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CAMP PENDLETON – Rise Bourland ran toward more than 200 Marines and sailors as they came marching down a road in "boonie" hats and digital desert camouflage. "They all look the same," said Bourland, of Seal Beach, after she found her son, James Bourland, a Navy medic. "I was so scared I wouldn't find him," she said, crying and holding her son. The reunion was at Camp Pendleton yesterday, when families and friends welcomed the last batch of Marines and sailors of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which just completed a nine-month deployment to Iraq. Shrapnel wounds on James Bourland's...

NAJAF, IRAQ ---- For the 2,000-some Marines of Camp Pendleton's 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, the time is drawing near to return home from war. But not before they complete perhaps their most critical mission. Just two weeks before they go home after more than seven months in Iraq, the unit's final mission is to maintain order during Iraq's first post-invasion election in Najaf and Karbala ---- two cities destined to become the center of power in Iraq if the Shiite majority wins big at the polls. For weeks now, the Marines of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit ---- or 11th...

Marines of 11th MEU do have leisureSubmitted by: 11th MEUStory Identification #: 2004102952050Story by Cpl. Matthew S. Richards CAMP FORWARD OPERATING BASE DUKE, Iraq (Oct. 29, 2004) -- The sun is fierce here and long hours of patrolling in the dust filled town of An Najaf, Iraq, leave the Marine encased by a transparent layer of powder. A sweat-drenched flak jacket and helmet drop to the floor with two numbing thuds, sending more dust particles shooting through the surrounding air. Another Marine finally rests inside a wind beaten green tent -- one graciously filled with the cool respite of...

ING squeak past Raiders 1-0 in soccer challengeSubmitted by: 11th MEUStory Identification #: 200492415940Story by Gunnery Sgt. Chago Zapata FORWARD OPERATING BASE ECHO, Iraq (Sept. 22, 2004) -- The 404th Battalion, 50th Iraqi National Guard Brigade, Desert Dogs squeaked past the Company A, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), Raiders 1-0 during a friendly soccer match here at the ING compound, Sept. 22. "We're trying to get the Iraqi Security Forces in a recreational activity to build camaraderie and team spirit," said Capt. Robert B. Sotire, company commander, Alpha Co.,...

Najaf, Kufa Take on Sheen of Renewal American Forces Press Service BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 7, 2004 -- The Iraqi sister cities of Najaf and Kufa bustle with activity as Iraqis and U.S. Marines and sailors work together on reconstruction efforts started after fighting in the cities ceased Aug. 28. Local Iraqi citizens, government leaders, security forces and reconstruction and cleanup workers are joining in the effort to re-establish a normal life for the cities' citizens and improve infrastructure to its pre-fighting condition, U.S. military officials said. At the request of local leaders, explosive ordnance disposal Marines continue to assist...

AN NAJAF, Iraq (Aug. 17, 2004) -- The silence of the night was shattered as gunfire rang throughout the Old City district of Najaf. "Move! Hurry up!" called a silhouette in a hushed voice, as one by one, dark figures merged into the shadows and began dispersing down the street, starting their 600-meter patrol. Their mission once they reached the objective was to find, kill or capture as many enemy insurgents as possible, in an effort to help Iraqi security forces restore law and order to the holy city. The Raiders of Alpha Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th...

August 16, 2004, 8:25 a.m. “Get Some!” A crack Marine force resumes the attack on al Sadr’s Mahdi army. By W. Thomas Smith Jr. "Get some! is the unofficial Marine Corps cheer.... Get some! expresses, in two simple words, the excitement, the fear, the feelings of power and the erotic-tinged thrill that come from confronting the extreme physical and emotional challenges posed by death, which is, of course, what war is all about." — Evan Wright, Generation Kill There is perhaps "no better combined-arms raid force in the world" than a Marine Expeditionary Unit, Col. Jeffery Bearor told National Review...

