thedrifter
10-25-05, 02:20 PM
October 31, 2005
No more ‘fun’ for 1/1 Marines; they’re off to war in early ’06
By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — Talk about bad timing. When their buddies were heading off to war — first in 2003, then in 2004 — the grunts of 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, skipped Iraq duty, for the most part.
Earlier this year, after detouring to help with tsunami relief operations in Indonesia and Sri Lanka as part of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, the battalion was ordered into Iraq. The men pulled security duty near Baghdad for about 40 days as a filler for an incoming Army unit, then returned to their ships.
The Camp Pendleton-based battalion, typically assigned to deploying West Coast MEUs, has watched the war go by. Only twice in two years, some or all of the battalion members left their amphibious ships for roughly a month of combat operations in Iraq as many others pulled at least one seven-month tour in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The schedule has stood out among the grunt units of 1st Marine Division, which, with a few exceptions, is on the “7-7-7” rotation: a seven-month combat tour in Iraq; seven months at home to train before another seven-month deployment.
But this battalion has been different. Marines in some circles have taken to calling it “All Fun 1/1.”
But that’ll come to an end: Early next year, 1/1 will begin a combat tour in Iraq.
“We’ll be part of Regimental Combat Team 5, and we’ll be going into Anbar province starting early next year for a seven-month deployment,” said the commander, Lt. Col. David Furness. Furness, who did two tours with 1st Marine Division in 2003 and 2004 as assistant plans and operations officers before taking the battalion’s reins, won’t say exactly when.
The months since 1/1 returned from its last MEU pump have been busy. “We’re going in 10 different directions, 1,000 miles an hour in this six-month work-up between deployments,” Furness said.
A question of timing
Two years ago, the battalion found itself on the short list going nowhere soon. In early 2003, while Camp Pendleton-based I Marine Expeditionary Force prepared its troops for Operation Iraqi Freedom and the invasion of the country, 1/1 wasn’t going anywhere.
“When the force list was made to support OIF-1, 1/1 was locked on with the 13th MEU,” Furness said.
It wasn’t a slight of the unit. The battalion’s regiment, 1st Marines, is the main source for West Coast MEUs. “That’s all it is, it’s a timing issue,” Furness said. “And depending on your viewpoint, it’s either good or bad time.”
Still, to leathernecks, it seemed as though the battalion was left behind when the entire division went off to war. The men were “very bitter at that,” Furness recalled. “They were very disappointed.”
“When your division goes to war, when your regiment goes to war, you don’t want to be staying back here, you know, practicing boat raids,” he added.
But the spirit remained strong. At one point, “I had over 400 Marines here volunteer for casualty replacements,” Furness said, noting that three of 1/1’s men later died while fighting as part of other battalions.
“They were willing to do anything they could to, basically, get into, to get involved in the fight,” he said.
Ironically, after 1/1 returned home last year, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines — part of 1st Marines — went into Iraq with the 13th MEU, fighting fiercely in Najaf and Karbala. That MEU did an extended tour and flew home after nine months.
Until this fall, 1/1, as part of 1st Marines, was the only battalion among 1st, 5th and 7th Marines not in the 7-7-7 combat rotation.
It has had some, limited, Iraq time. During a late 2003 deployment with the 13th MEU, Battalion Landing Team 1/1 joined British forces for Operation Sweeney, the countersmuggling missions in Umm Qasr and Iraq’s southern waterways. Later that year, BLT 1/1 trained and operated in Djibouti for Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.
Doing windows
The battalion’s second deployment did include a trip deep into Iraq, but time in country was short by other battalions’ standards. Its length, just over one month, raised speculation that the unit stayed in Iraq long enough to get combat-zone benefits.
But Furness tried to dispel that notion. In late February, he said, BLT 1/1 was called ashore into Kuwait and ordered to Baghdad to help with security when the transitional Iraqi National Assembly took effect.
The area had been occupied by Army forces previously.
“The [previous Army unit] had had the area that we eventually went into,” he said. “The Army requested an extension of their 365 days on the deck, and it was denied by the [secretary of defense], and they needed a force to fill their sector. We didn’t [replace] anybody; there was nobody there when we got there. We went right in, and we were operating … and stayed there for a little more than 40 days.”
The short tour left many disappointed.
“The Army asked for us to stay,” Furness said. “We knew we were doing good work. We thought we were having a good impact. We weren’t ready to leave, because after a month ... you’re kind of learning how the enemy is moving through, how he operates, the local roads.”
But it was no surprise, given the MEU’s advertised abilities to “do windows.”
“We do everything from your conventional combat to handing out water and everything in between,” Furness said.
“We have a lot of agility simply because some of the mobility assets we come with, as well as the strategic mobility of naval shipping, which puts you usually right where those spots are.”
The battalion and MEU were among the first forces to respond in Indonesia and Sri Lanka after the Dec. 26 tsunami. “That’s a relevant force,” Furness said.
“When things go bump in the night, or something happens that is not planned, and they need to respond immediately,” Furness said.
