Posted on 05/06/2005 6:26:25 PM PDT by Marine_Uncle
HAQLANIYAH, Iraq - (KRT) - After an hour of shooting, rocket-propelled grenades were still crisscrossing in front of Sgt. Aaron Hanselman, and he was looking at the horizon for backup as bullets snapped through the air around his men.
"It was whizzing by. Our gunner swears that a couple hit the Humvee," said Hanselman, 28, a mobile assault team leader and Marine reservist from Marysville, Ohio.
Their vehicle had started the firefight with 1,200 rounds of ammunition, he said, but the five men inside had whittled the supply down to 75 bullets. The four Humvees in Hanselman's unit - named Kabar 6 after the Marine fighting knife - took enemy fire from two groups of houses and an oil refinery behind them, Marine officials said. Help for the unit, stuck on a road in the open, was 15 minutes away.
But it was a lot of help. The reaction to the April 20 fight on the outskirts of Haqlaniyah may be a sign of things to come in Anbar province, the restive desert territory west of Baghdad where American military officials believe insurgents and foreign fighters gather, train and then move into the rest of Iraq.
Hundreds of troops were directed at Haqlinayah soon after trouble started, said Col. Stephen Davis, the commander of Regimental Combat Team-2.
Nine battalions now hold an area where 13 battalions had been stationed until February. In northern Anbar province, which includes Haqlaniyah, about 3,000 Marines are stretched among outposts in an area the size of South Carolina.
While the idea to swarm enemy fighters is not new to the Marines in Iraq, it is rare that they do it fast enough for more than a few dozen Marines to shoot back at the fighters, let alone to surround the fast-moving insurgency. When the Americans shift forces into a town, it is usually only for a few days, and the action is so telegraphed that insurgents and foreign fighters can flee ahead of them.
Because several smaller units near Haqlaniyah were ready for other missions April 20, nearly 200 troops from the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines were able to respond to the shootout there within the first hour. The troops remained in town for the next three days. When left Haqlaniyah on April 23, things appeared to have returned to normal. The locals had learned on several previous occasions that the Marines rarely stay.
But on April 26, about 500 Marines from 3-25 and other battalions suddenly returned to Haqlaniyah, a small town of about 5,000 on the Euphrates River. Not only were major roads sealed off, but so were the desert and surrounding villages. Troops began rolling into all of Haqlaniyah's neighborhoods almost at once, and stayed until early Sunday.
Besides being able to actually shoot back at insurgents in the first phase, more than 40 arrests were made in the second phase, said battalion commander Lt. Col. Lionel Urquhart. Marine officials said the insurgents were apparently surprised the Marines had returned.
The first move in the new strategy for Anbar could not have begun in a more mundane way. Just after noon on April 20, two gunmen fired on a civil affairs patrol carrying repair proposals to schools in a neighboring town.
A description was sent out of the shooters' getaway car, which Hanselman's patrol stumbled across south of Haqlaniyah. But the Americans quickly found themselves outnumbered by an insurgent counterattack that sent gunfire and rockets down on them from several homes on the edge of town. Another American platoon arrived to pin down the Iraqi gunmen, and then a fresh company of troops backed them up.
By the time the fighting died down five hours later, hundreds of Marines from the 3-25 had poured in, supported by tanks, armored vehicles and helicopters.
"It's one of the first times they actually stayed and fought," said Staff Sgt. Michael Knittle, 35, of Wakeman, Ohio, who was in the initial firefight alongside Hanselman.
Then came the pullout and the surprise return April 26, when hundreds more troops from battalions as far away as the Jordanian and Syrian borders sealed off Haqlaniyah, trapping insurgents and foreign fighters.
"Insurgents typically run like rats on a sinking ship," said Maj. Steve White, the operations officer who directed the fight in Haqlaniyah. "This time, I don't think they realized the ship was sinking."
The 3rd Battalion moved almost all of its forces in the area into town April 26 and sat there, hoping for insurgents to grow impatient and begin fighting again.
North of them, a company from the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines, based in Al Qaim, seized the shops, neighborhood and pontoon bridge where the fight had begun a few days before. Across the river and on the outskirts of town, parts of the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, stationed on the border with Jordan, blocked off road junctions in the desert.
The insurgents soon tried to fade into the populace. In the five-day operation that followed, there was sporadic gunfire each day, a suicide car bomber and roadside blasts. No Americans were killed, and along with the more than 40 detainees swept up in raids, Marines also netted bomb-making materials, documents and weapons.
