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GOTTA SEE THIS - WarEndur.FreedomA History of the War as composed by Diogenesison FreeRepublicGod Bless America!The beginnings...Gotta See This - 03/14/03  - al-Qaqa, Rafah, Youssifiya , Ibn,  Firna, drones, Tikrit Gotta See This - 03/15/03 - Camps Virginia, New York, Op TELIC, USS Gary, Al Hakam Gotta See This - 03/16/03 - Heroes Prepare, B-2, GR7, A10, AV-8B, Leaflets Gotta See This - 03/18/03 - 193rd SOW, Widowmakers, 101st, 1st MEF, Irish Guards, Roy.Eng Gotta See This - 03/19/03 - GR7s, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Heroes Gotta See This - 03/20/03 (part 1) - First Blood, Baghdad, Kuwait Gotta See This...

Two days after battling insurgents in this restive area, smiling US Marines patrolled the dusty streets of this Iraqi town Sunday, waving and shaking hands with residents in a bid to win them over. A convoy of eight trucks mounted with machine-guns unloaded around 120 Marines in full combat gear in this town located around 50 kilometers west of Baghdad. This is the heart of what is known as the "Sunni triangle", a hotbed of violent opposition by Sunni Muslim insurgents to the US-led occupation. But unlike Friday's incident in nearby Fallujah in which a Marine was killed and several...

Move over, George Patton. There's a new Gen. Gung-Ho in town. He's Marine Maj. Gen. J. M. Mattis, the leader of the force taking over Iraq's Sunni Triangle badlands. "This is our test, our Guadalcanal--our Chosin Reservoir, our Hue City," he penned in a one-page memo to the troops. If ever there was a motivational letter, his was it. "You are going to write history," wrote Mattis. "When it's time to move a piano," he cheered, "Marines don't pick up the piano bench--we move the piano."

  Big Apple of Kuwait reopens By Spc. Marc Loi CAMP NEW YORK, Kuwait (Army News Service, March 24, 2004) -- After three months of not having any visitors, Camp New York is starting to fill its vacancies again. Camp New York was rebuilt in early December to provide facilities for service members coming through Kuwait during the Operation Iraqi Freedom rotation of troops, which began in January and will last through May. Situated in the middle of the Kuwaiti desert, the camp boasts some of the amenities a person would have in New York City, including a 1,000-seat...

For 18,000 soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) recently returned from a year in Iraq -- and for some, more months in Afghanistan -- there's no place like home. The "Screaming Eagles" said they returned to Fort Campbell, Ky., after deployments in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom with a newfound appreciation for the simple pleasures in life. And no single pleasure ranked higher than the opportunity to reconnect with their families. For some, like Staff Sgt. David Giddens with the 101st Corps Support Group's Headquarters and Headquarters Company, being home after an 11-month deployment means...

<p>CAMP PENDLETON -- As 25,000 Marines return to Iraq in a bid to take control of the volatile Sunni Triangle, the Marines plan to do things by The Book.</p> <p>The Book is a 375-page encyclopedic volume called "Small Wars Manual, U.S. Marine Corps," written more than six decades ago by Marine officers as a record of tactics used in suppressing insurgencies and restoring stability in dozens of deployments stretching from Cuba and Haiti to Guam and the Philippines.</p>

FORT WAINWRIGHT--Eight desert camouflage uniforms stood out among a formation of about 20 soldiers of the 68th Air Ambulance Company at a Fort Wainwright deployment ceremony at the company's hangar Friday. Tan uniforms among a backdrop of green has become a common sight in the last year as select troops among Alaska's military have been sent to Southwest Asia to help fight in the war against terrorism. Within the next two weeks the eight will join the 1,037 Alaska soldiers that have been deployed to either Afghanistan or Iraq since Oct. 1, according to Maj. Gen. John Brown, commander of...

MCRD/ERR PARRIS ISLAND, S.C.(March 19, 2004) -- The Infantry Combat Equipment team from Marine Corps Systems Command was aboard the Depot March 11 to show off improvements and replacements currently being made to the Corps' combat gear. While bulletproof vests and bug repellant utilities may seem like gear from a James Bond movie, Lt. Col. Gabe Patricio, project manager, ICE, said these and other improvements are already being used to help bring Marines home alive. "The new gear has improved functionality and user friendliness," said Patricio. " Some of the new gear has already been tested in combat and the...

Saturday, March 20, 2004 Back in Iraq: 1st Marine Division returns ready to rebuild By Kent Harris, Stars and StripesEuropean edition, Sunday, March 21, 2004 Kent Harris / S&S Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack and Command Sgt. Maj. Wolf Amacker carefully roll up the colors of the 82nd Airborne Division on Saturday as the soldiers gave way in western Iraq to the 1st Marine Division. Kent Harris / S&S Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, deputy commander of Joint Task Force-7, Maj. Gen. James Mattis and Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack stare at the colors Saturday during a transfer of authority ceremony in...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Insurgents killed two U.S. Marines in western Iraq, the military said Friday, and an Iraqi journalist allegedly shot by American troops in Baghdad died of his wounds. A third U.S. soldier died of injuries suffered after his armored vehicle rolled 200 feet down an embankment into a river. During a visit to Iraq, Secretary of State Colin Powell said this was no time for civilized nations to ``run and hide'' from terrorists. The attack on the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force occurred Wednesday while it was conducting ``security and stability operations'' in Anbar province, the military statement...

