Marines in Afghanistan remember their lost on Memorial Day
May 31st, 2010 | Embedded journalism Infantry | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Marines gather to remember the fallen during a Memorial Day service at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan May 31, 2010. Major Gen. Robert Mills, commanding general, I MEF Forward spoke during the service. (Thomas Brown / Staff)
CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan – It was a sobering reminder in more ways than one.
Marines here marked Memorial Day this morning with a ceremony honoring veterans of all wars, but with a special emphasis on those who have sacrificed their lives here in Afghanistan.
With the flags of the U.S., Afghanistan and Great Britain flying overhead, a single bell tolled once each in the name of 15 Marines and a Navy corpsman who have died since I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) took over April 12 as the command element of Marine operations in southern Afghanistan. Fifteen of those 16 service members have died since May 2, when photographer Tom Brown and I arrived here with plans to embed with 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, in Marjah, a former Taliban stronghold that is still hotly contested.
Maj. Gen. Richard Mills, commander of Marine forces in Afghanistan, asked a crowd of 300 Marines assembled to put the deaths in perspective.
“I would ask that you remember them for what they were: Heroes, not victims,” he said. “And I’d ask that you remember their families for what they are: Heroes, not victims.”
After the ceremony ended, many Marines approached two battle crosses – consisting of rifles standing vertically with helmets, boots and dog tags adorning them – erected in honor of the casualties. Several men genuflected to offer prayers, while others gingerly placed a hand on the clean Kevlar helmets on top of the crosses.
As a reporter, I’ve covered dozens of patriotic events and funerals honoring service members lost in combat. They’ve taken place in small towns like Agawam, Mass., and Aberdeen, Md., as I’ve moved to better myself and build a career.
On this day, however, the ceremony felt more personal.
I reflected on the fun-loving Marines living in the rundown schoolhouse I wrote about here, and how hard several of them took the loss of Staff Sgt. Adam Perkins, an explosive ordnance disposal technician who died May 17 following an improvised explosive device blast.
I reflected on the Marines we saw crying at Camp Hanson on May 6 – the very same night we embedded with 3/6 – after they learned that one of their own, Lance Cpl. Christopher Rangel, was gunned down by a sniper while on patrol.
And I reflected on the May 12 death of Sgt. Joshua Desforges, a Marine with 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, who grew up in Ludlow, Mass., which borders my hometown of Chicopee.
War is never easy. It’s dirty, messy, terrifying and frustrating, even in the best of circumstances. It takes sacrifices large and small, from the missing of family birthdays and anniversaries to the loss of limbs and peace of mind that some service members cope with after a deployment.
We’ll keep blogging from Afghanistan until we return to the U.S. on June 10. In the meantime, I hope this site has in some small way helped someone, anyone, understand the hardships our fellow countrymen face overseas, and the humor, courage and resolve they use to face them.
Happy Memorial Day to all.
Now reporting live from Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan
May 29th, 2010 | Afghanistan Camp Leatherneck Embedded journalism Marjah | Posted by Dan Lamothe
CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — Good morning, friends. Photographer Tom Brown and I successfully hopped a CH-53 flight night last night from Camp Hanson in Marjah to Camp Leatherneck.
While that means our time with 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, has come to a close, we’ll be posting a variety of photographs and blog entries in the next few days in this space that shows what life is like for those Marines, who took great care of us while we were embedded with them.
We’ll also be blogging about life here at Leatherneck again and pointing out some of the more serious journalism we’ve done on this trip as it goes live on our website. For example, this long-form piece on the sniper threat in Marjah appeared on the Marine Corps Times website within the last day or three.
As always, thanks for reading. Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend, and if you happen to have time, consider checking out the comments under the infamous Sarah Palin tattoo entry. The conversation grows richer by the minute, and exploded on the Internet in the last 24 hours.
7 stars in one room
May 28th, 2010 | Battle Rattle | Posted by Andrew deGrandpre
So when’s the last time you scored a ticket to see three high-profile Marine generals discuss how the Corps is getting it done?
Somehow, this little gem managed to fall through the cracks during Marine Week Boston. The video, shot at Tufts University, shows Lt. Gen. Richard Zilmer, deputy commandant for Manpower and Reserve affairs; Lt. Gen. John Kelly, head of the Reserve and Marine Forces North; and Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, whose stint leading Marines forces in Afghanistan only recently came to and end. Each offers some good gouge about his respective AO.
At an hour-plus, it’s a lengthy video. But if you’ve got the time, there’s some decent insight there.
Memorial Day is no summertime kick-off for these Marines
May 28th, 2010 | Iraq Reserve | Posted by Gina Cavallaro
Marines from 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, a Reserve unit from Oak Brook, Ohio, on patrol in Al Anbar in 2005. The unit lost 46 Marines and two Navy corpsmen during its 7-month deployment to Iraq. (Courtesy of Nathan Huffman)
It’s been five years since 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines made the headlines for becoming the heaviest hit battalion in Iraq.
