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October 23, 2004



Armed, Armored, and Itching for a Fight

LtCol Ron Smith sends this report from the middle of Iraq . . . and assures us that his Marines are praying for us. I'll be happy to return the favor - and my prayer list is gettin longer every day.

Oct 21, 2004

Happy and well wishing greetings from Mahmudiyah, Iraq. Another week down in the struggle to exterminate terrorists from the face of the earth and bring peace and stability to the people of Iraq.

Well, I guess the easiest thing to do would be to make my weekly updates into a song and then just type, "return to refrain," because I know I sound like a broken record just repeating the refrain, but the Marines continue to perform extremely well. Every single Marine in this Battalion is engaged 16-18 or 20 hours a day doing their part either in direct combat and stability operations, or in the support thereof. They do so without complaint and with a happy soul. I know their biggest source of discontent is the fuzzy picture portrayed by much of the media. However, on that front, they brought the perfection with which they do everything to bear.

We have had 5-10 reporters through our various positions the past couple of weeks, and the Marines have routinely showed them nothing but a positive face and a "can do" spirit. Now, having said that, there are no misperceptions on our part. This place ain't DisneyWorld, and there is no Mickey Mouse. This place is incredibly dangerous and we deal with the most evil and sinister enemy that this planet has ever known. BUT, nothing is a match for these Marines, armed, armored to the teeth and itching for a fight with any force that wants to pick one. I can assure you on those rare occassions that the enemy has tried to conventionally go toe to toe with your beloved loved ones, he has ended up needing a tag for his toe!

I have attached a couple of photos.

One is a few members of the Staff during a recent Bn operation with some captured enemy weaponry. It is included first and foremost because of their dashing good looks, but also because I hope you take note of their smiles. These are warriors who were living some incredibly Spartan conditions, however the smiles are deeper than saying "cheese" for a photograph. These are smiles of deep conviction and satisfaction with a job well done!!!
The second photo is of ONE of our mail deliveries. Please note the mountain of packages and letters. I know the pace of mail and packages is a source of frustration for you. Believe me, it is for us as well. I am a month behind on pictures of my HOT wife, but, ours is a world where the pick-up and delivery of mail is A COMBAT OPERATION WITH INHERENT RISK! Therefore, it has to be planned, it has to armed and it has to go on our timeline, not the USPS or any other concern. It works, it just does not work like it does in the good ole' US.

Another thing I would like to address this week is the unbelievable amount of positive emails, probably 200 plus, that I received in response to last week's update on LCpl Wyatt. I also know that some have complained about too much information. Folks, bottom line, some of you have gotten to know me pretty well. My only motivation is these FANTASTIC Marines charged to my care, their families, and our cause. I will be nothing but brutally frank and honest. I worry not about political ramifications. My updates are meant for my target audience, the friends and families of 2/24. Where or how they end up after that I do not care. You do not have to read them and you are under no restrictions if you want to send them out. But rest assured, I am not going to write them with a "cautious tone" for fear they might end up outside the network.

As I know you are all probably aware based on vast media reporting, there are two things I must say publically in this forum:

1. Congratulations to Sgt and Mrs. Horton on the "Horton 5." Who among us still thinks we have challenges with what the Hortons are facing. All the Marines and Sailors of 2/24 send congrats to Mrs. Horton and GODSPEED AND A QUICK AND FULL RECOVERY TO OUR BELOVED BROTHER, SGT HORTON ON HIS RECOVERY!

2. God Bless and Keep and Jesus' peace be with the Wyatt family as they laid to final rest the body of OUR HEROIC BROTHER, LCPL WYATT. THAT HE BE LOOKING DOWN UPON US FROM THE BOSOM OF HIS MOTHER AND IN THE PRESENCE OF JESUS IS OUR PRAYER, HOPE AND PEACE!

With all of that, all I can do at this point is bid you adieu for another week and ask for your continued prayers, as we continue to pray for our safety, our STRENGTH and YOUR SAFETY AND WELL BEING!

