Trained for War, a Marine Company in Iraq's Once Dangerous Anbar Tries to Adapt to Shaky Peace
Reader Comments
W29
I'm an old corporal from the Weapons 2/9 of 1957-58.
It's an interesting read.
I can understand the stress factor they face over there. We were the only combat ready division (3rd Marine Division) in the Far East at the time and the constant training with no outlet (shooting at bad guys) has a way of turning in on itself with fights, etc.
No problem. They're Marines. They do the job.
Semper Fi & Gung Ho
Captain Shaw is a Good Man
I know the CO extremely well, and I can vouch for his character. Captain Shaw is a man of integrity. He works incredibly hard and cares about every individual in his Company. I would like to remind readers that Captain Shaw did not write this article. Alex Kingsbury, a writer for U.S. News & World Report, did – and what you are reading are Mr. Kingsbury’s objective, third-party observations. Captain Shaw is quoted three times in the article, and, with each instance, I do not think it is his intent to put anyone down. I would like to reiterate that Captain Shaw strives to give the Marine Corps and the men in his Company his very best. He is stalwart, conscientious, faithful and unfaltering. On top of that, he is a wonderful person – he is a good man with a good heart.
nothing but respect
I am a former Marine who served with CPT DALLAS SHAW in 2 different deployments, and i have nothing but respect for him. He was and will be one of the greatest leaders and a greap person all around. My name is Abdir Ibraimi so if Cpt Shaw or anyone that knows him can write his e-mail to me so i can get in touch with him, I would appreciate it. thanx
recycle
I haven't had any NDs, and I'm not saying that there are no dumbasses here. However, maybe if we were allowed to DO our professions that we spent the past year training for, we wouldnt be writing posts about how boring this is. I'm not saying the CO isn't dedicated to his job, it's just the fact of his job not having anything to do with anything we were trained for. My 13 yr old nephew could sit in a glass box for 4 hour shifts watching the desert do completely nothing. He could probably outshoot half the junior marines here, as well as drive a humvee back and forth down a street, and I know for sure that he can sit in the backseat and sleep. And he has 0 NDs on his record. Where exactly do we fit into 'The Few, The Proud' ?
A little more clarification to "clear things up" for Concerned Children
Your opening comments about LCpls/Cpls in and of itself speaks volumes about your lack of discipline. The fact that you even grouped those together is significant in the fact that many of you so called NCOs out there are acting like LCPLs. I mean, call a spade a spade, right? As far as not knowing where you are going, maybe you should ask your section leader for an order? Novel idea right?
As far as the CO changing his plans mid mission, guess what, if the CO wants to go somewhere else, he can, that's one of the privileges of being a CO. If he says unload your M240 at the moon, guess what, a whole lotta rounds gonna be shot towards the moon. As far as your plush conditions, guess what, it is plush compared to what it used to be. No one is saying its your fault that you came in later, just watch what you complain about. There might me someone nearby who's had it a whole lot worse than you, and is tired of your complaining. Sort of like there was someone who had it worse than me.
As far as broken gear, guess what, it's the Marine Corps dude. Want good gear? Join the Army. Get used to it. Next point, you are lucky to get one shower every three months let alone three days (see above paragraph). The point again is not who had it worse, it's be thankful for what you do have. Next, there is no SNCO/Officer shower. Its the same darn trailer. Sorry, slick, no late night "SNCO/OFFICER shower infiltrations" going on at Karama. Your lack of integrity and gross exageration is telling about your character. Maybe you should re-evaluate some of your personal values.
And guess what else, the camp you live at is a dump. Stuff breaks. It takes time to get that stuff worked on. And that "precious power" that you have to "endure 4 day outages" for, I say again, read now two paragraphs up. Again, you have no appreciation for what you have because you've never had to live without it. And those "certain rooms" never affected; they require power to get the coordination done to try and get stuff fixed. I don't expect you to know this, because like most of your post, your outside your paygrade.
While I could not agree more with you on the fact that the Marines here were not designed to do this type of work(I mean seriously, main project is soccer jerseys?!?! For a Marine Infantry unit!?!?!)this is what the Marine Corps has tasked you to do. Again, your lack of character is telling. How about being the best darn garbage collector you can be. Stop whining about your mission. While you may think you want to see combat, trust me, you don't. Again be thankful.
The HUGE TV you speak of was removed because it was B-R-O-K-E-N.
Again you complain about being called children, yet you've managed to have more NDs in a deployment than any other company I've ever been in. Just a thought, maybe if you spent less time writing erroneous posts and more time studying your profession (you know, that nasty this called work) we wouldn't have to do stupid stuff like weapons manipulation.
Guess what people?!?!?!
