‘Poetic justice’

[thedrifter]

July 03, 2006

‘Poetic justice’
Marine kills enemy sniper, recovers rifle that was stolen from slain comrades in 2004

Leathernecks with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, delivered their own justice in Iraq with “one shot, one kill.”

On June 16, scout snipers from 3/5 recovered a sniper rifle stolen from a four-man sniper team with 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines. The team was killed in an apparent sneak attack on a Ramadi rooftop on June 21, 2004.

According to a Marine Corps news release, a sniper team with 3/5 observed a man inside a parked car videotaping a passing Marine vehicle patrol; there was a rifle visible next to him. The team radioed a warning to the patrol. As the man readied his weapon, a 21-year-old Marine sniper killed him with one shot. A squad of 3/5 leathernecks arrived at the vehicle and discovered the enemy sniper’s rifle was an M40A1 stolen from 2/4 two years ago.

For the “Magnificent Bastards” of 2/4, the rifle’s discovery is bittersweet. But according to Master Sgt. Rod Schlosser, who was with 2/4, it brings some closure. Especially because troops know how a sniper can affect the battlefield, and knowing a Marine’s weapon is in enemy hands “gets under your skin,” he said.

“I don’t believe that weapon passed hands,” said Lt. Col. Paul Kennedy, the 2/4 battalion commander in June 2004. “The very fact it was one of our snipers that killed theirs trying to use our rifle is poetic justice.”

Ellie

[thedrifter]

July 03, 2006

News breaks

Reservist collapses during exercises, dies

Reserve Pfc. Paul H. Flores, of Austin, Texas, died June 21 after spending two days in critical condition at Brooke Army Medical Center. Flores collapsed June 19 while doing swimming exercises at the fitness center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Marine Corps officials said. The cause of death is unknown.

Flores, a 29-year-old member of 4th Reconnaissance Battalion, was participating in “swim prescreening,” said Maj. Humberto Rodriguez.

Officials were investigating the details of what happened, Rodriguez said. He described the activity as “very light in nature.”

“Flores never went under the water,” Rodriguez said.

Fort Sam Houston spokesman Phil Reidinger said the Marine’s death is under investigation.


Death may be linked to smallpox shot

The December 2005 death of a soldier may be directly linked to the smallpox vaccine, the first time the Pentagon has made such a determination.

Army Pfc. Christopher “Justin” Abston died suddenly in his Fort Bragg, N.C., barracks room 16 days after receiving smallpox and flu vaccines.

The Pentagon said about 1 million service members have received smallpox vaccinations since December 2002. About 120 developed a condition called myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle.

Defense officials said in a June 22 news release that an autopsy on Abston revealed he was suffering from myocarditis when he died.

The main ingredient in the smallpox vaccine, vaccinia virus, was not found in Abston’s heart tissue. However, doctors did find evidence of parvovirus B19, which also causes heart inflammation.

After six months of review, a panel of military doctors ruled that the test results “suggest the possibility that the vaccines may have cause Abston’s death.”

All troops assigned to U.S. Central Command, U.S. Forces Korea and certain homeland defense missions receive the smallpox vaccine. Those troops are screened before they are inoculated, and about 8 percent do not receive the vaccine for medical reasons.

Corporal dies in fall at state park

Cpl. Gregory Lust, 21, of Reading, Pa., died in a fall at Leonard Harrison State Park in Wellsboro, Pa., according to a June 20 statement from Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C.

Lust was a clarinetist with the Parris Island Marine Band, which was in Wellsboro to participate in the Laurel Festival on June 17. The band’s return flight was delayed, so its members took a trip to the park June 18.

Park manager Chip Harrison said Lust was taking photographs near a waterfall when he fell about 50 feet.

General officers to change commands

President Bush has nominated Lt. Gen. James Amos for reappointment to his current grade and assignment as the deputy commandant for combat development and integration and commanding general of the Quantico, Va.-based Marine Corps Combat Development Command, the Defense Department announced June 21.

Amos assumed his current command of II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in July 2004.

