thedrifter
11-29-06, 07:22 AM
Marine back from Iraq with war stories
By MIKE CONLEY
nconley@mcdowellnews.com
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
At age 19, Lance Cpl. Brian Forshey is already a veteran who’s seen the face of war.
For six months, Forshey and his fellow Marines were deployed in Ramadi, a city of 400,000 people in central Iraq. They stood guard so the city’s officials could rebuild their government. And they kept watch for any possible attacks by insurgents. At times, they were under enemy fire.
"I was busy trying to stay alive and keeping my friends alive," said Forshey, a Marion native.
The son of Mark and Pamela Forshey, he graduated in May 2005 from McDowell High School with the goal of becoming a Marine.
His graduation was two days before he left for boot camp training at Parris Island, S.C. He also has an older sister, Tasha, and a younger sister, Elizabeth.
Forshey is a mortarman with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines. He is trained to fire mortars, the muzzle-loading artillery pieces that can be carried by one or more people into combat.
Less than a year after joining the Marines, Forshey would get his first overseas deployment when he and his fellow leathernecks were sent to Ramadi.
The city has been a focal point of resistance to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
Because it hosts the main railway line into Syria, American commanders have long suspected the city of being a staging area for insurgents, according to a Web site.
Forshey and his fellow Marines got there on March 4. Their base was located in one of the palaces built for former President Saddam Hussein. They took the place of the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines who at the time were in Iraq on their third deployment.
"That was our command headquarters," said Forshey. "This guest palace had been used by many Marines before us so it was pretty much cleaned out when we got there."
During his time in Iraq, Forshey took lots of photos with his digital camera but he had to erase most of them because they contained sensitive information. He also can’t talk about much of what he experienced over there.
Forshey and the other Marines were assigned to two observation posts in Ramadi, besides the former palace. One was the local government building for the entire region. The Marines protected that building so the local government officials could go about the business of rebuilding their war-torn country.
They also had to guard a street to prevent insurgents from placing improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, which are similar to land mines. The IEDs, also called roadside bombs, have caused many casualities in the Iraq War.
As summer arrived, the level of insurgent violence in Ramadi remained the highest in the country, on some days accounting for nearly half of all insurgent attacks in Iraq.
But Forshey remembers another side to the Iraqi people.
"The majority of the Iraqi people were friendly, family oriented," he said. "When we would have to come into a house, they would offer us food, shelter, water. They were glad to have us there."
Forshey and his fellow Marines left the country on Aug. 29. He came home recently during a two-week leave but has since gone back to Camp Lejuene, where his unit is based. Although some are calling for a timetable to bring the troops home, Forshey said the work of rebuilding Iraq isn’t done yet.
"We’re really pushing to achieve our goals and make Iraq a stable, self-sufficient country," he said. "I think personally we shouldn’t leave until the job is finished."
He also thinks the hanging of Saddam Hussein will make the situation better in Iraq. It will show that the Iraqi people can bring justice to their former oppressors.
Ellie
By MIKE CONLEY
nconley@mcdowellnews.com
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
At age 19, Lance Cpl. Brian Forshey is already a veteran who’s seen the face of war.
For six months, Forshey and his fellow Marines were deployed in Ramadi, a city of 400,000 people in central Iraq. They stood guard so the city’s officials could rebuild their government. And they kept watch for any possible attacks by insurgents. At times, they were under enemy fire.
"I was busy trying to stay alive and keeping my friends alive," said Forshey, a Marion native.
The son of Mark and Pamela Forshey, he graduated in May 2005 from McDowell High School with the goal of becoming a Marine.
His graduation was two days before he left for boot camp training at Parris Island, S.C. He also has an older sister, Tasha, and a younger sister, Elizabeth.
Forshey is a mortarman with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines. He is trained to fire mortars, the muzzle-loading artillery pieces that can be carried by one or more people into combat.
Less than a year after joining the Marines, Forshey would get his first overseas deployment when he and his fellow leathernecks were sent to Ramadi.
The city has been a focal point of resistance to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
Because it hosts the main railway line into Syria, American commanders have long suspected the city of being a staging area for insurgents, according to a Web site.
Forshey and his fellow Marines got there on March 4. Their base was located in one of the palaces built for former President Saddam Hussein. They took the place of the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines who at the time were in Iraq on their third deployment.
"That was our command headquarters," said Forshey. "This guest palace had been used by many Marines before us so it was pretty much cleaned out when we got there."
During his time in Iraq, Forshey took lots of photos with his digital camera but he had to erase most of them because they contained sensitive information. He also can’t talk about much of what he experienced over there.
Forshey and the other Marines were assigned to two observation posts in Ramadi, besides the former palace. One was the local government building for the entire region. The Marines protected that building so the local government officials could go about the business of rebuilding their war-torn country.
They also had to guard a street to prevent insurgents from placing improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, which are similar to land mines. The IEDs, also called roadside bombs, have caused many casualities in the Iraq War.
As summer arrived, the level of insurgent violence in Ramadi remained the highest in the country, on some days accounting for nearly half of all insurgent attacks in Iraq.
But Forshey remembers another side to the Iraqi people.
"The majority of the Iraqi people were friendly, family oriented," he said. "When we would have to come into a house, they would offer us food, shelter, water. They were glad to have us there."
Forshey and his fellow Marines left the country on Aug. 29. He came home recently during a two-week leave but has since gone back to Camp Lejuene, where his unit is based. Although some are calling for a timetable to bring the troops home, Forshey said the work of rebuilding Iraq isn’t done yet.
"We’re really pushing to achieve our goals and make Iraq a stable, self-sufficient country," he said. "I think personally we shouldn’t leave until the job is finished."
He also thinks the hanging of Saddam Hussein will make the situation better in Iraq. It will show that the Iraqi people can bring justice to their former oppressors.
Ellie