thedrifter
03-19-06, 07:42 AM
THE IRAQ WAR: Three years
On 3rd anniversary, sense of obligation motivates troops
- John Koopman, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Camp Fallujah, Iraq -- It's just another day.
March 19 will come and go with barely a nod at this Marine base west of Baghdad. There are patrols to run, training to complete, forms to fill out and an insurgency just steps away.
Last week a car bomb took the life of a Marine. Inside Fallujah, U.S. and Iraqi troops come under fire every day. On this third anniversary of the invasion, Iraq is still a very dangerous place.
"Honestly, until someone reminded me about it, I didn't even know what day it was," Cpl. Rogelio Meza, 24, of Riverside, who is on his second tour, said Friday.
Reflecting on the start of the war is a luxury for the people still fighting it. But many of the Americans in Iraq for repeat tours say they never really thought three years ago that U.S. troops would still be here. Most assumed it would be a fight to oust Saddam Hussein's government and then, soon thereafter, they'd all go home.
That was certainly the thinking as tens of thousands of U.S. troops poured into Kuwait at the end of 2002 and beginning of 2003. Troops wrote letters home and packed their gear. Then headed north to take up positions directly south of the Iraq-Kuwait border.
On March 20, local time -- still March 19 in America -- they heard the announcement that the war had started.
Gunnery Sgt. Mark Oliva, 32, of Londonderry, N.H., was working as a reporter for the military newspaper Stars and Stripes, embedded with an infantry company. He's now on his third tour in Iraq, working for the 5th Marine Regiment.
"I never thought we'd be here three years later," he said. "It became real to me when I left Stars and Stripes and went to the 1st Marine Division, where I was told we were going back to Iraq in '04."
People have debated throughout the war over the meaning of the invasion and whether it was the right thing to do. But not the troops.
Which is not to say they don't discuss the topic privately. Many wonder about the reasons for the war, but it's really a moot point to most of them. They signed a contract, put on the uniform and picked up a gun. They were told to go to Iraq, and they went.
In any case, whatever the reasons for the invasion, there is always talk in Iraq of fixing what has been broken. You hear the phrase "moral obligation" a lot.
Meza has a wife and two kids back home.
"They understand it's my obligation and duty to come here," he said. "I'm doing it because I want to do it, not because I'm forced to. I could have found a different job or found some way to get around it."
Why does he want to be here?
"It's my obligation as a Marine and as a man," Meza said. "If I didn't stand up for this, what else would I stand up for?"
Capt. Melissa Schroth, 26, of Westchester, Pa., has been in the corps for five years and is on her first tour in Iraq.
"I had no reservations about coming," she said. "Wherever the Marines need me to go, I go."
She said American forces are still in Iraq because it's the right thing to do. "It's not our way to come in to fight a war, then leave the country in shambles and go," she said. "We're still here because this country is not going to defeat the insurgency itself. We don't turn a blind eye to people in need."
It's impossible to determine what average Iraqis think about it. It's way too dangerous for reporters to wander the cities and countryside asking the question. Certainly life is better for people in the north and south. But in places like Baghdad, Samarra, Ramadi and Fallujah, life is marked by suicide bombs, roadside bombs, snipers, ambushes, death and destruction.
An Iraqi journalist, who cannot be identified for fear that she'll be killed, said the level of danger is about the same now as it was under Hussein's regime.
Soldiers in the Iraqi Army are killed and wounded daily, and they take a great risk every time they go on leave -- of being kidnapped and then tortured and killed. Yet they sign up to fight.
Some do it for the paycheck: A basic soldier earns about $400 a month and a lieutenant gets about $513, in a country where unemployment is still high -- somewhere between 25 percent and 40 percent, according to the Brookings Institution's Iraq Index. But they also talk about protecting their country and making a better life for their families. In that way, they are very similar to American troops.
One young jundi -- Arabic for "soldier" -- on patrol outside of Fallujah said he joined the army because he couldn't find another job. But, he was quick to point out, he also wants to serve his country and make it safe.
In conversations, they say they appreciate American support and they want U.S. help until their country can stand on its own. Without it, they say, Iraq will descend into anarchy and all-out civil war.
"History books will not be kind to America if they cannot help Iraq," said one senior Iraqi officer working in Fallujah. "You cannot start a war and then leave when the people need you."
