Operation Recap 1 of 12: ULYSSES II was 22nd MEU's first major foray into Afghanistan

[thedrifter]

Rooting out Terrorist.


http://www.defenselink.mil/


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Against the norm: Bromfield grad chooses Marines over college, faces Taliban in Afghanistan
By Don Eriksson
HARVARD -- A week ago, 135-pound Marine Lance Corporal John Blinn was "humping" his matching 135 pounds of field gear across barren central Afghanistan with Bravo Company, First Battalion, Sixth Marines.
Monday, he was sitting in the dining room of his family's early American house on idyllic, tree-shaded Old Littleton Road across the table from his mother, Angela, and talking about the last 15 months of his life. A large welcome home sign decorated the family barn across the street.

The dramatic difference in geography is similar to the decision the 2003 Bromfield School graduate made by becoming a Marine in a town well known for its emphasis on college.

"There weren't many who went [into the Marines] before me but there are a couple of guys behind [my class] who are in. One is in Paris Island [boot camp] right now," Bliss said.

"I was always interested in war movies and in high school I figured maybe I needed something before going to college," Blinn said. "Bromfield was challenging and I went against the norm, but I had great support [from home]."

That support came from both parents. Angela said she addresses her son's sensitive side and credits her husband, Richard, with emphasizing to his son the importance of doing whatever job is at hand. Blinn's job, until the end of his hitch in 2007, is to be a Marine infantry rifleman. He volunteered for it.

"It's all about your buddies," Blinn said. "The Marine Corps is all about brotherhood. We are big on the core values of honor, courage and commitment. It's not always 24/7 but if you hang around long enough, you'll see it."

The 1st Battalion, 6th Marines was stationed in central Afghanistan near Oruguzon, having moved north from Kandahar. The Battalion Commander, Lt. Col. Asad Khan, had been interviewed by newsman Geraldo Rivera earlier this year and reported his unit had "fixed" close to 200 Taliban.

"He's a great commander," Blinn said. "He pushes well and won't order anyone to do anything he won't do."

The terrain ranges from green valleys fed by underground streams, in which enemy weapons can be hidden, to rugged, rocky mountains often so high that re-supply is difficult. Helicopters cannot crest some of them because of the high altitude and thin air. One mountain peak rises 9,000 feet above the battalion's already high altitude. Blinn and his fellow Marines climbed up and down the steep inclines each day carrying new supplies on their backs.

The Marines do physical training similar to boot camp every day and often do "Colonel's runs," five mile runs in 110 degree heat with Khan in the lead.

"These are no [field] pack runs," Blinn said. "We went through enough of [fully loaded] runs in training. We do plenty of pull-ups and crunches. You never see anyone quit. We all come from different backgrounds but everyone's green as we say."

Being a Marine is "not what you have outside but what you have on the inside," Blinn said. "I'm somewhat of a motivator because it's not so bad. I'm motivated by old sergeants. My first sergeant is a hard charger."

The high temperatures drop to 70 to 80 degrees at night, so quickly that Blinn said you feel the cold. He is used to sleeping outside on bare ground.

"My platoon is smaller than that of a line company," Blinn said, and, glancing at his mother, added, "There is still some resistance."

Blinn said his unit has worked with the Afghan National Army, which is uniformed troops that he described as "pretty much on their toes," and with the AMF (Afghan Militia Forces) who wear identifying arm bands and carry Russian AK-47s.

Every Marine platoon has an interpreter and has Marine Service Support Group female searchers to examine female detainees. "We don't violate that line," Blinn said.

The Marines have also worked in a joint task force with the Army. He respects National Guardsmen he has met and feels they are doing a real job. He sees no need for a draft.

His hitch is four years of active duty followed by four years of inactive reserve on callback status. Blinn heads for Camp LeJeune in North Carolina in a week for an unspecified period of time. He is not discounting the chance he will be going to Iraq.

Angela is happy her son's first tour was in Afghanistan.

"[The reality] is something only those who have served in that country know but in some respects, as a mom, I'm relieved because he wasn't in Iraq because of all the news coverage," Angela Blinn said. "People don't realize though that Afghanistan is still a war zone. It's sort of secret."

Richard Blinn's draft number was not called for the Vietnam War but Angela said he was strongly behind his son's decision to join the Marines. A great uncle, a Marine, lost both legs in the Korean War.

"His dad said this is what you have to do," Angela said. "[John] is a guy with high standards and he thanks [his father] profusely now. He has a new appreciation for his dad.

"He wasn't a student and couldn't imagine college but maybe he does now," said Angela. "[John] knows he has something to offer. Marines are pushed so hard that writing a school paper can't be the worst thing in the world. I'm pleased with his confidence and he can do what he wants."

Asked if college is in the future, Blinn said, "If I don't re-enlist I'd go to school. Being a grunt has it's days but it's busy, and humping mountains is a challenge."

http://www.ayerpublicspirit.com/Stor...439251,00.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Fears of disruption prove unfounded on election day in eastern Afghanistan


By Terry Boyd, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, October 10, 2004


FIREBASE ASADABAD, Afghanistan — Expectations in this insurgent stronghold were for a day with a lot of shooting and a little voting.

Instead, the historic presidential elections in this isolated section of eastern Afghanistan went off with only isolated attacks and no deaths, casualties or property damage.

Election day in the mountains just 9 miles from Pakistan’s tribal areas did start with a 4:20 a.m. one-shot mortar attack that landed within 500 meters of Firebase Asadabad. The near-miss turned out to be a harbinger of things to come.

At about 11 a.m., insurgents fired four rockets into the nearby town of Asadabad, one of which was a 107 mm rocket that landed in the garden of the governor’s residence but failed to explode, said Capt. Jim Wilt, a Maryland reservist with the 450th Civil Affairs Battalion.

The local police chief was in the building at the time, “but the attack had no affect at all on him,” Wilt said, shaking his head in disbelief. “He was yawning.”

Both U.S. and Afghan troops were in the courtyard at the time of attack, some only 30 feet from where the dud rocket landed, he said.

Northwest of Asadabad, there were other attacks on U.S. troops, but nothing sustained. There were about 11 or 12 attacks around Kunar Province, which is the size of a small Texas county, but none seemed to have dissuaded voters.

