their broadband radio software to DOD, allowing the military to take advantage of a technology that Intel

chief executive officer Craig Barrett predicted this January would be available in laptop computers for an added cost of $100 to $200.


Guice and Munoz said that in some cases, WiMax, also known as IEEE 802.16, can perform better for battlefield users than the planned JTRS Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW).


Guice and Munoz said WiMax can transmit in a ground environment up to 30 miles, while the WNW standard would cover only a 6.2-mile range. WiMax also provides data rates up to 120 megabits/sec vs. WNW's 5 megabits/sec.


An Army Communications Electronics Command spokesman confirmed that WNW has been a hurdle in developing the first cluster of JTRS for ground vehicles and helicopters under a Boeing contract.


Based on Guice and Munoz's analysis and field tests last summer, they added, "802.16, with several adaptations, should be capable of addressing all the identified requirements" of WNW.


WiMax vendors agree and wonder why DOD officials are struggling to develop JTRS when commercial products could meet their needs. Ron Murias,

manager of applied research and development at Wi-LAN, said company officials have already developed a WiMax wideband waveform that DOD could license and integrate into JTRS. Wi-LAN also has a Media Access Control available for licensing that can support multiple frequency bands and modulation types, Murias said.


Keith Doucet, vice president for marketing and product management at Redline Communications, said the company's WiMax radios can support communications beyond the line of sight, which is necessary for operations in hills or buildings that could block signals.


The JTRS WNW specifications do not specify support for communications beyond the line of sight. But Guice and Munoz said Marines view that capability as necessary to support forces operating in environments that could block signals.


Doucet said Redline, which supplied the gear Guice and Munoz used in field tests for their thesis, was interested in the DOD market

and would not discourage possible licensing discussions to incorporate the company's 802.16 waveforms and MAC into JTRS.


These vendor comments coincide with Guice and Munoz's conclusion that 802.16 "is a good point of departure for the future development of a [DOD] wideband networking standard."


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines replace flag


A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Better Bodies For Women
VIEW FULL AD

More From News
Home fire damage set at $90,000

High winds cut out power

Survivors of cancer support Hats N' More to raise money

Marines replace flag

Fair action lawsuit begins

City council looks for funds

Legislative committee discusses welfare management

UNC music theater students hit the road


Mike Peters, (Bio) peters@greeleytrib.com
March 9, 2005

Comments (2) Print Email

It was a bright red Marine flag, sitting atop a 12-foot pole in Carol Acosta's front yard, honoring her son, who is on his second tour of duty in Iraq.

The flag reminded Acosta too of what her son and his friends were doing.

Then, last Monday night, somebody stole the flag and the 12-foot pole.

An angry Acosta wrote a letter to the newspaper, in part saying: "If this person or persons who thought it was so much fun to steal this flag had to walk a mile in my son's boots or any other soldier's boots, maybe it would make men out of them and not thieves."

Never fear -- the Marines are here. Within hours after her letter was published, the Marines called. The next morning they delivered a flag to Acosta's house in north Greeley. Ralph McClure of the Union Colony Marine League said the members wanted to get it to Acosta quickly. McClure said as soon as the Marines heard someone stole her flag, they knew they had to get her a new one.

Tuesday, the new flag was flying again, near the six American flags that Acosta has hanging around her front porch. She admits she's a little patriotic.

Her son, Michael Acosta, 27, joined the Marines in 1996, right after he graduated from Brush High School. He served several years, dropped out to go to paramedic school and was in the Army Reserves when his unit was called up.

Today, he's on his second tour of the war, as a medic with a sniper unit. One member of his unit was killed in action last week. Acosta said her son is a dedicated Marine and will rejoin as soon as his nation guard duty is finished.

Mike is married, and has a 3-year-old boy and a girl, 7 months. His wife, Kari, and children wait for him at their California home.

Carol writes her son every day as part of her morning ritual. At the end of the week, she gathers all the weekday letters into an envelope and mails the long letter to her son.

She also regularly sends him packages, usually containing three things: jelly beans, those bright orange marshmallow-like things called Circus Peanuts and socks.

