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November 05, 2004



Marathon Men

Last August, we told you about a group of Marines in Iraq who were training for the NYC Marathon. They are en route to NYC where they will join the best runners from around the world in friendly competition. Wayne Coffey, from the NY Daily News, describes one of the competitors, First Lt. Christopher McManus:

McManus and some friends ran the New York City Marathon last year, without training. McManus was on one knee, down for the count, at 20 miles, but somehow finished. This year he wanted to prepare. He thought it would be good for him, and his men, to have a goal. He E-mailed Janet Messina, who heads the marathon registration effort for the New York Road Runners, from Iraq.


"He came up with the idea to run and then said all of us had to do it, and then we didn't have a choice," Isaac Moore says.


Some of the guys, stationed in the town of Husayba, built a .44-mile loop around the perimeter of their camp. In McManus' camp, in Al Qaim, the loop was longer, nearly a mile. McManus went on the New York Road Runners Web site and followed the training regimen laid out for the marathon. Messina helped them out further by furnishing them shoes, clothing, running sundries.


Usually they would run at 5:30 in the morning. Sometimes it would be after they were up all night, fighting a war. Moore recalls one morning when he was getting his miles in when mortar shells started hitting about 100 yards away.


In another instance, about 40 minutes into a run, an emergency radio call came in about Marines who had been hit by a roadside bomb. Immediately the runners were off to get their helmets, flak jackets and weapons, and soon were in their Humvees, going off to secure a place for a helicopter to land and to transport the injured to the helicopter.

Their hotel rooms have been donated, their clothing and shoes donated by ASICS, but if anyone wants to throw a few dollars their way for air fare, it would be appreciated by them. Donations can be sent to:

Marine Corps Family Foundation
attn: NYC Marathon - USMC team
4500 Ruby Ct. NE
Salem, OR 97305


Posted by Deb at 10:37 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack



November 04, 2004



Update from Fallujah

The recent spate of beheadings of foreign visitors to Iraq have drawn headlines and much media attention. It's a way of life for Iraqi citizens who have lived under tyranny and oppression for years, and who want it to stop. It sounds like the end is in sight - here, LtCol Dave Bellon analyzes the current situation in Fallujah.

As you have no doubt been watching, we have had our hands full around Fallujah. It would seem as if the final reckoning is coming. The city has been on a consistent down hill spiral since we were ordered out in April. It's siren call for extremists and criminals has only increased steadily and the instability and violence that radiates out of the town has expanded exponentially. If there is another city in the world that contains more terrorists, I would be surprised. From the last two years, I just don't see a way that we can succeed in Iraq without reducing this threat. The cost of continuing on without taking decisive action is too high to dwell on.

The enemy inside the town have come to fight and kill Americans. Nothing will sate their bloodlust and hatred other than to kill everyone of us or at least die trying. It is hard to fathom as a Westerner as rational thought would dictate that we will only be here for a relatively short blip in their history and while we are here, billions of dollars in investments will pour in and opportunity that is beyond comprehension will open up for anyone willing to work. This is not Kansas and this enemy does not think like that.

Read the rest.

Posted by Deb at 12:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack



November 03, 2004



Thanks, Dad!

Photo by Lance Cpl. Miguel A. Carrasco Jr

In a report from Camp Baharia, Lance Cpl. Miguel A. Carrasco reports that a last minute gift from a Marine Corps Dad - a former Marine himself - saved his son's life during a Fallujah firefight:

Sgt. Todd B. Bowers, a member of the 4th Civil Affairs Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, spotted enemy snipers during a security patrol outside the restive town of Fallujah. While returning fire, a sniper-fired round hit Bowers? advanced combat optical gun site, mounted on his M-16A2 service rifle. Fragmentation from both the ACOG and the bullet were peppered across the left side of Bowers? face.

?It was about a four-hour firefight. Bullets were flying everywhere, and as I returned fire, it felt like my weapon blew up,? said Bowers, 25, a native of Washington, D.C.

A Navy corpsman removed a piece of fragmentation and applied a pressure dressing to his left cheek.

As the corpsman began calling for a medical evacuation, Bowers refused and kept on fighting alongside his fellow Marines.

?After he was cleaned up, I knew he would be okay, but I was surprised that he didn?t want to leave on a medical evacuation,? said Sgt. Jung Kil Yoo, a member of 4th CAG.

Small pieces of fragmentation can still be seen on the left side of his face.

?Luckily, I had my ballistic goggles on to protect my eyes, without them I probably would not be able to see out of my left eye,? said Bowers.

He can still see the bullet lodged in his scope, which was given to him by his father, John Bowers, two days before leaving to Iraq.

?The last time I saw my dad was the day he handed me the scope,? said Bowers.

His dad was a former sergeant in the Marine Corps, who didn?t want to see his son go into combat without a useful piece of gear.

?The ACOG was the best purchase I have ever made in my life,? said John to his son during a phone conversation.

Sgt. Bowers will have the scope - bullet still embedded - mounted when he returns from deployment.

Posted by Deb at 12:27 PM