OK all. Check it out. A war zone is a disgusting place. Killing people is a disgusting business, although we're not doing much of that now, at least up there at Wpns Main. It's people like this wife, whose probably "on her first deployment" poking their head in business it doesn't need to be in that makes us weak. Allow me to clue you in on something, it's the Marine Corps, not the Peace Corps, no matter the actual work. Maybe you would be happier if we all just sat around hugging and singing Kum bay yah. And while I despise the CO at times for decisions he's made that kept me away from my wife too; thats right honey, they're those of us out there that actually give a crap and actually choose to be away from our families just one minute longer if it means I can pass on just one more piece of info to a junior Marine if it might save his life, you know the whole take care of your Marines thing, he's the CO and has a responsibility to accomplish his mission and get his men home alive. And he IS a warrior. I have never meet someone in my career that was as totally devoted to his profession as this guy. And guess what, he is a little rough around the edges, he does make mistakes, he is still human, but it takes rough men willing to do rough things. While my wife would definitely appreciate it if I was home more, she understands that mission and Marines first, family second. Maybe you will learn this after you've been around the Corps awhile. Maybe you lack the intestinal fortitude to do the hardest job in the Corps, Marine Wife. I don't expect you to understand this way of life, just don't mess it up for those that do.
Wife of a 2/9 marine
Okay this article is DEFINITELY complete bs. The fact is clear as day- the marines who are younger and although might have less experience are the ones who work the hardest and get treated the worst. Maybe if you JERK higher ups listened to your marines more often you would be able to actually hear what they say but you're too busy blaming their OH SO PLUSH conditions on your sorry actions. From what I hear, many of these higher ups could never survive outside of the military as leaders because your morale is LOW and you have no insight to how to properly treat another human being. These men need guidance and not to be put down and treated like crap just because they are young and have less experience. Oh and "Captain Shaw". How DARE you tell a wife that the reason her husband is getting lessons to speak another language is so he can come back in ONE PIECE. Are you kidding me? That is not only cruel but HORRID. She could have been confused or just trying to clear something up. I'm glad they had classes to learn a different language, but if I didn't understand why, I sure wouldn't want to be told that out the mouth of a real jerk like you. Maybe you need to try to look inside yourself and find out if there is any good that could guide these men in the way they need to be. Because if there isn't- then maybe you should reconsider the next time you call yourself a good leader.
As for all the marines out there putting up with this crap, and the families having to be away from these wonderful and brave men- you are all in my hearts. Although the ones of lower rank may have to deal with the bullshit from these heartless men, I think we all know who the real marines are here. God bless you and your families.
....
Most of this article is complete BS. You come live here in my plush conditions and ill go home for christmas deal?
the untold story...
This note is a combination of various marines in 2/9 Weapons Co. Mainly, Lcpls and Cpls who never got a chance to give their opinion. Well, here we are. First off, the reason Lcpl/Cpls are not involved with some engagements (or kept away from things, as quoted) is because we are never informed. We all agree some information should be kept higher up, but when our convoy does not know where its going until the last second, how are we supposed to prepare for it? I'm not talking about waiting until we leave the base, I'm talking about our CO telling the driver, "turn left here". This has happened numerous times, and we would like to point out that unnamed officers have gotten lost on almost every mission that does not involve going to Camp Ramadi. We are mentioned as being irresponsible children who complain about our 'plush' conditions. We would like an explanation of how plush involves 4 day power outtages (although certain rooms always seem to have power) and fly infested guard towers that are weakly fought with strips of flypaper (note we got rid of the other HUGE flatscreen as it was not felt neccessary by highers). As far as trucks go, most of the doors have trouble shutting/locking and half of the turrents that our gunners use for defense wont even spin. I also feel it relevant to note that today marks the 4th day that the junior enlisted showers have been out. Most marines only get 1 day out of 3 to shower, and now when we try to infiltrate the SNCO/Officer shower, it too breaks. One Lcpl states, "It's been 6 days since my last shower, and who knows when I'll shower again" But my main issue in this response is not to complain about the living arrangements. We know we have life better in the safety of our base. We know that marines had it rougher than us. We've all dealt with worse conditions; it's what we were trained for over a year to do. Even in Mojave Viper, diplomacy was a secondary goal. Our basic Arabic consisted of phrases like 'surrender, put your hands up, drop your weapon, lie on your stomach'. I may not be a diplomat (and that's the point), but those words don't sound like we're engaged in friendly conversation with the Iraqi Police. Perhaps most of us missed the breif where we stopped being warriors trained to kill and started being social workers. Negligent discharges? Perhaps the reason we have had so many is not that we're stupid and immature, but that in the initial invasion, there were more important things to report. Of course, I wouldn't know from firsthand experience. As far as a lack of discipline goes, we all strongly disagree. Not just for the picture it paints of junior marines, but because apparently the upper chain of command doesn't realize how much discipline it has taken thus far not to uprise against their sheer lack of common sense or passed information in everyday happenings. Maybe we joined the wrong Corps. This entire deployment has been the work of the Peace Corps, not the Marine Corps. To be continued
Proud of our Marines
Thank you for an excellent article. We are very proud of our Marines and the job they do protecting our freedom. You do a good job of pointing out that the are expected to do much more than be agressive and fight. And it is good to hear about our son-in-law, Sgt Blevins. Thanks.