The Reserve unit from Brook Park, Ohio, lost 46 Marines and two Navy corpsmen during its seven-month deployment to Al Anbar province, and while the headlines may have faded for the many, the memory of those lost brothers burns brightly for the few.
A group of Marines currently and formerly in the 3/25, has organized an ambitious Memorial Day weekend event, a 106-mile run that will begin on Saturday at 7 a.m. at the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Va.
They’ll run north on Route 1 and with a schedule based on a 13-minute mile, the runners expect to be in Fredericksburg at approximately 5 p.m., in Quantico around 9 p.m., with a projected finish-line crossing around 7 a.m. on Sunday.
They hope to see at lot of people along the route – runners, walkers and flag wavers.
The idea started as a fundraiser for the Wounded Warrior Project and they’ve already collected more than their $5,000 goal, but it has since evolved into more than that.
“Iraq affected me in a pretty significant way, my life hasn’t been the same since then,” former Lance Cpl. Joe Shearer said of that 2005 deployment. He got out of the Corps in 2008 and works now as in security.
The project of organizing the run and getting back in touch with his old battle buddies has had a cleansing effect.
“I had some … issues early on and this [project] has helped me a lot, just reconnecting with the Marines.”
One of Shearer’s fellow organizers, Nathan Huffman, who left the Corps as a sergeant in 2007, said it’s frustrates him to see Memorial Day treated by the masses as “a summertime kick-off for beach season.”
Huffman said he would like to see people take more of their time off to honor the fallen. The run through the neighborhoods and communities along Route 1 is meant to raise that awareness.
“We want people to look at us and see what we’re doing and maybe take 15 minutes out of their day to remember the fallen,” said Huffman, who has been training for the run but probably won’t be making it because his wife just gave birth to their first baby.
“We’re focused on the 48 who died in Iraq, but this run is for every Marine, every soldier, every sailor and every airman who has died,” said Huffman, a Richmond police officer.
Several officers from the Richmond Police Department, including some former members of the 3/25 who are on the force, will provide a police escort from Richmond to Arlington.
Donate money by going to the group’s Facebook page “Memorial Day 100” or join them on the run, even if it’s for 15 minutes.
Marine’s cheeky Sarah Palin tattoo the butt of jokes
May 27th, 2010 | Afghanistan Battle Rattle Embedded journalism Infantry Marjah | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Gunnery Sgt. Benjamin Lepping, an explosive ordnance disposal technician currently deployed to Afghanistan, says former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is "the hottest cougar in the Republican Party." (Left photo by the AP. Right photo by Thomas Brown//Staff)
MARJAH, Afghanistan – When I came to Afghanistan, I expected to find many strange and unusual sights.
A gunnery sergeant with a tattoo of Sarah Palin on his buttocks wasn’t one of them.
So it is, however. Within minutes of meeting Marines who patrol this former Taliban stronghold from the Yellow Schoolhouse, a rundown former Afghan school here, I was asked my opinion about Palin, a hero to many politically conservative Americans. Before I had a chance to answer, however, I was introduced to fun-loving Gunnery Sgt. Benjamin Lepping’s left butt cheek.
Sure enough, there’s a realistic caricature of Palin there, perhaps four inches wide and five inches tall. She’s wearing her trademark glasses and smiling, her hair in a bun.
Lepping is attached to India Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines.
Lepping, a technician with 1st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., said he got the tattoo last June while on a routine assignment in Alaska. He and a few colleagues were sent there to clear ordnance from Air Force bombing ranges, and apparently had quite a bit of fun enjoying the nightlife after work each night.
“On the way back, I decided I wanted to get a tattoo that reminded me of Alaska, because we really had a good time,” said Lepping, currently attached to India Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines. “I decided, ‘What could be better than getting a tattoo of the hottest cougar in the Republican Party?’”
Originally from Louisville, Ky., Lepping goes by the nickname “Gus,” a shortened version of his middle name, Gustav. He estimates he has about 30 tattoos, including a full sleeve on his left arm that pays homage to his job in a colorful mural that includes a variety of bombs and EOD lettering.
He’s also known for his quirkiness: Most nights, for example, he takes his bedding outside and falls asleep on the front stoop of the quarters where his fellow Marines live. He also has a tattoo on right butt cheek of the Southern Cross, the constellation of stars on the Australian flag.
“I had a good time in Australia,” he offered with a shrug.
Lepping said he is a fan of Palin’s, and hopes to meet her someday.
“If it was going to be a funny tattoo, I figured it had to be in a funny place,” he said. “I’d say it’s pretty famous in the southern California area.”
