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thedrifter
07-30-05, 05:38 AM
Back in your arms again
Iraq now a memory
By Chuck Mueller, Staff Writer

TWENTYNINE PALMS - An exuberant homecoming welcome for 313 Marines and sailors shook this military town like an aftershock of the 1992 Landers earthquake.

The men were the first contingent of 810 members of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment returning to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center after seven months of combat in Iraq.

Wives and sweethearts, many with kids in tow, screamed with joy as eight buses arrived outside the base's West Gym, where families waited anxiously for hours for the men.

"Welcome Home! I Love You Joseph,' proclaimed a sign held high by Jacque Watkins of Camarillo, mother of Lance Cpl. Joseph Hernandez, 20.

The Combat Center Band directed by Gunnery Sgt. Sean Helms struck up "Semper Fidelis,' the Marine Corps song, meaning always faithful, drowning out the cheers.

Jubilant Marines piled out of the buses. Lance Cpl. Thomas Ulrich, 22, grabbed his sweetheart, Samantha Kercheval. After a long kiss he said, "It's awesome to be back. It's my last deploy, I'm done.'

She said, "It's wonderful to have him back.'

Nearby, Lance Cpl. Thomas Niemann, 21, of San Jose, said, "After three deployments to Iraq, it's good to be here. And I'm not going back. I'm just going to relax.'

Another happy Marine, Lance Cpl. Ryan Harty, 20, of Lyndsborg, Kan., said, "This is the best I've ever felt in my life. I'm going to get a beer.'

Flags, signs and balloons lined the roads approaching the base.

Sharon Glau, grandmother of Lance Cpl. Cory Gonzales, 19, of Moreno Valley said, "All his cousins got together Thursday night and put welcome signs, flags, and yellow ribbons for the entire battalion along Highway 60 from Moreno Valley to Twentynine Palms.'

Randy and Kim Thayer, parents of Gonzales, plan a "huge party' for their son in Moreno Valley for 30 to 40 friends and relatives.

"The first thing tomorrow he plans to motocross ride in Moreno Valley,' his mother said.

Patty Keith, 46, of Stillwater, Minn., drove to the base to welcome her son, Pfc. Gabriel Keith, 21, back home.

"It's his third deployment to Iraq,' she said.

"He was with the first Marine unit to enter Baghdad.'

Joined by a daughter, Maragaret, 20, the Keiths planned to spend the weekend in Palm Springs.

"I'm so excited and I've been full of tears,' she said.

Gunnery Sgt. Frank Patterson, base spokesman said, "Two hundred forty-seven Marines and sailors are expected to arrive today from Iraq. And another 250 on Sunday. They were deployed in January and were the first Marine Corps ground forces to complete three deployments in Iraq since Operation Iraqi Freedom began in 2003.

"The men will enjoy a 30-day leave before returning to duty. Only one of the men was killed in action. About 10 to 15 suffered injuries. It was a very successful deployment.'

Elizabeth Bradley, 19, of New Burn, N.C. was eagerly awaiting her husband's arrival today (Saturday). She and Lance Cpl. Justin Bradley, 21, who were married in December, plan a big welcome-home party.

She said, "We're excited to get our married life started again. We want to have some time together before we start having children.'

Elizabeth Bradley was lunching at Burger King with friends and siblings Michelle and Adam Dean. Michelle's husband, Andrew, returned from Iraq in March after tearing an Achilles tendon while on duty in Fallujah.

Marlene Calvert, 49, a store clerk, has four nephews in the Marine Corps.

She said she was happy to see the Marines and sailors returning to the base Friday.

"I think they need to pull all of our members of the Armed Forces (out of combat). We need to bring them all home for good.'

At the Stater Bros. market, Susan Callendar, 26, a former Marine, sported a USMC T-shirt.

"My husband Brian is stationed at the Marine base,' she said. 'He was shot in combat in Iraq outside of Fallujah in April 2004. Considering his serious injuries, we're glad everyone is coming home safely today. And we plan to welcome them all back.'

Ellie

thedrifter
07-31-05, 06:54 AM
Marines' 3rd combat tour pushes limits of endurance

Gregg Zoroya
USA TODAY
July 30, 2005
RAMADI, Iraq - The day the Marines crossed into Iraq, Cpl. James Welter Jr. killed his first man. During his second combat tour, he earned a commendation for leadership skills and coolness under fire, but he brought a nightmare home. Now, with six weeks left in his third fighting tour, his goal is simple.