Mark A. Smith, LtCol USMCR
TF 2/24 Commanding Officer, 24 MEU
Mahmudiyah, Iraq
Mayhem from the Heartland

One quick PS: I consider the Sailors that serve as part of 2/24, our medical and religious departments, as just that, PART of 2/24. So when I say Marines, it automatically includes the Sailors of this Battalion whose work and efforts to this point have been legendary!

Posted by Deb at 10:39 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack





Congratulations Marine!

Proud Marine Dad Donald Sensing reports that his son, PFC Sensing is one of MCRD-Parris Island's newest Marines, having earned this title after completing 13 weeks in this most rigorous boot camp of any branch of the armed forces. Oohrah!

Posted by Deb at 10:12 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack



October 22, 2004



October update from RCT-7

Col Tucker sends along this update from the sandbox:

Letter to Families

Dated 19 October 2004

Hello again, after a long hiatus. Last 6 weeks or so have been busy as we worked to establish the new battalions in their areas of operations and worked to get the "old' battalions home. 3/7, 2/7, and 1st LAR are all safely home and on their block leave period. 1/7, 1/23, and 3d LAR have assumed their battlespace and continue to perform superbly.

The enemy, as we expected, is surging as we approach the U.S. and Iraqi election period and enter Ramadan. Enemy activity in this AO has picked up, to the enemy's detriment. They are not very smart, and when they decide to come out and fight are easily killed. His patterns remain the same as we saw in April: move 50-150 terrorists into a city or community, use terror and intimidation to assume control, kill and maim local citizens, get his picture taken with is RPG and AK-47, then wait to see himself on the evening news. Interesting side note to ask how often you see pictures of these guys posturing and how often you see pictures of them fighting. Then compare that to how often you see pictures of U.S. servicemen fighting and how often you see pictures of them posturing. Provides a good metric for who is winning this thing: the enemy postures when the cameraman is present, but when it comes to fighting he is the most base of cowards. You don't see many images of these guys fighting because they're too busy hiding or running once the fighting starts. They're much more comfortable beheading innocents. Side note also demonstrates how, with the best of intentions and within the rightful bounds of our constitution, the press becomes unwitting collaborators in the enemy's information operations campaign. This is a fight for the will of the American and the Iraqi people. He targets the Iraqis through murder and intimidation; he targets you through the images.

Anyway..we have fought him well in a number of engagements over the past week or so. TF 1/23, 1/8 and 2d Force Recon Co performed magnificently in an operation in the city of Hit that killed 30 or so terrorists without harming an innocent Iraqi and restored both security and governance to a city taken over by the bastards for a 72 hour period last week. Of greater significance, the 503d Iraqi National Guard Bn fought as the RCT-7 main effort, were the first ones into the city, and remain there today providing security for the community. The enemy chased out of Hit moved into the city of Rawah about 50 miles west, TF 1/8 and an Iraqi Army Unit hunted them down there, killed 10-15 more and restored that community to its citizens.

In other parts of the AO, Iraqi police and National Guard and Border Police have fought off numerous attacks on their own…in my mind the most striking example of the progress we continue to make across the AO. The enemy cannot maintain this surge for long: the Iraqi people are rapidly tiring of him, the Iraqi Security Forces are fighting back, and we are killing them with stunning regularity. He surges in order to influence the American and Iraqi elections; when both proceed as planned, his efforts will begin to crumble.

We now have 2 police academies, 2 ING training academies, and 2 Iraqi Border Police Training academies operational. We continue to see the fruits of these efforts in the increasing professionalism, confidence, and competence of the Iraqi Security Forces. Firefights are dramatic and make the news; but where we are going to win this is through the establishment of viable Iraqi Security Forces. It is a challenging road, fraught with friction, but every day we see progress. Training ISF remains our main effort and will continue to be both our main effort and our ultimate ticket home with victory.

