thedrifter
12-02-06, 08:12 AM
U.S. Marines recently deployed to dangerous Anbar province get first taste of Iraq war
The Associated Press
Even as leading Democrats talk about gradually sending troops home from Iraq, thousands of recently deployed U.S. Marines are getting their first taste of the war.
About 2,200 Marines left their ships in the Persian Gulf two weeks ago for the dangerous city of Ramadi and other locales around violent Anbar province, where entrenched and well-financed insurgents use roadside bombs, rocket and mortar attacks, ambushes and snipers to kill American troops at rates approaching one per day.
Two battalions from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit have been assigned to this city of mansions with towering, gilded columns and crescent-shaped windows, the capital of a Sunni Arab province that stretches west from Baghdad to the Iraqi borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
1st Sgt. Eric Carlson from the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines said Saturday that only about 20 percent of those in the battalions arriving in Ramadi have fought previously in the Iraq war — though some have combat experience from Afghanistan, Kosovo and the first Gulf War. He said he didn't want specific numbers to appear in print, fearing it could help insurgents plan.
"This is why they joined the Marines, for combat," said Carlson, a 38-year-old Chicago native who fought in Iraq during the first Gulf War but is on his first deployment here since the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.
"There's a lot of bad people in this city, all over this province," he said. "We're here to help in whatever way we can."
During their short time in Ramadi, one Marine already has been seriously wounded, taking a bullet to the neck in an ambush a few blocks from a U.S. Army outpost. He was rushed to successful surgery in Germany, which was able to prevent paralysis.
About 30,000 U.S. troops — more than 20,000 of them Marines — are spread thinly throughout the deserts of Anbar, which is roughly the size of North Carolina and home to 1.4 million people. The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit had been designated as a reserve force for Iraq to be tapped if circumstances called for a boost in U.S. presence.
Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, has sent the unit to Anbar to provide reinforcements for about six weeks — though its tour here could be extended.
"Abizaid putting more Marines into Iraq might be posturing on his part after the Democrats won back Congress," said Lance Cpl. Tyler Ceniseoz, 21, of Curvina, California. "When everybody says we need to be sending troops home, he's saying the opposite."
It marks the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit's third deployment in Iraq: the unit participated in the initial invasion in March 2003 and returned two years later. But many from the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines now attached to the unit are joining the war for the first time.
"I'm excited, a little anxious," Ceniseoz said. "The last deployment, we went to Japan and hung out, got drunk, had fun and didn't do much. Now we're here doing our jobs."
A city of 300,000, Ramadi is an insurgent stronghold that has featured some of the bloodiest combat of the war as U.S. Marines and soldiers fought their way from neighborhood to neighborhood. Some areas have been reduced to burned-out rubble, while it's hard to find a high-rise here not pockmarked with bullet holes or scarred from the impact of a rocket or mortar.
"Things here are pretty tough, you've still got guys who are getting shot everyday," said Lance Cpl. Brian Kleinkopf, a 19-year-old from Yreka, California. "It could get ugly."
The unit has spent its early days in Iraq conducting raids and house-by-house searches of insurgent strongholds around Ramadi. It was expecting to see heavy combat this weekend, teaming up with a U.S. Army Task Force to sweep an area in the southeastern part of the city rife with disaffected former officers in Saddam Hussein's army who have taken up arms against the American troops.
"To send us here, it means they needed help here," said Cpl. Robert Lemmons, 21, from Bothell, Washington. "Things are still pretty difficult for a lot of Marines in a lot of places around this province."
Sgt. Yobani Tejada, 27, of Las Vegas fought in Fallujah and is one of the few from the battalion on his second tour in Iraq. He said the decision to deploy the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit had nothing to with the midterm elections that swept Democrats to control of Congress or the calls for a new direction in Iraq that have reached a crescendo after it.
"The planning for this mission began months and months ago, regardless of what was going on outside Iraq," he said.
Peering through his rifle's scope from the concrete rooftop of a U.S. outpost in central Ramadi, Lt. Richard Jahelka said he joined the Marines five months ago ready to fight in Iraq. When asked what it felt like to be here, he said simply, "finally."
