6 posts tagged “troops”
Pfc. Brian Jones just returned from the city and brings us the State of Fallujah Address where city officials tell you about what has taken place over the past year to strengthen their home:
FALLUJAH, Iraq —City officials and leaders gathered at the newly developed Fallujah television station to deliver a live broadcast of the state of Fallujah address to the people recently.
Sheik Hamid Ahmed, the chairman of the Fallujah city council, and Col. Faisal Ismail Husayn, the chief of police, spoke on behalf of the city recounting their history and announcing the current state of affairs.
Both Ahmed and Husayn thanked the service members and commanding officers with Regimental Combat Team 6 and Multi National Force-West for their support in security, reconstruction efforts and taking interest in the future of the city.
“The real picture of Fallujah is what you see today,” said Ahmed, translated by an interpreter. “It is living in security and reconstruction because the leadership of the city was put in the hands of the good people.”
Currently, the local tribal sheik council and city muktars are diligently working in accordance with the mayor and city council elected by the citizens of Fallujah in guiding the city’s future as Coalition Forces remain in a supporting role as advisors and security.
“When we united the city council, the mayor and the muktars of the city, the situation of the city turned for the better,” said Husayn. “Everybody knows that the security situation in Fallujah before 2006 was killing in the streets, destruction and no one could say any righteous word anywhere. Today the situation is special, very secure and peaceful. That is not our own evaluation, but it is the citizens of Fallujah who have evaluated the situation and have told us the status of the city.”
Husayn said that as security improved within the city all other efforts in rebuilding the city became a success and due to the city’s new leadership the city is moving in the direction of progress and stability.
All this was not possible without the help of the Coalition Forces and their help with the reconstruction efforts that work side by side with the security efforts in the city, said Husayn.
As security drastically improved the people of Fallujah received nearly 1,000 government jobs granted by the central government of Iraq, opened new and old businesses and have managed public services. Special efforts have also been made in supporting the students and youth of Fallujah, from school supplies to recreational sports.
The Fallujah Business Development Center has opened to manage reconstruction efforts for the district and is also used as the central foundation to inviting Arab and other investment companies into the city.
“Fallujah is ready for major investment,” said Ahmed. “From this place, we call on all the investors from the Arab nations and international nations to come and invest in the district of Fallujah.”
Ahmed attributed the reason for investing in the city is because of the city’s location on the Euphrates River that is an intersection for all the international roads and also, the city contains all the main ingredients necessary for development, such as human and construction resources and the availability of the experience and expertise.
Husayn addressed government representatives and brothers from the Arab nations around Iraq in his speech asking that they come and visit the city that sacrificed more than many other cities in Iraq and deserves that the people stand by its side and provide the services that it needs for support.
“I want them to come and see the reality of Fallujah today,” said Husayn. “They will see that Fallujah is very secure and that the citizens of Fallujah are very generous and very brave and are here to welcome anybody that comes to Fallujah.”
“All want the peace and are looking forward to building good relations and friendships with all the peoples’ nations,” said Ahmed. “We will turn the page of the past and will open a new page with the grace of God. We swore to ourselves that we will keep our city as a star shining among the stars of the other cities of Iraq.”
To pre-empt some comments I know are coming -- "ABC is lying!" -- they are not. (We received such comments after posting Katie Couric's video following her visit here.) It is no big secret that any media outlet that comes out here to witness first-hand the progress in Al Anbar Province reports the same thing: progress. Great things are being done here.
This is another video piece from Pfc. Brian Jones. Taken together with the last entry, you can see a small slice of the diverse and complex mission of Coalition and Iraqi forces here. On one hand you've got a platoon from Lima Company conducting combat patrols while the company commander and another platoon engage with tribal sheiks in the city. Often this engagement comes in the form of a meal, sometimes elaborate, sometimes not.
