2/9 Marines replace 3/6 in Marjah, Afghanistan
December 30th, 2011 | Afghanistan Infantry Marjah | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Marines of 1st Platoon, Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, maneuver sandbags to the roof of a hasty patrol base set up during Operation Zangle Washat here, Oct. 1. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Andrew Miller)
Once again, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, is coming home from Marjah.
The infantry battalion will return to Camp Lejeune, N.C., over the next few days, with 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, taking over for the unit in Afghanistan. India Company 3/6, which I embedded with in 2010, arrives today, Marines in the unit said.
It was a dramatically different deployment for the battalion, which also patrolled Marjah in 2010, when it was one of the most violent areas in southern Afghanistan. Rather than facing daily firefights, the Marines provided security and mentoring as civil development grew.
“Two years ago Marjah was a central location or gathering location for Taliban, and that’s where the Taliban were being organized,” said Senior Captain Ghulam Wali, the Marjah chief of police, in a Marine Corps news release. “They were organizing the Taliban from Marjah to (Zabul) province, Nimroz province and Uruzgan province. This place was the main place, or the hub, for the Taliban and drug traffickers.”
Marines with 3/6 were assisted in the Marjah area this summer by Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, which was attached to 3/6 while other 1/6 forces deployed to Sangin district to the north. Their deployment is also coming to a close soon, according to this Marine Corps news release.
Despite the drumbeat of good news out of Marjah, there were trying times this summer. In one example, Charlie Company 1/6 Marines reportedly found about 16 improvised explosive devices while clearing a road known as Route Alligator.
Second Battalion, 9th Marines, is no stranger to Marjah, either. As I covered here, the unit replaced 3/6 in theater in August 2010, and faced fierce resistance from the insurgency through the end of that year.
Marine baby creates commotion with President Obama
December 27th, 2011 | Leadership Pacific issues | Posted by Dan Lamothe
President Obama laughs as 8-month-old Cooper Wagner puts his hand in the president's mouth on Christmas. (Associated Press photo)
Once again, a reminder: Children are unpredictable.
Marine Capt. Greg Wagner and his wife, Meredith, saw that firsthand on Christmas as President Obama visited Marine Corps Base Hawaii. While the couple took a photograph with the president, their 8-month-old son, Cooper, put his hand in Obama’s mouth.
Meredith said this morning on Good Morning America that she was “mortified” at the time, even though it appears that Obama laughed it all off.
“I was mortified,” she said. “I was embarrassed.”
Capt. Wagner gave the president credit for keeping things light.
“He kind of laughed and said that Cooper looked up and saw his big nose and just wanted to get a hold of it,” the Marine told GMA. “He played it off really well and got a good chuckle.”
Here’s video of the moment:
First Sergeant Santa
December 21st, 2011 | Battle Rattle | Posted by Blair Tomlinson
Marines and sailors from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, enter the Boondocker training area at Marine Corps Base Hawaii after a 9-mile hike Dec. 19. More than 500 people attended the Island Warrior Combat Competition III and Toys for Tots drive, which included a hike, toy collection and a series of physical competitions. This was the first time the unit included a Toys for Tots drive in their combat competition. The Marines and sailors hiked carrying toys and wearing festive decorations with their combat gear. The five companies in 2/3 also competed in four different events including tug-of-war, an obstacle course, pugil sticks and a sandbag relay. Weapons Company won the wooden-battleaxe trophy for the overall competition. (Kristen Wong/USMC)
A Christmas message from the Commandant and Mrs. Amos
December 14th, 2011 | General officers Leadership The CMC | Posted by Gina Cavallaro
Marines, Marine families, Marine supporters and anyone who’s ever worn the Marine Corps uniform get a Christmas salute from Gen. and Mrs. Bonnie Amos in this 4:43 minute video shot at The Home of the Commandants in Washington, D.C.
With “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” playing softly in the background, the commandant sends a “special shout out” to the “more than 30,000 Marines and sailors forward deployed and forward engaged in the defense of our nation in Helmand province, aboard ships at sea, at embassies and in detachments around the globe.”
Taking turns addressing viewers, Bonnie Amos points out the loneliness felt by Marines away from family at Christmas time and notes that she and the commandant have endured such separations over time.
The video was released by the commandant’s office on Dec. 14. Here’s a link.
1st Reconnaissance Battalion replaces 3rd Recon Marines in Afghanistan
December 14th, 2011 | Afghanistan Infantry Kajaki Reconnaissance Sangin | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Cpl. Wiliam Port, a Marine with Company B, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, takes a rest during a security patrol outside of Patrol Base Transformer in October. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Ryan Smith)
Swift, Silent, Deadly, the Marines of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion are back in Afghanistan.
