For Marines, leaving Fallujah is bittersweet

[thedrifter]

For Marines, leaving Fallujah is bittersweet

By Cindy Fisher, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, July 25, 2008

FALLUJAH, Iraq — For the Marines, returning the Camp Fallujah area to Iraqi responsibility is a sign of progress.

But leaving the base, which has served as reconnaissance headquarters since 2004, is also a bittersweet step.

"It’s got a lot of sentimental value. There’s been a lot of work put into this place," said Sgt. Steven Pulliam, 24, a maintenance chief from Lawrenceville, Ga.

And there have been sacrifices.

"We’ve spilled blood here," said 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion Sgt. Maj. Kenneth Pickering, 43, from Mobile, Ala. "First, 2nd, 3rd and 4th battalions have all lost Marines and sailors out here."

"Every time I walk past Fallujah Emergency, I can’t help but think about the late nights waiting for our Marines to come in and find out if they are going to be all right," he said. It’s a walk he has to make several times a day.

The area is quieter now, but has had a violent recent history. The battle to take Fallujah in 2003 was one of the bloodiest of the war and it remained a hotbed of insurgency in subsequent years. The area was still restless during 3rd Recon’s last deployment here from September 2006 to April 2007, and recon Marines were constantly outside the wire conducting missions.

"Before, everyone tried to engage you," Sgt. Brian Wells, 25, from Fairbanks, Alaska, said of a 2004 deployment to Fallujah. "Now, you are more of a mediator. There are bad guys out there, but less of them."

"The shady character now could just be the guy stealing chickens from his neighbors," he said, adding it’s up to Iraqis to police those types of issues.

Third Recon will move to Al Asad Air Base by the fall. The relocation is a sign of the stability in the Fallujah area and the readiness of the Iraqis to accept responsibility for this area, Pickering said.

But some recon Marines have mixed emotions. Over the years, they’ve built a home here. Each battalion has added to the compound, always leaving it a little better for its successor, Pickering said.

It was particularly hard to take down their Hall of Honor, although it will be rebuilt at Al Asad. The memorial was started by 3rd Recon in 2006 and each battalion has added its own touches.

Leaving Camp Fallujah is tough, Pickering said, but "you have to have a plan to be able to pull back, provide over-watch and then leave. We’ve been here for the last five years; now it’s the Iraqis’ turn to take control of their country."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Fallujah: 'A lot better than the last time'
By Cindy Fisher, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, July 25, 2008



FALLUJAH, Iraq — The Fallujah of today is a far cry from in the past, say Marines who have been based here many times in the last few years.

"Forget what you did before; it is a new Fallujah, now," said 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion Sgt. Maj. Kenneth Pickering, 43, from Mobile, Ala., who was based here with the unit from September 2006 to April 2007. The battalion deployed again this spring from Okinawa, Japan, to Fallujah.

"This is a lot better than the last time I was here," said Sgt. Brian Wells, 25, a reserve Marine from Fairbanks, Alaska, who was deployed to Fallujah in 2004 with Regimental Combat Team 1. "Back then it was mortars impacting in the compound day and night."

For Wells, that earlier deployment was about escorting ordnance disposal technicians outside the wire, quick reaction forces, sweeping for bombs and transferring prisoners.

And it wasn’t much calmer in 2005, said Sgts. Michael Collier, 23, a radio operator from Seoul, South Korea, and Daniel Day, 23, a recon Marine from Gaylord, Mich., both of whom were based at Camp Fallujah from March to October 2005.

They would spend just enough time in the compound to wash clothes and fix vehicles and then go back out for five to 10 days, he said.

Day remembers that there were very few armored vehicles during the deployment. They had to protect them by packing them with sandbags and old flak jackets and were often driving vehicles scarred by bomb blasts, he said.

"Now, we all have up-armored vehicles; that’s a big difference," he said.

The battalion’s September 2006 to April 2007 deployment was just as hectic.

There was a lot of indirect fire into camp last year, remembers Sgt. Daniel Janicki, 26, a radio operator from East Haven, Conn. Continual missions outside the wire put a lot of stress on the battalion’s motor transport personnel, said Sgt. Steven Pulliam, 24, a mechanic from Lawrenceville, Ga.

"Last year, most of the vehicles we had coming in were due to [bomb] damage and engagements and this year it’s just because they’re old and worn out," Pulliam said.

And during last year’s deployment, 3rd Recon lost six Marines, Pickering said.

"Here we are in 2008 and incident reports have gone down significantly," Pickering said.

Now, "the Iraqis are not our enemy, the enemy hides among them," he said.

As for the Recon Marines, they’ve hardly been outside the wire, Day said. Instead, they’re training and working out at the gym, Janicki said.

Camp Fallujah hasn’t taken any indirect fire that they know of since the battalion arrived in the spring. The "last time we couldn’t get back to base enough, and now we can’t get off base enough," Day said.

Ellie