The civil effort continues apace also. Our most significant current effort is the construction of the hospital in Ar Rutbah..a $1M effort that will provide medical services to a community currently 4 hours away from the closest medical care.

Battle of Hit; 503d ING Bn (in white trucks) preparing to attack into the city.
Battle of Hit, White building in the background was CP for B Co 1/23. Located on the east side of the Euphrates, B Co held this position unsupported for 4 days until we were able to link up with them across the bridge. Superb effort by the Company.
Your Marines and Sailors continue to perform with courage and intellect in this most complex and ambiguous of conflicts. We are anxiously awaiting election day in the hopes that the media picture and national dialogue will transition from the subjectivity of politics to the objectivity of national interest. Building a democracy is a dirty business-has been throughout the history of democracy from ancient Greece through the present day. Regard our national effort here through the prism of that reality.

RCT-7 remembers the sacrifices of LCpls A. R. Boyles and R. Mateo, KIA 24 Sep 2004 vic Fallujah; Cpl. I.T. Zook, KIA 12 Oct 2004 vic Husaybah; Cpl W.I. Salazar KIA 15 Oct 2004 vic Husaybah; Sgt Owen, U.S. Army, KIA 15 Oct 2004 vic Husaybah; SPC J. Santos, U.S. Army, KIA 15 Oct 2004 vic Husaybah.

Please remember their families in your prayers.

Share your Courage. And standfast.

C.A. Tucker
Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps
CO, RCT-7.

Posted by Deb at 01:58 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack



October 21, 2004



PFC Halvorson's final trip home

Pfc. Andrew Halverson, 19, of Grant, Wis. died Oct 9 as result of enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. Halverson was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif. Bridget Warns, mother of a deployed Marine, was a passenger on the plane that carried him home from the country he served:

“Because of my job, I travel a good deal. Last Thursday night I was returning from Albuquerque via Minneapolis and was one of the last passengers to board. As I was getting on the plane, a Marine in full dress uniform was coming up the jetway stairs from the luggage storage area of the airplane. I thought that was very odd. A few minutes later, the captain came out of the cockpit to thank everyone for flying Northwest. As he was finishing, a flight attendant told him that there was a Marine on board escorting a fallen Marine home. I was stunned when I heard this and at that time didn’t realize who it was. A gentleman sitting across the aisle from me immediately offered his seat in first class to the Marine escort. I couldn’t say anything since I was crying so hard.

As soon as we were airborne, the captain got on the loud speaker and announced the situation to everyone. He had to stop several times before he could continue. He asked that we all stay seated after landing until the Marine escort had deplaned. I have never experienced anything like this in all of my years of travel. I just wanted the parents to know that their son was brought back home by a plane full of people that knew of the precious cargo they were privileged to escort…and by a Marine mom who wept openly for their terrible loss.

They have been in my thoughts and prayers constantly.”

I cannot imagine how painful it is to learn that a beloved son has died in battle and my prayer, like that of all Marine parents, is that I will never find out. But if it happened, I would hope that a Marine Mom like Bridget Warns would be on the plane for his final ride home.

Posted by Deb at 01:39 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack



October 20, 2004



The good guys . . .

"Where is Daddy, again?"

That question caught me off guard, shopping at the commissary with my three young sons. "Daddy" just left a few days ago, in the middle of the night.

We saw him, and a bunch of other Marines climb on busses and head out to the first stage of a journey to Afghanistan.

I was already shopping for care package items when my nine year old asked the question.

"Your Dad is in Afghanistan."

"How close is that to Kabul?"

"Kabul is a city in Afghanistan. Kabul is the city, Afghanistan is the country."

My son nodded. "He's going to be gone, like, six months, right?"

"At least."

My youngest, age four, piped up, "But he'll come home for my birthday, right?"

His birthday is just a week away.

The oldest has the best understanding, and the hardest time adjusting.

This is not just what Daddy does, it's part of who he is. I can live with that.

