Search Results for: "Marines In Afghanistan 2009"
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Military: 2 NC-based Marines Killed In Afghanistan
Relevance Score: 4.930 2009-07-15 02:32:06
Two North Carolina-based Marines were killed last week during combat in Afghanistan's Helmand province, the Department of Defense said Tuesday. The Marines were identified Tuesday as Lance Cpl. Pedro A. Barbozaflores, 27, of Glendale, Calif., and Master Sgt. Jerome D. Hatfield, 36, of Axton, Va. The Marines died Saturday. They were assigned to the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 3, 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune. Hatfield was the company operations chief for the battalion's Delta Company. He stared service in the Marines in June 1991 and was promoted to the rank of master sergeant in Sept. 2007. Previous deployments for Hatfield included tours in Iraq in 2006 and 2008 and operations in the Adriatic Sea in 1992 and 2000. Hatfield was a former drill instructor and is survived by a wife and three children, ages 4 to 19, the Marine Corps said. Barbozaflores was a crew member of a light armored vehicle crewman. He joined the Marines in March 2008, was promoted to lance corporal in December and deployed to Afghanistan in June.
Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan
Relevance Score: 4.651 2009-07-15 02:39:34
An Italian soldier was killed and three were injured by a roadside bomb in the Bala Boluk district in Afghanistan's western province of Farah, the Italian army and provincial governor said. Two U.S. Marines were killed in the southern province of Helmand, where the Marines have launched a massive attack this month, the U.S. military said.
Military Victims Of War In Afghanistan.
Relevance Score: 3.262 2009-07-14 00:09:45
One foreign soldier from the NATO-led force was a victim of an attack by insurgents in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, the alliance informed in a statement on Monday. It gave no other details, including the soldier's nationality. A roadside bomb killed two U.S. Marines in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military informed on Sunday. Another soldier serving with NATO-led forces in the south died on Friday from wounds received in June, the alliance said. Here are figures for foreign military deaths as a result of violence or accidents in Afghanistan since 2001: NATO/U.S.-LED COALITION FORCES: Britain 184 Canada 124 Denmark 25** France 28* Germany 35 Spain 25 Netherlands 19 United States 736 Other nations 69 TOTAL: 1,245 NOTES: ** Figures supplied by Danish Central Command, includes one suicide. * Figures supplied by French military.
DoD Announces Units for Upcoming Afghanistan Rotation
Relevance Score: 3.183 2009-07-15 17:52:38
The Department of Defense announced today the deployment of two units to Afghanistan. The 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, from Fort Campbell, Ky., and the 173rd Airborne Brigade, Vicenza, Italy, have been alerted to replace forces currently deployed in Afghanistan, in order to maintain the capabilities of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, will deploy with approximately 3,800 troops to Afghanistan in late fall 2009. The 173rd Brigade Combat Team, with approximately 3,700 troops, will deploy to Afghanistan in the winter of 2009-2010. Both units will conduct the full spectrum of combat operations. The United States continues to be NATO-ISAF’s largest troop contributor, and remains committed to leading the offensive in counter-terrorism operations in Afghanistan, training and equipping the Afghan national security forces and assisting with reconstruction. Force levels in Afghanistan are conditions-based and will be determined in consultation with the Afghan government and NATO.
Killed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan.
Relevance Score: 2.976 2009-07-07 00:18:34
AFGHANISTAN: Insurgent attacks killed three British soldiers during the weekend in the southern Afghanistan region where thousands of U.S. Marines pushed forward with the American troops biggest anti-Taliban campaign since the hard-line Islamist regime was toppled. Roadside bombs killed two of the soldiers and a rocket-propelled grenade killed another one. IRAQ: Enemies attacked police patrols in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Sunday, killing a police officer with a grenade and injuring 14 people in a car bomb blast, authorities informed. Separately, bombs in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, killed one civilian and injured 14, police said. PAKISTAN: Pakistani fighter jets targeted suspected Taliban hideouts in a tribal region near Afghanistan on Sunday, killing as many as six people, intelligence officials informed. Elsewhere in the northwest, two bomb explosions killed two people and wounded 15 more in Upper Dir district at the edge of Swat Valley where Pakistan army informes it is wrapping up a two-month-old offensive against Taliban militants.