"Those are the things he tells me they need mostly out there," Carol said. "Socks. The last box I sent had a dozen pairs of socks in all sizes so he could give them to other soldiers who need them."

As for the flag, Carol now displays it proudly next to her house. She also has "Harry" to help. Harry is a pit bull puppy, whom Acosta hopes will grow up to be a dog who'll make flag thieves think twice before stepping into her yard.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

March 14, 2005

Marine suicides reach 5-year high

By Laura Bailey
Times staff writer


Thirty-one Marines committed suicide last year, a five-year high that may be related to ongoing high operations tempo, Marine officials said.
The number is seven higher than the total from 2003. The next highest year for suicides was 2001, with 30 suicides, according to Marine Corps statistics.

All the Marines who took their lives in 2004 were enlisted men, and the majority were between the ages of 19 and 24. Most ended their lives with a firearm, while hanging claimed the second-highest number of Marines.

Despite the increase coinciding with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, officials say deployments are not the direct cause of the increase; rather, the pressure of a heavy operations pace adds to stress on Marines at home.

Marine Commandant Gen. Mike Hagee told reporters Feb. 24 that the stress of high operations tempo in the war on terrorism was likely behind the increase, according to The Washington Post.

Cmdr. (Dr.) Thomas Gaskin, a Navy psychologist, made similar statements last fall, explaining that time away from home, higher workloads and the stress associated with combat deployments exacerbates the existing stresses a Marine might have in his life, even if he has never deployed.

Bryan Driver, a spokesman for the Personal and Family Readiness Division at Manpower and Reserve Affairs at Quantico, Va., said there are no clear trends to indicate the suicides are related to deployments or post traumatic stress disorder.

Driver said that although 40 percent of Marines have deployed since Sept. 11, 2001, to Afghanistan or Iraq, only 24 percent of the suicides have been committed by those who deployed.

He said eight suicides have occurred in the Iraqi theater.

Although suicides were up last year, the total remains below the national average for similar ages, Driver said.

As of Feb. 28, two Marines, both Iraq veterans, had committed suicide in 2005, Driver said.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Oak Leaf Club growing at Camp Lejeune
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 09, 2005
CYNDI BROWN
DAILY NEWS STAFF

Sailors stationed at a Marine Corps base often get lost in the surrounding sea of green.

"It's tough if they are attached to a Marine unit. Everywhere you turn there are Marines," said Karen Larcombe. "It can be very intimidating as a Navy wife on a Marine base. (But) there are a lot of Navy people (at Camp Lejeune); we're just kind of hard to find."

A good place to look, said Larcombe, is the local Oak Leaf Club.

"This lets them know they're not alone," said Larcombe, the club's president.

The Oak Leaf Club is a social and service organization akin to the Marine Corps' Officers Wives Club. Traditionally, Oak Leaf is made up of spouses of officers in Navy medical fields. But since the Lejeune community is smaller than at Navy installations, membership is open to all active duty Naval officers and their spouses - including retirees - from Camp Lejeune and other nearby Marine Corps installations.

Right now, there is no equivalent club for enlisted sailors and their family. But the Oak Leaf members are hoping to see - and willing to help - one get started. They just need someone to take on the responsibility.

"I think each one is customized to the base and the needs that are there," said Larcombe, explaining that some clubs are more social, and others are more service-oriented. The Lejeune one is aiming for a balance. "I know we're at the point of evaluating where things have gone over the last year â?¦ Right now, we're not sure what's going to change, what's going to stay the same."

The local chapter has 60 members, the most they've had over the past several years. They also have a fair amount of retired members who want to keep their military connection and support the next generation.

But they're always looking for more.

"We would love to get the word out to get more members involved," said Kristi Welton, who, as wife of the hospital's commanding officer, is the club's medical advisor. "I think there's a lot of folks out there that fall through the cracks."

The group hosts fund-raisers - primarily through baked goods and chili sales at the hospital - throughout the year. They contact the hospital and dental COs as well as the chaplain to find out what items might be needed for training and patient comfort. Then they get those items. A large portion of what they spend goes to TVs and VCRs for waiting rooms.