Recently, I heard about a young woman who wanted to find a "safe" job for her fiance` within the confines of the Marine Corps. Something where he wouldn't deploy, wouldn't be in danger, wouldn't have to separate from his true love.

I hate to break the news, but life isn't safe. We're all born, and we all die, and it's what we make of the time in between that really counts.

Three years ago, my husband had what might be called a "safe" billet. He worked in an office in a secured building. He went to work in the morning, commuted home in the evening, and worked pretty regular hours. He was a "pencil pusher", a "desk jockey", back then.

One morning, he got breakfast, a quick hug and kiss, and a "Have a nice day, darlin'," and went off to work. Three hours later, I got to see his office building on a "Live Special Report", and I was watching, as a reporter began to talk, and suddenly was shaken. A moment later, he announced, "Something has just happened here at the Pentagon."

Within mere moments, we got the news. A plane had flown into the newly renovated wedge of the Pentagon. We knew that my husband's office was in that wedge, and it was several hours before I got to hear the dearest sound on earth, my husband's voice, coming in over a poor telephone connection, "Hey, babe, I'm ok."

We made a decision after that. We have three children. They need to grow up in a world where terrorists are terrified of us, not us of them. We will not raise these young American citizens in fear. We will make whatever sacrifices are demanded, to see to it that that happens.

My children don't understand all of that. They understand simple things, like good guys, and bad guys, and Daddy's one of the good guys.

In these days, as we head to elections, and people protest everything under the sun, and the media spends its valuable time seeking out the worst possible images of our military members, I wish that more adults understood the simple stuff.

Daddy, and his fellow men and women in uniform are the good guys.

Posted by at 09:14 AM | Comments (3)





LCpl Wyatt - duty and sacrifice

When a hero falls in battle, his memory is never forgotten by the Marines he serves with. Lance Cpl. Daniel R. Wyatt, 22, of Calendonia, Wis., died on Oct. 12 due to enemy action in Babil Province, Iraq. Wyatt was assigned to Marine Corps Reserve?s 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division in Chicago, Ill. His commanding officer sent these words back to the extended Marine Corps family at the base where he served:

It is with the deepest sadness and most profound grief that I must report to you the loss of Daniel Wyatt, LCpl, Fox Co, 2nd Bn, 24th Marines, USMC.

Daniel was killed in the line of duty, while conducting foot patrolling operations in Yusufiyah Iraq. Daniel was killed by a command detonated improvised explosive device. He died instantly, suffered no pain and was immediately recovered by his fellow Marines.

My command security element and myself personally recovered Daniel's body and escorted him back to the forward operating base, and then onto the helicopter for the beginning of his final ride home. I cannot even begin to express to you the soul touching sight of combat hardened Marines, encrusted with weeks of sweat and dust, who have daily been engaged in combat, coming to complete and utter solemnity and respect in the handling of the body of one of their own. It puts on display a level of brotherly love you just cannot see anywhere else.

We conducted a memorial service for Daniel in the battle space owned by his fellow Marines, as well as one the following day at the Bn forward operating base. I have spoken with his fiancee and expressed the sorrow and sympathy of the entire Battalion.

If I might for a moment, I hear and see some of the media coverage. I hear the accusations and charges. I hear what could almost be labelled as hysteria over the situation in Iraq. Let me tell you something from ground level. The town of Yusufiyah that Daniel and his fellow Marines seized, had not seen government structure or security forces for over 8 months. FOREIGN FIGHTERS, TERRORIST AND THUGS have had free reign and have routinely murdered people in the market for no reason other than one day they MIGHT support a democratic process and speak for themselves. For nothing more than they MIGHT choose a version of religion even slightly different than the terrorists and foreign fighters. They live in squalor and fear. The Marines of Daniel's unit have not had a shower since seizing the town. They have eaten MREs day on stay on. They live a Spartan existence that few can imagine. And, on all my trips to their position for planning, coordination and command visits, I ask them if they want to be relieved. To a man, they look me in the eye and tell me NO WAY. Why? Well, I am not going to soften it for anyone, the primary reason why is to kill terrorists. Please remember, that is what they are trained and paid to do. But, they also tell me, they want to help the people of Yusufiyah. They want to show all of Iraq that they can stand on their own feet, push back against extremism, and with our help live the life of freedom that all men yearn for. Yes, from the mouths of these young and hardened warriors, this is what they tell me. And then...and then...they ask me how I am doing! Unfreakingbeliveable! They worry about everyone else but themselves.