Keeping communications strong
Relevance Score: 2.745 2010-03-01 17:01:35
Wars could not be fought without communication. It's rumored that one of the downfalls of Napoleon Bonaparte was his terrible handwriting; his officers misunderstood the written orders and failed to execute them properly. Imagine what the battle of Iwo Jima would have been like without communication. The Tet offensive? Fallujah? Ever since the inception of the Marine Corps, Marines have been known for their ability to receive and carry out orders efficiently and effectively. To keep this warfighting practice alive, Marines of Communication Company, Combat Logistics Regiment 27, 2nd Marine Logistics Group stay busy keeping the lines communication open. The Marines trained aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., Feb. 24 with the Support Wide Area Network and Wireless Point to Point Link to ensure proficiency with the systems that keep commanders connected to their units with internet, e-mail and telephone services while deployed. Cpl. Kenneth V. Holvenstot, one of the training instructors with Comm. Co., said he's seen the problems that occur with a lack of training and tries to ensure all the Marines are proficient with both systems. Both systems can be used for all three communication services, but there are pro and cons to both. Both the SWAN and WPPL act as a sort of wireless internet router. In the same way that multiple computers can access the internet by connecting to the same router, multiple SWANs receive services by connecting to the Master Reference Terminal which connects to satellites. With the Marine Corps presence in so many different theaters of operation, the SWAN and WPPL remain invaluable assets.
In Afghan Desert Marines Confront An Invisible Enemy.
Relevance Score: 2.598 2009-07-08 01:08:12
A scorching desert littered with bombs, little contact, an invisible enemy: the Marines that descended on Taliban bastions in southern Afghanistan will have to confront guerrilla tactics proven against the Soviets, an analyst informed. "Nawa is quiet, too quiet," commanding officer of the operation, Brigadier General Larry Nicholson, claimed of the town where some of the 4,000 Marines involved had deployed Thursday at the start of the assault in Helmand province. "The enemy has gone to ground," he said. By Sunday, four days into the first military test of President Barack Obama's new strategy for Afghanistan, the Marines had confronted resistance except in Mian Poshteh where a US officer said 200 battled about 40 Taliban. This was even though they had pushed into locations where the government in Kabul had little or no control, and where the Taliban had in some cases established a parallel administration. Dutch Major General Mart de Kruif, commander of about 30,000 NATO-led troops in the region, estimates there are 10,000 to 18,000 Taliban fighters in volatile southern Afghanistan. "When guerrilla fighters see that the enemy is bigger in number and facilities, have an upper hand on the ground and in the air, all they do is let the enemy take over," said Afghan analyst Waheed Mujda. "The tactic behind guerrilla war is simply to exhaust the powerful enemy, make it time-consuming and expensive for them to carry on." The Taliban militia itself said that it cannot take on so many men in direct combat. "We are trying not to engage with them too soon because there are a lot of them and they would use air force in which case there will be civilian casualties," spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP. The fighters were using "guerrilla clashes," he said. "Our men are among the people." "Significant resistance is not being seen," interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told reporters in Kabul Sunday. However, mines were a threat and had already killed two policemen on Saturday, he said. Homemade bombs -- improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in security jargon -- have killed three British soldiers in a similar operation further north since Wednesday. A U.S. Marine and another British soldier were killed in insurgent fire, the military said. None of the forces involved in the massive operation issued casualty tolls for the insurgents. "We don't know," Bashary said. "The Taliban do not have the ability to face such a big force and power," defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi told AFP, adding the security forces were being slowed down by the militants' roadside bombs and mines. Azimi said there was always the risk that militants would merely hide their weapons and melt into the community as ordinary villagers, while resorting to bomb attacks and other guerrilla tactics. But by taking control of their strongholds, "we basically break their chain of command and control, we disrupt their supply routes, we deny them the opportunity to gather and group together," Azimi said. "The bottom line is we will take the secure ground they have from them and break their network." The joint forces had a three-phase security plan to keep insurgents out of areas they take, he said. International troops would help the Afghan forces hold these areas; they would withdraw when the Afghan army and police were strong enough; and the army would gradually pull out, leaving police in place. "This will take some five to six months after the end of the operation," Azimi said. Anlayst Mujda believed the Tailban still would be able to continue with their guerrilla methods which have been seen in previous Afghan conflicts. "They attack the isolated security posts, the district headquarters and others, take control of them briefly, take weapons and money and food, and whatever they can," the analyst said. "They basically feed off the expenses of the enemy and go away." The Afghan mujahideen who fought off the Soviet invaders in the 1980s did the same, he said. "They only resisted and fought when they were surprised by the enemy and they had no choice and most of the time they were carrying out attack-and-escape tactics," he said. But even before the Marines are able to hold these militant areas, they will have a difficult time in Helmand, Mujda said. "It is terribly hot, the foreign soldiers move heavily, they carry food, water, heavy uniform and protection. They cannot survive in that heat for long." At least two Marines have been evacuated suffering chronic heat exhaustion, the force has said.