In Asadabad, with U.S. soldiers keeping a low profile, Afghan officials said the first person to vote was a young woman who’d been a refugee in Pakistan during the Taliban regime. Whether her vote was stage-managed, they wouldn’t say. But the enthusiasm for voting in Afghanistan’s first election seemed real enough.

The vote tally was 1,483 at just one Asadabad voting site, poll workers said. One American official, who asked not to be identified, said he believed a significant percent of eligible voters took part.

Rainy, cold weather may have lowered turnout, with some villagers in this mountainous area having to walk as long as three hours round trip to vote, the U.S. official said.

Less of a factor were insurgents. Those who did launch attacks did so with little efficacy, “and were probably Jihadi’s for hire – guys who were collecting a paycheck to fire their weapons,” he said.

With all of Afghanistan’s 15 or 16 tribes endorsing the election, insurgents who launched assaults risked starting blood feuds, the official said.

“The Kunar governor told local mullahs and powerbrokers, ‘this is your elections. Your tribe’s honor is at stake,’” said Lt. Col. Mark McLaughlin, commander of the Asadabad Provincial Reconstruction Team, one of 17 U.S. military and civilian rebuilding teams working across Afghanistan.

Several U.N. officials in Asadabad told Stars and Stripes they believed the elections were premature, and hampered by rivalries between the U.S. military and U.N. workers.

The elections were neither early nor late, said McLaughlin, who is on his second Afghanistan rotation. “They were right where they needed to be.”

The defeat of the Taliban after Sept. 11 attacks left a vacuum, and there wouldn’t have been adequate security had the United States and the United Nations tried to hold elections before a national police force and army was in place, McLaughlin said.

Overall, Saturday’s voting was a nonevent for the Fort Bragg-based 82nd Airborne Division unit sent specifically to provide extra election security.

“Uneventful,” said Spc. Carl Pape, Company D, infantryman with 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

“Voting is one thing. Now they’ve got to count the votes,” said 1st Lt. Carl Benander, a Company D platoon leader. “I’m worried about the next couple of days.

“We’ll see.”

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?...&article=24824


Ellie

[thedrifter]

VMGR-252 Marines decorated for service in Afghanistan
Submitted by: 22nd MEU
Story Identification #: 20041018112242
Story by Sgt. Matt Preston



MCAS CHERRY POINT, N.C. (Oct. 18, 2004) -- A number of Marines from the Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 252 (VMGR-252) who supported the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) in Afghanistan were recently decorated during a ceremony in Cherry Point.

Col. Kenneth McKenzie, 22nd MEU (SOC) commanding officer, presented 13 Air Medals, one Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and seven Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals to members of the squadron.

The squadron flew more than 150 combat missions, transporting Marines, Sailors, fuel, and supplies to various airstrips around Afghanistan, most notably Forward Operating Base Ripley near the town of Tarin Kowt. The Marines who flew were in constant danger from enemy fire.

"The biggest threat was probably small-arms fire, because we were flying so low," said Sgt. Doug Rumick, a Chicago native who serves as a flight mechanic for the squadron.

To reduce the risk of being spotted, the KC-130s flew almost exclusively at night, landing and taking off with the aid of night-vision goggles.

That didn't deter enemy forces from trying to shoot them down. Anti-Coalition forces would attempt to damage or destroy the aircraft by first putting a spotlight on the bird. Fortunately, all enemy attempts to significantly damage the squadron’s KC-130R Hercules failed.

“This [the KC-130] was the indispensable aircraft,” said McKenzie in his address to the squadron. “Marines are alive today because of what you did.”

The KC-130Rs conducted 500 sorties, delivered 2.5 million lbs of cargo, 1.8 million lbs of fuel and transported over 3,000 personnel.

For more information on the 22nd MEU (SOC), visit the unit's web site at http://www.22meu.usmc.mil.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image..._Medal_Low.jpg

Several Air Medals were among the decorations awarded to officer and enlisted flight crews who supported the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) during the unit's combat operations in Afghanistan. Photo by: Sgt. Matt Preston

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image...Rumick_Low.jpg

Col. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., commanding officer of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, awards Sgt. Doug Rumick, a Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 252 flight mechanic, the Air Medal for his service in Afghanistan in support of the MEU's combat operations earlier this year. Photo by: Sgt. Matt Preston

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn20...A?opendocument

Ellie

[thedrifter]

General Suggests Bin Laden Is Alive
Associated Press
October 20, 2004

WASHINGTON - The top American commander in Afghanistan said Tuesday he has no evidence Osama bin Laden is in day-to-day control of al-Qaida but suggested the long-absent terrorist leader is alive.

Lt. Gen. David Barno, speaking to reporters during a visit to the Pentagon, talked mostly of a lack of evidence about bin Laden's whereabouts, health and current role in the al-Qaida network. He remains, however, a critical target, Barno said.

Still, "I don't see any indications that he is in day-to-day command and control, as it were, of the al-Qaida organization or the other terrorist groups that work with him, certainly in the Afghanistan-Pakistan area," Barno said.

Barno suggested that bin Laden's death would be difficult to conceal from intelligence services, even if he died in a secret place, because his associates would talk about it. Recent communications from al-Qaida's top echelon have come from bin Laden's chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, as videotaped messages.

Early in 2004, Barno and his staff predicted bin Laden would be captured by the end of the year. No longer. "I retired my crystal ball, and I don't make predictions anymore in terms of when we're potentially going to get any of the figures out there that we pursue every day in Afghanistan," he said.

Barno called the Oct. 9 presidential election a success, and described stories of Afghans waiting in the snow for hours to vote. Some stayed in line even as insurgent rockets landed 200 yards away.


Another visitor to Washington, Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador in Afghanistan, speaking to reporters at the State Department, characterized the elections as "a spectacular success" unprecedented in the South Asian country's 5,000-year history.

"The people of Afghanistan want their country to succeed," said Khalilzad, who was born in the South Asian country. "They want us to help them."

To do that, he said, the threat from Afghanistan's former extremist Taliban rulers must be ended, and the country's massive cultivation of opium, which accounts for half Afghanistan's economy, must be stopped.

