thedrifter
12-12-06, 06:21 AM
GR Marine unit puts in long days in Anbar province
Monday, December 11, 2006
By Ted Roelofs
The Grand Rapids Press
Shrapnel from an explosion hit Lance Cpl. Bryon Bailey hard. It gave him a concussion and left his face pockmarked.
The blast last week was just another day on the job for a group of Grand Rapids-based Marines in Iraq.
While Bailey, 23, of Spring Lake, was injured, this time the blast took no lives. The roadside bomb rocked a Marine truck on patrol Dec. 4 outside Fallujah, Iraq, flinging three Marines and a photographer into the air.
Bailey's wife, Cathy Bailey, 22, heard from him a couple of days later, when he called from a hospital in Iraq.
"He sounded a little dazed and confused," she said.
So it goes for members of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Reserves, on patrol in one of the most dangerous regions in Iraq. As pessimism deepens about the war in Iraq, Marines in the Grand Rapids-based combat unit have more pressing concerns as they patrol just southwest of Fallujah in Anbar province: Keep your head up and weapon ready.
A Marine intelligence report leaked last month concluded that conditions in the province had deteriorated to the point where U.S. and Iraqi troops "are no longer capable" of defeating the insurgency.
If so, members of Alpha Company failed to get the memo.
"These guys patrol 16 to 20 hours a day," their commanding officer Major Dan Whisnant told The Press this week in an e-mail.
"They have been in several firefights that have lasted several hours," Whisnant wrote. "The days and hours are long but they get a couple hours of rest, get some food in their stomachs and then head out on patrol."
The cost to the unit has been steep.
Since they shipped out from Grand Rapids in June, two Marines have been killed and four seriously injured.
On Thursday, a Marine from a Lansing-based company assigned to the same region west of Baghdad died in combat. Lance Cpl. Brent E. Beeler, 22, of Jackson, died while conducting combat operations, according to a Pentagon press release. His was the 11th death in the Michigan-based battalion since Marines arrived in Iraq in early October.
While the nation ponders exit strategies to a deteriorating war, these Marines face death every time they venture out on foot or road patrol. Debate over how or when or why U.S. troops should leave Iraq is a luxury they do not have.
"The Marines have seen the realities of combat and I have seen them react very positively to it," Whisnant said, referring to the casualties the Grand Rapids company has suffered.
"We will never forget their honor, courage and commitment to their fellow Marines."
About three weeks after the Grand Rapids unit arrived in Iraq, Lance Cpl. Jonathan Thornsberry, 22, and Sgt. Thomas Gilbert, 24, were killed Oct. 25 by a roadside bomb near their Humvee.
This unit is largely comprised of young men in their early 20s -- students, factory workers, construction workers, salesmen, police officers, truck drivers. Some signed up for the college benefits or because they could not find a good job in West Michigan. Others signed up to fight terrorism. Whisnant, a Kalamazoo resident, manages medical trials for Stryker Corporation.
Among the wounded are Sgt. Kedrick Doezema, 24, a 2000 graduate of Grand Rapids Christian High School. According to his father, Frank Doezema, his son was wounded Dec. 2, struck in the leg just above the knee by a single shot. He remains in Iraq and is expected to recover.
Frank Doezema said events in Iraq have led him to doubt the rationale for war laid out by the Bush administration. But Doezema said the Marines in Iraq have a different perspective. They have orders. They will follow them.
"From a Marine point of view, the Marines are there because they are dedicated to the responsibility of the country. They will fight and die where we send them," he said.
"It is the responsibility of our political leaders to send them to the right place."
Cathy Bailey said her husband, Bryon, on light duty for the moment, is eager to get back on patrol. She stands behind him.
"I want him home safe and everything. But if he needs to be over longer to get it taken care of, that's what he needs to do," she said.
Approximately 150 Marines rolled out of Grand Rapids on four buses at 5:30 a.m. on June 7, bound for urban combat training in California and duty in Iraq. Before this mission, many in this Reserve unit served eight months active duty in Africa in 2003.
Marines have the primary job of securing Anbar province, a violent stronghold of Sunni resistance to the Iraqi government. Fallujah itself was the scene of some of the most intense urban combat in Iraq in November 2004, when 10,000 Marines launched a campaign to root out the insurgency that controlled the city of 300,000.
According to Whisnant, Alpha Company is assigned to a 28-square-mile area southwest of Fallujah along the Euphrates River. Unlike much of this arid province, it is an area he describes as "agricultural and very green and lush," the land crisscrossed by irrigation canals.
Whisnant said the area is "99.9 percent Sunni and the attitudes vary by neighborhood."
"There are those who understand our mission and back us up with support and even information. Unfortunately -- right now that is the minority."
Despite reports of insurgent dominance in other areas, Whisnant said the mission "is going very well."
"We have killed and detained many insurgents, which have obviously had an effect on their operations," he said.
In an e-mail sent to relatives of Marines, Whisnant described the unit's methodical campaign aimed at driving out the insurgents. It reflects an optimism at odds with much of the recent news out of Iraq.
"We have been successful at hunting him down where he is sleeping or hiding! When we haven't been able to actually catch him we have chased him out of his old neighborhood into another where he can't have the same effect as before. We have the enemy looking over their shoulders constantly."
His appraisal of his Marines: "These are some of the most amazing men that walk the face of the earth. Plain and simple."
