UP ANCHOR — Seaman James Todd, from Fresno, Calif., paints the USS Kearsage's starboard anchor while anchored in Onslow Bay, N.C., June 28, 2003. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Angel Roman-Otero
UP ANCHOR — Seaman James Todd, from Fresno, Calif., paints the USS Kearsage's starboard anchor while anchored in Onslow Bay, N.C., June 28, 2003. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Angel Roman-Otero
Three Marines fire a water-balloon sling to the amusement of several Iraqi children. The Marines, all members of I Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, are, from left to right, Cpl. Dean Treichal, 20, from Bay City, Mich.; Lance Cpl. Jon Bullock, 20, from Lilburn, Ga.; and Lance Cpl. Russell Johnson, 20, from Grass Valley, Calif. The Iraqi children are from the four families living in a transformer yard compound with the Marines. Photo by Spc. Benjamin Kibbey, U.S. Army
Iraqis, Marines Live Side-By-Side As Neighbors
By U.S. Army Spc. Benjamin Kibbey
KARBALA, Iraq — In a power transformer yard in northern Karbala, protected by barbed wire, the Marines of I Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines make their home.
What makes this arrangement unusual is that inside the company's perimeter, is a row of small apartment buildings were a handful of Iraqi men, who run the transformer yard, live with their families.
The families lived in the compound long before the coalition invasion of Iraq, and were still there when the company moved in. Because they share common ground, the Iraqis and Marines have benefited from each other's presence in ways both great and small.
"The first time I came down here was probably a week before we moved into Karbala," said Maj. Matthew Grosz, the company commander. "I met some of the men, and they showed me around the transformer station."
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