Posted on 08/04/2005 5:53:50 AM PDT by Jarhead1957
Brig Gen. Carter Ham, deputy director for operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff gestures during a Pentagon news conference, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2005 to discuss Marines in Iraq. A Marine amphibious assault vehicle on patrol during combat operations near the Syrian border hit a roadside bomb Wednesday, and 14 Marines were killed in one of the deadliest single attacks in Iraq against American forces. (AP Photo/Heesoon Yim)
The Marines have one of the roughest assignments in Iraq: pacifying the perpetually restive Anbar province, home to Fallujah, Ramadi and Haditha, all sites of heavy American casualties since the insurgency went into high gear last year.
Underscoring the heavy load, the Marines have taken casualties disproportionate to their numbers in Iraq.
Marines number more than 23,000 out of 138,000 members of the U.S. armed forces in Iraq, or 17 percent. Yet they have lost at least 530 of the more than 1,820 U.S. personnel who have died there, or 29 percent, Marine officials said.
On Wednesday, they lost 14 when a roadside bomb detonated under an amphibious assault vehicle in Haditha in western Iraq. Just two days earlier, seven other Marines died.
Some military experts pointed to Wednesday's attack to note the Marines are performing duties somewhat different from those for which they are organized and equipped. The amphibious vehicle, for example, was designed to get troops ashore and is less armored than some other infantry carriers.
"It's basically designed to get across the beach and get a few dozen miles inland," said John Pike, a military expert with Globalsecurity.org. "The point being, once (Marines) had managed to secure the beachhead and get a few miles inland, the Army would come ashore and take over from there."
Beyond that, occupation and stabilization duties often require expertise and equipment distinct from amphibious assault and the rapid capture of enemy-held territory, experts said.
"The entire Marine force was designed around the concept of amphibious warfare, which is a good deal different from the kind of conflict they're fighting in Iraq today, hundreds of miles from the sea," said Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute think tank. "The Marines are a light force; they kick in the door but they are not supposed to occupy all the rooms."
Still, the service has tried to adapt to changing missions, studying concepts like urban warfare and nonlethal weaponry. Marines took the lead in supplying food during a famine in Somalia in the early 1990s.
They, along with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, comprised the leading forces in the drive toward Baghdad in 2003.
Since the invasion of Iraq, the Army's effort to keep its troops fresh by rotating them in and out of the country has created a need to use the Marines as a stabilization and counterinsurgency force in parts of the country, experts said.
The Marines killed Wednesday were part of a sweep for insurgents in communities along the Euphrates River between Baghdad and the Syrian border. At the Pentagon, Brig. Gen. Carter Ham said similar operations were under way in several communities at once, to prevent insurgents from skipping to towns without a strong U.S. presence.
He suggested the attacks on the Marines were the insurgents' response to their stepped-up operations.
The Marines killed Wednesday were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines based in Brook Park, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb, and attached to the Regimental Combat Team 2. Nine of them were from a single smaller unit in Columbus. A civilian translator also was killed and one Marine was wounded.
Six more Marines were killed in Haditha earlier this week. A seventh was killed by a car bomb in Hit.
In November, Marines led the assault to retake Fallujah, an insurgent stronghold 40 miles west of Baghdad. They had regular clashes with insurgents there and in nearby Ramadi for months before.
In January, 30 Marines, along with a Navy sailor, were killed when their helicopter went down in bad weather. The military, however, still has not issued a finding on the cause of the crash.
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Associated Press Writer Pauline Jelinek contributed to this story.
I think I'll go make some popcorn and watch this thread for a while...
This ought to be good.
The army rotates the troops every 12 months. The marines, aren't they on a 7 month rotation?
Hi allegra! How's the weather?
It would be easier to pacify that section of the country if they were all dead. Let's start giving real examples of what will happen if they misbehave against us and our military. Prayer for God's protection over all of our military men and women.
Hi Indy! It's pretty darn hot!
How are things back home? How's your wonderful and brave daughter doing?
Beats me, I am just wondering why all the major offensives we read about in Iraq are conducted by the Marines. As you know they are a much smaller organization than the Army. Seems we would read something about the Army ever now and then.
How are you holding up? I hope all is well with you and your comrades. God bless you for continuing your mission.
Praise the Lord and the United States Marines.
You know, it might be because PR is so important to the Corps. What's the old joke? Why did the Marine advance stop? The cameraman ran out of film.
You know, it might be because PR is so important to the Corps. What's the old joke? Why did the Marine advance stop? The cameraman ran out of film.
Thanks! I'm just one of those "civilian contractor people," but I certainly have no desire to run home crying because of something CNN said. I see the progress that has happened here over the last year and a half I've been here and my optimism remains undaunted.
As does the morale of the troops on the ground, from what I can see.
When amphibs is all you have you got to use them. The Marines did not even have M1A1's in the first Iraq get together. As in WWII we got the equipment the army did not want any more.
Well, it would make sense that we would put all our best units in the Anbar province which includes the Marines, 101st Airborne, and Army Rangers.
Our coalition partners will not be willing to supervise this area for us.
This is just like it was in 1990, when we (Marines) sat around playing spades in the sandbox waiting for the Army to get their Sh*t together. You noticed the Somalis didn't rise up until the Marines pulled out, because of they're fear of the Marines. The Marines are, and always will be the neglected stepchildren of our armed forces. Older equipment, if not hand-me-downs of discarded Army and Navy gear. S.O.S. different day. Nevertheless, our Devil Dogs will exact revenge in Haditha very very soon. Semper Fi and nice post.
Being a former active duty Marine, I have nothing but respect for the Airborne and Rangers and SF of the Army, it is the REGULAR Army I have a problem with. In Somalia I had 2 Army dogs in one week come by our tent looking for their weapons, they had forgotten and left them hanging in the shitter. CLASSIC
Sure it is oohrah. Hey tell us about all those great Marine victories in Europe in WWII and in the Civil War. Drink the PI kool-aid all you like, history tells a different story.
I know of a few hundred Army guys who would probably disagree.
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