The Defense Department announced June 19 that Maj. Gen. Keith Stalder, who is the commander of Quantico’s Training and Education Command, had been nominated for a third star and assignment as II MEF’s next commander.

Amos will replace Lt. Gen. Jim Mattis, who was nominated to command the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based I MEF, the Defense Department said May 30.

[thedrifter]

July 03, 2006

News briefs

Back-up marathon plan

If you were lucky enough to score a spot in this fall’s Marine Corps Marathon but can’t run the race Oct. 29, you can transfer your spot to another runner or defer entry for a guaranteed spot in the 2007 race.

“Things happen — injuries, business trips, even deployments [among] those runners who are also members of the armed forces,” said Rick Nealis, race director, in a news release announcing the policy.

Those who defer their registration to 2007 also transfer their registration fee, a change from the previous deferment policy. The deferment request form must be returned with a $20 fee by Oct. 10.

To transfer a bib number to another runner, registered runners must complete a transfer form, also available on the race’s Web site, www.marinemarathon.com. Officials will send a transfer application to the new runner. It must be returned with the $20 transfer fee by Sept. 21.

Virginia’s tuition rates


Thousands of military children whose families are assigned to Virginia-based commands but are not state residents will be eligible for in-state college tuition rates under a bill signed into law June 19 by Gov. Tim Kaine.

Roughly 3,500 children of military personnel stationed in Virginia could potentially benefit, officials said.

Kaine signed several other military-friendly measures into law, including bills establishing the Virginia Military Family Relief Fund and a “Support Our Troops” license plate.

“Virginia is honored to be the home of 122,000 active-duty military personnel and almost three-quarters of a million veterans and their families,” Kaine said at the bill-signing ceremony in Richmond. “These are our family, friends, neighbors, customers and co-workers. We salute their service and look for opportunities like today to thank them for their service.”

75-year-old surgeon deploys

The military’s oldest deployed service member left the States on June 17, according to an American Forces Press Service release.

William Bernhard, 75, a retired Army Reserve colonel and surgeon, headed to Afghanistan for his third deployment during the war on terrorism because he would rather come out of retirement to help service members than watch from the sidelines, he said.

“We need trained, experienced physicians to take care of them, and I feel honored that I’ve been selected to go over there and provide medical care for these troops,” he said.

Bernhard, who lives in Cecil County, Md., has more than 40 years’ medical experience, directing anesthesia at the University of Maryland’s shock trauma center for 10 of those years. He said he has trained countless military medics in the emergency room, and he remains one of the Army’s most experienced flight surgeons, keeping up his skills part-time at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

“It doesn’t take any training for me to go to war,” he said. “All I have to do is get new uniforms … and qualify again with the 9mm [pistol].”

Life-saving effort honored

A Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based lance corporal was honored for saving a man’s life in New York in January 2005.

Lance Cpl. James Stewart, 20, with 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal on June 12 for heroism demonstrated Jan. 3, 2005.

Stewart, who was a private at the time, was traveling on Interstate 87 with Pfcs. Greg LaFountain, William Patnode and Charles Meskunas to check in at Recruiting Station Albany, N.Y., for recruiter’s assistance, a 1st Marine Corps District spokesman in Garden City, N.Y., said June 22.

A fuel truck traveling on the same highway rammed into the back of a tractor-trailer, leaving the vehicles in flames. The Marines discovered the wreck and quickly responded.

According to a Jan. 20 report on www.pressrepublican.com, LaFountain and Patnode drove off in search of a cell phone signal to call for help. Meanwhile, Stewart and Meskunas dragged the injured driver of the burning fuel truck to safety and treated him for shock.

The recruiting station submitted the four leathernecks for awards the same month, an administrative official with 1st Marine Corps District said. Meskunas and Stewart were approved for the Navy and Marine Corps Medal in May. LaFountain and Patnode were approved for Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals in March 2005.

“I didn’t expect this,” Stewart said after receiving the medal. “I was just doing my duty as a Marine and as a person.”

Made in the USA

The two 500-pound bombs used to kill Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were built by workers at the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant in Oklahoma, a plant official said.