Security forces must be built up under a strategic partnership between the United States and Afghanistan, he said.

"We have seen that the failure of Afghanistan causes problems that can have enormous effect on the security of the American people. We saw that Sept. 11," Khalilzad said. The airplane hijackers who attacked the United States on that day in 2001 were trained at al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan.

Barno said Afghanistan's major security problems include stemming the narcotics trade and trying to persuade former rank-and-file Taliban militiamen to join them into society.

U.N. surveys estimate Afghanistan's illegal poppy cultivation accounted for three-quarters of the world's opium last year and earned $2.3 billion.

Barno suggested that U.S. troops may eventually be used to interdict the drug trade but said it is less likely they will begin to eradicate crops. So far, British-trained Afghan forces have taken the lead in counternarcotics efforts, but the trade flourishes.

Promoting reconciliation with rebel Taliban fighters would be critical over the next six months, Barno said, but he offered no numbers on how many holdouts were still fighting.

"They want to join this political process. They want to join the economic development of the country," he said. "And they don't want to be living up in the mountains in the snow with an AK-47 any more."

The 100 to 150 senior Taliban leaders would not be allowed back, Barno said.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Troops stage assaults on insurgents in Afghanistan


By Terry Boyd, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, October 17, 2004


ASADABAD, Afghanistan — Forces at Firebase Asadabad launched several operations Friday aimed at extending their dominance to an area where intelligence reports indicate there are high concentrations of Taliban fighters and other insurgents.

Helicopters from Bagram Airfield inserted about 60 soldiers for an air assault into the mountains near the contested Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Special Forces soldiers and Marines launched operations into northern Kunar Province and into Nuristan Province, according to U.S. officials.

The area where 82nd Airborne Division troops were headed — a hilltop about 8,000 feet into the mountains south of Asadabad — is where a small U.S. Marine Corps force had several major firefights with insurgents in September, said Capt. Brian Feddeler, commander of Company D commander, 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

“A month ago, the Marines went in there and got shot up,” Feddeler said.

The Marines went to the insurgent stronghold to try to stop rocket attacks that, at the time, were hitting Firebase Asadabad nearly every day. Such attacks now are infrequent, and his soldiers’ mission is to hunt down insurgents in an effort to ensure they stay that way, Feddeler said.

The air assault force was drawn from 1-505 soldiers, National Guard and 25th Infantry Division soldiers attached to the Asadabad Provincial Reconstruction Team, one of 17 teams located across Afghanistan.

The air assault was both a show of force and a search for insurgent rockets, Feddeler said. In addition, Civil Affairs soldiers from the PRT planned to assess two isolated villages, one of which intelligence reports indicate is controlled by insurgents, PRT officers said.

Soldiers from the 82nd were sent to Afghanistan in late September to augment security for the Oct. 9 elections, which were far more peaceful than expected.

Now, the 82nd is using its rapid-deployment capabilities to help PRT and Special Forces teams eradicate enemy fighters.

“We want to show the enemy force we have the capability to insert troops anywhere,” Feddeler said. “That’s something that’s on their minds ... that we can show up anywhere, anytime.”

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?...3&archive=true

Ellie

[thedrifter]

October 29, 2004
War on Terrorism patients receive laptops for e-mail access


by Master Sgt. Harold Holden
Special to Henderson Hall News


The Marine Corps Enterprise Information Technology Service and Marine Patients Services is a Commandant of the Marine Corps-directed effort to provide e-mail and internet services to wounded War on Terror Marines in medical facilities in the National Capital Region.

The direction from the Commandant allowed four Headquarters Marine Corps organizations a chance to combine a coordinated effort to make the MMPS project a success. The organizations are HQMC C4 (Command, Control, Communications and Computers), Marine Corps Network Operations & Security Command, the Navy Marine Corps Intranet, with the Administration Resource Division being the lead agency.

Injured Marines will be provided government-purchased laptops and will connect to the Bethesda and Walter Reed computer networks. The Marines will access their e-mail accounts using Outlook Web Access and will be able to send and receive e-mail from their families and fellow Marines still in combat. The injured Marines will also be provided with a newly purchased Dell 600 laptop with DVD capability. The DVD capability will also allow movies and music to be accessed while hospitalized.

In the near future, the laptops will also be equipped with a software program, "Dragon Naturally Speaking", which will enable them to send e-mails, browse the Web, and control the desktop all by voice command.

The Marine Casualty Services Branch will be the checkout point for the laptops. The HQMC IT Center staff has been working closely with the Bethesda IT staff to ensure the MMPS is a "results-oriented" process.

The ARI Team is proud of the MMPS project and feel it is a great way of supporting the injured hospitalized Marines with that latest "off the Dell shelf" laptops.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

American Taliban Adam Gadahn In His Own Words
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Becoming Muslim
Yahiye Adam Gadahn

My first seventeen years have been a bit different than the youth experienced by most Americans. I grew up on an extremely rural goat ranch in Western Riverside County, California, where my family raises on average 150 to 200 animals for milk, cheese, and meat. My father is a halal butcher [a butcher who slaughters in an Islamic manner -ed.] and supplies to an Islamic Food Mart a few blocks from the Islamic Center in downtown Los Angeles.

My father was raised agnostic or atheist, but he became a believer in One God when he picked up a Bible left on the beach. He once had a number of Muslim friends, but they've all moved out of California now. My mother was raised Catholic, so she leans towards Christianity (although she, like my father, disregards the Trinity). I and my siblings were/are home-schooled, and as you may know, most home-school families are Christian. In the last 8 or so years, we have been involved with some home-schooling support groups, thus acquainting me with fundamentalist Christianity. It was an eye-opening experience. Setting aside the blind dogmatism and charismatic wackiness, it was quite a shock to me when I realized that these people, in their prayers, were actually praying TO JESUS. You see, I had always believed that Jesus (pbuh) was, at the very most, the Son of God (since that is what the Bible mistranslates "Servant of God" as). As I learned that belief in the Trinity, something I find absolutely ridiculous, is considered by most Christians to be a prerequisite for salvation, I gradually realized I could not be a Christian.

