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HIT, Iraq (Jan. 9, 2006) -- Hand in hand with combating insurgents around the ancient city of Hit, the Marines of B Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Bn., 2nd Marine Regiment, are looking to build bridges between Coalition forces and the Iraqi people. First Lt. Chris Richardella and a handful of his Marines were recently able to deliver school supplies and sports items to children in neighborhoods surrounding their combat outpost. “Our first mission is to provide security and stability,” said B Company's executive officer. “But when we get the chance, we try to start on our secondary mission, improving...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HIT, Iraq (Jan. 5, 2006) -- While on a long deployment overseas, Marines look forward to from letters from home, the occasional phone call or photos sent from their loved ones. These are the times where it’s the little things that matter so much – showers, a warm place to sleep and hot chow. To add one more item to this list, Marines from the 2nd Marine Logistics Group’s Food Service Company recently set up a Field Food Service System to support the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) at the unit’s base of operations, Forward...

KUBAYSAH, Iraq (Jan. 4, 2006) -- As their families and friends were preparing to celebrate the New Year, the Marines and sailors of the Battalion Landing Team 1st Bn., 2nd Marine Regiment were recuperating after a long, hard day of patrolling the streets in Kubaysah, Iraq during Operation Moon River. The goal of the one-day operation, undertaken by elements of the 22nd MEU (SOC) and the Iraqi army, was to assess the status of essential civil services in the city and show a coalition presence in a city that has seen very little conventional military in recent months. “We wanted...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HIT, Iraq (Jan. 2, 2006) -- Sticking out the roof of the Humvee, with only his goggles and a scarf to protect his face from the biting Iraqi winter wind, Lance Cpl. Daniel G. Junker scans the road ahead and its shoulders. From his vantage point in the gunner’s ring, half-hidden behind armor plates and his M240G medium machine gun, Junker serves as the forward-looking set of eyes for the small patrol of green and tan Humvees motoring down the crater-strewn, two-lane highway. Having left Forward Operating Base Hit, the home of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HIT, Iraq (Jan. 1, 2006) -- The old axiom that the Marines are ‘first in’ often brings to mind the image of infantrymen charging a fire-swept beach or leaping from a hovering helicopter into the thick of battle. However, as the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) began to set up shop in the vicinity of Hit, Iraq, the first MEU Marines to arrive did so carrying communications gear in addition to their weapons. Functioning under an umbrella of security provided by both the MEU’s combat forces and those of the unit they were replacing, the...

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...

After 15 years of keeping its distance, the tradition-oriented U.S. Marine Corps is cooperating more closely with the unconventional U.S. Special Operations Command. The two organizations are stepping up joint training exercises and deploying together more often in combat operations. The Marines have agreed "for the first time ever" to contribute a small unit to the Special Operations Command.The end result, according to some insiders, eventually could be a major Marine organization within special operations, on a par with the Navy's Sea, Air and Land (SEAL) teams or the Army's Special Forces.USSOCOM was formed in 1987 in an effort to...

Monday, October 14, 2002 V Corps confirms Mideast orders By Jon R. Anderson, Stars and Stripes European edition, Monday, October 14, 2002 PRIZREN, Kosovo — The Pentagon has ordered the Army’s top warfighting command in Europe to the Middle East, the first U.S. Army Europe unit to deploy as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, officials confirmed Sunday. “Elements of V Corps headquarters have received a deployment order to deploy to U.S. Central Command area of responsibility,” said Lt. Col. Joe Richard, V Corps spokesman in a telephone interview. Central Command oversees all military operations throughout most of the Middle East...