"That pretty much goes on year round. If we're not spending money, we're raising it," said Larcombe.

Their "top priority," she added, is purchasing memory boxes and baby rings to help families who have lost an infant with the grieving process. Last year, one of their members was a recipient. "It touched home. It was personal," said Larcombe.

Outside of the those purchase, the group has hosted a cancer survivors luncheon in the fall, contributed to the chaplains Thanksgiving food basket drive for hospital families, organized a Relay for Life team and collected children's mittens and hats for donation to the Red Cross.

"Another project we're very proud of is this year we collected items for the first baby of the year born at the hospital," said Welton, of an activity that had been done in the past but not in recent memory. "It was really well-received, and I know we'll do it again."

Welton and her husband have been members at every location at which they have been stationed.

"It's a lot of fun. We do have a social aspect as well," said Welton. "We try to keep it light and fun."

On the social front, members host a "date night" gourmet group for husband and wives, a lunch bunch, bunko, cooking classes, an exercise group and a scrapbooking group. They also organize a "Meals on Wheels"-like program to deliver meals to members who have had surgery or a baby and may not be able to cook and helped make the centerpieces for the Navy Birthday ball. A playgroup activity and a babysitting co-op have been started as a way to reach some of the newer spouses.

"We try to support our younger wives too," explained Welton. "That's something I think is really important, reaching out to our young families, especially in times of deployment."


Ellie

[thedrifter]

VFW Fights Perception of War-Stories Crowd
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By SHELIA BYRD
The Associated Press

FLORENCE, Miss. - Maj. Eric Croke, a 43-year-old National Guardsman from Mississippi who got back last March from a tour of duty in Iraq, has no interest in joining the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

"In my mind, it's sort of an old-man organization," he said.

That is the kind of thinking that has made it hard for the VFW to attract younger veterans.

With World War II vets dying at the rate of 1,100 a day and many younger veterans expressing little interest in joining the VFW, the organization has found it increasingly difficult to replenish its rolls. Membership nationwide has declined steadily over the past decade from 2.1 million to its current 1.8 million.

In truth, the VFW is not just a bunch of old guys telling war stories over a few beers. But a serviceman could be mistaken for thinking so.

At the VFW post in Florence, for example, the 90 members are almost all veterans of World War II and Vietnam. More than half are over 60.

"Somebody's going to have to replace us," said Mike Brown, a 75-year-old Army veteran of the Korean War.

Unlike its larger cousin, the American Legion, with a similarly declining membership of 2.7 million, the VFW is open only to those who served in conflicts on foreign soil.

The hundreds of thousands of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan represent a rich pool of potential new members, and VFW national spokesman Jerry Newberry said the organization has enrolled a number of them, though he said he could not give an exact figure.

Still, he conceded that the VFW has an image problem: Many younger vets see it as a mere social club.

"People question the relevancy of the organization," he said. "I think that perception is starting to turn around. Wal-Mart, Pfizer ... these people don't give million-dollar checks to organizations that don't do anything."

VFW members volunteer at fire departments and Little League games and help out with the Boy Scouts. They offer care packages and telephone cards to servicemen and help their families back home pay their household expenses. They also lobby for veterans benefits on Capitol Hill, backing most recently a Pentagon proposal to increase the payout to families of war dead from $12,420 to $100,000.

"I try to tell younger folks, if you can't be active, at least you should be a member of an organization who supports the entitlements that you earn," said Donnie Verruchi, commander of 186-member VFW post in Natchez, Miss.

That is the reason Sgt. First Class Kathryn Brooks joined the organization after she returned from Iraq in November. Brooks, a member of 1086th Transportation Company based in Vidalia, La., said soldiers can turn to the VFW for "our medical issues, pay issues, whether we're getting adequate food and shelter. We can call our local VFW and tell them. `This is what's going on over here. Can you help us, please?'"

