31 January 2005
I am not sure how the elections will be portrayed on the news today but I know you were watching. I can only hope it is reported accurately.
I know I can sum it up in one word - historic.
Over the past two months we had established a rotation plan to send Marines back to Camp Baharia once every eight days to shower, rest, call home and use the internet. It was my call on 20 January to stop that rotation so we can maintain as many Marines in the field and in the fight in preparation for the elections. Please do not blame your Marines for not calling or writing, it is not their fault, it is mine. We will reinitiate the rotation again on 2 February so I expect everyone should hear from their Marines again by the middle of the month. But during that time, know that once again, your Marines were heroes.
Since the fall of the insurgency base in Fallujah, Apache prepared for two events:
1) the reoccupation of the citizens of Fallujah and
2) the watershed event - the national elections; the latter being the larger of the two.
All of our actions were directed at achieving success in both endeavors but Election Day was the largest cloud laying on the horizon - 30 January.
What would that day bring? What would it ultimately mean and what was in store for my Marines?
We surged in our operations, both offensive and defensive, in the past ten days making our positions stronger, developing better force protection plans, conducting aggressive patrols to keep the enemy off balance, extending our security zone and doing a lot of what the Marines enjoyed the most - kicking in doors in the middle of the night, capturing bad guys and delivering them to justice. While AMZ and UBL are still loose, we have been rolling up bad guys at the cyclical rate. We have taken down so many insurgent fighters, IED makers and emplacers, financiers, harborers of terrorists, rocket and mortar men, leadership at all levels relative to our area, that the enemy ceased to fight in our zone on election day. We have earned tremendous accolades from the regiment for disrupting and taking down insurgent cells and groups. While these missions are the more desirable, "sexy" missions that my platoons are just so masterful at accomplishing, this is a team fight. The company motto is "Everyone fights. No one quits." It has clearly come to signify who we are. All the Marines in the company participate in the offensive operations but that is not our only mission. Before I get back to the elections, let me tell you about what else we have been doing and able to accomplish.
Our weapons platoon has been primarily responsible for running our vehicle control point. With out getting to in depth, this is a mission where they have to control upwards of 3700 personnel a day and over 500 vehicles. Control being the operative word here. Every morning around 0530, they have to get out in the dark and sort through this traffic jam of personnel and vehicles, ensuring that all the vehicles are sorted, prioritized, screened, searched, directed and controlled. In US terms, probably not that big a deal. But remember we are in a country where we do not speak the same language, our enemy does not wear a uniform but dresses like a civilian, he has no appreciation for innocent life, he uses the civilian crowds as a means to get close to us. Where every citizen wants to get back in the city to recover the remains of the their homes and get their lives started again, desperate people who have suffered greatly who merely want to get to a distribution center, or make a solatia claim, or get to a propane or kerosene distribution area because they need the fuel to cook for their family, boil water or just try to stay warm through the night. We don't have stop lights and we don't have a lot of technology here nor a local media that can publish directions for our VCP. No - the Marines of weapons platoon had to make this happen on the ground alone. Utterly amazing.
While there are other control points around the city, ours initially received the least attention from higher because we were out in the hinterland. So after the Marines from weapons got through the day, at night they would refine their positions by filling sandbags, running new wire or repair the wire that was destroyed during the day, refine their own procedures, plus continue to support the other platoons, and maintain security on their platoon position and run patrols. It has been the stuff legends are made of. The VCP is now almost 700m long and while we did receive some engineering support from other brethren at 2d Combat Engineer Battalion, the lion's share rested on the shoulders, backs and brains of the Marines of weapons platoon. While every Marine in that platoon would rather be dropping mortar rounds in a fire for effect mission or calling out "TOW on the wire" as their anti-tank guided missile system fires a missile down range, or my engineers laying demo, adding "P" for plenty into the demolition equation, these guys bring a "can do" attitude to the battlefield, that they can handle any task, accomplish any mission and still look you in the eye as if you haven't even tested them. It is inspiring. Our maintenance section continues to be the bedrock for which the company stands firm. Separated from their maintenance tent and storage containers back at Camp Baharia, dealing with a supply line that sometimes extends back to the states, this company has maintained 100% readiness over the past four months. It has been a Herculean effort. I remember when I first came to LAR I was cautioned by former LAR friends about mechanics. They said "Griff - don't "wig" out when they [mechanics] don't wear and do grunt-like things in the field. They are not grunts. Give them a little wiggle room because they will keep your vehicles running." It seemed like sound advice at the time and I set out to follow it. But I can say today, they were wrong. My mechanics are as hard and as capable as any infantryman in this company. I would dare another grunt to come to my company and pick out who the mechanics were on a patrol, raid, cordon and search, VCP, etc. These guys are my heroes. They bring a trouble shooting mentality to the team that we will figure out any challenge or puzzle regardless what the book solution may say. That is a tremendous force multiplier.
The Marines of headquarters platoon are the unsung heroes of this company. Because they are so diverse in responsibilities and personalities, I will leave it to the compassionate, caring wit of my XO to talk about them individually. But the headquarters Marines are the arms that surround and support this company, sweeping up and plugging the gaps everywhere. They are diverse in capabilities and in occupational specialties in the platoon but generally only one deep.
So while these Marines deliver chow, fix our gear, drive everyone everywhere, support each platoon, serve as corporals of the guard, maintain two sites (peninsula and Camp Baharia), ensure our communication gear works, keep care of our administrative needs, order, receive and deliver parts, deliver fuel, maintain our armory; they also conduct patrols, search houses and fields, participate in the nightly raids and provide security for the HQ CP. Of particular note, standing guard at the headquarters CP warrants more description. They do not have the convenience of maintaining a schedule for the guard force because whenever something goes wrong for the company, headquarters Marines have to be involved. Thus, their guard assignment come often at unknown times for unknown durations because they know their relief may be out doing their primary responsibility and will only be able to relieve them when that task is accomplished. These guys are professionals and it is an honor to serve among them.