Extreme heat KOs generators at COP Reilly
May 26th, 2010 | Afghanistan Embedded journalism Infantry | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Marines attempt to provide some shade for their generators at COP Reilly.
COMBAT OUTPOST REILLY, Afghanistan – How hot is it here?
Hot enough that the air-conditioner-powering generators decided to take a vacation.
The generator for close to a dozen tents overheated midday Sunday, going down as the air temperature soared over 100 degrees. It went down again briefly today, but power was restored quickly.
To combat the overheating, Marines hung cammie netting this morning above each generator, giving the machines some shade from the hot sun, said Lance Cpl. Zach Warrilow, a mortarman here with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines. He’s to the left in the photograph above.
Kilo Company Squads Engage Insurgents After Ambush
May 25th, 2010 | Afghanistan Embedded journalism Infantry Marjah | Posted by Dan Lamothe
COMBAT OUTPOST REILLY, Afghanistan – Last night, I went on my last foot patrol of this embed assignment.
It was eventful, to say the least.
Military Times photographer Tom Brown and I pushed north from this outpost east of Marjah with Marines from Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines. Two groups – 3rd Platoon’s 2nd and 3rd Squads – left on routine security patrols within a half hour of each other. Tom and I joined 3/3, the second group – 13 Marines, a Navy corpsman and four Afghan National Army soldiers – as they stepped off at about 4:30.
It was a strenuous walk. The first squad had swept ahead of us to establish security so we could safely cross open terrain, but the land was crisscrossed with canals that needed to be hurdled and boot-sucking fields that had been flooded by farmers earlier in the day. The air temperature had cooled off considerably from its 100-degree peak earlier in the day, but it was still hot enough that our shirts clung to our backs.
For more than an hour, the patrol passed uneventfully. Marines interviewed several neighbors along the way to collect census information and continued to press north into territory they patrolled less frequently. In tandem, the squads worked north within a half-mile of each other, communicating frequently.
It was about 6 p.m. when things began to look sinister. Second Squad detected men running back and forth in a tree line several hundred yards to their north – a possible indicator of a coming ambush. Marines traveling with us in 3rd Squad observed another man 200 yards to the north in a green tunic, pointing us out to a man on a motorcycle, who sped away.
“That’s always how it starts,” said Hospitalman Novice Brandon Echols, 3/3’s corpsman, watching the man in the green tunic. “One guy pointing.”
Ten minutes later, the shooting began. Insurgents wielding a 7.62mm Dragunov sniper rifle and a 7.62mm RPK machine gun opened up on the other squad, 3/2, from a two-story building about 250 yards to their northeast. We were about 350 yards away from 3/2 to the west – out of sight behind a compound, but close enough where we could hear gunfire crackling on the evening air. Several sniper rounds narrowly missed 3/2’s Marines when they were out in the open, we later learned.
Third Squad’s Marines scrambled from compound to compound to help, hurdling a canal and keeping themselves out of harm’s way by staying on the west side of many of the buildings, opposite the firefight. Tom and I kept up, body armor rattling up and down on our shoulders as we ran.
“We’ve got to move one compound to the north!” Cpl. Shane Hume, a team leader with 3/3, told his Marines. “They’re pinned down and they need our help!”
Third Squad took over another compound as a second team of insurgents hiding to the northwest opened fire for the first time from about 300 yards away. Gunfire from AK47s snapped overhead, but everyone made it into the building unharmed.
Third Squad eventually engaged the enemy in a tree line to the east using gunfire and high-explosive 40mm rounds fired from an M203 launcher. At least one attacker was hit, Marines said. The firefight tapered off at about 6:30, when two Cobra gunship helicopters roared in overhead. Tom and I spent the majority of the battle out of the way with Echols and Lance Cpl. Michael McCracken, who maintained security on a nearby building, allowing a Cpl. James Kirkpatrick, 3/3′s designated marksman, to step onto the roof and survey the situation.
The two squads of Marines fanned through the area looking for clues to what occurred and the bodies of dead insurgents. Spent RPK and rifle rounds were found in a building where the attack was first initiated, Marines said.
Third Squad regrouped in another compound at about 7 p.m. They walked home under cover of darkness, crossing fields and canals along the way.
UPDATE, May 26: I just spoke with Cpl. Matthew Saunders, squad leader of 3/3, after he returned from an overnight mission. Saunders said some his Marines may be mistaken in saying they were fired on by a Dragunov rifle and an RPK machine gun. The likelihood is they were fired upon by AK47s and a 7.62mm PKM machine gun, which uses bigger rounds than the RPK.
