thedrifter
07-01-08, 07:08 AM
Chattanooga: Local Marines see progress in Anbar province
By:
Lauren Gregory (Contact)
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Rebuilding Iraq sometimes seems like an uphill battle, say members of Chattanooga’s Marine Corps reserve unit, but progress is evident after recent security crackdowns.
“The conditions are not as pleasant as they are in Chattanooga,” Capt. Alan B. Miller, commanding officer of the “Mike Battery” — Battery M, 3rd Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment, which is attached to Regimental Combat Team 5 — wrote in an e-mail from Rutbah, a city in Iraq’s Anbar province.
“That being said, conditions are much better than they were for the Marines who came before us,” Capt. Miller wrote. “Things have improved immensely since we were in Fallujah in 2004 and 2005.”
Having made history during the 2004 Battle of Fallujah for firing more rounds as an artillery battery than any other since Vietnam, the Mike Battery now is engaged in its second Iraq War mission: security patrol in Rutbah.
Coalition forces have put an emphasis on security during the troop surge ordered by President George W. Bush in January 2007. Effects of the strategy are being evaluated as the last of the five Army brigades deployed in the surge prepares to return home this month.
A total of 157 Marines are working security with Mike Battery, which is normally an artillery unit, according to battery spokesman Lt. Col. Eric Merkle. Among the ranks are both Chattanooga-based reservists and members of other units within the battalion. Some hail from as far away as Pennsylvania, Texas and Hawaii, Lt. Col. Merkle said.
The unit deployed in April and is expected to return by November or December.
Until then, the battery will continue patrolling throughout the city of Rutbah “in order to provide a safe haven and allow time and space for the further development of Iraqi security forces,” Capt. Miller wrote.
The Iraqi police in that area already have received basic training and have become increasingly self-reliant, according to Capt. Miller. So as the new officers continue to develop their skills, Mike Battery leaders are meeting with city leaders to work on infrastructure projects, he said.
Cpl. Ryan Tomlinson, spokesman for the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, said he has observed good interaction between residents and the Mike Battery Marines. The battery, known there as “Excalibur,” is part of the battalion’s task force, Cpl. Tomlinson said.
“They patrol the streets 24 hours a day conversing with the citizens,” he said in an e-mail. “The battery also has demonstrated magnificent work establishing partnerships with the city council and the mayor as they aim toward transition of authority.”
Pfc. Misael Gutierrez, a 19-year-old radio operator from Smyrna, Tenn., has witnessed changes, according to Cpl. Tomlinson, who quoted the private in a recent report from Rutbah that was published on a military Web site.
“It’s fortunate how much this place has changed,” Pfc. Gutierrez said in the report. “It makes me feel that I’m really here for a reason. It’s almost at a point to where you could walk down the street and ask for an ice cream without worrying about being shot at.”
The unit’s efforts have not gone unnoticed on a larger scale, either. While military leaders have acknowledged that violence continues to surge in some areas of Iraq, they report that the area in which Mike Battery is situated has seen great successes.
“The progress in Anbar has actually been breathtaking,” U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, who oversees all coalition forces in Iraq, told USA Today recently.
Still, Capt. Miller said, Mike Battery members aren’t in the position to sit back and relish their accomplishments quite yet since building a solid Iraqi police force is not easy.
“Morale is high and progress is being made,” he concluded, “but there is still much work to do.”
Ellie
By:
Lauren Gregory (Contact)
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Rebuilding Iraq sometimes seems like an uphill battle, say members of Chattanooga’s Marine Corps reserve unit, but progress is evident after recent security crackdowns.
“The conditions are not as pleasant as they are in Chattanooga,” Capt. Alan B. Miller, commanding officer of the “Mike Battery” — Battery M, 3rd Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment, which is attached to Regimental Combat Team 5 — wrote in an e-mail from Rutbah, a city in Iraq’s Anbar province.
“That being said, conditions are much better than they were for the Marines who came before us,” Capt. Miller wrote. “Things have improved immensely since we were in Fallujah in 2004 and 2005.”
Having made history during the 2004 Battle of Fallujah for firing more rounds as an artillery battery than any other since Vietnam, the Mike Battery now is engaged in its second Iraq War mission: security patrol in Rutbah.
Coalition forces have put an emphasis on security during the troop surge ordered by President George W. Bush in January 2007. Effects of the strategy are being evaluated as the last of the five Army brigades deployed in the surge prepares to return home this month.
A total of 157 Marines are working security with Mike Battery, which is normally an artillery unit, according to battery spokesman Lt. Col. Eric Merkle. Among the ranks are both Chattanooga-based reservists and members of other units within the battalion. Some hail from as far away as Pennsylvania, Texas and Hawaii, Lt. Col. Merkle said.
The unit deployed in April and is expected to return by November or December.
Until then, the battery will continue patrolling throughout the city of Rutbah “in order to provide a safe haven and allow time and space for the further development of Iraqi security forces,” Capt. Miller wrote.
The Iraqi police in that area already have received basic training and have become increasingly self-reliant, according to Capt. Miller. So as the new officers continue to develop their skills, Mike Battery leaders are meeting with city leaders to work on infrastructure projects, he said.
Cpl. Ryan Tomlinson, spokesman for the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, said he has observed good interaction between residents and the Mike Battery Marines. The battery, known there as “Excalibur,” is part of the battalion’s task force, Cpl. Tomlinson said.
“They patrol the streets 24 hours a day conversing with the citizens,” he said in an e-mail. “The battery also has demonstrated magnificent work establishing partnerships with the city council and the mayor as they aim toward transition of authority.”
Pfc. Misael Gutierrez, a 19-year-old radio operator from Smyrna, Tenn., has witnessed changes, according to Cpl. Tomlinson, who quoted the private in a recent report from Rutbah that was published on a military Web site.
“It’s fortunate how much this place has changed,” Pfc. Gutierrez said in the report. “It makes me feel that I’m really here for a reason. It’s almost at a point to where you could walk down the street and ask for an ice cream without worrying about being shot at.”
The unit’s efforts have not gone unnoticed on a larger scale, either. While military leaders have acknowledged that violence continues to surge in some areas of Iraq, they report that the area in which Mike Battery is situated has seen great successes.
“The progress in Anbar has actually been breathtaking,” U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, who oversees all coalition forces in Iraq, told USA Today recently.
Still, Capt. Miller said, Mike Battery members aren’t in the position to sit back and relish their accomplishments quite yet since building a solid Iraqi police force is not easy.
“Morale is high and progress is being made,” he concluded, “but there is still much work to do.”
Ellie