The latest stars to rise from this company are the Marines we now refer to as call sign "Lion." One of our key missions is to defend critical infrastructure - in this case a dam that sits on the Euphrates River. Initially I had been given an Iraqi platoon with a Marine captain and Marine SNCO to help advise the platoon. These advisory billets are referred to as ASTs. They did a good job for us but didn't bring that Apache passion to the team. This is not to belittle the efforts of my fellow Marines - not in the least bit. I admire their efforts and their role is a key piece in the strategic success of the overall mission here in Iraq. But there came a time in December when the Iraqi platoon was to be replaced and I would not get any ASTs. So I chose two Apache Marines that I thought would be up to the task to replace a captain and a staff sergeant - I chose a sergeant and a lance corporal (Sergeant Jackson and Lance Corporal Ellison). I was unsure of what level of success they would achieve. I never doubted they would accomplish the mission but not having the benefit of training that the ASTs had received, not having received any Arabic language classes, not having the benefit of years of experience and troop handling that a captain and a staff sergeant bring to the table - how much would they accomplish being in charge of Iraqi soldiers in which some of the Iraqis out rank them.
Not to be cliché, or slang, or conversational but - oh my God have these guys delivered. These two Marines accomplished more with less than anyone I have ever seen. The expression "no rest for the weary" pales in description to what these Marines have endured and accomplished. These guys have not only "advised" the platoon, they have constructed a well positioned defense, run regular security patrols and IED sweeps, conduct convoys, teach the Iraqis classes, ensure the place is squared away, run the guard, deal with senior officers and officials from the US and Iraqis who come to visit the platoon on the dam and so much more.
This platoon went from being a positive neutral in the mission accomplishment equation to positive success. These guys are out there - alone and unafraid. On top of that, the platoons of Iraqis get switched out about every two weeks, generally unannounced and these Marines start from ground zero over and over again. And yet, every time I go down to see them or they come up to the CP, they are smiling and positive about their mission. They have become such a positive influence on this command that I added three more Marines to the team and the addition has been exponentially more successful. I was a former enlisted Marine who was once a lance corporal, a corporal and then a sergeant. I am almost embarrassed to admit that seeing what these five guys who have earned the same rank as I did have been able to accomplish. Compared to these guys and what they have been able to do, I should never have qualified to leave recruit training.
Even as I write this, reread it and edit it, in order to try to describe to you the power and influence that every man in this company has achieved on the success of the mission and this nation, it seems almost fictional. I hope that when you read it you understand that is told with passionate truth because every Marine in this company legitimately deserves to be recognized as a hero but none of the writing is embellished to illustrate a point. It is ground truth. It overwhelms me daily that so many good men were put on one team at one time and I was the fortunate lottery winner.
As I mentioned earlier, this company has been receiving tremendous accolades from the regiment. I would like to share just two that I have received recently. The first comes from the regimental intelligence officer, Lt Col Bellon, copied from an email (edited for brevity and clarity):
"You are booming out there on the frontier. In short, you are doing things that other units said were unsupportable. It has convinced me that LAR guys are just more mentally agile and aggressive when finding a way to take it to the enemy. We will see how tonight goes [29 Jan, the night prior to the election] but if we don't get any IDF [indirect fire], I will be assessing that it is largely do to the successful operation[s] that you [Apache] ran. . . Keep it going."
Tonight at the regimental operations and intelligence meeting, the regimental commander, Colonel Shupp, stated the following (paraphrased again for brevity and clarity):
"I need to recognize you and your Marines in a public forum. Since Apache has taken over the peninsula, your company has been undermanned the entire time covering a battalion zone. You and your Marines run the busiest VCP and you built it from the ground up. You have single handedly taken down the insurgency that was active on the peninsula. You and your Marines are solely responsible for preventing any indirect fire from attacking the city today from the peninsula area. The operation you and your Marines pulled off the other day was to attack a battalion size objective with less than a company and round up 90 military age males. In total fifteen bad guys, seven of which will be going away for a long, long time. Your company has been doing a tremendous job out there. Bravo Zulu."
And finally let me share with you two of most meaningful events of the day (election day). Two "feel good" stories about why we are here away from our families for seven months at a time, serving in a dangerous land:
1. An older gentlemen, apparently well educated, made it a point to get the attention of every Marine, Solider and Sailor along the VCP, motion him to come over, shake his hand and say "Thank you. This is the first time in my life my vote actually means something. I hope you never leave."
2. My translator approached me about mid-morning and I could tell he was ancy about something. He asked "Sir, can I go vote now." I told him "Hell yes, Jimmy. Go vote." He replied "Thank you, sir. It is my right now. Thank you."
While the second was obviously more personal to me because I have come to respect Jimmy for all he has done for this company and in turn his country, I believe today was historic. And we were glad to just do our part. It has made so much of this deployment worthwhile and hopefully we honored all the Marines, Soldiers and Sailors who have paid all in this mission by accomplishing what we have done today. To think that just two months ago we were attacking the city with lethal, overwhelming firepower and now a democratic election rose from the ashes of the city defies reality. This is the power of America. This is the power of the human race who can be brutally suppressed by a regime for 30 years and terrorized in their homes by selfish cowards. The resiliency and the survivalist mentality of the Iraqi people makes it easy to believe that we are in the right fight.
I hope CNN's 30 second sound bites were able to capture this.
Until next time. . .
Pray for peace and God Bless America.
Apache 6 - out
Semper Fidelis
Capt John F. Griffin