Newberry said the VFW national office in Kansas City, Mo., encourages its posts to adapt to the new age by building Web sites and promoting themselves as an integral part of the community.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

From BlackFive.net

This is timely, considering the subject of education levels of our military men and women (some elitist Socialists believe that we are the unwashed, uneducated, poor masses). By the way, I take those kind of derogatory comments personally as I was an Enlisted Soldier about *ahem* twenty pounds ago.

Our Armed Forces routinely complete After Action Reviews (AARs) after every mission (training or combat) in order to gain from lessons learned. AARs are probably one of the cheapest and most effective tools in our arsenal. In fact, AARs are so ingrained in our methodology that yours truly conducts them in the civilian IT world after implementations.

AARs are only guided by leaders. They are soldier centric and focus on what was done correctly, what was done incorrectly, and how to do better next time (improve). An AAR provides a safe venue for candid insights on unit strengths and weaknesses and is the ulitmate feedback system.

The AAR below is provided again by Seamus (via Quantico). It was conducted and written by a Marine Sergeant and his Corporals after the Battle of Fallujah. No Academy-grad Four Star General Officer could have done a better, more effective job. This should be passed on to every squad sized element in our military.

It's long but worth the read. So grab a cup of coffee and read what these educated, dedicated and motivated Marines have to say about Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) in Iraq. You all are going to love this one:

Lessons Learned: Infantry Squad Tactics in Military Operations in Urban Terrain During Operation Phantom Fury in Fallujah, Iraq
Sgt. Catagnus, Jr. E. J., Cpl. Edison, B. Z., LCpl. Keeling, J. D., and LCpl. Moon, D. A.
3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, Scout/Sniper Platoon, Section 1
Fallujah, Iraq

Introduction

Historically speaking, military operations in urban terrain (MOUT) have created casualty figures that are extraordinary compared to similar operations conducted in different types of environments. The casualties in MOUT present a significant challenge to small unit leaders. Casualties hit Marine infantry squads and fire teams extremely hard because generally speaking they were already under the table of organization (T/O) standards. Some squads in 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines (3/5) commenced the assault on the Jolan with only six Marines. It is the small unit leaders' duty to accomplish the mission with the least amount of casualties possible. In order for small unit leaders to complete the above task they need tactics and techniques that will prevent casualties.

Section 1 of the Scout/Sniper Platoon has attacked and cleared buildings with all the line companies in 3/5. The authors have observed nearly all the squads in the battalion and have "rolled in the stack" with many of them. This is an experience which few in the battalion have. Knowing this, the authors believe it is their duty to consolidate their observations, produce a comprehensive evaluation of squad tactics and techniques, and pass it onto the squad leaders. The authors' intent is to give the squad leaders options in combat. It is by no means a "bible," but it is a guideline. All the tactics and techniques have been proven in combat by one squad or another. Section 1 does not take any credit for the information contained within. The information was learned through the blood of the infantry squads in 3/5.

The entire evaluation has one underlying theme: Accomplish the mission with the least amount of casualties possible.

Terrain and Enemy

Terrain:

The city of Fallujah, Iraq is unlike any city in which Marines have trained for. The layout of the city is random. Zoning distinguishing between residential, business, and industrial is non-existent. An infantry squad could be clearing a house and next door may be clearing a slaughterhouse or furniture wood shop.

The streets are narrow and are generally lined by walls. The walls channelize the squad and do not allow for standard immediate action drills when contact is made. This has not been an issue because the majority of contact is not made in the streets, but in the houses.

The houses are densely packed in blocks. The houses touch or almost touch the adjacent houses to the sides and rear. This enables the insurgents to escape the view of Marine overwatch positions. The houses also are all made of brick with a thick covering of mortar overtop. In almost every house a fragmentation grenade can be used without fragments coming through the walls. Each room can be fragged individually.

Almost all houses have an enclosed courtyard. Upon entry into the courtyard, there is usually an outhouse large enough for one man. The rooftops as well as a large first story window overlook the courtyard. Generally, all the windows in the house are barred and covered with blinds or cardboard restricting visibility into the house.

