A Year In Iraq ????

[thedrifter]

A YEAR IN IRAQ ????


Commandant says Marines are ready for anything - even longer
rotations in Iraq to relieve pressure on the Army

By Gordon Lubold, Times staff writer


Leathernecks may be returning to Iraq as top defense officials ponder deploying Marines for one-year tours to replace war-weary soldiers.
No decisions have been made yet on whether Marines will go back to Iraq -or even to other corners of the earth to relieve the Army - but Commandant Gen.Mike Hagee said Marines are ready for whatever assignment is presented.
"We do windows," Hagee said in a Sept. 29 interview with Marine Corps Times reporters and editors. "And we are prepared. And if it makes sense for a Marine unit to go over there, then we will do that."

If the Corps were to provide relief for Army units serving in Iraq,
Marines could find themselves on yearlong tours, as the six-month rotations to which Marines are accustomed would not be sufficient for the Iraq mission.
"It doesn't provide the continuity and stability that you need on the ground," he said. "So, to me, a one-year deployment makes a great deal of sense."

The possibility of deployment back to Iraq comes as coalition forces the Bush administration had hoped would step up to the plate have failed to materialize. Army units there, meanwhile, are being stretched thinner and thinner.
Though troops from two multinational divisions now occupy territory in Iraq, the relative lack of coalition support for post-combat operations wasn't war-gamed properly, said one senior Pentagon official.

"We had an invalid planning assumption, following combat operations, that the coalition would come forward in large numbers and allow the U.S.military to withdraw, and that has not happened," he said.
A different role The Marine Corps is regarded as a "first-in, first-out" force that leaves longer deployments to the Army. But as global political realities emerged this summer, it became clear soldiers couldn't go it alone in postwar Iraq.

When the Army announced in July its plan for yearlong deployments, officials suggested that Marines could be called to help. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, echoed that sentiment Sept. 24 when he said Marines will help soldiers bear the load of ground-force deployments overseas.
"Marines will be deployed at the same rate as the Army," he said.
However, that deployment tempo could include the current Marine Corps mission on Okinawa, where Leathernecks remain on standby for possible action in Korea and elsewhere on the Pacific Rim.

The number of days a typical Marine deploys next year likely will
remain constant, but where they might go "is unclear," Pace said.
"Whether or not Marines are best deployed to Iraq or best deployed to Okinawa as they normally do ... is a determination of Intel at the time and the like," he said.
Everything is on the deployment table, Marine officials said.
Leathernecks could replace Army units now on the ground in Iraq, but they could also replace soldiers in Afghanistan, or in the Balkans, for that matter.

But Iraq remains the most likely scenario, because that's where the need is greatest. Elements of the 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, deployed to central Iraq near Karbala, are expected to be next for rotation back to the States. They're due back beginning in January, Army sources said, after what will be 10 months in country.

Soldiers from the 1st Armored Division, deployed near Baghdad, and the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), in Mosul, also are slated to return home sometime early next year. They too will have been deployed for about a year.
The 101st, which was slated to be replaced by a multinational force that has yet to surface, represents about 20,000 soldiers. The Army recently identified two reinforced National Guard units to replace units in Iraq sometime in the coming months.

One longtime defense analyst and frequent Pentagon consultant sees problems with yearlong leatherneck deployments to Iraq.
The deployment of a sizable Marine force to Iraq for an extended
period would have damaging effects on the Corps' ability to execute other missions worldwide, said Loren Thompson, chief analyst with the Lexington Institute, an Arlington, Va.-based think tank. The Army has nearly 130,000 troops in Iraq today; the Corps has a total active force of only 175,000.
But it's more than just a numbers game, he added. Peacekeeping is not the Corps' mission.

"Historically, the Marine Corps has been a rapid reaction force, not a force of occupation," Thompson said. "The fact that such a concept would even be considered is a departure from their core role."
It's not clear which Marine units could be tapped to go, or when, but some senior Marines have been planning for the possibility since the first Humvees were washed down in Kuwait. Maj. Gen. James Mattis told the Leathernecks of his 1st Marine Division to be ready to deploy again by the Marine Corps birthday on Nov. 10.

"I made it clear that what we were going to do was fix every weapon, every optic, every radio, every vehicle that we had," Mattis said in an Oct. 2 interview. "So from my perspective, I don't care where they deploy us."
If Marines do end up with the Iraq mission, Mattis doesn't expect
that he'll have to send anyone back who just got home.
"We've got a pretty good bench," he said. More dangerous duty?
If Marines are tasked with rotations through Iraq, it's unclear where in the country they might serve.

But since I Marine Expeditionary Force in late September turned over control of the south-central sector to the Polish-led multinational division, it seems likely they would instead relieve Army units in and around Baghdad and
points north. In the months since major combat was declared at an end May 1, those areas have turned out to be much more dangerous territory.

During I MEF's postwar occupation of governates south of Baghdad, the force suffered no combat deaths. This despite more than 90 combat-related deaths overall since May 1, according to Defense Department statistics.
On average, U.S. forces are suffering three to six deaths and 40
wounded every week, the commander of American forces in Iraq said Oct. 2.

"The enemy has evolved - a little bit more lethal, a little more
complex, a little more sophisticated, and in some cases, a little bit more tenacious," said Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez.
American forces are being attacked 15 to 20 times a day by small-arms fire, rocket-propelled grenades and roadside bombs, mostly in Baghdad and the surrounding Sunni stronghold to the west and north of the capital, he said.

But Marines' versatility and experience in Iraq would go a long way toward helping them acclimate to the new, low-intensity fight there. Mattis said Marines already know what to do.
"I think especially now, based on what we've been through, we're in a very strong shape training-wise and spiritually to go back into this fight," he said.
Marines already possess much of the "cultural intelligence" required to make the mission there now successful, Hagee said. It's not just about being vigilant and keeping a loaded magazine in your weapon. It's also good instincts.

Hagee is fond of telling the story of a Marine corporal who led a
patrol through Karbala earlier this year. The patrol encountered an Iraqi funeral procession approaching from the opposite direction. Iraqis were carrying the body and shouting slogans. What was the young Marine to do?
He ordered his men to unsling their weapons, point the barrels down at the ground and take off their helmets to show their respect as the funeral procession passed by.
"Great response," Hagee said proudly. Hagee believes those kinds of instincts will continue to serve Marines well, should they return to Iraq.

Planning ahead More than 71,000 Marines deployed to the Middle East for the war, and the last of I Marine Expeditionary Force has been returning home in recent months. The last thing most Marines have in mind is another all-expenses paid trip back to Iraq.
As a brigadier general, Mattis led the Marines and sailors of Task
Force 58 in Afghanistan in 2002, where he inspired his Marines through his selfless leadership. He is said to have refused cold-weather gear, for example, until every other Marine in Kandahar was outfitted.

Soft-spoken but direct, Mattis said there is no question that the
next year will be hard on Marines, no matter what it brings.
But if they believe in what they're doing, the rest will take care of
itself, he said.
"I think the toughest part of this is the heart of the Marine, to
keep their hearts in it," he said. "This is going to be an adventure ... they are young men. They came in to test themselves," he said.
"They did not come in to sit on the sidelines when there's danger
somewhere."

Semper Fidelis,



Sempers,

Roger