Hawaii ARINEARINE MVMOLUME 36, NUMBER 34 2005 THOMAS JEFFERSON AWARD WINNING METRO FORMAT NEWSPAPER SEPTEMBER 1, 2006 Mass casualty Hiking Basketball A-3 B-1 C-1 ‘Warriors’ depart K-Bay for Iraq Lance Cpl. Edward C. deBree spoke with the ‘Warriors’, with their Combat Correspondent family members by their sides, about their deploymet to Iraq. Approximately 30 Marines and “As you get ready to prepare to Sailors assigned to Marine Aviation depart, remember to watch out for Logistics Squadron 24 here set out yourself and your fellow Marines,” for their deployment to Iraq Aug. 23 said Col. Edward Yarnell, com- where they will serve in support of manding officer, MAG-24, 1st MAW. Operation Iraqi Freedom. “For the families out here today, The “Warriors” will relieve remember that the MAG is here to Marines and Sailors from MALS-24 support you while your loved one is who are currently deployed to Iraq deployed.” and have been in the region for The Marines and Salors of MALS- seven months. 24 have spent the past six months “Some of us will be augmented to preparing for their deployment to Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron Iraq by conducting training specific 16 to help them out,” said Gunnery to operations in Iraq and honing Sgt. Lonnie J. Foster, avionics tech- fundamental skills to improve their nician, MALS-24, 1st Marine combat readiness. Aircraft Wing. “I’m absolutely looking forward “We’re going to be out there to to going, because I volunteered for support HMH-363 (Marine Heavy it,” said Foster, a 32-year-old native Helicopter Squadron 363) when to Bayou La Batre, Ala. “It goes back they arrive and help fix their CH- to why we joined. We’re not meant 53Ds (Sea Stallion helicopters).” to train all the time; we’re meant to Before the Marines and Sailors participate in the Global War on Lance Cpl. Edward C. deBree loaded their gear on a truck that Terrorism. Colonel Edward Yarnell, commanding officer, Marine Aircraft Group 24, Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, talks with took them to Hickam Air Force Base “This is an outstanding group of Marines and Sailors assigned to Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 24 and their families, Aug. 24, as the Marines and Sailors where they boarded a plane to Iraq, Marines, and they are well prepared prepare to depart the base for Iraq where they will spend the following months supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. MALS- the commanding officer of MAG-24 to do their job out in Iraq.” 24 sent approximately 30 “Warriors” to Iraq to replace current augmentees there. Fallen Marines, Sailor Lead the way memorialized in Iraq Staff Sgt. Jim Goodwin ing out of their eight-wheeled, Warner Robins, Ga., is the Regimental Combat Team 7 armored troop carriers – light company’s senior enlisted armored vehicles – combating advisor. “They were ‘Wolf RAWAH, Iraq — Just insurgents and roadside Pack;’ they were my brothers. I more than two weeks after bombs in Fallujah earlier this loved them.” memorializing four Marines year. The deaths of the three men killed in action, Marines serv- The unit also conducted came on the heels of the ing in this region of Al Anbar humanitarian missions in deaths of four other Marines province gathered to remem- Kharma and Habbaniyah, from the very same platoon ber three more – two Marines which are large towns on within Company D: 2nd pla- and a Sailor – who died last Fallujah’s outskirts, and they toon. Sgt. Christian B. week during combat opera- provided security for a raid Williams, a 27-year-old from tions in Iraq. which resulted in the capture Winterhaven, Fla.; Cpl. Phillip In a somber ceremony on of a high-ranking terrorist in E. Baucus, a 28-year-old from the Marines’ outpost in this Haditha, according to a July 7 Wolf Creek, Mont.; Lance Cpl. Euphrates River city Aug. 26, report from Cpl. Graham A. Anthony E. Butterfield, a 19- Marines and Sailors from the Paulsgrove, the battalion’s year-old from Clovis, Calif.; Cpl. Megan L. Stiner southern California-based 3rd combat correspondent. and Lance Cpl. Jason Hanson, Marines and Sailors assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Light Armored For weeks at a time, the a 21-year-old from Forks, Kaneohe Bay, gather personal belongings in preparation for their departure to Afghanistan where Reconnaissance Battalion company lived out of their Wash., were all killed due to they will be deployed for six-months. These Marines, who departed Aug. 23, are 2/3's advanced memorialized: Corporal Adam vehicles, slept inside of them combat operations here Aug. party. The remainder of the unit's Marines and Sailors are scheduled to join them in mid-September. A. Galvez, a 21-year-old from or next to them, seldom 2. Salt Lake City, Utah; Lance returning to base for a hot They were memorialized in Cpl. Randy L. Newman, a 21- meal or shower, according to a similar ceremony here Aug. year-old from Bend, Ore., and Paulsgrove’s report. 