Manchester Marine honors family, countrymen

Story and photos by Cpl. Ryan Turnage

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CAMP RAMADI, Iraq – On a September evening in 2007, as the sun began to fade behind the mountainous terrain of southern Afghanistan, Marines of Company G, 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion, Marine Special Operations Command, prepared to attack an enemy compound.

Lance Cpl. Andrew M. Crisp, then a private first class, manned a M240G medium machinegun on the turret of the lead humvee in his patrol. As the Marines began their assault on the enemy position, rounds impacted all around Crisp, who was protected by reinforced steel plates on either side of his weapon.

“I was in the lead vehicle. As we came over the hill into the compound, we immediately received heavy machinegun fire from the enemy,” Crisp recalled.

Armor penetrating rounds sliced through Crisp’s steel protection and fragments sliced into his left arm and chest. Despite the injury, Crisp was undeterred and continued to provide suppressive fire for his fellow Marines.

Company G overcame the enemy without losing a single Marine. Crisp was later awarded the Purple Heart Medal for his injuries and the Combat Action Ribbon for his ability to effectively provide cover fire for his Marines during the engagement.

“It shocked me at first, so I only told my dad,” he said. “My dad ended up ‘spilling the beans’ of my injuries to the rest of the family, which resulted in worried family members sending me hundreds of emails.”

Crisp enlisted in the Marine Corps just before graduating from Manchester Central High School in June 2006. For him, the Marine Corps was everything. He knew he wanted to fight America’s enemies and do his part to protect the United States of America.

“I enlisted as an infantryman because I knew that would get me on the frontlines,” said Crisp.

Crisp went on to say his family was uneasy about his decision to enlist because of the kinetic conflicts in the Middle East, but he felt he had to be a Marine and carry on his family’s tradition of service to their country. His father served in the Air Force, one grandfather in the Navy and the other grandfather in the Army. Family reunions were filled with military stories. and Crisp was ready to tell his own.

Now serving in the eastern Al Anbar province with Headquarters Company, Regimental Combat Team 6 aboard Camp Ramadi, Iraq, Crisp says this deployment is much different from his previous deployment to Afghanistan.

“Everything has calmed down here in Iraq. [Iraqi Security Forces] are taking control of operations, so the stress level is much lower,” he said.

Crisp’s job has gone from sitting in a turret behind a machinegun to sitting at a desk behind a computer. He monitors the operations being conducted in eastern Al Anbar province, rather than conducting them himself.

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“My wife is much happier knowing I’m safer this deployment,” he said.

Crisp and his wife are expecting their first child, a son. They discovered she was pregnant just before he deployed in January 2009. Crisp went on to say even though he has a family of his own now, he has no plans to leave his Marine Corps family yet.

“I plan on reenlisting for another four years and completing the Basic Reconnaissance Course so I can return to my first unit, 2nd MSOB, as a [Force Reconnaissance] Marine,” Crisp said.

After the Marine Corps, Crisp and his new family plan on staying in North Carolina near Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, where he is currently stationed. He says one day he will share his stories with his son and encourage him to serve his country, following in the proud footsteps of his father, and grandfathers.

For more information on the ongoing mission in Iraq’s Al Anbar province, visit http://www.iimefpublic.usmc.mil/iimeffwd.