Corps Moves to Reduce Armor Burden
Relevance Score: 2.566 2009-07-17 15:36:58
Note to insurgents: hit the treadmill. The Marines are about to get a few steps quicker. Reacting to injuries caused by over weighted body armor and security improvements in some combat zones, the Marine Corps is adjusting the way it equips Leathernecks in the field with personal protective equipment. The service is shifting the decision making down the chain of command and instituting a graduated armor scale in the coming weeks for the promise of a lighter load to reduce injuries and hopefully quicken the feet of Marines in the field. The first move, effective immediately, will push control to lieutenant colonels in deciding what amount of personal protective equipment Marines will wear for a given mission. "Recognizing that body armor is modular and scalable, [we'll] try and leverage that by empowering our commanders … to make the appropriate decision with regards to what composition of body armor their Marines will wear," said Maj. Tom Wood, infantry advocate for the plans, policies and operations branch of Marine Corps headquarters in Washington. Previously, the decision for the body armor composition Marines wore into the field rested in the hands of colonels. The Corps hopes devolved decision making to the equivalent of battalion commanders will translate to a more flexible policy. "Our battalion and squadron commanders are really the right individuals to make the decision with regards to balancing weight versus protection in a given operating environment," Wood told Military.com in an exclusive interview. Wood trumpeted "increased tactical mobility" as a key justification for the new move. "What you are going to see, undoubtedly, is the ability of the average Marine to move quicker and enhance his tactical mobility and thereby the unit can move from point to point quicker," Wood said. Combatant commanders will still have the authority to issue theater- or region-wide guidance on the level of personal protective equipment, but Wood hopes that "the reduced level of violence of this new authority may help stir some discussion between Marine force commanders in Iraq and their joint force commander supervisors." In January of last year, Corps commanders in Iraq were pushing to shed the body armor load of their grunts by making neck guards, groin protectors, side plates and even helmets optional in some areas of Iraq. But they were shut down by higher-level Army commanders who were unconvinced the threat had diminished enough to justify the new armor edict. As more Leathernecks deployed to Afghanistan, with its high altitude battlefields and rural geography, the Corps quietly began letting grunts wear light-weight plate carriers instead of the bulky Modular Tactical Vest, exchanging protection for pounds as the strategic environment dictated. Potentially an even more drastic change is a forthcoming move by the Corps to create a graduated system of personal protective equipment that will allow Marines in the field to quickly move between different body armor configurations. Wood explained the so-called "armor protection levels" are being modeled after the MOPP -- mission orientated protective posture -- gear levels that Marines are familiar with in relation to nuclear, biological and chemical attack protective gear. Currently, the Corps is drafting a proposal to create four APLs. We want to "standardize that across the Marine Corps ... so that a commander can rapidly disseminate what his chosen body armor protection level or posture is for his forces," Wood said. It's not new gear, just a new mindset. The four levels will incorporate the small-arms protective insert plate carrier and the modular tactical vest already in use. Wood acknowledged that complaints from Marines in the field, bolstered by a growing litany of injuries related to gear, played a significant role in prompting these changes. "We needed to get away from the one size fits all mentality of 'you are going to go out with all your kit,' " Wood said. "Marines have become very, very comfortable operating with all their gear, but there are some body injuries that have occurred that we are just now starting to get our arms around in terms of long-term damage to the human body." He said neck, shoulder and back injuries are the most common, but did not provide figures as to the seriousness or frequency of the injuries. Wood said heat considerations -- unavoidable in places like Iraq and Afghanistan where temperatures routinely climb above 100 degrees in the summer months -- also factored into the decision. And besides, walking around like some bulked-up Storm Trooper in head-to-toe armor makes it tough to win hearts and minds in a war that hinges on separating the population from the insurgents. "There are times and places where a Marine who is less kitted up poses less of a civil, informational or psychological threat to the people that he is attempting to engage with," Wood said. As a result of their own success, Marines are spending a lot more time in places like that. The tough part is figuring how to dress for it. -- Bryan Mitchell
Corps Moves to Reduce Armor Burden
Relevance Score: 2.536 2009-05-27 11:42:32
