thedrifter
01-29-09, 08:29 AM
MILITARY: More troops coming home
By MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
CAMP PENDLETON ---- As the U.S. winds down its involvement in Iraq, more and more troops are coming home from war.
The latest group ---- 180 Marines and sailors from Camp Pendleton's Regimental Combat Team 1 ---- got home late Tuesday. Their arrival raises the number of local troops to come home over the last three months to several thousand.
Tuesday's group followed on the heels of more than 700 others who returned Sunday to Camp Pendleton and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station. From now until early spring, several hundred more troops are due back at the two local bases.
A large number of the troops in Iraq in 2008 and early this year, about 14,500, came from Camp Pendleton's 1st Marine Division, commanded by Maj. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser.
The general said Wednesday that "combat operations are largely done" in the Anbar province, which the Marines have overseen since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
"Now, the job is building up government capacity and that occupies a lot of the time of what we do over there," Waldhauser said. "We've certainly made tremendous progress in bringing Marine Corps' involvement in Iraq to an end."
The relative safety in Anbar province is evident in the 2008 fatality statistics.
Fourteen Camp Pendleton-based troops lost their lives in Iraq last year, six from what the military calls nonhostile incidents, such as a suicide, accident or a medical problem. Seven were lost in roadside bomb explosions; only one was killed by insurgent gunfire.
No Miramar troops have died in Iraq since 2006. Overall, Miramar has had 10 fatalities in Iraq since the war began while 344 Camp Pendleton troops died there, according to icasualties.org, which tracks military deaths.
The low level of direct combat action in 2008 was a notable part of the Marine story in Iraq last year, said Col. Patrick Kanewske, chief of staff of Camp Pendleton's I Marine Expeditionary Force.
"There are whole units coming back that don't have any combat action ribbons or Purple Hearts," Kanewske said. "There has been tremendous progress in Anbar where we have seen base consolidations and Iraqi military and police forces taking the lead responsibility for their province."
The homecomings in recent weeks have included two regimental combat teams, aviation teams and a variety of other units. Due home by mid-February is the I Marine Expeditionary Force headquarters group, which oversaw the estimated 25,000 Marines in Iraq.
That headquarters group is being replaced by the II Marine Expeditionary Force from Camp Lejeune, N.C., which will have several Camp Pendleton units comprised of hundreds of Marines and sailors assigned to it.
The outbound units include Camp Pendleton's 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment; the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion; the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance unit; Combat Logistics Battalion 7; the 1st Intelligence Battalion; a company of military police. In addition, the Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361 attached to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at Miramar is also assigned to Iraq this year.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway has proposed moving the majority of Marines out of Iraq and into Afghanistan. About 200 Marines and sailors from Miramar are now in Afghanistan, part of a force of about 2,000 Marines dispatched there in November.
The Obama administration is working on a plan to put up to 30,000 more U.S. troops in Afghanistan to blunt sharp increases in anti-government Taliban and al-Qaida attacks.
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Ellie
By MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
CAMP PENDLETON ---- As the U.S. winds down its involvement in Iraq, more and more troops are coming home from war.
The latest group ---- 180 Marines and sailors from Camp Pendleton's Regimental Combat Team 1 ---- got home late Tuesday. Their arrival raises the number of local troops to come home over the last three months to several thousand.
Tuesday's group followed on the heels of more than 700 others who returned Sunday to Camp Pendleton and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station. From now until early spring, several hundred more troops are due back at the two local bases.
A large number of the troops in Iraq in 2008 and early this year, about 14,500, came from Camp Pendleton's 1st Marine Division, commanded by Maj. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser.
The general said Wednesday that "combat operations are largely done" in the Anbar province, which the Marines have overseen since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
"Now, the job is building up government capacity and that occupies a lot of the time of what we do over there," Waldhauser said. "We've certainly made tremendous progress in bringing Marine Corps' involvement in Iraq to an end."
The relative safety in Anbar province is evident in the 2008 fatality statistics.
Fourteen Camp Pendleton-based troops lost their lives in Iraq last year, six from what the military calls nonhostile incidents, such as a suicide, accident or a medical problem. Seven were lost in roadside bomb explosions; only one was killed by insurgent gunfire.
No Miramar troops have died in Iraq since 2006. Overall, Miramar has had 10 fatalities in Iraq since the war began while 344 Camp Pendleton troops died there, according to icasualties.org, which tracks military deaths.
The low level of direct combat action in 2008 was a notable part of the Marine story in Iraq last year, said Col. Patrick Kanewske, chief of staff of Camp Pendleton's I Marine Expeditionary Force.
"There are whole units coming back that don't have any combat action ribbons or Purple Hearts," Kanewske said. "There has been tremendous progress in Anbar where we have seen base consolidations and Iraqi military and police forces taking the lead responsibility for their province."
The homecomings in recent weeks have included two regimental combat teams, aviation teams and a variety of other units. Due home by mid-February is the I Marine Expeditionary Force headquarters group, which oversaw the estimated 25,000 Marines in Iraq.
That headquarters group is being replaced by the II Marine Expeditionary Force from Camp Lejeune, N.C., which will have several Camp Pendleton units comprised of hundreds of Marines and sailors assigned to it.
The outbound units include Camp Pendleton's 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment; the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion; the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance unit; Combat Logistics Battalion 7; the 1st Intelligence Battalion; a company of military police. In addition, the Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361 attached to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at Miramar is also assigned to Iraq this year.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway has proposed moving the majority of Marines out of Iraq and into Afghanistan. About 200 Marines and sailors from Miramar are now in Afghanistan, part of a force of about 2,000 Marines dispatched there in November.
The Obama administration is working on a plan to put up to 30,000 more U.S. troops in Afghanistan to blunt sharp increases in anti-government Taliban and al-Qaida attacks.
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Ellie