thedrifter
02-12-08, 10:43 AM
Back to a changed Iraq: Temecula Marine offers impressions of Iraq's Anbar province
By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
A Marine corporal from Temecula on his second assignment in Iraq's Anbar province has filed the first of occasional reports he will send to the North County Times for posting on the newspaper's Web site.
Cpl. Nathaniel "Nate" Ziobro is one of about 11,000 Camp Pendleton and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station troops serving in the western Iraqi province this year.
Ziobro joined the Marine Corps shortly after graduating from Chaparral High School in 2003. He is the son of retired Marine Major Mark Ziobro of Temecula.
An infantryman assigned to the personal security team for Col. Lewis Craparotta, commander of the 5,000-member Regimental Combat Team 1 from Camp Pendleton, Ziobro was first deployed to Iraq in 2004-05 and saw combat in the city of Najaf.
In a telephone interview last week from Camp Fallujah, where he is now posted, Ziobro said he is finding a much different Iraq from what he experienced in his first combat tour.
"It is a lot calmer," he said. "Things seem to have really turned around. There are neighborhood watches and that sort of thing.
"It seems like people are doing their best to keep their economy moving and pretty much taking care of themselves."
On the Net:
Ziobro's first posting can be seen on the newspaper's Web site at
http://www.nctimes.com/blog/military/ziobro/
Back to a changed Iraq
By: CPL. NATHANIEL ZIOBRO - Commentary:
CAMP FALLUJAH -- Since I've been here, things are not what I thought they were going to be.
When I was here for the first time in 2004-05, it was just after the push to Baghdad in 2003. I was at a town called Najaf, the holy city to the Shiites and to the Moqtada al-Sadr Militia.
Back then we had no hot showers, no air conditioning; we lived in tents and ate MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). We were barely there for two weeks when the battle kicked in. We called it the "Battle for the Cemetery."
The fighting lasted all month long and ended in August. We were at the old city at the end of August when Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest-ranking Shiite cleric, came in from England to talk to Sadr and convince him to stop the fighting. He agreed and there was a cease-fire.
The fighting was relentless. We would be 5 to 25 meters ... you could see them, smell them, and hear them talking. That's how close we were to the enemy.
Today, things are different.
The city of Fallujah is calm. There are some pop shots and an IED (improvised explosive device) here and there, but other than that, nothing really big.
The people of Fallujah are trying to pull the city together and push for a future that has hope and peace.
The guys in the platoon with me right now are from all over 1st Marine Regiment: the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines; 2nd Bn., 1st Marines; 3rd Bn., 1st Marines; and 1st Bn., 4th Marines. They're like me, young and eager to see some action. Just like what we saw in Husayba, Fallujah, Najaf and all other battles that have taken place in the past years. Basically Iraq 2004-06, but that's not the case anymore.
The people of Iraq, and especially Al Anbar province, are trying to stop the insurgency and be able to provide a safe environment for their families. They are tired and just want to get on with life.
Every day when we leave the wire to go out to the Area of Operation Raleigh, we visit all the major cities in the area. The colonel talks to the Iraqi police and Marines living in FOBs (forward operating bases), the ones who are living in the cities and countrysides of Iraq, stopping the insurgency from placing IEDs or attacking us and the Iraqi forces.
We also meet with the sheiks in the area and give them guidance for whatever problems they may have. Sometimes we can't do anything because of the culture and religion, but we try to work past that and do our best.
We do have a lot of success which the news and media don't report. That is why people have such a negative view. We're not here for oil or anything of that nature. These people are just like you and me. They have jobs, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters ... they have a life; we need to give them a chance. No one back home understands that. They're not here walking the streets, visiting the people and getting to know them. They don't have the opportunity to see the success and happiness we try to bring.
Things have changed for the best and that's what is needed to be said. Support us and don't turn your backs on us. We still have a long time to go, but it's for the best.
I will continue to write until I come home.
