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thedrifter
11-13-07, 07:36 AM
Marines based in New Orleans see change in Iraq province
Locals helping more with security, they say
Sunday, November 11, 2007
By Paul Purpura
West Bank bureau

New Orleans-based Marine Corps reservists have found Iraq to be a far different place than in their previous tours.

Their assignment to Anbar province, once one of the bloodiest areas of the country, could have led to a tough seven months for the grunts in the 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines, and the air crews with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 773, Detachment A.

But the Marines have seen little action and have taken no casualties. One big change: Iraqi forces are taking greater roles in security.

"It is widely agreed that for counterinsurgency operations to succeed, the indigenous forces must be willing and capable of taking the lead," Lt. Col. David Bellon, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines, said in a recent e-mail interview during his third tour in Iraq.

"After leaving in 2005, I wasn't sure that it could happen here," Bellon said. "Now I am."

More than 350 Marines assigned to units based at the Naval Air Station-Joint Reserve Base are in the early weeks of Iraq tours that are expected to last seven months. Among them are infantrymen, aviators and a small contingent of military police who are assigned to detention centers and could not be reached for interviews.

They are among the 35,700 U.S. troops in Anbar province, a vast desert area with about 1.2 million residents, stretching west from near Baghdad to Iraq's border with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

The region initially accounted for about one-third of the U.S. deaths, which have topped 3,850, though in recent months the casualties have declined dramatically compared with last year, according to Iraq Casualty Count, a Web site that tracks military deaths, and a review of Defense Department data.

The relative peace is largely attributed to a new American tactic of banding with tribal leaders to fight insurgents and al-Qaida, whose members Bellon called "brutal, senseless murderers."

As of Nov. 3, none of the 3/23 Marine Corps infantrymen had been injured in combat, involved in gunbattles or hit by roadside bombs, which Bellon attributes to training that "has paid off in spades."


'Plenty of action' early on


For Maj. Andrew Clevenger, a UH-1N Huey pilot with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 773, Detachment A, this second tour is starkly different from his first, which occurred as part of the 2003 invasion while he was assigned to a different helicopter unit.

Four years ago Clevenger, now a Belle Chasse resident, saw "plenty of action" amid all-out combat. His duties have since evolved into basic missions of providing aerial support to ground troops, air and road convoys and other operations, he said in a phone interview from Al Asad Air Base, where the squadron is based in Anbar.

"I expected it to be different," said Clevenger, who has been assigned to the Belle Chasse squadron since September 2006. "I just didn't know to what extent."

The rules of engagement, or those governing how force is used on the enemy, are much narrower than during the initial combat phase.

"We want to make sure we get the right person the first time," Clevenger said. "We're trying to win the hearts and minds of the local populace."

The Red Dogs, as the squadron is known, deployed from Belle Chasse on Sept. 1 and since has been based at Al Asad Air Base.

Its air crews have worked with the 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines, whose headquarters at the Belle Chasse air station is across the street from the air squadron's hangar.


'Groundhog days'


As for combat action, he said the air crews have seen "nothing really significant so far out here" but are busy nonetheless working in 12-hour shifts.

"We call them 'groundhog days': One day is like the next day, like the next day," Clevenger said.

The battalion, which has companies in Baton Rouge, Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama, began deploying from California on Sept. 24 after five months of training. Most of the battalion's headquarters and service company, which is located in Belle Chasse, is based at the Haditha Dam.

The 3/23 Marines took over for an active-duty unit, the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, on Oct. 12 in an area they call "Triad" in northeastern Anbar that includes Haditha, Bellon said.

There the Marines are involved in counterinsurgency operations and working to "eventually set the conditions for local Iraqi control," said Bellon, whose job includes working with local leaders on a daily basis.

"This means to hunt the enemy while we simultaneously build up the economy, train Iraqi security forces, assist local Iraqi government and instill confidence in the Iraqi people that not only is progress being made but that the government will succeed," said Bellon, who in his civilian job is a lawyer in San Diego.

After his Marines took up operations and began building a rapport with local Iraqis, they found some of the "largest and best-hidden weapons caches that the area has produced in months," he said.

They hit the ground running, he said, knowing that the transition time when units replace other units "is a very dangerous time" that is preceded by Marines running "spoiling operations . . . to put the enemy back on his heels."

"Our Marines have been exceptional in this regard," Bellon said. "Every day and each night as I move through the area, I see our patrols out with Iraqis. It is hard for the enemy to breathe right now."

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Paul Purpura can be reached at ppurpura@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3791.

Ellie