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thedrifter
02-06-06, 07:32 AM
Maryland Marine recovers vehicles in combat zone
II Marine Expeditionary Force (FWD)
Story by Cpl. Ruben D. Maestre

CAMP FALLUJAH, IRAQ (Feb. 6, 2006) -- The group of 7-ton trucks prepared for a transportation supply mission hours before by test firing their weapons. The brown-eyed, 20-year-old Marine behind the M-2 .50 caliber, heavy machine gun he handled with his gloved hands, does what he has to do as a vehicle recovery operator on convoys across Iraq. Recovering disabled vehicles is his job but if needed, he is a driver, a gunner and like every Marine a rifleman.

“I like being outside the wire instead of being on base,” said Lance Cpl. Stephen E. Davis, about his duties outside Camp Fallujah. “There is just something about being out here [in Iraq], doing my job instead of being back in the states.”

The Hampstead, Md., native, has participated in nearly 50 convoy operations throughout western and southern Iraq since the beginning of November. Davis and other vehicle recovery operators from Motor Transport Platoon, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Headquarters Group, II MEF (FWD), accompany vehicles moving everything from water and food supplies to medicine, mail and ammunition.

Davis’ job is important both for security and morale. Disabled vehicles cannot be left behind where they can be fashioned into vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices placed alongside roads or used for insurgent propaganda.

“If a vehicle is disabled, it’s my job to recover the vehicle regardless of the time of day it is,” said Davis. “I’ve had missions where I had to go during the middle of the day and then other missions that were at one in the morning.”

The son of a Baltimore police officer and a reserve Marine originally assigned to 4th Combat Engineer Battalion, 4th Marine Division, based in Baltimore, Davis follows the values his parents taught him as he takes on the demanding assignments in Iraq.

“I try to always put others before myself and to respect others,” said the 2003 graduate from North Carroll High School in Hampstead, Md. “That’s the way I was brought up.”

Despite the probability he will deploy to Iraq with his reserve unit in the near future, Davis volunteered for the five-month tour to Iraq wanting to play a greater part as an experienced Marine who’s had deployment time already here.

“People would always ask me if I was a Marine,” said the former high school football and lacrosse player. “Then the second question would be if I had been to Iraq and I would say no. As a Marine, I felt like I needed to come out here to do the job.”

Davis has tackled the challenges of convoy operations by his proficiency of various weapons systems and has gained experience in traversing across the highways and roads of Iraq.

“He hasn’t been here very long but he’s learned very quickly,” said Sgt. Robert J. Shinskie, 20, of Coal Township, Pa., vehicle recovery operator, Motor Transportation Platoon, II MHG, II MEF (FWD). “He knows his routes and he’s learned to react quickly to different situations that could pose a threat to the entire convoy.”

Davis looks forward to coming home as his first deployment to Iraq wraps up in the coming month, but he won’t forget what he’s learned here.

“Some people live their entire life wondering if they did anything meaningful,” said Davis paraphrasing a quote originally given by President Ronald Reagan about the Marines. “I know that I don’t have that problem.”