DoD Identifies Marine Casualties The Department of Defense announced today the death of two Marines who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Staff Sgt. John R. Howard, 26, of Covington, Va. Lance Cpl. Tavon L. Hubbard, 24, of Reston, Va. Both Marines died August 11 in a helicopter crash in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. Howard was assigned to Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 166 (Reinforced), 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif. Hubbard was assigned to the Command Element, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif. The incident...

"Get some! is the unofficial Marine Corps cheer.... Get some! expresses, in two simple words, the excitement, the fear, the feelings of power and the erotic-tinged thrill that come from confronting the extreme physical and emotional challenges posed by death, which is, of course, what war is all about." — Evan Wright, Generation Kill There is perhaps "no better combined-arms raid force in the world" than a Marine Expeditionary Unit, Col. Jeffery Bearor told National Review Online Friday. Unfortunately for Shiite firebrand Moqtada al Sadr, that's just the force that has been brought to bear on his Mahdi-army militiamen in...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Assailants in Iraq (news - web sites) killed three U.S. servicemen, one in the capital and two in the south of the troubled country, the U.S. command said Saturday. Two Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit were killed on Friday "as a result of enemy action" in Najaf province, south of the capital, the military said in a statement. In western Baghdad, an insurgent fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a patrolling U.S. vehicle, killing one soldier, the military said. The names of those killed were withheld pending notification of next of kin.

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. Marines said Friday they had killed 300 fighters loyal to a firebrand Iraqi Shi'ite cleric in fierce clashes that pose a stern test for an interim government struggling to stamp its authority over the country. A spokesman for Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr denied that many fighters had been killed in the holy city of Najaf in the past two days. He said 36 militiamen had died in several Iraqi cities from clashes that have fueled fears of a new rebellion of radical Shi'ites. By late Friday, Najaf was quiet, residents said. The fresh fighting marks...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 8/6/04 - Najaf, Basra BREAKING: Najaf - Second day of battles between US Heroes and the al-Sadr Mahdi terrorists who broke their "cease-fire" BREAKING: Basra - al-Sadr Mahdi terrorists skirmish with British troops QFN ==== QUAGMIRE-FREE NEWS Exclusive to FReerepublic PICTURES YOU MAY NEVER SEE IN THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA ========= Najaf ========= In Najaf, the second day of clashes between US Heroes and the lying al-Sadr Mahdi terrorists who broke their previous "cease-fire" in Islamic fashion. Some of the terrorists are hiding in a cemetery near the Imam Ali Shrine In Najaf,...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. marines have killed an estimated 300 fighters loyal to a firebrand Iraqi Shi'ite cleric in fierce clashes around the holy city of Najaf in the past two days, a senior U.S. officer said on Friday. "The number of enemy casualties is 300 KIA (killed in action)," Lieutenant Colonel Gary Johnston, operations officer for the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, said at a military base near the city. There was no immediate independent confirmation on Friday of the toll. U.S. officials said there were indications foreign fighters had joined the Mehdi militia of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in...

NAJAF, Iraq - U.S. helicopter gunships and fighter jets pounded Iraqi insurgents hiding in a sprawling cemetery Friday in the most intense fighting in this Shiite holy city since the fall of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites). The U.S. military said 300 militants were killed in the past two days. The clashes between coalition forces and militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army flared in Shiite communities across the country, killing dozens of other Iraqis, according to Iraqi officials and the militants. The fighting threatened to re-ignite the bloody, two-month Shiite insurrection that broke out in April — and...

11th MEU (SOC) 'rides' with Army in IraqSubmitted by: 11th MEUStory Identification #: 200473055131Story by Gunnery Sgt. Chago Zapata FORWARD OPERATING BASE ECHO, Iraq  (July 30, 2004) -- The country of Iraq is presently in a state of transformation to a democratic sovereignty as elections loom six months in the future. Now, another change has come into their lives, specifically for the people in the province of Al Qadisiyah and in the city of Diwaniyah in particular. The Marines have landed -- again. Marines and sailors from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) are currently conducting a...