What’s next for Mattis? Keep on guessing
May 25th, 2010 | General officers | Posted by Andrew deGrandpre
Gen. James Mattis will likely be succeeded at Joint Forces Command by Army Gen. Ray Odierno, architect of the 2007 "surge" in Iraq and top officer there since 2008. (Photo by: John Moore/The Associated Press)
With the Pentagon’s announcement Monday that Army Gen. Ray Odierno is President Obama’s pick to lead U.S. Joint Forces Command, all eyes in the Corps turn to the man who has held that post since 2007: Gen. Jim Mattis.
In case you missed it, Marine Corps Times asked Mattis in April whether he intended to retire once his hitch at JFCom is over in the fall. He wouldn’t bite, saying only that his next move would be decided by Obama and DoD’s senior leadership. It’s widely speculated that Mattis is on the short list of candidates to become the Corps’ next commandant.
For now, there’s nothing new on this front, with a JFCom spokesman saying Tuesday morning that despite the announcement of Odierno’s nomination, the command hasn’t even locked down a date for the change-of-command ceremony.
Mattis, however, is keeping busy. He sat down recently for a lengthy interview with Vago Muradian, host of “This Week in Defense News,” and discussed a wealth of topics — from lessons learned over the last decade of war to the need for more simulation-based combat training.
Check out a clip below. Additional segments are posted at defensenewstv.com. (Just type “Mattis” into the search field.)
There’s no running water, but Combat Outpost Reilly has a sweet gym
May 25th, 2010 | Afghanistan Embedded journalism | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Cpl. Mikah Rust, right, gives his shoulders a workout Tuesday with a makeshift barbell at Combat Outpost Reilly, Afghanistan. Lance Cpl. Joseph Roncolato looks on.
COMBAT OUTPOST REILLY, Afghanistan — There’s nothing like a combat zone gymnasium to make you feel like a doughy, wimpy scrub.
At least that’s the experience I had after checking out the gym here today. I’m a gym rat myself and a veteran of Washington, D.C.’s summer softball leagues, but with the air temperature soaring well above 100 degrees, I was surprised to see Lance Cpl. Joseph Roncolato and Cpl. Mikah Rust, both assigned to Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, pumping iron as though they were in the air-conditioning at their neighborhood Gold’s Gym.
The gym is a sight to behold. A combination of boards, pipes, pulleys, chains, duct tape and sand bags, it allows Marines to work out pretty much every major muscle group. There’s enough room for about 10 people to exercise at one time, far better than the gyms I saw at Camp Hanson and Combat Outpost Yazzie.
Bench press? The Marines at Reilly have built a flat bench and an incline bench out of wood, and use a heavy pipe wrapped in chains as a barbell.
Tricep extensions? The Marines built a pulley system that can be adjusted by adding or subtracting sand bags.
Bicep curls? There are a variety of ammo cans packed with dirt and a mysterious set of 40-pound dumbbells, which Roncolato and Rust guessed someone received in the mail.
In short, it’s a pretty nice setup – especially when you consider Reilly doesn’t have running water or an indoor chow hall.
As for the temperature, well, it looks like the Marines aren’t fans of working out in the heat, either.
“It could be cooler, but we’re used to it, I guess,” said Rust, his drenched T-shirt stuck to his skin.
“We actually had that conversation not that long ago,” Roncolato said. “Why are we out here working out at noon?”
Afghanistan’s ’120 Days of Wind’
May 24th, 2010 | Afghanistan Embedded journalism | Posted by Dan Lamothe
The shouts of "Hey, check this out" echoed through the concrete walls at patrol base Yellow Schoolhouse as a fast-moving sandstorm blew in May 16. (Photo: Thomas Brown/Staff)
COMBAT OUTPOST REILLY, Afghanistan – It’s a relatively slow day here with Kilo Company, so I wanted to touch on a subject that really grinds my gears: sandstorms.
If you haven’t experienced one yet, you don’t know what you’re missing. The sand pelts you hard enough that it’s painful to keep your eyes open, and the storms come out of the blue so quickly, it can be difficult to prepare for them.
Photographer Tom Brown and I experienced our first sandstorm on this trip during the infamous night aboard a CH-53 helicopter, but it wasn’t the last one. Last week, we got caught in another nasty one at the Yellow Schoolhouse in Marjah. As Tom’s photograph above shows, it looked pretty ominous coming in — always fun when you’re staying in a building that has no doors or windows.
It’ll probably get worse before it gets better. Afghanistan is entering what natives refer to as the “120 Days of Wind,” a season beginning in late spring when sandstorms form frequently, suffocating the southern portion of the country, said Lt. Col. Brian Christmas, commander of 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines. The threat is significant enough that Marine units stock up with extra water, food and ammunition in case a storm prevents deliveries, he said.
Col. Paul Kennedy, commander of 2nd Marine Regiment, put it this way in a recent newsletter: “Conditions will be akin to blowing a hairdryer in our faces with sand and dust to boot. Joy.”
That sounds just about right, too. Joy.