Reacting to injuries caused by over weighted body armor and security improvements in some combat zones, the Marine Corps is adjusting the way it equips Leathernecks in the field with personal protective equipment. The service is shifting the decision making down the chain of command and instituting a graduated armor scale in the coming weeks for the promise of a lighter load to reduce injuries and hopefully quicken the feet of Marines in the field. The first move, effective immediately, will push control to lieutenant colonels in deciding what amount of personal protective equipment Marines will wear for a given mission. "Recognizing that body armor is modular and scalable, [we'll] try and leverage that by empowering our commanders … to make the appropriate decision with regards to what composition of body armor their Marines will wear," said Maj. Tom Wood, infantry advocate for the plans, policies and operations branch of Marine Corps headquarters in Washington. Previously, the decision for the body armor composition Marines wore into the field rested in the hands of colonels. The Corps hopes devolved decision making to the equivalent of battalion commanders will translate to a more flexible policy. "Our battalion and squadron commanders are really the right individuals to make the decision with regards to balancing weight versus protection in a given operating environment," Wood told Military.com in an exclusive interview. Wood trumpeted "increased tactical mobility" as a key justification for the new move. "What you are going to see, undoubtedly, is the ability of the average Marine to move quicker and enhance his tactical mobility and thereby the unit can move from point to point quicker," Wood said. Combatant commanders will still have the authority to issue theater- or region-wide guidance on the level of personal protective equipment, but Wood hopes that "the reduced level of violence of this new authority may help stir some discussion between Marine force commanders in Iraq and their joint force commander supervisors." In January of last year, Corps commanders in Iraq were pushing to shed the body armor load of their grunts by making neck guards, groin protectors, side plates and even helmets optional in some areas of Iraq. But they were shut down by higher-level Army commanders who were unconvinced the threat had diminished enough to justify the new armor edict. As more Leathernecks deployed to Afghanistan, with its high altitude battlefields and rural geography, the Corps quietly began letting grunts wear light-weight plate carriers instead of the bulky Modular Tactical Vest, exchanging protection for pounds as the strategic environment dictated. Potentially an even more drastic change is a forthcoming move by the Corps to create a graduated system of personal protective equipment that will allow Marines in the field to quickly move between different body armor configurations. Wood explained the so-called "armor protection levels" are being modeled after the MOPP -- mission orientated protective posture -- gear levels that Marines are familiar with in relation to nuclear, biological and chemical attack protective gear. Currently, the Corps is drafting a proposal to create four APLs. We want to "standardize that across the Marine Corps ... so that a commander can rapidly disseminate what his chosen body armor protection level or posture is for his forces," Wood said. It's not new gear, just a new mindset. The four levels will incorporate the small-arms protective insert plate carrier and the modular tactical vest already in use. Wood acknowledged that complaints from Marines in the field, bolstered by a growing litany of injuries related to gear, played a significant role in prompting these changes. "We needed to get away from the one size fits all mentality of 'you are going to go out with all your kit,' " Wood said. "Marines have become very, very comfortable operating with all their gear, but there are some body injuries that have occurred that we are just now starting to get our arms around in terms of long-term damage to the human body." He said neck, shoulder and back injuries are the most common, but did not provide figures as to the seriousness or frequency of the injuries. Wood said heat considerations -- unavoidable in places like Iraq and Afghanistan where temperatures routinely climb above 100 degrees in the summer months -- also factored into the decision. And besides, walking around like some bulked-up Storm Trooper in head-to-toe armor makes it tough to win hearts and minds in a war that hinges on separating the population from the insurgents. "There are times and places where a Marine who is less kitted up poses less of a civil, informational or psychological threat to the people that he is attempting to engage with," Wood said. As a result of their own success, Marines are spending a lot more time in places like that. The tough part is figuring how to dress for it.
US Military Reviewed Online Social Networking Policies U.S.
Relevance Score: 2.522 2009-08-06 03:08:42
Military officials say the Department of Defense is reviewing its policies on the use of social networking Web sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn has ordered the department-wide review saying these Web sites could compromise security. Lynn said while social networking Internet sites are important to the military for recruiting purposes, public relations, and sharing information with military families, they present risks that must be better understood. Lynn said the Pentagon's new policy on the sites will be developed by the end of September. Although there is currently not a department-wide ban on social networking, the U.S. Marine Corps, which has long prohibited its personnel from using the Web sites on work computers, issued a formal ban on them. Marine Corps officials say the ban does not affect Marines using the social networks on their personal computers. Officials also say Marines whose assignments require use of the Web sites will be granted access.