In the meantime, I had become obsessed with demonic Heavy Metal music, something the rest of my family (as I now realize, rightfully so) was not happy with. My entire life was focused on expanding my music collection. I eschewed personal cleanliness and let my room reach an unbelievable state of disarray. My relationship with my parents became strained, although only intermittently so. I am sorry even as I write this.

Earlier this year, I began to listen to the apocalyptic ramblings of Christian radio's "prophecy experts." Their paranoid espousal of various conspiracy theories, rabid support of Israel and religious Zionism, and fiery preaching about the "Islamic Threat" held for me a strange fascination. Why? Well, I suppose it was simply the need I was feeling to fill that void I had created for myself. In any case, I soon found that the beliefs these evangelists held, such as Original Sin and the Infallibility of "God's Word", were not in agreement with my theological ideas (not to mention the Bible) and I began to look for something else to hold onto.

The turning point, perhaps, was when I moved in with my grandparents here in Santa Ana, the county seat of Orange, California. My grandmother, a computer whiz, is hooked up to America Online and I have been scooting the information superhighway since January. But when I moved in, with the intent of finding a job (easier said than done), I begin to visit the religion folders on AOL and the Usenet newsgroups, where I found discussions on Islam to be the most intriguing. You see, I discovered that the beliefs and practices of this religion fit my personal theology and intellect as well as basic human logic. Islam presents God not as an anthropomorphic being but as an entity beyond human comprehension, transcendent of man, independant and undivided. Islam has a holy book that is comprehensible to a layman, and there is no papacy or priesthood that is considered infallible in matters of interpretation: all Muslims are free to reflect and interpret the book given a sufficient education. Islam does not believe that all men are doomed to Hell unless they simply accept that God (apparently unable to forgive otherwise) magnanimously allowed Himself to be tortured on a cross to enable Him to forgive all human beings who just believe that He allowed Himself to be tortured on a cross... Islam does not believe in a Chosen Race. And on and on...

As I began reading English translations of the Qur'an, I became more and more convinced of the truth and authenticity of Allah's teachings contained in those 114 chapters. Having been around Muslims in my formative years, I knew well that they were not the bloodthirsty, barbaric terrorists that the news media and the televangelists paint them to be. Perhaps this knowledge led me to continue my personal research further than another person would have. I can't say when I actually decided that Islam was for me. It was really a natural progression. In any case, last week [November 1995 -ed.]I went to the Islamic Society of Orange County in Garden Grove and told the brother in charge of the library I wanted to be a Muslim. He gave me some excellent reading material, and last Friday I took Shahada [accepted the creed of Islam -ed.]in front of a packed masjid. I have spent this week learning to perform Salat and reflecting on the greatness of Allah. It feels great to be a Muslim! Subhaana rabbiyal 'azeem!



http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/newmuslims/yahiye.html

[thedrifter]

Posted on: Saturday, October 30, 2004

War starts soon for Kane'ohe Marines

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

An advance party of Marines from Kane'ohe Bay will leave tomorrow, most likely for Afghanistan. The main body of the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, is expected to move out soon, base officials said yesterday.

The Marines will muster at 3 p.m. to say goodbye to family and will leave shortly thereafter. About 1,000 Marines are expected to deploy to Afghanistan.

The 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, known as America's Battalion, trained in San Diego in September with special effects help from Segall Studio in San Diego, which put together a mock Afghan town.

The "town" looked, smelled and felt like a remote village in the Afghan hills, with adobe walls painted with Pashtun and Arabic phrases and Hollywood actors playing villagers, Marines said.

The Marines hiked into the Sierra Nevada mountains for three days, climbing and rappelling while carrying weapons and assault loads. They also learned how to traverse rivers and gorges using ropes.

"This is great training for where they are going," said

Sgt. Daniel Blackwell, an instructor with the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center. "Most of them haven't been exposed to anything like this."

The 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., returned home in mid-September after seven months in Afghanistan. The Marines conducted numerous combat operations, killing more than 100 Taliban fighters and helping with security and stabilization ahead of the Oct. 9 presidential election.

Nearly 1,000 Hawai'i Marines with the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment recently arrived in western Iraq as part of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.




http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar.../ln/ln05p.html

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines Deliver in Mountain Storm

Colonel Kenneth F. McKenzie, Major Roberta L. Shea, and Major Christopher Phelps, U.S. Marine Corps
Proceedings, November 2004

In winter 2004, the U.S. Central Command committed its theater reserve, the 22d Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) (MEU[SOC]), into central Afghanistan to serve as the main effort of Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) 180’s Operation Mountain Storm. The operation was designed to preempt a long-anticipated Taliban “spring offensive” and help set the conditions for successful voter registration and national-level elections.

The operational concept developed by CJTF-180 planners called for the 22d MEU to enter Afghanistan through the southern airfield of Kandahar in March 2004. The physical and logistical challenges were daunting. Located in southern Afghanistan, Kandahar airfield lies just ten miles southeast of the former Taliban capital, Kandahar City. The ship-to-shore movement to Kandahar airfield required the MEU to traverse southern Pakistan’s Baluchistan region, one of the most rugged and remote lands in the world. Avoiding the 8,000-foot ridges with rotary-wing aircraft lengthened the transit to 420 miles.

Difficult Terrain

After force closure at Kandahar, the MEU struck north 80 miles to operate in the Oruzgan Province area. By way of bone-jarring routes leading north from Kandahar City, there are only two main passes that afford operational access to Oruzgan Province. They cut through the 8,000-foot ridgeline that separates Oruzgan from Kandahar Province and were to occupy much of the MEU’s attention as it transitioned to Tarin Kowt, the capital of Oruzgan.

Oruzgan Province stretches about 130 miles north to south and 95 miles east to west. With poor unpaved “roads” and deep, narrow passes, Tarin Kowt was home to Mullah Omar and his family during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s. The province, long considered a Taliban stronghold, is suited ideally to insurgency because of its geography and isolated populace. It is dominated by some of the most hardline ethnic Pashtuns in the country—people who reflect the rugged mountains around them.

