Marines get their go orders

[thedrifter]

Marines get their go orders




Redeployment to Iraq to begin within weeks

By Rick Rogers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

February 7, 2004


MIRAMAR ? About 5,000 Marines from the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station will be leaving for Iraq within the next three weeks, their commanding general said yesterday, signaling the start of a second round of deployments.

Maj. Gen. John F. Amos, commander of the 3rd Marine Air Wing, is the first senior Marine officer to comment on the troop rotation that will deploy 20,000 San Diego County-based Marines to Iraq for seven months.

The Marines will replace the Army's 82nd Airborne Division in a zone that stretches from just west of Baghdad to the Jordanian and Syrian borders. Part of the infamous Sunni Triangle will become their responsibility.

At a flag-raising ceremony early yesterday morning on base, Amos cited the contributions and sacrifices that Marine families have made, and will make, during the Corps' multiple deployments to dangerous parts of the world.

"We wanted to say thank you," he told about 200 Marines and their families.

"We are going to need your support, and not just for this deployment but for times when the country calls on the Marines for the next 10 years."

This will be the second deployment to Iraq in little more than a year for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, which includes the 3rd Marine Air Wing and the First Marine Division at Camp Pendleton.

"We're headed out to finish the job we started," Amos said.

The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, which is based at Pendleton, played a pivotal role in ousting Saddam Hussein from power, but at a cost: 62 Marines were killed and 230 were wounded.

Amos doesn't foresee the Corps' job ending in Iraq. The war on terrorism, he said, makes it likely Marines will spend as much time away as at home for years to come.

"I don't see operations tempo decreasing in the next five years," Amos said. The role of the Marine Corps "is not going to diminish."

Amos said he was moved yesterday by the faces of the men and women, knowing that shortly they will be away from their families and in harm's way.

"I looked around the audience and there were my commanders, and probably half of them will not be here with their families for President's Day and Easter," Amos told reporters. "It pulls at your heart, but it is the right thing to do."

Two months ago, at the same spot, Amos and his command mourned the loss of 15 Miramar Maines who died in the war.

The family members who attended yesterday's ceremony appreciated the general's comments.

"I think this is awesome, that we are being recognized," said Monica Dickey as she fed her 5-month-old daughter, Gabryella. She was born while her dad was away, and there is a good chance he will miss Gabryella's first birthday as well.

"This is part of his job," Monica Dickey said, "part of his commitment."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rick Rogers: (760) 476-8212; rick.rogers@uniontrib.com

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/...9-_7m7flag.html


Sempers,

Roger