Send e-mail to the author: troelofs@grpress.com
Ellie
Monday, December 11, 2006
By Ted Roelofs
The Grand Rapids Press
Shrapnel from an explosion hit Lance Cpl. Bryon Bailey hard. It gave him a concussion and left his face pockmarked.
The blast last week was just another day on the job for a group of Grand Rapids-based Marines in Iraq.
While Bailey, 23, of Spring Lake, was injured, this time the blast took no lives. The roadside bomb rocked a Marine truck on patrol Dec. 4 outside Fallujah, Iraq, flinging three Marines and a photographer into the air.
Bailey's wife, Cathy Bailey, 22, heard from him a couple of days later, when he called from a hospital in Iraq.
"He sounded a little dazed and confused," she said.
So it goes for members of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Reserves, on patrol in one of the most dangerous regions in Iraq. As pessimism deepens about the war in Iraq, Marines in the Grand Rapids-based combat unit have more pressing concerns as they patrol just southwest of Fallujah in Anbar province: Keep your head up and weapon ready.
A Marine intelligence report leaked last month concluded that conditions in the province had deteriorated to the point where U.S. and Iraqi troops "are no longer capable" of defeating the insurgency.
If so, members of Alpha Company failed to get the memo.
"These guys patrol 16 to 20 hours a day," their commanding officer Major Dan Whisnant told The Press this week in an e-mail.
"They have been in several firefights that have lasted several hours," Whisnant wrote. "The days and hours are long but they get a couple hours of rest, get some food in their stomachs and then head out on patrol."
The cost to the unit has been steep.
Since they shipped out from Grand Rapids in June, two Marines have been killed and four seriously injured.
On Thursday, a Marine from a Lansing-based company assigned to the same region west of Baghdad died in combat. Lance Cpl. Brent E. Beeler, 22, of Jackson, died while conducting combat operations, according to a Pentagon press release. His was the 11th death in the Michigan-based battalion since Marines arrived in Iraq in early October.
While the nation ponders exit strategies to a deteriorating war, these Marines face death every time they venture out on foot or road patrol. Debate over how or when or why U.S. troops should leave Iraq is a luxury they do not have.
"The Marines have seen the realities of combat and I have seen them react very positively to it," Whisnant said, referring to the casualties the Grand Rapids company has suffered.
"We will never forget their honor, courage and commitment to their fellow Marines."
About three weeks after the Grand Rapids unit arrived in Iraq, Lance Cpl. Jonathan Thornsberry, 22, and Sgt. Thomas Gilbert, 24, were killed Oct. 25 by a roadside bomb near their Humvee.
This unit is largely comprised of young men in their early 20s -- students, factory workers, construction workers, salesmen, police officers, truck drivers. Some signed up for the college benefits or because they could not find a good job in West Michigan. Others signed up to fight terrorism. Whisnant, a Kalamazoo resident, manages medical trials for Stryker Corporation.
Among the wounded are Sgt. Kedrick Doezema, 24, a 2000 graduate of Grand Rapids Christian High School. According to his father, Frank Doezema, his son was wounded Dec. 2, struck in the leg just above the knee by a single shot. He remains in Iraq and is expected to recover.
Frank Doezema said events in Iraq have led him to doubt the rationale for war laid out by the Bush administration. But Doezema said the Marines in Iraq have a different perspective. They have orders. They will follow them.
"From a Marine point of view, the Marines are there because they are dedicated to the responsibility of the country. They will fight and die where we send them," he said.
"It is the responsibility of our political leaders to send them to the right place."
Cathy Bailey said her husband, Bryon, on light duty for the moment, is eager to get back on patrol. She stands behind him.
"I want him home safe and everything. But if he needs to be over longer to get it taken care of, that's what he needs to do," she said.
Approximately 150 Marines rolled out of Grand Rapids on four buses at 5:30 a.m. on June 7, bound for urban combat training in California and duty in Iraq. Before this mission, many in this Reserve unit served eight months active duty in Africa in 2003.
Marines have the primary job of securing Anbar province, a violent stronghold of Sunni resistance to the Iraqi government. Fallujah itself was the scene of some of the most intense urban combat in Iraq in November 2004, when 10,000 Marines launched a campaign to root out the insurgency that controlled the city of 300,000.
According to Whisnant, Alpha Company is assigned to a 28-square-mile area southwest of Fallujah along the Euphrates River. Unlike much of this arid province, it is an area he describes as "agricultural and very green and lush," the land crisscrossed by irrigation canals.
Whisnant said the area is "99.9 percent Sunni and the attitudes vary by neighborhood."
"There are those who understand our mission and back us up with support and even information. Unfortunately -- right now that is the minority."
Despite reports of insurgent dominance in other areas, Whisnant said the mission "is going very well."
"We have killed and detained many insurgents, which have obviously had an effect on their operations," he said.
In an e-mail sent to relatives of Marines, Whisnant described the unit's methodical campaign aimed at driving out the insurgents. It reflects an optimism at odds with much of the recent news out of Iraq.
"We have been successful at hunting him down where he is sleeping or hiding! When we haven't been able to actually catch him we have chased him out of his old neighborhood into another where he can't have the same effect as before. We have the enemy looking over their shoulders constantly."
His appraisal of his Marines: "These are some of the most amazing men that walk the face of the earth. Plain and simple."
Send e-mail to the author: troelofs@grpress.com
Ellie