At the heart of the MEU’s area of operations (AO) was Tarin Kowt, a small town of 17,000. The lush vegetation that follows several watersheds leading down to the town contrasts sharply with the steep, arid mountains that surround it. At the bottom of the Tarin Kowt “bowl” (at 4,400 feet) was an old abandoned dirt airstrip that became the centerpiece of the 22d MEU’s air-ground operations.

Mission Analysis

Before forces began to move, MEU planners and subordinate commanders visited Bagram twice to conduct detailed planning with the CJTF-180 staff, the core of which came from the Army’s 10th Mountain Division. [1] The task force staff incorporated the 22d MEU’s staff in all facets of operations plan development. Thus, the MEU clearly understood the joint task force (JTF) commander’s intent. Two early decisions by CJTF-180 were key to effective operations: the MEU was to function as a Marine air-ground task force (MAGTF) and was assigned its own AO, with attendant freedom of movement.

Based on analysis of the campaign plan, 22d MEU planners developed a mission statement:

Commencing 25 Apr 04, 22d MEU(SOC) conducts combat operations to defeat anti-coalition militants (ACMs), secure major population areas, and support civil-military operations (CMO) in AO Linebacker to create a secure and stable environment in order to facilitate United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)-sponsored voter registration and elections.
The MEU’s primary task was to set the conditions for a safe election process leading to establishment of a secure and stable government in Afghanistan. This entailed finding and defeating anticoalition forces, securing major population areas, and supporting civil-military operations across the MEU’s AO—with the emphasis on voter registration.

Develop a bottom-to-top intelligence architecture capable of identifying locations of anticoalition leaders and enablers, areas of sanctuary, and infiltration lanes. The intent was to gather and fuse intelligence at the MEU level without being entirely dependent on higher sources. The previous work of Special Forces and other agencies in the AO was most helpful in this regard.
Provide a visible security environment for voter registration.
Capitalize on MAGTF flexibility to conduct intelligence-driven combat operations against enemy forces.
Aggressively link combat and civil-military operations to achieve long-term security.
Take advantage of existing CJTF-180 capabilities and work closely with higher, adjacent, and supporting units.
Develop the infrastructure and logistical capability austerely so as to fight the MEU without detracting from support to frontline forces.
Because the fight will be carried by noncommissioned officers, tailor combat support and combat service support to meet their requirements.

The 22d MEU designed a four-phase operation that capitalized on MAGTF strength while leveraging joint and national assets. Phase I (25 March-24 April) consisted of shaping operations. Based from Kandahar, the MEU executed a series of five, long-range, overt patrols into Oruzgan Province. Moving in high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles (HMMWVs) and locally procured vehicles, the MEU capitalized on support provided by Special Forces teams operating in the area and used its Maritime Special-Purpose Force as the main effort. These initial operations were designed to study the terrain, select a a site for the MEU forward operating base (FOB), begin contacts with the local populace to help identify Taliban leaders, and establish a working relationship with the Oruzgan provincial governor, Jan Mohammed Khan.

The MEU commander accompanied Marines on one of the operations and spent two days with Mohammed at his gubernatorial headquarters in Tarin Kowt. After the initial contact, a Marine field-grade officer equipped with secure communications was assigned to the governor’s entourage. The value of these liaison efforts in the subsequent phases of Mountain Storm cannot be overemphasized.

Phase II (25 April-10 May) was devoted to securing the Tarin Kowt bowl. After arriving in the province, the MEU concentrated on establishing its FOB near Tarin Kowt. A strategic imperative of the Taliban was to ensure that Oruzgan Province remained isolated from the rest of Afghanistan, thereby affording safety to Taliban operations and support.

Establishment of the FOB was critical to the MEU’s concept of sustainment and combat power projection. Named after Marine Colonel John W. Ripley of Dong Ha fame, the base would feature a 6,000-foot runway, a complete helicopter fueling and rearming point, and 13 helicopter landing pads. The MEU command-and-control center was set up in the middle of the Oruzgan bowl. Until the airstrip became operational, however, all equipment and resupply had to traverse the 85 miles from Kandahar over Route Tiger, a two-day trip on primitive, vehicle-destroying roads ripe with ambush sites.

Two combat operations served as a shield behind which MEU Service Support Group 22 and the command element deployed to FOB Ripley. The MEU air combat element, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 266 (Reinforced), helilifted two reinforced rifle companies into AOs Georgia and Alabama; a third company was landed in AO North Carolina. The air assaults attacked Taliban elements in areas they viewed as safe and provided cover for movement of the six large convoys that carried the bulk of the MEU’s logistical support infrastructure to Ripley.

While these operations netted large weapons caches—especially in AO Georgia—the greater effect was to directly challenge the Taliban’s ability to continue to isolate Oruzgan. Establishment of the command-and-control center at FOB Ripley ended Phase II. The 22d MEU had positioned itself right in the Taliban’s backyard.

Phase III (11-31 May) featured intelligence-driven operations aimed at facilitating voter registration. Oruzgan Province had long been denied to U.N. voter registration workers because of well-founded concerns about personal safety. To this end, Phase III operations focused on clearing Taliban forces from southern Oruzgan, improving the security environment, and—most important—initiating voter registration.

In early April, the MEU commander and key staff officers met with Southern Region UNAMA officials in Kandahar to discuss the way ahead. There was consensus that the most important step would be to create the visible perception that the security situation would allow voter registration to proceed unmolested. Agreements were reached between the MEU and UNAMA to provide area security for voter registration sites, action plans for countering attacks, and medical evacuation support. An overarching plan was crafted for initiating and expanding voter registration throughout Oruzgan Province.

Hand in hand with voter registration was initiation of a broad array of civil affairs projects designed to show a credible alternative to the negative path offered by the Taliban. Under the MEU’s direction, numerous civil affairs projects were initiated in Oruzgan and northern Kandahar Province, and extensive medical and dental outreach programs were initiated.

Underwriting these long-term projects were combat activities. Operations Thunderball in AO Tennessee and Bladerunner I in AO Kentucky were directed against enemy elements operating in southern Oruzgan. These HMMWV- and MTVR-mobile actions were built around heavily reinforced rifle companies and the battalion mobile command post. Contact was light throughout these operations because the enemy chose to withdraw rather than face Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 1/6.

continued...........

