HADITHA, Iraq (Dec. 20, 2005) -- After ascending a narrow 45 degree-angled pathway, hundreds of feet above the ground, to the top of the Haditha Dam in Iraq, Cpl. Nicholas J. Essenmacher stops and points to a town on the curve of the horizon where he and his Marines will be moving to the following day. For Essenmacher, a load master with Transportation Support Company, Combat Logistics Battalion-2, 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward), being anywhere else in the world just wouldn’t seem right. “As crazy as it may sound I like being here,” said the Harbor Beach, Mich., native. “If...