Some Iraqi soldiers fought against coalition troops three years ago, but they don't talk about it much. Some U.S. troops said they've had conversations with Iraqis about the terror of being on the receiving end of missiles, air strikes and artillery shelling. Some have the scars to prove it. But they're afraid to make it known.
For the American troops, the constant strain of moving in and out of Iraq is starting to take a toll. As motivated as the Marines and soldiers may be, their families are having a hard time dealing with absent fathers and mothers.
Oliva said he has missed half of his 6-year-old daughter's life. He calls himself selfish for doing what he wanted to do, and leaving his family behind. After this tour, he said, he wants to find a position in the Marines that will allow him to stay in the States for a while. He owes it to his family, he said.
Meza said he hears more and more stories of wives leaving husbands, or worse -- a buddy called home recently and the phone was answered by his wife's boyfriend.
Retention is down, and so is recruiting. People in Washington have started calling the global war on terrorism "the long war," but it's unclear whether anyone has thought about the impact that line of thinking has on the troops on the ground.
Gunnery Sgt. Peter Rowell, 35, of Minneapolis is in Iraq for a fourth time. He was involved in Desert Storm, then the invasion in '03 and two more tours since then.
The event that has had the most impact on him was during the invasion, when he was with a support unit that set up a supply depot in the desert. The Marines had brought several pallets full of rice and beans, anticipating they would need it to feed Iraqi prisoners. They ended up not needing it, and so went to a village to see about giving it away.
A civil affairs team found a village elder who started crying when he saw the Marines. Rowell thought the man was afraid, but the man said, no, he was just happy.
The Marines then brought out the pallets of rice and beans and said, Rowell recalled, " 'We've come to give this to you to help feed your people.'
"The guy just broke down," he said. "He couldn't believe what we were doing for him."
Rowell said there is a huge difference between that moment and what he sees in Iraq now.
"The honeymoon is over," he said. "This is the hard part. But you have to take a look at the bigger picture. By educating and empowering the Iraqi people, we're creating a new set of problems, but that's a good thing. They can see a better way of life, and now it can never come fast enough."
E-mail John Koopman at jkoopman@sfchronicle.com.
Ellie
On 3rd anniversary, sense of obligation motivates troops
- John Koopman, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Camp Fallujah, Iraq -- It's just another day.
March 19 will come and go with barely a nod at this Marine base west of Baghdad. There are patrols to run, training to complete, forms to fill out and an insurgency just steps away.
Last week a car bomb took the life of a Marine. Inside Fallujah, U.S. and Iraqi troops come under fire every day. On this third anniversary of the invasion, Iraq is still a very dangerous place.
"Honestly, until someone reminded me about it, I didn't even know what day it was," Cpl. Rogelio Meza, 24, of Riverside, who is on his second tour, said Friday.
Reflecting on the start of the war is a luxury for the people still fighting it. But many of the Americans in Iraq for repeat tours say they never really thought three years ago that U.S. troops would still be here. Most assumed it would be a fight to oust Saddam Hussein's government and then, soon thereafter, they'd all go home.
That was certainly the thinking as tens of thousands of U.S. troops poured into Kuwait at the end of 2002 and beginning of 2003. Troops wrote letters home and packed their gear. Then headed north to take up positions directly south of the Iraq-Kuwait border.
On March 20, local time -- still March 19 in America -- they heard the announcement that the war had started.
Gunnery Sgt. Mark Oliva, 32, of Londonderry, N.H., was working as a reporter for the military newspaper Stars and Stripes, embedded with an infantry company. He's now on his third tour in Iraq, working for the 5th Marine Regiment.
"I never thought we'd be here three years later," he said. "It became real to me when I left Stars and Stripes and went to the 1st Marine Division, where I was told we were going back to Iraq in '04."
People have debated throughout the war over the meaning of the invasion and whether it was the right thing to do. But not the troops.
Which is not to say they don't discuss the topic privately. Many wonder about the reasons for the war, but it's really a moot point to most of them. They signed a contract, put on the uniform and picked up a gun. They were told to go to Iraq, and they went.
In any case, whatever the reasons for the invasion, there is always talk in Iraq of fixing what has been broken. You hear the phrase "moral obligation" a lot.
Meza has a wife and two kids back home.