The exterior doors of the houses are both metal and wood. The wood doors usually have a metal gate over top on the outside of the house forming two barriers to breach. The doors have two to three locking points. Some doors are even barricaded from the inside to prevent entry. There are generally two to three entrances to the house. The entrances are the front, the kitchen, and the side or rear.

The interior doors are also made of metal and wood. The differences between the interior and exterior doors are the strength and durability of the doors. Interior doors only have one locking point and most of them can be kicked in. All doors inside and outside of the house are usually locked and must be breached.

The layout of all the houses is generally the same. Initial entry in the front door leads to a small room with two interior doors. The two doors are the entrance to two adjacent open seating rooms. The size of the rooms varies according to the size of the house. At the end of the sitting rooms are interior doors that open up into a central hallway.

The central hallway is where all the first floor rooms lead and it contains the ladderwell to the second deck. The second deck will contain more rooms and an exit to the middle roof top. The middle roof top will have an exterior ladderwell leading up to the highest rooftop.

Enemy:

The two types of insurgents that the squads are engaging will be labeled the Guerrillas and the Martyrs in this evaluation. The Guerillas are classified by the following principles:

1. Their purpose is to kill many Marines quickly and then evade. They DO NOT want to die. Dying is an acceptable risk to the Guerillas, but their intention is to live and fight another day.

2. The tactics used are classic Guerilla warfare. The Guerillas will engage Marines only on terrain of their choosing when they have tactical advantage. After contact is made the Guerillas will disengage and evade.

3. Their evasion route normally is out of sight of Marine overwatch positions.

The Martyrs are classified by the following principles:

1. The Martyrs' purpose is to kill as many Marines as possible before they are killed. Time does not have any significance. The Martyrs want to die by the hands of Marines. The final outcome of their actions results in dead Marines as well as their death.

2. Their tactics directly reflect their purpose. The Martyrs will make fortified fighting positions in houses and wait. Marines will come, they will fight, and they will die in place.

Both the Guerillas and Martyrs employ the same weapons. The weapons used are mostly small arms, grenades, and rocket propelled grenades (RPG's). The Martyrs have used heavy machine guns and anti-air machine guns, unfortunately, with good effects.

The battle positions and tactics that the both employ are somewhat similar. The major differences between the two are the egress route and the fortifications. Guerrillas have an evasion plan, while the martyrs do not. The Guerrillas normally do not have fortified positions.

Marines have been engaged from mouse holes within the house, Guerrillas shooting down from the rooftops when they are moving into the courtyard, Guerrillas and Martyrs shooting and throwing grenades down the ladderwells, in second deck rooms that are fortified or blacked out, and upon breaching of interior doors. Martyrs have emplaced machine gun positions in rooms facing down the long axis of hallways.

The egress routes the Guerrillas use are preplanned and well-rehearsed. They move in groups and withdrawal perpendicular to Marines' forward line of troops (FLOT). Their movement is through windows of houses, down back alleys, and from roof to roof (only when obscured from Marine overwatch positions). The routes minimize exposure in the streets. Escape routes do not cross streets that run perpendicular to the FLOT, only parallel. This is done because Marine snipers during 2nd Battalion/1st Marines' (2/1) attack last April devastated the insurgents when attempting to cross those streets. If contact is made with Guerrillas and the block is not isolated on all four sides then their chance of escape increases exponentially. Isolation of the block is absolutely necessary in order to prevent any "squirters."

Overall, the enemy has adapted their tactics and techniques in order to maximize their strong points and hit Marines when they are the most vulnerable. They have learned from 2/1's attack last April. This is common sense, but it must be said in order that Marines realize the enemy they are fighting is somewhat intelligent. In MOUT it only takes a miniscule amount of intelligence in order to create massive amounts of casualties.

