thedrifter
10-10-05, 05:36 AM
Marines reflect on third tour of duty in Iraq
Antonio Castaneda, Associated Press
October 10, 2005 IRAQ1010
"I didn't join the Marine Corps just to stand around." -- Lance Cpl. Giovanni Perez of Los Angeles
"I get out of the Marine Corps in seven months and I can't wait." -- Cpl. Daniel Trigg of Olympia, Wash.
HADITHA, IRAQ -- They stormed the insurgent-ridden city of Fallujah, returned home and now are back in Iraq's most troubled province -- all in 10 months' time.
"I didn't join the Marine Corps just to stand around," said Lance Cpl. Giovanni Perez of Los Angeles.
"As long as we clean up our mess and get this country back up on its feet," it's worth it, said Lance Cpl. James Whelan of Kalamazoo, Mich. Just 20, he is on his third tour in Iraq.
"I get out of the Marine Corps in seven months, and I can't wait," said Cpl. Daniel Trigg of Olympia, Wash., who was guarding a mosque where a large cache of insurgent weapons was being removed. Trigg is also on his third tour in Iraq in three years.
Their unit, the 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment, from Camp Pendleton, Calif., is one of three Marine battalions sent to Iraq three times.
Last November it joined in the battle for Fallujah, where several of its Marines were killed and dozens earned Purple Hearts. Now it is trying to tame Anbar Province's Sunni Arab cities in the west.
The unit they replaced suffered 48 deaths during a seven-month tour, and letters posted on a mosque by a former Iraqi policeman begging for forgiveness from Al-Qaida in Iraq indicates the difficulty of rebuilding a local security force.
Marines note that the war, at least in this region, has evolved since their last tour. Insurgents are now hiding instead of controlling entire neighborhoods.
Some say this is more challenging than simply using the military's superior arsenal against gun-toting insurgents holed up in homes.
"It's harder. Before, you could just shoot a tank round through someone's window," said Sgt. Jesse Zunke, a squad leader from Reno. "Now it's just playing detective and meeting these people."
The Marines focus on finding weapons and trying to collect information in an area where allegiances often change and true sentiments are hard to identify. On Friday, a large Sunni mosque blared messages supporting U.S. forces from loudspeakers, according to military translators, but it was the same mosque where the arms cache had been found the day before.
For Marines who have been to Iraq before, the latest seven-month deployment is easier because of their experience, although some feel they are testing their luck.
"I'm a little less nervous this time because I know what to expect," said Lance Cpl. Kemny Kim of Houston, who got two Purple Hearts for wounds during his prior tour.
Kim talked as he searched through groves of palm trees along the Euphrates River, chewing on pomegranate seeds and a pear offered by a farmer. His brother, also a Marine, just returned home from a tour in Ramadi.
The Marines said their prior experiences had them prepared for whatever comes in an area where 20 Marines were killed in August alone.
"You can tell the Iraqis who are scared because we're here," said 1st Lt. David Jackson of New York, "and those who are scared because they're bad."
Ellie
Antonio Castaneda, Associated Press
October 10, 2005 IRAQ1010
"I didn't join the Marine Corps just to stand around." -- Lance Cpl. Giovanni Perez of Los Angeles
"I get out of the Marine Corps in seven months and I can't wait." -- Cpl. Daniel Trigg of Olympia, Wash.
HADITHA, IRAQ -- They stormed the insurgent-ridden city of Fallujah, returned home and now are back in Iraq's most troubled province -- all in 10 months' time.
"I didn't join the Marine Corps just to stand around," said Lance Cpl. Giovanni Perez of Los Angeles.
"As long as we clean up our mess and get this country back up on its feet," it's worth it, said Lance Cpl. James Whelan of Kalamazoo, Mich. Just 20, he is on his third tour in Iraq.
"I get out of the Marine Corps in seven months, and I can't wait," said Cpl. Daniel Trigg of Olympia, Wash., who was guarding a mosque where a large cache of insurgent weapons was being removed. Trigg is also on his third tour in Iraq in three years.
Their unit, the 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment, from Camp Pendleton, Calif., is one of three Marine battalions sent to Iraq three times.
Last November it joined in the battle for Fallujah, where several of its Marines were killed and dozens earned Purple Hearts. Now it is trying to tame Anbar Province's Sunni Arab cities in the west.
The unit they replaced suffered 48 deaths during a seven-month tour, and letters posted on a mosque by a former Iraqi policeman begging for forgiveness from Al-Qaida in Iraq indicates the difficulty of rebuilding a local security force.
Marines note that the war, at least in this region, has evolved since their last tour. Insurgents are now hiding instead of controlling entire neighborhoods.
Some say this is more challenging than simply using the military's superior arsenal against gun-toting insurgents holed up in homes.
"It's harder. Before, you could just shoot a tank round through someone's window," said Sgt. Jesse Zunke, a squad leader from Reno. "Now it's just playing detective and meeting these people."
The Marines focus on finding weapons and trying to collect information in an area where allegiances often change and true sentiments are hard to identify. On Friday, a large Sunni mosque blared messages supporting U.S. forces from loudspeakers, according to military translators, but it was the same mosque where the arms cache had been found the day before.
For Marines who have been to Iraq before, the latest seven-month deployment is easier because of their experience, although some feel they are testing their luck.
"I'm a little less nervous this time because I know what to expect," said Lance Cpl. Kemny Kim of Houston, who got two Purple Hearts for wounds during his prior tour.
Kim talked as he searched through groves of palm trees along the Euphrates River, chewing on pomegranate seeds and a pear offered by a farmer. His brother, also a Marine, just returned home from a tour in Ramadi.
The Marines said their prior experiences had them prepared for whatever comes in an area where 20 Marines were killed in August alone.
"You can tell the Iraqis who are scared because we're here," said 1st Lt. David Jackson of New York, "and those who are scared because they're bad."
Ellie