The unit, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., has taken over for 3rd Recon, out of Okinawa, Japan, in the Upper Sangin Valley. They’ll patrol land that remains some of the most treacherous in Helmand province.
Insurgents in the area should remember 1st Recon well. The unit deployed to Helmand in summer 2010, initially taking on the Taliban on the fringes of Marjah district when it was still a violent and unforgiving place.
They shifted their operations that fall to the Sangin area, and hammered away on the Taliban, reportedly killing up to 250 fighters in a few weeks last October. The insurgents began calling them the “Black Diamonds,” a reference to the diamond-shaped mounts they had on their helmets.
Third Recon, meanwhile, has plenty of stories of its own to tell. They played a key role in helping to secure sections of Route 611, and had a hand in clearing operations in Kajaki this fall. This story is just one that illustrates the kinetic activity they saw during their deployment.
Dakota Meyer’s Medal of Honor saga continues
December 13th, 2011 | Ganjgal Medal of Honor | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Sgt. Dakota Meyer stands in the White House after being presented the Medal of Honor in September. (Associated Press photo)
Sgt. Dakota Meyer was presented the Medal of Honor in September, and it was hard to not get swept away in the excitement.
Hundreds of people packed the East Room in the White House as President Obama hung the award around his neck. Millions more watched the ceremony on TV.
And at the center of it all was a painful situation that will be difficult for families connected to the ambush in which Meyer’s heroism was honored to ever accept.
I’ve written at great length about the Sept. 8, 2009, ambush in Ganjgal, Afghanistan, so there’s no reason to cover the same ground again (the most recent piece posted here). Still, it’s interesting to see various media outlets keep the story alive with fresh coverage, more than two years after the fact.
Several stories appeared over the weekend about Meyer, Ganjgal and where everything stands.
The Buffalo News, for example, focused on the attack from the perspective of Gunnery Sgt. Aaron Kenefick, a mentor of Meyer’s who died in the battle. Kenefick attended high school in Williamsville, N.Y., and will always be considered a local hero there.
The San Antonio Express-News, meanwhile, has a well done piece highlighting what Meyer has been up to recently — including information about his recently filed lawsuit against BAE Systems, his former employer.
A number of people have asked me my opinion on the suit, aware of the amount of time I spent covering Meyer and the aftermath of the ambush.
I’ll say this much: If BAE Systems wasn’t aware that Meyer would express his opinion loudly and clearly while working for them, they probably weren’t paying attention before they hired him. Meyer doesn’t suffer fools, and I’ve never known him to shy away from saying what he really thinks. Anyone else I’ve met who knows him in any capacity is quick to say that, too.
It’s for this reason that it wasn’t surprising to see Meyer insert himself in the presidential race, either. He joined four other veterans in recent video endorsing Texas Gov. Rick Perry as the next commander in chief:
Meyer seems well aware of the standing the Medal of Honor gives him, and he’s using it in a variety of ways. Notably, the Express-News reports that Meyer has now raised $350,000 toward his $1 million Dakota Meyer Scholarship Challenge to America. The money will benefit the children of wounded warriors through the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation.
Behind the Cover: A Marine Corps workout to rival CrossFit
December 12th, 2011 | Behind the Cover Fitness Marines | Posted by Gina Cavallaro
The certified trainers at Semper Fit — the Corps’ in-house health and fitness promotion group you see at the base gyms — have designed a kick-ass workout program that they think will satisfy even the most demanding physical fitness disciple in the Corps.
The program is called High Intensity Tactical Training, or HITT, and it will be ready to go in about three weeks. It’s got a library of more than 600 exercises that have been combined into 60-minute workouts meant to be done three times a week. Marines who took part in the beta test done this past fall are already believers and some say they expect to do much better on their next PFT and CFT because of it.
The Semper Fit trainers are not discouraging the use of programs like CrossFit, but they do have some really good points to make about HITT and the differences between it and commercial workout programs. The story starts on Page 22 in this week’s issue and even has an example of three of the workouts.
Also in this week’s issue you’ll read about new rules for backpacks, Bold Alligator 2012 and there’s a story that will tell you even more about what expect if you get an assignment to Australia.
Is Gen. John Allen already at odds with the president on Afghanistan?
December 8th, 2011 | Afghanistan General officers Leadership | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Well, that didn’t take long.
With a massive military drawdown in Afghanistan looming, there are plenty of questions about what U.S. forces and NATO can do to consolidate and preserve gains in security that have been made in the war-torn country.
Military leadership appears to have accepted that forces will be cut from the estimated 97,000 troops in theater to about 68,000 by the end of next summer. That would leave the U.S. with about the same amount of troops that it had in combat before President Obama ordered the surge of about 33,000 troops into theater in late 2009.