Squad Tactics

Squad Movement:

During house to house detailed clearing attacks, squads must minimize exposure in the streets. The streets, especially in Fallujah, can become a death trap if a squad is engaged. The squad should run from house to house in a stack with all elements (security, assault, and supporting) in their appropriate position. In the street the stack should be slightly staggered like a tight tactical column. The Marines should have some dispersion, and the pace of the running should not be so fast that the Marines are uncontrolled and not maintaining all around security. As soon as the point man/one man reaches the courtyard breach the stack should close the gaps of dispersion and swiftly move to accomplish their tasks.

All danger areas while on the move must be covered. Security must be three-dimensional and all around. Each Marine in the stack looks to the Marines to his front, assesses danger areas that are not covered, and then covers one of them. If every Marine does this then all danger areas will be covered.

Top Down verse Bottom Up Assaults:

An infantry squad can assault structures using two different methods. Traditionally, the top down assault is taught as being the most ideal method for clearing a structure. Realistically, this may not be the best option for the infantry squad. Below are the advantages and disadvantages of both top down and bottom up assault methods.

Top Down:

Advantages-

1. Surprising the enemy by moving from the top down may throw the enemy off balance. The enemy's defenses may not be prepared for a top down assault and the squad could overwhelm the enemy rapidly.

2. The squad has more momentum when moving down the ladderwells.

3. If the squad knows that the enemy is inside the roof can be breached in order so grenades and explosives could be dropped on top of the enemy.

4. The enemy's egress routes are greatly reduced because the squad can isolate the house by holding security on the back alleys and the front of the house from the roof.


continued

[thedrifter]

Disadvantages- <br />
<br />
1. Once the squad makes entry and contact is made, pulling out of the structure is extremely difficult. This limits the options for the squad leader on how to engage the enemy. The...

[thedrifter]

Organization of the Squad: <br />
<br />
Some squad leaders in the battalion split their squads in two and assigned different sectors to the two different parts. They did this to move faster through the houses...

[thedrifter]

In contrast to fixed wing CAS, rotary wing CAS was extremely timely, but the effects on target were not extraordinary. The hellfire missiles used did not bring down entire structures, but they did do...

[thedrifter]

American Vikings: 25 below? What's that in Fahrenheit?
Submitted by: Marine Forces Europe
Story Identification #: 20053544412
Story by - Vidar Hope, Battle Griffin Press and Information Center



BEITSTAD, Norway (March 4, 2005) -- U.S. Marines woke up to a chilling morning in Central Norway. The cold weather represents a major challenge for the troops. But they seem to enjoy it...

The last time Staff Sgt. Carl Lorio trained in Norway, during exercise Strong Resolve six years ago, the mercury didn´t creep as low as this year. But the Marines are well prepared. Through a number of exercises back home in the fall, they have trained to get ready for Norway. Now they´re here.

"We prepared ourselves as much as possible in Fort Drum, N.Y., in the Fall, but didn´t get optimal training. Too little snow, and simply not cold enough. So some of us were taken by surprise when met by snow depths of about a yard," says Lorio as his battalion gets ready to move through the snow. "But we like a challenge, and it looks as though we`re going to get a tremendous outcome from this exercise."

A few miles further north we get to speak to Lt. Col. James G. MacVarish, operations officer at the Marine Air Ground Task Force. He admits he had a rough night.

"It was extremely cold last night. A Norwegian liaison officer slept in our tent, and in the morning I woke up shivering, asking myself whether I was the only one? But the Norwegian was just as cold," MacVarish says with a grin. "So a little later, the Norwegian was gone. When I met him again, he had moved to a heated tent. I thought the Norwegians were supposed to be vikinger than us. So I am proud to say we´re doing well."

The main focus of the American participants is to practice winter warfare. MacVarish speaks about the precautions that need to be taken.

"First, everything has to go slower. These conditions demand a lot of heavy equipment, and we have to wear extra clothes, particularly after dark, when the temperature drops dramatically. We have to practice more on such things as putting up tents in the snow," says MacVarish.

He is happy with what he has seen so far with both his own troops as well the allied forces. But there have been obstacles on the way.

"We`ve had a few challenges. Before we left home, there was a logistics problem, making us have to wait until today for the last 200 personnel. The newcomers haven´t received the required training, and this slows us down a little bit. But people are really making an effort, and support from the Norwegians has been tremendous. It seems they don´t know the word "no,"" says MacVarish.