The Air Force launched two bombs June 7 on a safe house near Baqubah, Iraq. Zarqawi was still alive when U.S. troops arrived on the scene, but he died of his wounds a short time later.

McAlester is the only facility making explosive 500-pound bombs for the U.S. military. Guidance systems are added later.

Murtha suggests Okinawa

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., suggested June 18 that the U.S. pull its troops from Iraq and send them to Okinawa, Japan.

U.S. forces pulled from Iraq would not need to be stationed in the Middle East and “can go to Okinawa,” Murtha told Tim Russert on NBC’s Sunday morning news program, “Meet the Press.”

“We can redeploy there almost instantly,” he said.

“When I say a timely response, you know, our fighters can fly from Okinawa very quickly,” he said.

Okinawa is 6,600 nautical miles from Iraq.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

July 03, 2006

Around the Corps

Compiled from military and other public sources.

Iraq

System offers ‘push-button’ convoys

Leathernecks with Regimental Combat Team 5 designed a three-day course to test and evaluate Iraqi soldiers on a new convoy tracking and communications system, a June 18 Marine Corps news release said.

The course was designed to familiarize the soldiers with the Mobile Tracking System Lite. According to Maj. Thomas Langlois, who coordinated the evaluation for RCT-5, the MTS Lite is a satellite-based position and location reporting system.

Maj. Brian Wirtz, the operations adviser for the Iraqi army’s 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, said the system consists of a simple receiver and transponder that can be fitted into any vehicle. It is equipped with three buttons to signal to an operations center a delay in a convoy, a delay needing non-emergency assets and enemy contact requiring emergency assistance. The system allows the Iraqi soldiers to convoy without Marines by their side.


“We’ve overcome a major hurdle in their desire to do independent operations,” Wirtz said. “That’s a huge requirement for the Iraqi army to logistically sustain itself.”

“The MTS Lite provides a 911 button if they become engaged, and they know help is coming in one way or another,” Langlois said.

Japan

Refueler squadron in ‘Valiant shield’

Leathernecks with the Okinawa, Japan-based Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152 joined forces with Navy Strike Fighter Squadron 97 in a refueling mission to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, on June 16, a Marine Corps news release said.

The squadron provided four KC-130 Hercules aircraft for the mission, which supported Exercise Valiant Shield 2006, the release said. Valiant Shield is a joint exercise involving 10 air bases, three Navy carrier strike groups and the Coast Guard.

Germany

EuCom holds weapons summit

U.S. European Command held a nonlethal weapons summit and capabilities exercise at its bases June 21, a Marine Corps news release said.

Marine Corps Forces Europe serves as EuCom’s nonlethal weapons executive agent, the release said.

“The summit and CAPEX are significant because it is the first of its kind for EuCom,” said Lt. Col. Laura Falkenbach, the nonlethal weapons program director for Marine Forces Europe.

“We have conducted small-scale demonstrations before, but this is the first time we conducted a comprehensive nonlethal weapons event for the EuCom staff, component staff members and our European and African allies,” Falkenbach said.

According to the release, more than 100 U.S. service members and foreign officers from at least 20 countries attended the summit.

About 50 leathernecks with the Marine Corps Security Forces Company in Rota, Spain, worked as ground forces during the demonstration, which was preceded by more than a week of training.

Europe

24th MEU gets liberty in European ports

The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit has completed the first part of its deployment and docked in Europe for liberty, a June 20 Marine Corps news release said.

The MEU departed Camp Lejeune, N.C., on June 8 with the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group. The group’s flagship docked at Marseille, France, on June 20, and the dock landing ship Whidbey Island pulled into Rota, Spain, on June 18. The third ship carrying leathernecks, the amphibious transport dock Nashville, pulled into Naples, Italy, on June 21.

According to the release, the war on terrorism has reduced the frequency of MEU port calls. In July 2004, when the 24th MEU last deployed, the unit was ordered straight to Iraq. Most of the Marines flew to the Middle East and spent the duration of their seven-month tour south of Baghdad.