“This is a force that can do that.”
Ellie
No more ‘fun’ for 1/1 Marines; they’re off to war in early ’06
By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — Talk about bad timing. When their buddies were heading off to war — first in 2003, then in 2004 — the grunts of 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, skipped Iraq duty, for the most part.
Earlier this year, after detouring to help with tsunami relief operations in Indonesia and Sri Lanka as part of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, the battalion was ordered into Iraq. The men pulled security duty near Baghdad for about 40 days as a filler for an incoming Army unit, then returned to their ships.
The Camp Pendleton-based battalion, typically assigned to deploying West Coast MEUs, has watched the war go by. Only twice in two years, some or all of the battalion members left their amphibious ships for roughly a month of combat operations in Iraq as many others pulled at least one seven-month tour in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The schedule has stood out among the grunt units of 1st Marine Division, which, with a few exceptions, is on the “7-7-7” rotation: a seven-month combat tour in Iraq; seven months at home to train before another seven-month deployment.
But this battalion has been different. Marines in some circles have taken to calling it “All Fun 1/1.”
But that’ll come to an end: Early next year, 1/1 will begin a combat tour in Iraq.
“We’ll be part of Regimental Combat Team 5, and we’ll be going into Anbar province starting early next year for a seven-month deployment,” said the commander, Lt. Col. David Furness. Furness, who did two tours with 1st Marine Division in 2003 and 2004 as assistant plans and operations officers before taking the battalion’s reins, won’t say exactly when.
The months since 1/1 returned from its last MEU pump have been busy. “We’re going in 10 different directions, 1,000 miles an hour in this six-month work-up between deployments,” Furness said.
A question of timing
Two years ago, the battalion found itself on the short list going nowhere soon. In early 2003, while Camp Pendleton-based I Marine Expeditionary Force prepared its troops for Operation Iraqi Freedom and the invasion of the country, 1/1 wasn’t going anywhere.
“When the force list was made to support OIF-1, 1/1 was locked on with the 13th MEU,” Furness said.
It wasn’t a slight of the unit. The battalion’s regiment, 1st Marines, is the main source for West Coast MEUs. “That’s all it is, it’s a timing issue,” Furness said. “And depending on your viewpoint, it’s either good or bad time.”
Still, to leathernecks, it seemed as though the battalion was left behind when the entire division went off to war. The men were “very bitter at that,” Furness recalled. “They were very disappointed.”
“When your division goes to war, when your regiment goes to war, you don’t want to be staying back here, you know, practicing boat raids,” he added.
But the spirit remained strong. At one point, “I had over 400 Marines here volunteer for casualty replacements,” Furness said, noting that three of 1/1’s men later died while fighting as part of other battalions.
“They were willing to do anything they could to, basically, get into, to get involved in the fight,” he said.
Ironically, after 1/1 returned home last year, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines — part of 1st Marines — went into Iraq with the 13th MEU, fighting fiercely in Najaf and Karbala. That MEU did an extended tour and flew home after nine months.
Until this fall, 1/1, as part of 1st Marines, was the only battalion among 1st, 5th and 7th Marines not in the 7-7-7 combat rotation.
It has had some, limited, Iraq time. During a late 2003 deployment with the 13th MEU, Battalion Landing Team 1/1 joined British forces for Operation Sweeney, the countersmuggling missions in Umm Qasr and Iraq’s southern waterways. Later that year, BLT 1/1 trained and operated in Djibouti for Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.
Doing windows
The battalion’s second deployment did include a trip deep into Iraq, but time in country was short by other battalions’ standards. Its length, just over one month, raised speculation that the unit stayed in Iraq long enough to get combat-zone benefits.
But Furness tried to dispel that notion. In late February, he said, BLT 1/1 was called ashore into Kuwait and ordered to Baghdad to help with security when the transitional Iraqi National Assembly took effect.
The area had been occupied by Army forces previously.
“The [previous Army unit] had had the area that we eventually went into,” he said. “The Army requested an extension of their 365 days on the deck, and it was denied by the [secretary of defense], and they needed a force to fill their sector. We didn’t [replace] anybody; there was nobody there when we got there. We went right in, and we were operating … and stayed there for a little more than 40 days.”
The short tour left many disappointed.
“The Army asked for us to stay,” Furness said. “We knew we were doing good work. We thought we were having a good impact. We weren’t ready to leave, because after a month ... you’re kind of learning how the enemy is moving through, how he operates, the local roads.”
But it was no surprise, given the MEU’s advertised abilities to “do windows.”
“We do everything from your conventional combat to handing out water and everything in between,” Furness said.
“We have a lot of agility simply because some of the mobility assets we come with, as well as the strategic mobility of naval shipping, which puts you usually right where those spots are.”
The battalion and MEU were among the first forces to respond in Indonesia and Sri Lanka after the Dec. 26 tsunami. “That’s a relevant force,” Furness said.
“When things go bump in the night, or something happens that is not planned, and they need to respond immediately,” Furness said.
“This is a force that can do that.”
Ellie