-- Cpl. Nathaniel Ziobro, dismount team leader, personal security detachment, Temecula
Ellie
By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
A Marine corporal from Temecula on his second assignment in Iraq's Anbar province has filed the first of occasional reports he will send to the North County Times for posting on the newspaper's Web site.
Cpl. Nathaniel "Nate" Ziobro is one of about 11,000 Camp Pendleton and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station troops serving in the western Iraqi province this year.
Ziobro joined the Marine Corps shortly after graduating from Chaparral High School in 2003. He is the son of retired Marine Major Mark Ziobro of Temecula.
An infantryman assigned to the personal security team for Col. Lewis Craparotta, commander of the 5,000-member Regimental Combat Team 1 from Camp Pendleton, Ziobro was first deployed to Iraq in 2004-05 and saw combat in the city of Najaf.
In a telephone interview last week from Camp Fallujah, where he is now posted, Ziobro said he is finding a much different Iraq from what he experienced in his first combat tour.
"It is a lot calmer," he said. "Things seem to have really turned around. There are neighborhood watches and that sort of thing.
"It seems like people are doing their best to keep their economy moving and pretty much taking care of themselves."
On the Net:
Ziobro's first posting can be seen on the newspaper's Web site at
http://www.nctimes.com/blog/military/ziobro/
Back to a changed Iraq
By: CPL. NATHANIEL ZIOBRO - Commentary:
CAMP FALLUJAH -- Since I've been here, things are not what I thought they were going to be.
When I was here for the first time in 2004-05, it was just after the push to Baghdad in 2003. I was at a town called Najaf, the holy city to the Shiites and to the Moqtada al-Sadr Militia.
Back then we had no hot showers, no air conditioning; we lived in tents and ate MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). We were barely there for two weeks when the battle kicked in. We called it the "Battle for the Cemetery."
The fighting lasted all month long and ended in August. We were at the old city at the end of August when Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest-ranking Shiite cleric, came in from England to talk to Sadr and convince him to stop the fighting. He agreed and there was a cease-fire.
The fighting was relentless. We would be 5 to 25 meters ... you could see them, smell them, and hear them talking. That's how close we were to the enemy.
Today, things are different.
The city of Fallujah is calm. There are some pop shots and an IED (improvised explosive device) here and there, but other than that, nothing really big.
The people of Fallujah are trying to pull the city together and push for a future that has hope and peace.
The guys in the platoon with me right now are from all over 1st Marine Regiment: the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines; 2nd Bn., 1st Marines; 3rd Bn., 1st Marines; and 1st Bn., 4th Marines. They're like me, young and eager to see some action. Just like what we saw in Husayba, Fallujah, Najaf and all other battles that have taken place in the past years. Basically Iraq 2004-06, but that's not the case anymore.
The people of Iraq, and especially Al Anbar province, are trying to stop the insurgency and be able to provide a safe environment for their families. They are tired and just want to get on with life.
Every day when we leave the wire to go out to the Area of Operation Raleigh, we visit all the major cities in the area. The colonel talks to the Iraqi police and Marines living in FOBs (forward operating bases), the ones who are living in the cities and countrysides of Iraq, stopping the insurgency from placing IEDs or attacking us and the Iraqi forces.
We also meet with the sheiks in the area and give them guidance for whatever problems they may have. Sometimes we can't do anything because of the culture and religion, but we try to work past that and do our best.
We do have a lot of success which the news and media don't report. That is why people have such a negative view. We're not here for oil or anything of that nature. These people are just like you and me. They have jobs, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters ... they have a life; we need to give them a chance. No one back home understands that. They're not here walking the streets, visiting the people and getting to know them. They don't have the opportunity to see the success and happiness we try to bring.
Things have changed for the best and that's what is needed to be said. Support us and don't turn your backs on us. We still have a long time to go, but it's for the best.
I will continue to write until I come home.
-- Cpl. Nathaniel Ziobro, dismount team leader, personal security detachment, Temecula
Ellie