So believe what you want. That is your right as Americans. But I am telling you, there are no heroes on any football fields, basketball courts or halls of government. Their are honorable and decent people all over America. However, the heroes are on the battlefields of Iraq. Suffering, killing and DYING that others might live, and live in FREEDOM. Americans free from terror, Iraqis free from opression and tyranny.

I am an under-educated gun toter from Indiana who is just lucky there is an organization like the USMC where a half-wit like myself with some rudimentary combat skills can succeed. But I do know heroes! I am surrounded by over a thousand of them. And I am not the least bit ashamed to tell you I have wept like a baby for Daniel Wyatt. Because when one of these heroes falls, it is if an Angel of God himself has fallen from heaven!

I will not profess glory of battle or any other such hype. I will profess duty and sacrifice. Daniel showed us all true duty and ultimate sacrifice. I have no doubt that the instant he died, he was whisked to heaven on the wings of Angels and placed before the unapproachable light of Jesus, who himself said: "greater love hath no man, than a man lay down his life for his friends."

GOD BLESS AND KEEP DANIEL WYATT, HIS FAMILY AND FIANCEE AND GOD BLESS AND KEEP ALL THE FAMILIES OF 2/24.

Yours in profound sadness

Mark A. Smith, LtCol
TF 2/24 Cmdr
Mahmudiyah, Iraq


Posted by Deb at 08:08 AM | Comments (17)



October 19, 2004



Report from the Syrian border

I've had the luxury of talking with my son twice in the past two days. There is a three hour wait for a 15 minute phone call, and I very much appreciate his willingness to stand in line for a few minutes of home contact, even if it is 2:00 a.m. here when he calls. Not a problem.

Our conversation this morning centered on his location. I had seen a map of the area brought back by a Marine who just returned from his own deployment. His camp is within spitting distance of the Syrian border and I remarked that I hadn't realized it was that close. "Oh yeah, we throw rocks over there all the time. Yesterday, I watched a donkey come across the border, take a dump in Iraq, and go back to Syria. If that isn't a metaphor for this whole thing, I don't know what is."

Posted by Deb at 01:46 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack



October 18, 2004



Operation Santa needs your support!

Karel from North Bend First Christian Church wraps gifts to be placed in stockings that will be sent to deployed Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan. Volunteers from North Bend sewed over 600 stockings for Operation Santa.
Jean holds up one of 50 stockings filled by the Christian Women's Fellowship. These stockings will be sent to 1/23 Marines currently deployed in Iraq. Marine Grandma Bette is standing in the background.

We are still working hard! The past week has been one of 20 hour days for Connie and I - and I know the other volunteers are working just as hard. We now have sponsors for all of 1/7, 1/23, 9th Comm, 4th LAAD . . . and we're filling up 2/10. These Marines are working hard for us and deserve our support. I'm on my way to a packing party for one of the 1/23 platoons and will update with pictures tonight.

If those of you who do not have time to sponsor a platoon but would like to support the project in another way, checks can be sent here:

Marine Corps Family Foundation
4500 Ruby Ct. NE
Salem, OR 97305

Please make sure that checks are made payable to the Marine Corps Family Foundation but Operation Santa is designated on the memo line. Thanks - our troops will appreciate it. Paperwork for the Foundation is being filed and receipts for tax purposes will be sent as soon as approval by the IRS is received.

All donations towards Operation Santa will be very much appreciated. A complete accounting will be published as soon as the project concludes.

Posted by Deb at 11:50 AM | Comments (4)