"We came here to help people and to fight," said Jahelka, a 21-year-old San Diego native. "Not sit on a ship."
Ellie
The Associated Press
Even as leading Democrats talk about gradually sending troops home from Iraq, thousands of recently deployed U.S. Marines are getting their first taste of the war.
About 2,200 Marines left their ships in the Persian Gulf two weeks ago for the dangerous city of Ramadi and other locales around violent Anbar province, where entrenched and well-financed insurgents use roadside bombs, rocket and mortar attacks, ambushes and snipers to kill American troops at rates approaching one per day.
Two battalions from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit have been assigned to this city of mansions with towering, gilded columns and crescent-shaped windows, the capital of a Sunni Arab province that stretches west from Baghdad to the Iraqi borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
1st Sgt. Eric Carlson from the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines said Saturday that only about 20 percent of those in the battalions arriving in Ramadi have fought previously in the Iraq war — though some have combat experience from Afghanistan, Kosovo and the first Gulf War. He said he didn't want specific numbers to appear in print, fearing it could help insurgents plan.
"This is why they joined the Marines, for combat," said Carlson, a 38-year-old Chicago native who fought in Iraq during the first Gulf War but is on his first deployment here since the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.
"There's a lot of bad people in this city, all over this province," he said. "We're here to help in whatever way we can."
During their short time in Ramadi, one Marine already has been seriously wounded, taking a bullet to the neck in an ambush a few blocks from a U.S. Army outpost. He was rushed to successful surgery in Germany, which was able to prevent paralysis.
About 30,000 U.S. troops — more than 20,000 of them Marines — are spread thinly throughout the deserts of Anbar, which is roughly the size of North Carolina and home to 1.4 million people. The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit had been designated as a reserve force for Iraq to be tapped if circumstances called for a boost in U.S. presence.
Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, has sent the unit to Anbar to provide reinforcements for about six weeks — though its tour here could be extended.
"Abizaid putting more Marines into Iraq might be posturing on his part after the Democrats won back Congress," said Lance Cpl. Tyler Ceniseoz, 21, of Curvina, California. "When everybody says we need to be sending troops home, he's saying the opposite."
It marks the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit's third deployment in Iraq: the unit participated in the initial invasion in March 2003 and returned two years later. But many from the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines now attached to the unit are joining the war for the first time.
"I'm excited, a little anxious," Ceniseoz said. "The last deployment, we went to Japan and hung out, got drunk, had fun and didn't do much. Now we're here doing our jobs."
A city of 300,000, Ramadi is an insurgent stronghold that has featured some of the bloodiest combat of the war as U.S. Marines and soldiers fought their way from neighborhood to neighborhood. Some areas have been reduced to burned-out rubble, while it's hard to find a high-rise here not pockmarked with bullet holes or scarred from the impact of a rocket or mortar.
"Things here are pretty tough, you've still got guys who are getting shot everyday," said Lance Cpl. Brian Kleinkopf, a 19-year-old from Yreka, California. "It could get ugly."
The unit has spent its early days in Iraq conducting raids and house-by-house searches of insurgent strongholds around Ramadi. It was expecting to see heavy combat this weekend, teaming up with a U.S. Army Task Force to sweep an area in the southeastern part of the city rife with disaffected former officers in Saddam Hussein's army who have taken up arms against the American troops.
"To send us here, it means they needed help here," said Cpl. Robert Lemmons, 21, from Bothell, Washington. "Things are still pretty difficult for a lot of Marines in a lot of places around this province."
Sgt. Yobani Tejada, 27, of Las Vegas fought in Fallujah and is one of the few from the battalion on his second tour in Iraq. He said the decision to deploy the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit had nothing to with the midterm elections that swept Democrats to control of Congress or the calls for a new direction in Iraq that have reached a crescendo after it.
"The planning for this mission began months and months ago, regardless of what was going on outside Iraq," he said.
Peering through his rifle's scope from the concrete rooftop of a U.S. outpost in central Ramadi, Lt. Richard Jahelka said he joined the Marines five months ago ready to fight in Iraq. When asked what it felt like to be here, he said simply, "finally."
"We came here to help people and to fight," said Jahelka, a 21-year-old San Diego native. "Not sit on a ship."
Ellie