As for the scenario, the Marines are tasked to fight their way into the fictional land of Utopia to solve ethnic conflicts and provide security for civilians, quite similar to the situation in current areas of operation around the world. MacVarish feels confident he can do the job, together with his 1200 Marines.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Crew chief lets experience, knowledge do all the talking <br />
Submitted by: 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing <br />
Story Identification #: 200534101117 <br />
Story by Cpl. C. Alex Herron <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
AL ASAD, Iraq (Mar. 4,...

[thedrifter]

March 14, 2005

U.S. presence seen as creating Mideast stability
This year crucial for region’s future, defense leaders say

By Vince Crawley
Times staff writer


Troops serving in and near the Middle East might want to start getting used to the scenery.
Lawmakers and top military commanders say 2005 could well be a pivotal year in the history of the unsettled region.

And they say the continued presence of tens of thousands of American troops is helping to create an atmosphere of stability and U.S. commitment — so much so that there is even growing talk in senior diplomatic circles of U.S. and NATO troops taking part in any Israeli-Palestinian peace accord.

Iraq’s Jan. 30 elections appear to have set the tone for growing movements of political reform throughout the region, Army Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command, said at a hearing March 1.

Abizaid told the Senate Armed Services Committee that 2005 “can be a decisive year for us,” an assessment echoed by several senior senators.

Examples of movement toward Middle East stability include Lebanon’s peaceful overthrow of a pro-Syrian government; nascent elections in Saudi Arabia; and a call by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for multiparty elections. Also, there is growing political movement to end the decades-old Arab-Israeli dispute by creating a Palestinian homeland.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., likened developments in the Middle East to those of Eastern Europe half a generation ago, when uprisings unraveled the Soviet Union and peacefully brought down the Berlin Wall.

“Something significant is happening,” Lieberman said.

Yet, Lieberman added, “None of this would have happened if the American military had not united with coalition military forces to overthrow Saddam Hussein.”

The “shield that the American military gives to freedom,” Lieberman said, makes him more optimistic about current political developments in the Middle East.

‘There is fighting ahead’

However, Abizaid cautioned that “nothing in the Middle East moves in a straight line” and that numerous setbacks could lie ahead.

“As optimistic as I am, and as revolutionary as the times may be, we should not underestimate our enemies in the region,” he said. “There is fighting ahead. We should not kid ourselves.”

An important goal for 2005 is to “change the perception of occupation” that many Iraqis hold toward U.S. forces, he said.

Almost as important, Abizaid said, is for Iraqi security forces to be able to take over the defense of their country by the end of this year.

The performance of Iraqi security forces during the elections “provided a glimpse of how good they can be,” Abizaid said, but the Iraqis still must make significant progress in creating lines of communication and control between their new government and the military.

U.S. troop levels in Iraq peaked at more than 159,000 in late January, about 20,000 above pre-election levels. Abizaid said a massive U.S. unit rotation is underway that will reduce American combat power by mid-March from 20 brigades to the pre-election level of 17 brigades.

But he was hesitant to commit to a timeline for further reductions and also said rotating troops “will spend significant time overlapping with outgoing units to assure maximum continuity.”

To some extent, U.S. troop levels will depend on the level of violence, which could swing significantly. “The process of writing an Iraqi constitution and forming a new Iraqi government should remain politically focused, but we cannot rule out the possibility that they may trigger more violence,” he said.

Still, Abizaid was guardedly upbeat about apparent progress in quelling the Iraq insurgency. The Jan. 30 election was “the single most important day for the insurgent to come out” and try to disrupt the polling, he said. Yet Central Command estimated that just 3,500 people were actively trying to attack election targets on Jan. 30.

The next deployment?

President Bush and his advisers have long said their Iraq nation-building project could turn the fractured country into a beacon of freedom and tolerance that would serve as an example for the entire region.

In that vein, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, renewed his long-standing call for NATO and U.S. troops to take part in an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord.

