UPDATE: An updated version of this story has now been posted online here. You may recognize this face. That’s Lance Cpl. Kyle Carpenter, who was severely wounded in Afghanistan in 2010 when insurgents chucked a hand grenade onto the roof where he and another Marine, Lance Cpl. Nick Eufrazio, were posting security. In the months since the attack, as Carpenter has undergone numerous surgeries to address his injuries, he has become an ambassador, of sorts, for the Marine Corps and its wounded warriors, inspiring family, friends and fellow Marines with his undying optimism in the face of a difficult recovery.…
Browsing: Marjah
Third Battalion, 3rd Marines, is shifting the fight in Helmand province to the countryside in pursuit of fighters who have been driven to the region’s remote outer reaches over the past two years. Operation Tageer Shamal, launched Jan. 4, is a joint effort by Marines and Afghan National Army soldiers to root out fighters who have been forced out of population centers since the assault on Marjah in early 2010 set in motion a strategy to break the Taliban’s hold on civilian centers in the region. Successful operations in towns across Helmand have allowed the establishment of “green zones” that…
Once again, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, is coming home from Marjah. The infantry battalion will return to Camp Lejeune, N.C., over the next few days, with 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, taking over for the unit in Afghanistan. India Company 3/6, which I embedded with in 2010, arrives today, Marines in the unit said. It was a dramatically different deployment for the battalion, which also patrolled Marjah in 2010, when it was one of the most violent areas in southern Afghanistan. Rather than facing daily firefights, the Marines provided security and mentoring as civil development grew. “Two years ago Marjah was…
The Marine Corps Birthday is still a few weeks away, but the service extended one tradition tonight by posting its annual birthday video message. Featuring narration by Commandant Gen. Jim Amos and Sgt. Maj. Mike Barrett, the Corps’ top enlisted Marine, it honors Marines everywhere, with special appreciation set aside for those who served in World War II and since the attacks on 9/11. Watch it here: [HTML1] The commandant and sergeant major filmed pieces of the message in New York City and in the Washington, D.C., area at both the World War II Memorial and the Pentagon. They also…
In the fog of war, progress can sometime be hard to measure. With that in mind I’d like to submit the following: That’s Lance Cpl. Joseph Starrett re-enlisting recently at the Yellow Schoolhouse, a facility in Marjah, Afghanistan, that served as a staging ground for two squads of Marines last May when I embedded with 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines. I believe I crashed on the floor of the room with the open doorway in the background. Regular Battle Rattle readers will probably remember the schoolhouse well. It was in one of the most violent neighborhoods in Marjah at the time,…
An infantry battalion with a major role in the 2010 assault on Marjah, Afghanistan, has returned to the war-torn district. First Battalion, 6th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., is taking over this month for 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, also out of Lejeune. It isn’t new ground for 1/6, which patroled central Marjah from the February assault through June last year, when the district was regularly marred by violence. Marines with 1/6 will be joined for the next few months in Marjah by 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines. It’s an arrangement with many similarities to spring 2010, when 3/6 patrolled the…
This is one of the hardest pieces of journalism that I’ve written in a long time. As it appears online, the family members of a friend of mine — Sgt. Ian McConnell, 24 — are traveling today from Camp Pendleton, Calif., to his hometown in Woodbury, Minn. They’re preparing for his funeral at Fort Snelling National Cemetery, a U.S. cemetery in nearby Minneapolis. It’s common that when a person dies with most of his or her life seemingly ahead of them, friends and family create online memorials. Ian is no different. His sister, Meg, posted one on Facebook over the…
Marjah, Afghanistan – It started with two bursts of gunfire outside the Hesco walls of the patrol base, a small square in the center of town at the governor’s compound. Within moments, the 3rd Platoon Marines of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 23rd Marines, were mustered by their vehicles wearing the required uniform: shoes, pants and weapon. It was about midnight. After a quick head count, and a determination that the gunfire had come from unknown activity between Afghan police, the Marines were told by platoon sergeant Staff Sgt. Chad Cada they could stand down and resume their sleep. But something…
The Island Warriors have returned home. As news coverage like this points out, Second Battalion, 3rd Marines, is returning this week from Afghanistan to Marine Corps Base Hawaii. Their deployment had them in several central Helmand province districts, launching counterinsurgency endeavors like Operation Watchtower, in which they uncovered weapons caches in southern Marjah.
A year ago, Marines in Marjah were struggling mightily with the Taliban. Even after driving hundreds insurgents out of the insurgent stronghold in central Helmand province in February, they faced regular attacks by gunmen, many of whom used motorcycles to move in and out of villages at night to terrorize civilians. They faced a network of improvised explosive devices and a public relations problem with villagers, many of whom complained that Marine operations were making life worse, not better. I can say this with some authority. I was there with 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, at the time, and faced many…