"They understand it's my obligation and duty to come here," he said. "I'm doing it because I want to do it, not because I'm forced to. I could have found a different job or found some way to get around it."
Why does he want to be here?
"It's my obligation as a Marine and as a man," Meza said. "If I didn't stand up for this, what else would I stand up for?"
Capt. Melissa Schroth, 26, of Westchester, Pa., has been in the corps for five years and is on her first tour in Iraq.
"I had no reservations about coming," she said. "Wherever the Marines need me to go, I go."
She said American forces are still in Iraq because it's the right thing to do. "It's not our way to come in to fight a war, then leave the country in shambles and go," she said. "We're still here because this country is not going to defeat the insurgency itself. We don't turn a blind eye to people in need."
It's impossible to determine what average Iraqis think about it. It's way too dangerous for reporters to wander the cities and countryside asking the question. Certainly life is better for people in the north and south. But in places like Baghdad, Samarra, Ramadi and Fallujah, life is marked by suicide bombs, roadside bombs, snipers, ambushes, death and destruction.
An Iraqi journalist, who cannot be identified for fear that she'll be killed, said the level of danger is about the same now as it was under Hussein's regime.
Soldiers in the Iraqi Army are killed and wounded daily, and they take a great risk every time they go on leave -- of being kidnapped and then tortured and killed. Yet they sign up to fight.
Some do it for the paycheck: A basic soldier earns about $400 a month and a lieutenant gets about $513, in a country where unemployment is still high -- somewhere between 25 percent and 40 percent, according to the Brookings Institution's Iraq Index. But they also talk about protecting their country and making a better life for their families. In that way, they are very similar to American troops.
One young jundi -- Arabic for "soldier" -- on patrol outside of Fallujah said he joined the army because he couldn't find another job. But, he was quick to point out, he also wants to serve his country and make it safe.
In conversations, they say they appreciate American support and they want U.S. help until their country can stand on its own. Without it, they say, Iraq will descend into anarchy and all-out civil war.
"History books will not be kind to America if they cannot help Iraq," said one senior Iraqi officer working in Fallujah. "You cannot start a war and then leave when the people need you."
Some Iraqi soldiers fought against coalition troops three years ago, but they don't talk about it much. Some U.S. troops said they've had conversations with Iraqis about the terror of being on the receiving end of missiles, air strikes and artillery shelling. Some have the scars to prove it. But they're afraid to make it known.
For the American troops, the constant strain of moving in and out of Iraq is starting to take a toll. As motivated as the Marines and soldiers may be, their families are having a hard time dealing with absent fathers and mothers.
Oliva said he has missed half of his 6-year-old daughter's life. He calls himself selfish for doing what he wanted to do, and leaving his family behind. After this tour, he said, he wants to find a position in the Marines that will allow him to stay in the States for a while. He owes it to his family, he said.
Meza said he hears more and more stories of wives leaving husbands, or worse -- a buddy called home recently and the phone was answered by his wife's boyfriend.
Retention is down, and so is recruiting. People in Washington have started calling the global war on terrorism "the long war," but it's unclear whether anyone has thought about the impact that line of thinking has on the troops on the ground.
Gunnery Sgt. Peter Rowell, 35, of Minneapolis is in Iraq for a fourth time. He was involved in Desert Storm, then the invasion in '03 and two more tours since then.
The event that has had the most impact on him was during the invasion, when he was with a support unit that set up a supply depot in the desert. The Marines had brought several pallets full of rice and beans, anticipating they would need it to feed Iraqi prisoners. They ended up not needing it, and so went to a village to see about giving it away.
A civil affairs team found a village elder who started crying when he saw the Marines. Rowell thought the man was afraid, but the man said, no, he was just happy.
The Marines then brought out the pallets of rice and beans and said, Rowell recalled, " 'We've come to give this to you to help feed your people.'
"The guy just broke down," he said. "He couldn't believe what we were doing for him."
Rowell said there is a huge difference between that moment and what he sees in Iraq now.
"The honeymoon is over," he said. "This is the hard part. But you have to take a look at the bigger picture. By educating and empowering the Iraqi people, we're creating a new set of problems, but that's a good thing. They can see a better way of life, and now it can never come fast enough."
E-mail John Koopman at jkoopman@sfchronicle.com.
Ellie