<p>On a cloudless day in January, my entry to Baghdad on a C-130 was marked by a fuselage-shuddering, steep descent from high altitude to the tarmac at Baghdad International Airport - or BIAP, as we say here. It has to be that way, every time, for the safest, quickest way to the ground.</p>

Marines settling into new home in Fallujah By: DARRIN MORTENSON - Staff Writer FALLUJAH, Iraq ---- Eating a pancake breakfast and watching television reports about mounting U.S. casualties in Iraq, the Marines gathered at the mess tent Wednesday morning seemed to be witnessing events happening worlds away. Actually, that world was just outside their gates.

Letter to All Hands, We are going back in to the brawl. We will be relieving the magnificent soldiers fighting under the 82nd Airborne Division, whose hard wonsuccesses in the Sunni Triangle have opened opportunities for us to exploit. For the last year, the 82nd Airborne has been operating against the heart of the enemy's resistance. It's appropriate that we relieve them: When it's time to move a piano, Marines don't pick up the piano bench - we move the piano. So this is the right place for Marines in this fight, where we can carry on the legacy of...

HAMAM AL ALIL, Iraq — Two weeks after Pvt. Seth Tribble was wounded by a grenade in the northern Iraqi town of Gab Adr, his buddies went back to send a message to his attackers. The 2nd Infantry Division’s Company B, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment marched into Gab Adr on Sunday along the newly named Phase Line Tribble, which runs past the place where the grenade attack occurred. Soldiers raided several nearby houses searching for weapons and terrorists, but there was no all-out attack by anti-coalition forces that informants had warned would happen the next time Company B entered...

ALBU SHUKUR, Iraq — In a shady orchard, along a rutted country lane, the men of “Charlie Rock” did a little digging and discovered weapons meant to kill them. The haul included a Russian-made machine gun, 146 mortar rounds, detonating cord, bomb-making materials and rocket-propelled grenade heads. It was found about three miles from Logistical Support Area Anaconda — the former Balad Air Base — home to some 15,000 U.S. troops and the target of frequent mortar attacks. “They were definitely firing mortars out of this field,” said Capt. Matthew Archambault, commander of Charlie Company of the 1st Battalion, 26th...

March 14, 2:54 PM EST1st Cavalry Div. Begins Watch in Baghdad By CHRIS TOMLINSONAssociated Press Writer CAMP VICTORY, Iraq (AP) -- 2nd Lt. Peter Balke's patrol had three objectives besides keeping an eye out for militants: stop by the Jordanian Embassy to check security, count the squatters in an old government building and investigate complaints that a new brothel had opened."Everybody got their money with them?" one of the soldiers shouted.Balke smiled, then continued his briefing.Balke, 22, is part of the new wave of troops replacing the one that stormed Iraq a year ago. He's a field artillery officer, freshly...

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, March 12, 2004) – The Army continues to meet its Operation Iraqi Freedom force protection equipment requirements in a timely manner and Congress is helping to do that, the Army’s top leadership recently told some of the nation’s top lawmakers. Acting Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker appeared before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations – Defense to give testimony March 10 on the 2004 Army Posture Statement, the Army’s blueprint of what it wants to accomplish in the coming year with appropriated funds. “Many of...

<p>FORT IRWIN, Calif. (AP) - Army National Guard troops headed for Iraq got an upbeat send-off from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who praised them as "the true terminators."</p> <p>The governor presented U.S. and California flags to the National Guard's 81st Separate Armor Brigade, which is deploying overseas for the first time since the Korean War.</p>

NEWS RELEASEHEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND7115 South Boundary BoulevardMacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894 March 13, 2004Release Number: 04-03-34 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 4ID AND TF IRONHORSE CAPTURE SUSPECTS, WEAPONS TIKRIT, Iraq - 4th Infantry Division and Task Force Ironhorse conducted 143 patrols and eight raids and captured 11 individuals Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Fifty-one of the patrols were joint operations conducted with the Iraqi police, Iraqi Civil Defense Corps and the Department of Border Enforcement. Weapons and equipment confiscated in raids and patrols throughout the Task Force Ironhorse area of operations include 15 AK-47...

TIKRIT, Iraq (AP)--An explosion injured six U.S. soldiers, some seriously, while on patrol north of Baghdad early Saturday, the Army said. Capt. Tim Crowe said small arms fire erupted after the explosion that occurred in the north of Saddam Hussein's former hometown. No further details were immediately available. The soldiers are from the 1st Infantry Division, which is taking over control of security in the Tikrit area Saturday from the outgoing 4th Infantry Division. AP-NY-03-12-04 2201EST