He hopes to survive.

Welter - Jimmy to his friends - is among about 150 veterans of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment here who have fought in Iraq three times since the war began in March 2003. Each trip, they have endured some of the harshest combat.

They were there for four months at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, at the tip of the invasion spear. In the summer of 2004, during a second tour that lasted 4½ months, they fought in the streets of Fallujah after insurgents there killed four American contractors, burned and mutilated their bodies and strung two of the corpses from a bridge.

Now, for seven months this year, the Marines are here in Ramadi, the capital of the insurgency and a city thick with roadside bombs. Snipers lie in wait, and at the exits of installations, huge warning signs, some inscribed with a skull and crossbones, read: "Complacency Kills!" The battalion has lost more men in Ramadi than anywhere else: 12 Marines and a Navy corpsman killed in action. Their 13 portraits hang on a wall in battalion headquarters - a grim reminder of what awaits outside the gate.

The frequency with which troops are being sent back to combat is unprecedented in the all-volunteer U.S. military, which was created in 1973 after the draft ended. To boost morale, commanders draw comparisons to the sacrifices of the Greatest Generation, those who fought for the duration of World War II. But that war is dust-covered history to those fighting here, and defense researchers concede that they do not yet know what back-to-back-to-back tours of duty will do to this military - or to those fighting.

"It's an open question as to how much we can ask of them," says James Hosek, a RAND Corp., specialist on military retention.

The Marines send troops to Iraq more frequently than the Army, but do so for shorter combat stints that don't last longer than seven months. Two battalions, including the one in which Welter serves, are now on their third hitch. The Army deploys units for longer periods - usually 12 months - but less often. Some Army units are starting a second tour in Iraq this year.

Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, a spokesman for the Army's personnel division, says re-enlistments have held steady so far. "But we are keeping an eye on that," he says.

Studies about Vietnam veterans are of little use because the nation had a larger, conscript military then and combat was typically limited to a single 12- or 13-month tour. Hosek testified before Congress last year that what limited data exist suggest a third tour could sour the troops and their families and hurt re-enlistments.

Interviews with two dozen Marines in Ramadi, their commanders, and friends and family back home reveal the cost in human terms. Like Jimmy Welter, some Marines in this unit enlisted after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But that patriotic fervor now seems spent. And what the Marines have endured - Welter's story as much as any - speaks to the changes that come with war.

During their first tour, Welter and his unit were greeted as liberators. During the second, they fought a growing rebellion. Now, on the third, many say they are angry to be back, shaken by the loss of more friends and feeling old beyond their years.

"I'm 22 years old. It really feels like I'm 30," Welter says. "I've seen more and done more things at 22 than most people have in 40 years."

Evidence of victory is scant, they say. Some are stunned that, after all the sacrifices they and others have made, so many Iraqis now seem to hate them.

Their choice to serve has put them on the battlefield three times in the last two years. Now, many say they just want to go home.

Their commander, Lt. Col. Eric Smith, sees the wear and tear.

"This takes a mental toll on these guys," says Smith, 40, of Plano, Texas, who was wounded in combat during a tour last year in another command position. "I do know they get tired, and I do know they've changed. I mean, their counterparts (in the U.S.) are running around getting ****ed off because they were unable to register for Psych 303 and they have to start their senior year. These guys are running around worried about being supplied with .50-caliber ammo and not getting shot tomorrow."

The man working to re-enlist them explains the hardship.

"They've done their war and they're done," says Staff Sgt. William Beschman, the battalion retention officer. Unlike the Marine Corps as a whole, the battle-scarred 1st Battalion, 5th Marines will not meet its re-enlistment goal this year. The largest bonuses in Marine Corps history - a year's salary, or about $20,000 tax-free if they sign up while in Iraq - got few takers. Of 287 first-term Marines in the battalion, just 50 are staying. The goal is 58.

And veterans of the battalion now have a look about them. In Vietnam, it was called the "thousand-yard stare": a weariness devoid of emotion. Cpl. Mike Kelly, 23, wears it as officers award him a Navy commendation for valor at a battalion headquarters ceremony this month.

He's heading home to Boston to open a bar. His four-year enlistment - including three tours of duty in Iraq - is almost over. "I just want to live an easy life," he says after the ceremony. "A normal job, nothing fancy. A working stiff. That's my dream."