So between this video and the last, you see two "blocks" in the "three-block war" concept. You've got Marines in combat -- or at least on the lookout for it -- and Marines engaging the local government. On some of our other entries you'll see the third block: humanitarian assistance. Nowadays, however, this mostly comes in the form of Marines pulling perimeter security while Iraqi policemen interact with the locals and municipal government actually do the work.
Story and photos by Cpl. Bryce Muhlenberg
It was late morning when Pfc. Andrew D. Bear noticed the lone cinderblock in the middle of a field. There were no houses, no cement facilities, and no structures of any kind for hundreds of feet. It was just dirt, mud, weeds and the Marines of Company A, 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, accompanied by local Iraqi policemen. To the Yorba-Linda, Calif., native, the cinderblock, sitting in the sun-baked mud, stuck out like a cockroach in a spoonful of oatmeal.
“Now, tell me why a cinderblock would be just sitting in the middle of this field, all by itself,” implored the smirking 22-year-old fire team leader, to no one in particular. “Like we wouldn’t notice these things.”
In the distance, away from the two Marines who accompanied Bear, were IPs, who had brought the Marines to the location. The IPs made their way alongside the Marines through dust and 100-degree-plus heat, as they meticulously scanned the area for weapons caches.
Bear and his fellow Marine, Pfc. Cesar R. Burgos, approached with a metal detector, sweeping back and forth, low to the ground. Suddenly, the device made a sharp beeping sound, signaling the presence of metal.
“Let’s dig,” said Bear, a 2003 El Dorado High School graduate.
The digging continued for a few minutes until Burgos struck something solid with the tip of his shovel.
The Marine unsheathed his knife, carefully brushed the dirt aside and removed an empty and corroded ammunition shell. With rows of corn as a backdrop to the scene, the Marines bent down and inspected the shell. There must be more, they thought.
The Marines dug deeper. Just a couple of inches away from the initial spot and a few inches deeper, they found what looked like a cluster of green plastic capsules. Opening one of the specimens, the Marines revealed a 37mm high-explosive anti-aircraft round.
“That thing is in perfect condition,” said Bear, facing the green splotches of the far-off thickets of reeds and the nearer mounds of dirt. “Just perfect to be detonated or fired.”
The hole the Marines had created only measured two feet wide and no more than five inches deep. Already, they had discovered six of these dangerous rounds.
The Marines carefully excavated wider and deeper, uncovering more and more rounds. Bear spoke to the small group of Marines saying, “Although insurgents don’t really use anti-aircraft weapons, these can be used to make IEDs that would do some damage if put together properly.”
In a short time, Bear and Burgos uncovered several hundred rounds. They were carefully stacked in numerous quantities, and the rest of the Marines and IPs had been called to the excavation site.
“It makes you feel good to find a cache like this,” said Lance Cpl. Jesse Aguilar, a 22-year-old, Los Angeles native and fire team leader. “Because it means they are off the street and can’t be used by insurgents anymore.”
The cache the Marines had found in field today was a heavy load, with a final count of more than 350 rounds of various calibers.
“It was a good time,” said Aguilar. “Most of the time, (when) we go looking for caches, we are just looking for suspicious spots and guessing. This time we had a general direction, which was given to us by the Iraqi Police, but Bear had the sense to see something that didn’t belong and found a cache.”
“I couldn’t wait to go out today,” exclaimed Bear. “This is what I like doing, this right here.”
The Marines finished digging. Sweat-stained and exhausted, they had finally extracted all the deadly rounds from the warm soil. It was now time to get them to Explosive Ordinance Disposal Marines, who would make sure the rounds would never be used against friendly forces. EOD would blow up the rounds, forever removing them from an insurgent’s agenda.
“The more weapons caches we find, the less can be used against coalition and Iraqi forces,” said 2nd Lt. Stephen P. Kelly, the commander of 1st platoon. “Both the Iraqi policemen and the Marines did a great job of finding the cache. The training these Marines have received was top notch, but the skills of individual Marines, who are able to pick out the small but important details, says a lot about their personal abilities.”