[thedrifter]

As the MEU progressed through Phase III, it became clear that the threat to Tarin Kowt did not lie in the villages and bottomland of the Oruzgan bowl. Instead, anticoalition elements were concentrated in the distant highlands that ringed the bowl: Dey Chopan to the east and Cehar Cineh to the west. In the narrow valleys and almost completely inaccessible high ground of the two areas, Taliban sanctuary had been persistent and arrogantly self-confident. When voter registration began in earnest in Tarin Kowt and started to spread to he outlying districts, MEU planners focused on the high ground to the east.

Phase IV (1 June-13 July) built on earlier operations that had created the necessary logistical infrastructure, established security for voter registration and civil affairs work, and identified the rough foundation of the Taliban presence. Decisive combat operations against Taliban concentrations and sanctuaries would force the enemy to respond to the MEU’s activities in Oruzgan.

On 1 June, BLT 1/6 embarked on Operation Asbury Park to directly target the Taliban stronghold in the Dey Chopan highlands. This proved to be one of the most effective operations in Afghanistan since coalition forces entered the country in October 2001.

For two weeks, moving exclusively in HMMWVs and locally procured Toyota Hi-Luxs and Land Rovers, the BLT engaged Taliban forces eight times. Reinforced with Afghan Militia Forces and accompanied by Governor Jan Mohammed, the Marines employed every available platform for close air support: AC-130s, B-1Bs, A-10s, AV-8Bs, and Marine and Army attack helicopters. During this sustained operation, 85 Taliban were killed; another 40 probably were killed in closed-up caves or inaccessible high ground. The fighting ranged from air strikes to intense close-range infantry engagements. In a testament to the leadership, fighting skills, and tactical acumen of small unit leaders, no Marines were killed and only 14 were wounded.

Based largely on the success of Asbury Park and supporting operations, the combatant commander extended the 22d MEU’s Afghanistan deployment by 30 days. On receiving this decision, CJTF-76 put the 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry (2-5) of the Army’s 25th Infantry Division (Light) under the tactical control of the MEU. Now with two ground maneuver battalions, the MEU developed a plan to exploit the success of Asbury Park.

Commencing Operation Thunder Road, BLT 1/6 moved quickly into the Cehar Cineh area, accompanied by the governor and Afghani forces. Located in the western part of AO Linebacker, the Taliban had yet to surrender Cehar Cineh to conventional forces. Concurrently, in Operation Asbury Park II, 2-5 Infantry relied extensively on its organic rtillery and mortars and exploited the success of BLT 1/6 in the Dey Chopan area.

Both operations continued to dislodge enemy combatants from sanctuaries. While many weapons caches were uncovered, it soon became apparent that they had no more stomach for fighting. With Taliban authority effectively neutralized, the MEU took advantage of the two battalions’ offensives by reinforcing security, accelerating civil-military projects, and initiating voter registration.

Application of MAGTF doctrine and concepts was of prime importance to the MEU. Simultaneously leading two maneuver battalions and as many as five separate company/platoon teams required detailed planning and careful application of resources—especially given highly mobile operations and missions as diverse as providing security for women’s health clinics and applying artillery, air, and theater intelligence assets to attack the Taliban. In addition, being weighted as the CJTF’s main effort gave the MEU tactical and logistic support that a MAGTF is well equipped to employ.

Results

In the short term, the security environment in Oruzgan Province improved dramatically. Thousands of ordnance systems, weapons, and other combat implements were destroyed. The MEU was in contact 32 times and confirmed 101 enemy killed and another 50 probable kills, including several key Taliban leaders. Attacks against coalition forces declined to nearly zero in Oruzgan and northern Kandahar provinces. Most significantly, attacks also declined to the south in and around Kandahar City and the ring road to Kabul. These were decisive and measurable military effects—but, as with everything in Afghanistan, only time will tell if they have long-term benefits.

Nonetheless, it is clear that improved security permitted the introduction of programs that will have the greatest effect on long-term security. The MEU’s operations permitted the introduction of UNAMA voter registration teams; 58,357 Afghan citizens were registered in Oruzgan between 1 May and 10 July. These efforts represented more than 44% of UNAMA’s provincial goal and helped overcome the initial hurdle of demonstrating to the populace that safe elections were possible in Afghanistan. Voter registration went hand in hand with 108 civil-affairs projects that provided long-range hope for Afghanistan: for example, well digging, establishment of schools, and road and infrastructure improvement. An aggressive medical and dental outreach program cared for 2,000 patients, many of whom received assistance for the first time.

Conclusions

The early decision by CJTF-180 planners to employ the 22d MEU in accordance with MAGTF doctrine was the foremost reason for the MEU’s strong performance. Its high degree of air-ground-logistical integration was of inestimable value to the kind of operations required in Oruzgan Province. (In addition to a full plate of complex tasks, the ACE furnished AV-8B sorties for use in other parts of the CJTF AO.) The MEU’s organic firepower and mobility, ability to execute operations rapidly, and the dedicated effort to fuse intelligence from below and above proved decisive.

The grit and determination of the individual rifleman shone in an extremely harsh environment. Marine noncommissioned officers were the most effective weapons in the MEU’s arsenal. Small-unit leadership was tested in excessive elevations, heat, and dust—and it passed with flying colors. Marines remain the masters of small-unit actions.

The predeployment training provided to the MEU as part of the standard workup package proved to be a sound basis for operating in Afghanistan. In particular, the rapid response planning training provided by the II Marine Expeditionary Force Special Operations Training Group enabled the MEU to focus on time-sensitive targets with great effect and had a most positive effect on all other decision making and staff operations.

CJTFs-180 and -76 were supportive and eager to employ the MEU. They arranged a true “plug-and-play” joint environment and worked constantly to enhance the considerable intelligence capabilities of the MAGTF. In every way, they were dedicated to the effective application of individual service capabilities. Their leadership and support were essential.

The 22d MEU’s deployment to Afghanistan demonstrated the inherent capabilities of the MEU(SOC) program in every measurable category. It traveled inland more than 500 miles to some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world and proved to be an expeditionary and exceptionally lethal force. It used combined arms in intense firefights while concurrently conducting civil-military operations. The MEU’s successful integration into a joint command served to reinforce the merits of the Marine air-ground team and demonstrate the value of its integration with a joint force.