So does Cpl. Richie Gunter. "I just want to go back to the way things are," says Gunter, 30, who longs to trade Marine fatigues for a T-shirt and jeans and work on the family's tomato farm in Woodland, Calif.

Their loved ones suffer with them. Danielle "Dani" Thurlow of Coloma, Mich., has watched her fiance, Marine Cpl. Ryan Kling, 22, grow colder and angrier with each tour. "He's pushing his luck," she says.

"I tell a lot of people: I wouldn't wish this on anyone," says Thurlow, 19. "It's very hard. It really is. You're just looking toward the end. That's all you want, is for it to be over."

And Ken Frederking, 69, says he lives in fear that his oldest grandchild, Jimmy Welter, may never find his way home. "What this kid has gone through at his age, it's incredible," the grandfather says. "It just seems like he can't escape."

Keeping in touch with their families - through letters, e-mails and telephone calls - is essential to preserving morale, says Smith, the battalion commander.

"You've got to make sure to not let the Marines get mean," he says. "You can't let the guys go home without their humanity."

thedrifter
07-31-05, 07:01 AM
More local Marines headed for Iraq after final desert exercise

By: DARRIN MORTENSON - Staff Writer

YUMA, Ariz. ---- Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle Moriarity seemed lethargic as he slowly wheeled his Humvee into place in a training convoy gathering along a desert road Wednesday.

Even in the late afternoon, he and the group of some 200 Camp Pendleton Marines in fatigues and flak jackets battled the sun. Temperatures on the desert floor had not fallen far from the day's high of 124 degrees.

While sweat drenched the drivers in other vehicles, 19-year-old Moriarity barely perspired as the convoy rolled toward the simulated ambush by imaginary insurgents in the desert.

As they scanned the desert for mock insurgents, the Marines encountered another tough enemy: the heat.

Within the first half-hour of the ride, Moriarity slumped over in his seat from heat exhaustion, soon becoming another casualty of an intense desert training exercise meant to prepare the Marines for the grueling and dangerous roads of Iraq.

At least 180 members of the Camp Pendleton-based 119th Combat Logistics Battalion endured five days of training in Arizona's blistering desert heat last week as they prepared to deploy for a seven-month tour in Iraq next month.

"We've got to get it right here before we can get it right out there," said Lt. Michael Lobach, pointing to the Yuma desert but insinuating Iraq. "This is the last training we get before we hit Iraq. It's as important as it gets."

The company's drivers and mechanics will join at least 1,000 other local Marines who are slated to deploy to Iraq in the next month or two to reinforce the East Coast's II Marine Expeditionary Force, which replaced tens of thousands of locally based troops there early this year.

Local Marines still fighting

At least 2,500 Marines from the Camp Pendleton-based 1st Marine Division have been in Iraq since early spring, and more than 10,000 are expected to deploy in January and February as part of the first wave of a year-long mission.

By now, many of the troops will be on their second, third or even fourth trips to Iraq. Mixed in with them are green troops who have never experienced the deadly threat of Iraq's insurgency or harsh realities of its climate.

Capt. Kyril Erickson, the commander of the company trained at the Yuma Proving Grounds last week, said about half of his 200-some troops have served in Iraq at least once. Some returned from their last tour as recently as April or May.

Erickson and the other Marine leaders said the support troops' primary job will be ferrying supplies and personnel between bases in Iraq, supporting the infantry and helicopter units fighting the insurgency.

With roadside bombs and suicide car bombers being the primary weapons of the insurgents, the Marines face one of the most dangerous jobs in Iraq.

After one of the training convoys Wednesday, Staff Sgt. Sydney Morrison explained the stakes.

"The enemy's unknown, and they're trying to hit us," he said. "They are trying to take us out piece by piece."

The ruthless sun

While the bombs were simulated and the insurgents remained imaginary during the training, the heat proved to be the real enemy.

Moriarity, the Humvee driver who passed out, was one of at least two dozen Marines who fell victim to the heat during the training.

"We call it Hell's Kitchen," said Cpl. Roger Mont, 22, of Los Angeles, as he filled a canteen before another convoy Thursday.

He said the extreme environment of Yuma helps the veterans refocus on returning to Iraq, and forces the newer Marines to take their mission seriously.

"When you train in the worst possible situation, you're at least ready for it," Mont said. "At least you know you can take it."

In convoy after convoy, during dry runs and full-tilt, live-fire drills, the Marines demonstrated the culmination of months of training on how to react and counter deadly attacks on the roads. They rushed through "kill zones" to safety, evacuated simulated casualties from the road, and blasted away with machine guns from the turrets of their moving vehicles.