10. Galvez, Kenyon and ‘Gators’ prowl highways Seaman Chadwick T. Kenyon, “They were ‘Dragoon’s Newman attended that cere- a 20-year-old from Tucson, Warriors.’ They were real war- mony. Gunnery Sgt. Mark Oliva rain and highways and stand up well against Ariz. riors,” said 1st Sgt. Willie T. During all of their exploits 1st Marine Division IEDs. They just get hot in the daytime.” All three men were part of Ward III, Galvez, Kenyon and in eastern Al Anbar province, Nighttime isn’t much better. On a recent the battalion’s Company D, Newman during the ceremo- CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq — Forget murky patrol, Marines loaded their amtracs, or “hogs” which spent three months liv- ny. Ward, a 38-year-old from See MEMORIAL, A-7 swamps or backyard swimming pools. as they affectionately call them, and churned Regimental Combat Team 5 has “Gators” stalk- off into the inky-black moonless night. It was ing the six-lane highways surrounding a ritualistic hunt. The roads they haunt are Fallujah. their hunting grounds, and they know them Marines from D Company, 2nd Assault well. Amphibian Battalion, RCT-5, are skulking the “If we’re not doing this, another section is main roads surrounding Fallujah. They’re on doing it, every day,” Mayville explained. the hunt, looking to clamp down on anyone “Marines know this area well and they know trying to shut down the well-traveled routes what to look for.” for coalition forces. Their favorite prey is That’s because Team Gator creeps their improvised explosive device emplacers and the beasts along the roads at a patient, persistent roadside bombs they employ. pace. Headlights on, the lumbering amtrac Team Gator, built around D Company, is beasts chug down the road, bellowing diesel tasked with keeping the main routes in the smoke in a throaty groan. Marines ride high, area open for coalition and civilian traffic. perched in their stations or stand in the back, Marines drive their 27-ton amphibious assault heads and rifles poking out from the open vehicles constantly. Day and night, the hatches. amtracs, a holdover nickname when earlier “We’re looking for anything out of the ordi- generations of the vehicle were called nary,” said Lance Cpl. John D. Darmody, a 20- amphibious tractors, keep the main routes year-old amtrac crewman from Allen Park, clear. It’s a mission that is taxing physically Mich. “We’re looking to see something new in and mentally and requires an alligator’s thick the road that we haven’t seen before.” skin to endure. Darmody explained Team Gator has trav- “We’re out there looking for IEDs and possi- eled up and down the same stretches of high- Staff Sgt. Jim Goodwin ble ambush sites,” explained Staff Sgt. Justin K. way so often, that they know the identifying Lance Cpl. Daniel J. Martinez (second from right), a 20-year-old Marine from Bay City, Mich., pays his Mayville, a 28-year-old section leader from features. They can pinpoint patch jobs on the final respects to three fallen comrades – two Marines and a Navy hospital corpsman who were killed Killeen, Texas. “The amtracs, are well-suited for recently – during a memorial service Aug. 26 at the Marines’ outpost in Rawah, Iraq. this kind of mission. They’re good on open ter- See GATORS, A-7 A-2 • SEPTEMBER 1, 2006 HAWAII MARINE NEWS BRIEFS Federal Survey Card Click It or Ticket Marine Corps and Navy Parents of Children in Hawaii Public Schools: Hawaii Marine urges its readers to buckle up. You will soon have in your hand a very powerful tool to aid in the receipt It’s an easy habit to learn that may some day save of federal funding to support education in Hawaii’s public schools. your live and the life of your passenger(s). The Federal Survey Card that your student will bring home Tuesday enables Remember, each and every time you get into your his or her school to accurately report its federally connected student enroll- vehicle, reach for your seatbelt. Make it one of ment. This information is critical for the State of Hawaii to be able to calculate those good habits that you won’t want to break. the local funding it allocates to offset the cost of educating your child/children and to seek reimbursement through federal impact aid funding. Runway Incursions We can help the Hawaii Department of Education and Hawaii public schools by filling out the Federal Survey Card upon receipt and returning it to Runway incursions continue to be a problem the school immediately.