Strategic results of the deployment still are being assessed, but recent peaceful elections—even in former Taliban sanctuaries—are nascent signs of long-term success. And, in Oruzgan Province, they result directly from the 22d MEU’s determined march into the storm.

CJTF-180 would change in mid-April 2004 to the 25th Infantry Division (Light), resulting in a designator change to CJTF-76. [back to article]
Colonel McKenzie is commanding officer of the 22d Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable). Major Shea and Major Phelps are the staff communications officer and intelligence officer, respectively.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Last Updated: Wednesday, November 03, 2004 11:58:00 PM
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Marine:‘I look at life a lot differently’
By SHERRI CONER
Daily Journal staff writer
sconer@thejournalnet.com

Nov. 1, 2004

While neighborhood kids were trick-or-treating Sunday, Cpl. Greg Stevens boarded a flight to Twentynine Palms, Calif.

After enjoying a 30-day leave in Franklin with his mother, Arlene Ballard, relatives and high school friends, Stevens returned to his Marine base Sunday.

He will likely be sent to Afghanistan soon.

“There’s still a mess over there to clean up,” says Stevens, 21.

One year after joining the Marines, this 2001 graduate of Whiteland Community High School was deployed to Iraq on Feb. 25, 2003.

“We kicked the war off the night of March 19,” Stevens says.

Stevens sat down and wrote a letter to his family. He gave the letter to a buddy to pass along to his mother if he was killed.

“He’s had the letter ever since,” Stevens says. “He’s tried to give it back to me a couple of times. But there’s no way I’m gonna accept it ’til I get out of the Marine Corps.”

Wearing a flak jacket with ballistic plates in the front and back to protect his torso from bullets, Stevens carries 70 pounds of equipment: 300 rounds of ammunition for an M-16 rifle, two grenades, two smoke grenades, two pop-up flares and his rifle.

He and three other Marines were assigned “straight-leg infantry,” Stevens says. “We were going house to house, fighting.”

Stevens was the rifleman beside a machine gunner, a grenadier and a team leader.

“We’re called fire teams,” he says.

Stevens is also a trained combat lifesaver.

“I can take care of anything,” he says. “You get shot, I patch you up. You get your arm blown off, I patch you up. And I can start an IV.”

Combat lifesavers assist the Navy Corpsman, a doctor assigned to their company.

“But if he’s not there, we do his job for him,” Stevens says.

They traveled long hours in Humvees.

“Those things are horrible,” Stevens says. “In 130-degree heat in the desert, you’re riding in this big metal tomb, pretty much.”

They slept on desert sand or inside armored vehicles. Sometimes they dug foxholes. But they always kept moving.

“We pushed all the way through Baghdad and 20 to 30 miles north of Baghdad,” Stevens says.

As he and other soldiers entered Iraqi cities, they never knew what to expect, he says.

The first time he was the target of enemy fire, “a million things ran through my head,” Stevens says. “But then you get used to it. You get in a mindset.”

When shooting erupted from houses along Iraqi streets, “We’d just start lighting the house up with everything we had,” Stevens says. “And then go in and take everybody out that was in it.

“You can’t have emotions when you do it. You just do it.”

After serving nine months, Stevens came home for a 30-day leave. But he didn’t talk much with anyone about the war experiences.

Four months later, Stevens was again deployed to Iraq, this time to the Syrian border. The mission included restoring power and water, rebuilding schools and training police.

“We were trying to get the country back up and running again,” Stevens says.

Terrorists planted bombs along roadways. Few Iraqi residents, if any, would step forward as informants for American soldiers.

“It was like a mafia,” Stevens says. “Terrorists had the place on lockdown. If somebody talked to us, they’d be dead in two days.”

In an effort to stop ambushes and growing numbers of American casualties, combined anti-armor teams with eight trucks began patrols.

“We’d be rolling around with four trucks on each side of the city so we could support each other if something happened,” Stevens says. “We drove around looking for a fight. When they attacked us, they showed themselves. So we killed the people that needed to be killed.”

During patrols of cities along the Syrian border, soldiers slept in trailers, which was a step up from the previous months: foxholes and sleeping bags on the sand.

“But you couldn’t drink the water,” Stevens says. “It had fecal matter in it.”

More than 200 soldiers from Stevens’ platoon were injured. And seven soldiers were killed in the seven months Stevens served for the second time in Iraq.

During a security stop in the city of Husayba, “one of the terrorist bombs (went) off. A couple of my buddies took shrapnel,” Stevens says.

At another point, a turret gunner was shot in the cheek.

“The bullet went out the back of his neck,” Stevens says.

As he had done seven times before, Stevens ran with his medic kit to the aid of the 22-year-old wounded soldier.

“Under fire, we patch them up, throw them on our backs and run out of the line of fire,” Stevens says. “I was bandaging the back of his neck. I had my fingers in his cheek. He came to and he started kicking and fighting and yelling. He was too stubborn to die.”

Once a soldier is down, a “medevac bird” arrives within 20 minutes.

“But it seems like an eternity,” Stevens says. “The helicopter just won’t fly fast enough, you know.”

On his first day of leave, Stevens and a buddy flew to Mississippi, then drove to Alabama to attend the Talladega auto race. The tickets were a gift from his mom, Stevens says.

When fireworks erupted somewhere in the crowd, Stevens and his buddy reacted involuntarily.

“We both jumped,” he says. “My heart was racing. I thought we both were gonna die.”

As quickly as they reacted, they realized they were safe and tried to laugh it off, Stevens says.

One day, he hopes to join a SWAT team, Stevens says. His father, the late Lester Stevens, served as an officer for 20 years with the Indianapolis Police Department.

For now, Stevens has 16 months of service left in the U.S. Marine Corps.

