thedrifter
04-29-07, 08:27 AM
Friday, April 27, 2007
Marine returns from deployment in Iraq
Elementary school students hear his stories.
By LOIS EVEZICH
STAFF WRITER
Lance Cpl. Michael Watson, 19, returned to school on Thursday to meet with his former teachers and share stories with students at Crown Valley Elementary about his seven months in Iraq. He was accompanied by recruiting officer Sgt. Mark Mattson, teacher Anna Stratford and his mom, Sandy.
Watson has 30 days leave, but for two weeks he's helping out at the local recruiting office. He deployed on Sept. 11, 2006, and returned earlier this month
"I have seven more months in Iraq," he said. He wants to serve out his four years in the Marines before making decisions about his future after that, but he's considering police or firefighter work.
"In Iraq, I've been doing basic patrol, checkpoints, and clearing houses," Watson said. "We try to find hostiles and people in hiding. But Marines are most afraid of IEDs (improvised explosive devices)."
Iraqi patrols go out to look for IEDs, he said, and when they come back, they make reports. IEDs can look like anything and are set off by cell phones or radios. But Americans have good technology and remote control planes that can find these bombs through radio frequencies, setting them off before Humvee patrols get there.
Watson said the military uses a device called a "chameleon" to jam insurgent cell phones.
Mattson, 26, said there are new strategies to find insurgents, and some of them are just common sense. If a busy street is unusually quiet and empty one day, Marines know Iraqi insurgents have moved their families away from danger and have left bombs on the roads. That's the clue to find another roadway.
The IEDs that are hardest to see are pressure plates, Watson said. The pressure of the Humvee sets them off. But insurgents don't have common sense. Marines can tell if the dirt has been disturbed, and they avoid that road.
"So insurgents have to change their tactics," Mattson said. "We have ways to diffuse (the bombs) anyway and keep threats to a minimum."
Watson said he's looked for insurgents in homes and neighborhoods while on patrol. He's been in Iraqi homes. Some are unsanitary with bad odors, and others are clean and well kept. He's been with a military transition team, as well, teaching Iraqi soldiers about machine guns.
"They're good guys," Watson said. "Some believe they can take over so we can leave, and others are just there. My guys loved being with the Iraqis."
Watson said he wants to train the Iraqi military and then step back and observe, correcting mistakes while building confidence as the Iraqis go outside the wire and bring back reports.
He'll probably be sent to Hawaii when this month at home is over. There he'll be teaching "new guys" what new recruits need to know, and what to beware of.
Sandy Watson reminded her son about photos he'd sent home of the little children with happy faces surrounding the Marines' Humvees.
"The children are not afraid of us," he said. "When Iraqi kids approach it's a good sign. There's not such a good chance of being blown up."
Contact the writer: levezich@ocregister.com or 949-454-7323
Ellie
Marine returns from deployment in Iraq
Elementary school students hear his stories.
By LOIS EVEZICH
STAFF WRITER
Lance Cpl. Michael Watson, 19, returned to school on Thursday to meet with his former teachers and share stories with students at Crown Valley Elementary about his seven months in Iraq. He was accompanied by recruiting officer Sgt. Mark Mattson, teacher Anna Stratford and his mom, Sandy.
Watson has 30 days leave, but for two weeks he's helping out at the local recruiting office. He deployed on Sept. 11, 2006, and returned earlier this month
"I have seven more months in Iraq," he said. He wants to serve out his four years in the Marines before making decisions about his future after that, but he's considering police or firefighter work.
"In Iraq, I've been doing basic patrol, checkpoints, and clearing houses," Watson said. "We try to find hostiles and people in hiding. But Marines are most afraid of IEDs (improvised explosive devices)."
Iraqi patrols go out to look for IEDs, he said, and when they come back, they make reports. IEDs can look like anything and are set off by cell phones or radios. But Americans have good technology and remote control planes that can find these bombs through radio frequencies, setting them off before Humvee patrols get there.
Watson said the military uses a device called a "chameleon" to jam insurgent cell phones.
Mattson, 26, said there are new strategies to find insurgents, and some of them are just common sense. If a busy street is unusually quiet and empty one day, Marines know Iraqi insurgents have moved their families away from danger and have left bombs on the roads. That's the clue to find another roadway.
The IEDs that are hardest to see are pressure plates, Watson said. The pressure of the Humvee sets them off. But insurgents don't have common sense. Marines can tell if the dirt has been disturbed, and they avoid that road.
"So insurgents have to change their tactics," Mattson said. "We have ways to diffuse (the bombs) anyway and keep threats to a minimum."
Watson said he's looked for insurgents in homes and neighborhoods while on patrol. He's been in Iraqi homes. Some are unsanitary with bad odors, and others are clean and well kept. He's been with a military transition team, as well, teaching Iraqi soldiers about machine guns.
"They're good guys," Watson said. "Some believe they can take over so we can leave, and others are just there. My guys loved being with the Iraqis."
Watson said he wants to train the Iraqi military and then step back and observe, correcting mistakes while building confidence as the Iraqis go outside the wire and bring back reports.
He'll probably be sent to Hawaii when this month at home is over. There he'll be teaching "new guys" what new recruits need to know, and what to beware of.
Sandy Watson reminded her son about photos he'd sent home of the little children with happy faces surrounding the Marines' Humvees.
"The children are not afraid of us," he said. "When Iraqi kids approach it's a good sign. There's not such a good chance of being blown up."
Contact the writer: levezich@ocregister.com or 949-454-7323
Ellie