The death in November of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat set the stage for renewed movement in the creation of a Palestinian state. And Warner said a NATO force with strong U.S. participation would be viewed as even-handed in the volatile region because many of NATO’s European allies have strong ties to Palestinian Arabs while the United States is viewed as a strong backer of Israel.

Marine Gen. James Jones, NATO’s top commander in Europe, who testified alongside Abizaid, said he’s heard growing informal discussions at senior diplomatic levels in recent weeks about a possible NATO force for an Israeli-Palestinian accord.

Jones told Warner he has been given “no additional task” to plan for a possible Israel peacekeeping mission.

Still, he added, the informal talk is reminiscent of discussion he heard in early 2003 that led to NATO participation in the Afghanistan mission.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

CSSD picks up where CSSG leaves off
Submitted by: 2nd Force Service Support Group
Story Identification #: 20053721557
Story by Cpl. C.J. Yard



CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq (March 4, 2005) -- “We came here to make this country a better place. That’s exactly what we did,” said Col. Ted Larson, commanding officer of Combat Service Support Group 15, 1st Force Service Support Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force.

As I MEF turns over command and control of Operation Iraqi Freedom to II MEF, the major component of U.S. forces in Iraq, the mission to support the Marines and sailors fighting the Global War on Terrorism is turned over from CSSG-15 to 2d Force Service Support Group's Combat Service Support Detachment 29.

“I am very proud of everything you have accomplished,” said Col. Bob DeStafney, commanding officer of CSSD-29, and Pensacola, Fla., native speaking to a formation of CSSG-15 Marines. “You came to help rebuild a nation and have performed tremendously. Now it is our turn to pick up where you left off.”

CSSG-15 successfully completed more than 1,500 re-supply convoys, conducted numerous humanitarian assistance missions handing out food and supplies to nearly 30,000 people, and were also a makeshift mortuary affairs unit that collected and gave a traditional Islamic burial to more than 535 anti-Iraqi forces. The Camp Pendelton, Calif.-based CSSG-15 also supported the election workers by providing them a safe place to live and transportation to and from election sites and provided security for the election ballots.

The combat service support group was formed from 74 different units and came together very well, according to their commanding officer.

“It was awesome to see these Marines come together the way they did,” said Larson, a 31-year veteran hailing from Mystic, Conn. “No matter what, convoys rolled and they got done what needed to be done.”

One major highlight for CSSG-15 was their Surgical Shock Trauma Platoon, said Larson.

“We had a 95 percent survival rate,” he continued. “We provide level two care for Marines and sailors who come in wounded and then get them to a higher echelon of care. Those sailors did some awesome things for the wounded.”

Although CSSG-15 was the general support unit for all of I MEF, they relinquish their responsibilities to three combat service support detachments divided amongst the II MEF area of operations. The changeover between the units should not be a problem, according to DeStafney.

“Combat Service Support Detachment 29 will provide general logistics support to II MEF and other units in the area of operations. In addition to maintaining the general supply support and material distribution hub here, CSSD-29 brings tremendous intermediate maintenance capability with us,” said DeStafney. “We’ll also provide transportation support via ground convoys and our Arrival/Departure Airfield Control Group. Our Military Police Company will execute route and convoy security missions, and conduct customs inspections for II MEF.”

“[Combat Service Support Group 15] has set the table for us to succeed,” DeStafney continued. “All we have to do is pick up where they left off and continue to make life in Iraq better.”

As CSSG-15 prepares to return to the United States and Combat Service Support Detachments 25, 28 and 29 begin their tour in Western Iraq, DeStafney praised the Marines of CSSG-15.

“You were a stud group of warriors, Marines,” said DeStafney. “Two nine, you have to step up and fill those shoes and continue to raise the bar. I know we can do it. CSSG-15 is a superb unit and I’m confident we’ll be able to maintain the momentum they established. For the last several months, we’ve trained extremely hard for this deployment, in California and North Carolina. We’re committed to success here and are happy to follow up on CSSG 15’s initiatives.”

Ellie