A new report in the Wall Street Journal suggests that Gen. John Allen, the top commander in Afghanistan, is privately lobbying to end the drawdown there, at least for now. That would appear to put him at odds with Obama, who has said troops would continue to leave at a “steady pace” after 2012.
From the report:
… people briefed on Gen. Allen’s thinking said he wants to halt troop withdrawals after the 2012 reductions and maintain troop levels at 68,000 through all of 2013. He envisages the drawdown resuming sometime in 2014, the year Afghans are scheduled to assume lead responsibility for securing the country, officials said.
This position reflects the findings of an internal assessment by NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, which Gen. Allen commands.
The assessment, officials said, warns that quickly cutting U.S. troop levels below 68,000 would make it harder to clear and hold insurgent havens, and would complicate efforts to protect supply lines and bases ahead of the scheduled 2014 handover.
And therein lies the next likely rub about managing the war. While it is now accepted that the U.S. and coalition forces likely will not crush all vestiges of the insurgency before they leave Afghanistan, there are still many parts of the country that resemble the Wild West, especially in the east. One needs only to watch this video to see that there’s also still plenty of fight left in Helmand province, where about 19,000 Marines are still deployed.
It was acknowledged in many circles that the surge to 100,000-plus troops was temporary in nature, but the timeline for cutting forces below the amount in country in 2009 was never clear. Those decisions will go a long way toward deciding how quickly it takes to complete the drawdown, and what we leave behind in Afghanistan.
Video: 1/6 Marines under fire in Kajaki, Afghanistan
December 6th, 2011 | Afghanistan Infantry Kajaki | Posted by Dan Lamothe
There’s no sugar-coating this one: the Marine Corps just shared video footage of an ugly day in Kajaki, the district in northern Helmand province that has been the site of some of the Corps’ most violent fighting recently.
The following five-minute video was posted to YouTube, showing Marines with 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., taking fire at Patro Base Georgetown. They’re shown engaging insurgent fighters armed with AK47s, sniper rifles and 30mm indirect fire. At least one Marine is hurt by an artillery shell exploding.
The base is on the far edge of the Corps’ area of operations, and faces threats that are more common in eastern Afghanistan. Chief among them: Marines take fire in Kajaki from mountain caves, something that doesn’t exist much in central Helmand province.
The bottom line: Kinetic activity in central Helmand has dwindled, but there’s still plenty of fight left in the Taliban to the north.
Dial back counterinsurgency in Afghanistan now, think tank says
December 5th, 2011 | Afghanistan Infantry | Posted by Dan Lamothe
A Marine posts security for International Security Assistance Force coordinators and planners during a Dec. 2 site visit to Zaranj, Afghanistan.
If you’re following the news about Afghanistan, you’re aware that key representatives from across the world are meeting this week in Bonn, Germany, to discuss what’s needed in the country’s future.
Already, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has made headlines — and raised eyebrows — in Bonn by saying his country will need billions of dollars per year in U.S. financial assistance until at least 2024, 10 years after the expected 2014 departure of combat troops.
In conjunction with the conference, an influential Washington think tank rolled out a new policy brief today — and its members are calling for an overhaul in how military commanders downrange operate.
The U.S. military should “design and request a post-October 2012 force structure primarily focused on advising and enabling the ANSF [Afghan National Security Force] to replace U.S. combat units in counterinsurgency operations,” said the policy brief by the Center for a New American Security. The paper is by retired Army Lt. Gen. David Barno, Dr. Andrew Exum and Matthew Irvine, and posted online here.
Perhaps most notably for service members, the paper suggests that the Marine Corps and Army reorganize to create specialized “advise and assist” units whose members specifically work alongside Afghan forces in Afghan-led missions.
Too frequently, battalion commanders and other military officers have taken Afghan forces along on missions, but left them with few details in the planning process, Exum said today. While that’s easier and frequently more effective on a mission-to-mission basis, he said, it doesn’t ask enough of the Afghans and leaves questions whether they’ll be ready for primetime when the U.S. is gone.
“If you give a commander a reason not to partner, he will take it,” said Exum, who led Army Ranger platoons in Iraq and Afghanistan. “There’s always a tactical reason” not to partner, he said.
CNAS recommended not implementing any large-scale changes now because units who already have trained are either in the chute to deploy or already are downrange. They’ve prepared for the mission as they saw it, so switching gears significantly could cause more problems than it’s worth, the analysts said.
The report is noteworthy because the White House has relied on CNAS to varying degrees in the past as it develops defense policy.
Also of note: While the paper’s authors all believe the White House will stick with its announced plans to drawdown the force in Afghanistan by 2014, they doubted it will be to zero troops. Expect that an extended U.S. presence focused heavily on mentoring and partnering is likely, even if its a small fraction of the force currently deployed, they said.