Trainers from their parent command ---- Pendleton's 1st Force Service Support Group ---- set up the 10- and 20-mile courses through the Yuma Proving Grounds based on the most recent information from Iraq, according to Capt. Darren Fischer, who ran last week's Combat Skills Training School.

No front lines

Fischer, who fought in Iraq last year, said that because there is no front line in Iraq and insurgents often target the coalition's supply lines, drivers and mechanics of the support company deserved an extra dose of combat training from his 11 infantry trainers.

He said the monotonous desert environment and unforgiving heat will prepare the Marines mentally and physically for Iraq, where temperatures have topped 130 degrees this summer.

"It starts the acclimation process and lessons the psychological impact," Fischer said as his trainers prepared to accompany a convoy Wednesday.

Many of the ideas and scenarios from the training have come straight from Marines who shared their experiences of being attacked on Iraq's roads.

"Really, the training time is over," Fischer said just before one of the last daytime convoys rolled out of their camp site Wednesday. "This is when they get to see how they've done. The next stop is the real deal."

As drivers cranked up gurgling truck engines and gunners took to their turrets Wednesday, 23-year-old Marine Sgt. Phil Morales ran up and down the line of vehicles checking for problems and shouting encouragement.

"You'd better be killing people up there," he shouted to Lance Cpl. Jose Gomez, a 21-year-old Texan who took his place behind a machine gun in the tight turret atop a 7-ton truck.

"Drink water!" he yelled to another Marine.

Using the dirty and soaked sleeve of his camouflaged fatigues, Morales wiped away the gush of sweat draining from beneath his helmet as the convoy rolled toward the simulated ambush up the road.

Stepping out

Commanding the platoon was Lt. Lobach, a 25-year-old Boston native who has never been to Iraq. He said he listens to those in his platoon who have.

Asked how he felt about leading 40 men onto the country's dangerous roads, Lobach replied: "Humble. Always humble."

The strain of the responsibility was visible on his face as he ordered the convoy to move out.

"Half the battle is just stepping outside the wire," Lobach said after a series of logistical glitches. "The battle's getting all our gear up, the vehicles up, the (radios) up and getting everyone on the same page.

"It's good training," he said of the sweaty chaos as they rolled out. "This is how it's going to be out there."

After five or six miles lurching down pock-marked pavement and over spine-jarring potholes, past short yellow grasses and clumps of desert sage, the convoy neared a group of Marines dressed in civilian clothes simulating an Iraqi crowd.

As the first few trucks passed, one of the "Iraqis" set off an artillery simulator as a mock roadside bomb, signaling an ambush.

Moriarity narrowly dodged the blast as the trucks sped out of the simulated "kill zone."

When someone radioed that one of the vehicles was hit in a second explosion, Lobach ordered several vehicles back to secure the site and collect the three Marines that instructors had deemed to be "wounded" in the blast.

Mission inevitable

Dripping with sweat, Navy corpsmen lifted the Marines onto stretchers and stuffed them into a field ambulance as other Marines hitched the disabled vehicle to another truck and drove off to safety away from the "Iraqi" crowd.

Within 15 minutes, the convoy was back on the road, and Moriarity, who succumbed to the heat while driving away from the attack site, was stuffed into the ambulance alongside the mock casualties and taken back to camp. He was later taken to the hospital.

Assessing the drill, trainer Sgt. Chris Washington said the Marines had done well on handling both the simulated attack and the "real world" medical evacuation.

"It wasn't perfect," he said, gnawing on some sunflower seeds. "But they had a plan and stuck with it. That's better than having no plan out there."

Between convoys, Staff Sgt. Roberto Castaneda, 33, said he is heading for his third tour in Iraq.

Standing with Mont in the shade near some water coolers Thursday, he said he and the others can't really debate whether they want to return to Iraq or not. He said their time is better spent concentrating on getting mentally and physically ready for the inevitable.

Castaneda and Mont said they were glad that their unit was being trained more like the infantry because in Iraq "it's all pretty much the same."

"They're out there laying in wait," Mont said of the Iraqi insurgents before he gulped down more water Thursday. "They just want to make us suffer, make us take casualties.

"It's still going to be bad," he said. "They still want to kill us."

Contact staff writer Darrin Mortenson at (760) 740-5442 or dmortenson@nctimes.com.