“It makes you grow up,” he says of the experience, “whether you want to or not. All the stuff I’ve seen and all that I know, it will make me a better person. Every day could be my last. I look at life a lot differently now.”

http://www.thejournalnet.com/Main.as...rticleID=46997

Ellie

[thedrifter]

November 04, 2004

Troops in Afghanistan kill four, capture Taliban chief

By Stephen Graham
Associated Press


KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S. troops killed four suspected militants and captured a Taliban commander in one of Afghanistan’s most dangerous valleys Thursday, officials said, while an explosion killed four civilians in an attack apparently meant for Afghan troops.
Soldiers entered a compound in Char Cheno district of Uruzgan province before dawn, U.S. spokesman Maj. Mark McCann said, sparking a gunbattle in which four rebels were killed. No Americans were reported injured.

“During the search of the compound, they found a bunch of stuff, killed four anti-coalition militants and detained one who was wounded,” McCann said.

The troops discovered weapons including rocket-propelled grenades, he said.

McCann didn’t identify the suspects. However, Char Cheno’s mayor said the wounded man was a local Taliban commander called Hasham Jan. Jan is not believed to be a senior figure in the hardline militia.

Syed Rasool Khan was installed as Char Cheno’s mayor following the death of his predecessor during an assault on a convoy of U.S. and Afghan forces in September.

The district’s deputy mayor followed him into the lengthy list of Afghan officials assassinated by suspected militants on Tuesday, when a mine explosion ripped through his car.

The four civilians died on Thursday morning near Orgun, a town in Paktika province where U.S. troops man a base overlooking the Pakistani frontier, McCann said.

The civilian vehicle was apparently following a column of trucks from Afghanistan’s U.S.-trained Afghan National Army when a roadside bomb exploded.

“It looks like it struck the vehicle and four local nationals were killed,” McCann said.

No U.S. troops were involved in the incident, McCann said. He had no word on whether others were injured. Provincial officials had no information on the incident.

Some 18,000 mainly American troops are still hunting militants in Afghanistan, mostly along the porous Pakistani border and often in cooperation with Afghan forces.

On Monday, one U.S. soldier was killed and two others injured when militants attacked a patrol south or Orgun with gunfire and rockets.

In all, more than 1,000 people have died in political violence across Afghanistan so far this year, many of them in the south and east of the country where anti-government rebels are strongest.

Many of those deaths are also the result of factional feuds, often between rival groups within the Afghan security forces.



http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/stor...925-489181.php


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Paratroopers Return to Afghanistan, Note Dramatic Changes
By Spc. Chris Stump, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Nov. 4, 2004 –– In just over three years, Afghanistan has made tremendous strides in security and reconstruction -- such great strides that the country's citizens were able to participate in a safe, democratic election last month.

Along the road to a free society, the Afghans have had a partner in the U.S.- led coalition and the units that support the large coalition.

Some units most familiar with Afghanistan -- and all that has changed within it in the last three years -- are with the 82nd Airborne Division.

With the call-up of 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, to assist with election security, many paratroopers were afforded the opportunity to see how the country has changed since their last deployment here in the summer of 2002.

Then, the hunt for Taliban and al Qaeda remnants was still in its early stages, and civil affairs missions were just getting started, said Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Lahoda, a platoon sergeant with the battalion's Company C.

The paratroopers spent their previous deployment actively searching for the enemy, making way for the stability that would be needed to start the reconstruction process. The humanitarian and civil affairs-type missions that started a little over two years ago have greatly impacted Afghanistan. This has caused many soldiers who have seen the "before and after" to think about all that has been done to bring the country to where it is today.

"It seems people are more affluent now; people are much more friendly to coalition forces than they were the last time I was here," said Lahoda. "I think the humanitarian aid and civil affairs efforts have made a huge difference in how the Afghans feel about us being here."

With the focus of missions going from strictly combat operations to a combination of combat and civil-military-assistance missions, the coalition has made tremendous progress in gaining the confidence of the Afghan people, which has helped lead to the country's first democratic election.

"If you treat a child or an infant, it goes a long way to help and gain the trust of the people," said Lahoda.

During the last few years of trust building, Afghanistan has changed within itself, not just toward outsiders like the coalition. With the eviction of the Taliban, many Afghans have begun embracing what they had been denied during the Taliban's rule.

Since the first time Spc. Matthew Popejoy was here, girls are now going to school, women have started to shed their burkas, and many have taken the opportunity to earn a living by becoming entrepreneurs or working for the coalition.

"Everything is so much more built-up here," said the company's team leader. "The people are friendlier, ... and look like they have a little more money in their pockets."

The changes the paratroopers have seen are definitely more than positive improvements on coalition installations. The changes that have occurred since the ouster of the Taliban have touched nearly everyone the infantrymen have seen during their current deployment.

"It's kind of mind-blowing," said Popejoy. "When I got here (this time) I didn't recognize the base. And when I went out the gate into Bagram village, I saw how much it had changed and how the people looked different."

Making a difference for the better is why many appreciate what they've come here to do. And with the Oct. 9 presidential election running smoother and more safely than many expected, those who have been a part of operations here from nearly the beginning have much to be proud of.

"It's a great moment in history to be a part of," said Lahoda. "You don't get to be at the edge of that very often."

(Army Spc. Chris Stump is assigned to the 17th Public Affairs Detachment.)


http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov2...004110409.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Hawaii-based Marines deploy to Afghanistan

By David Allen Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Tuesday, November 23, 2004

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Pacific Marines continue to be deployed to war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The latest regiment to get the call is the Hawaii-based Marines and sailors of the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, which landed in Afghanistan last week after training in California, according to a Marine Corps news release.

The 1,000-strong regiment is part of the 3rd Marine Division, headquartered on Okinawa. According to the release, the regiment is to relieve the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, which is to return to Camp Lejeune.

The regiment left for Afghanistan after a training in the Southern California desert, the high Sierra Mountains and a special scenario-based training facility in San Diego.

“We’ve trained hard for this deployment,” Lt. Col. Norm Cooling, the battalion’s commanding officer, said upon landing. “I’m very proud of my Marines and sailors here on the far reaches of the world and am confident in their abilities to help the local population and destroy the anti-coalition forces that seek to enslave the Afghani people.
“We’re here to further freedom and democracy,” he said upon landing.

The battalion is expected to be deployed for about seven months, mostly in the central and southeastern areas of Afghanistan bordering Pakistan, a mountainous region with strong pockets of Taliban insurgents still operating.


Ellie