“Every day we patrol for weapons and we are trying to make this area safer,” said Maj. Ali Hussein Usef, the local Iraqi Police station executive officer. “American forces and Iraqi Forces have one thing in common, we both want to stop the bad guys.”
Marines with Regimental Combat Team 6 recently got their hands on the Marine Corps’ newest counter to attacks by terrorist forces in Anbar Province.
The Joint Explosive Ordnance Disposal Rapid Response Vehicle, or JERRV, is the latest melding of technology and combat firepower to find its way onto the battlefield in Iraq. Like any new weapon fielded to Marines, instructors are needed to certify potential operators in its use.
One of the JERRV operator instructors for the regiment is Cpl. Miarco T. McMillian, a motor transportation operator with Headquarters Company. He is one of a handful of instructors responsible for training the Marines who will be driving the trucks on combat and logistics patrols throughout Al Anbar Province.
The JERRV is one type of vehicle in the category of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, or MRAPs. It’s the usual alphabet soup of military acronyms that all boils down to one thing: protecting Marines in combat. Unlike the humvee, the current workhorse of the American vehicle fleet, the JERRV chassis was designed with heavy bomb-proof armor in mind.
“There’s a higher sense of security with brand new vehicles. They’re designed to carry the weight of the armor,” said McMillian, a Las Vegas native and 1998 graduate of Meadows High School. “(The JERRVs) are 40,000 lbs. but they can go up to 52,000 lbs. with extra modifications. Being surrounded by all that armor makes you feel safe.”
Gunnery Sgt. Matthew A. Larson, the motor transportation maintenance chief for RCT-6, echoed McMillian’s sentiment.
“They're like no other vehicle I have ever driven,” Larson said. “They are like riding in a bank-vault with wheels. You can't help but feel safer in the JERRV than in an armored HMMWV. These vehicles will definitely save lives.”
Larson said the process of training Marines on the JERRV will be a “continuous process.”
“The intent is for RCT-6 instructors to train instructors in all of the subordinate units, while simultaneously teaching all potential operators in the RCT headquarters,” said Larson, a Hubert, N.C., native. “When all is said and done, we should have in the ball park of 700 or so Marines trained to operate the MRAPs.”
RCT-6 will need every one of those operators to man the fleet of vehicles it is slated to receive. Around 500 MRAPs, including the JERRV and other variants, will make an immediate impact on the mission in Anbar Province, according to Capt. Russell W. Wilson, the motor transportation officer for RCT-6.
“The MRAP will go a long way in the IED force protection of our Marines, sailors and soldiers; however, this added protection comes with a price. The price is reduced visibility, maneuverability, off road capability … and (experienced operators),” he said. “That is where training becomes critical to the success of the vehicle and the adaptation to accomplish the mission.”
McMillian said his first experience with the JERRV was something any civilian can identify with.
“It smells like a brand new car. It’s got that nice, plastic, clean car smell,” said McMillian. “There’s nothing else like it in the world.”
More important than the smell, McMillian said, is how the 20-ton, six-wheeled vehicle handles.
“Surprisingly, it handles very well. It’s a lot more nimble than you would expect from a 20-ton vehicle. Its turning radius is amazing, and its versatility and terrain capability is way up there,” he said.
A versatile vehicle requires a versatile operator. This is the value in having Marines like McMillian in the instructor seat, said Wilson.
“The Marine Corps is one of the only places in the world where a corporal, with relatively minimal training, teaching, and public speaking experience, can get out there and teach all ranks and grades with confidence and professionalism,” he said. “With the training of Cpl. McMillian and the cadre of instructors like him, we aim to safely and rapidly field the MRAP for convoy security and give Marines a better fighting chance against the tactics of the enemy.”
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Congratulations to 1stLt. Buijten, a comm officer with the regiment, on his promotion to his current rank!
For some reading on U.S. Marine Corps officers, check out the Wikipedia page on the Corps.
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