Among the prisoners was a suspected former Iraqi special forces officer believed to be coordinating local insurgent attacks, and three Sudanese men who claimed to be sheep shearers, and who sat ramrod straight and refused offers of water from their Marine captors as others begged to be let go.
The detainees were brought to regimental holding facilities each night by a squadron of Humvees directed by Cpl. Josh Smith, 23, of Poplarville, Miss. His mission orders were simple: "Keep your drivers awake."
On April 31, Smith made his 11th late-night prisoner run to Al Asad air base, about an hour away across darkened roads.
Both the men and vehicles were dirty from days in the field, and scratched by roadside bomb blasts. They blared heavy metal music on jury-rigged speakers and called each other frequently on the radio to keep from falling asleep.
Along with the prisoners, weapons and documents, there was another benefit of the Marines' operation.
During the Friday call to prayers, an imam in town declared no love for the Marines, but then denounced the insurgents for picking fights with Americans that they didn't want to finish.
Younger Marines excitedly passed the news about the imam. As White put it, "Out here, you take whatever you can get."
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© 2005, Chicago Tribune.
Guess I should have added, my nephew is in the 2nd LAR, serving in the remote desert as I write.
Sounds good to me. Somebody shoots at me from your town, we shut down all traffic in or out and search every building. We stay until we're sure everyone in town feels the economic pain. Or until they turn over the bad guys. Your choice. Welcome to the bigs.
I appreciate the news. Pass good wishes back to your nephew, please.
I can say this much. The 2nd LAR is on 24/7 on patrols over one hell of a wide range of desert. They don't have a lot of the comfies a lot of other camps offer. There bare bones and nasty.
"I appreciate the news. Pass good wishes back to your nephew, please."
I sure will in a private letter to him. I have been telling him since his last deployment that I share Marine stories at this web site, and many people have asked me to thank him and his honor bound fully commited buddies for what they do.
I tear as I write.
Thanks.
Always enjoy reading about Marines in action.
Growing up in Guantanamo Bay, I was aware most every day that our safety and survival depended on those US Marines. Thanks, Marines.
yeah. I like hearing about Marines kicking a$$. However, I wouldn't advocate our newspapers describing our tactics and procedures in the F-ing newspaper!! WTF, its not like they don't have people here who read the paper and pass that along to other cells..
"Always enjoy reading about Marines in action."
Your signin name makes you one of them. If so, I stand at attention and smartly salute you sir. Thanks for serving your country. I wish I would remember as recognized to thank every one that has served this country in uniform.
ping!
"Growing up in Guantanamo Bay, I was aware most every day that our safety and survival depended on those US Marines. Thanks, Marines."
It is hard to not at least have respect for this guys. The richness of the Corps. is a marvel to behold. I yearn to once again go down to Camp Lejeune and welcome our brave warriors home upon completing their truly honorable mission.
Hey we aught to enlist your "little baby up", send him over to scare the shit out of some of those brave desert warriors that love to kill little childern in market places etc..
I'd certainly agree - except that this isn't news to anyinsurgentRICO criminal in Iraq.All it is, is an example of what we can do - and there's no getting around the fact that we can't do everything everywhere every time that we did in this instance. But if they're worried about this tactic, they might make a different mistake next time - and get caught a different way.
Many thanks for your kind remarks. FReegards.
"yeah. I like hearing about Marines kicking a$$. However, I wouldn't advocate our newspapers describing our tactics and procedures in the F-ing newspaper!! WTF, its not like they don't have people here who read the paper and pass that along to other cells.."
I appreciate your sentiments believe me. But actually, I was at the official Marine Corps. web site, and picked this article up. I referenced the link directly the newspaper. If you wish to view OIF I/OIF II activities from the MC site it is at:
http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/oif
During OIF I, he site was loaded with approved articles of all sorts. We have to remember, to put things in perspective. What is printed is already done. And truly I do not mean it as neither a boast, brag, nor to otherwise, but those that wish our military harm are in Iraq or would go to Iraq if they can get in, and therefore know more then we at home read about. All they have to do is pick up a cell phone and ask someone in any given town what is up on any given day.
"Many thanks for your kind remarks. FReegards."
Likewise.
Very true. I was fuming at the fact that other armies from around the world get to learn from our mistakes, either it be good or bad, free of charge on the tv. It's not like there aren't chinese and other agents in Iraq learning as much from this war as we are..
BTTT
Go Marines. I get to teach them in college classes. They are great.
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