Sergeant Receives On-the-spot Promotion in Afghanistan
November 19, 2008 at 05:11
by DVIDS
By Lance Cpl. Monty Burton
Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force - Afghanistan
KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Islamic Republic Of Afghanistan – Nov. 16 began much like any other day for Sgt. Jose Garza as he woke up at about 6:30 a.m., shaved his face and put on his uniform. However, Garza, a corporal at the time, went to work early to fix an aircraft. Little did he know that his good work ethic would equate to more than just a repaired aircraft.
That morning, Maj. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, 1st Marine Division commanding general, meritoriously promoted Garza, an aviation electrician with the air combat element of the Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force - Afghanistan, on the spot after Garza repaired Waldhauser’s aircraft at Kandahar Air Field.
Waldhauser, who was visiting his deployed Marines, arrived at Kandahar on an Air Force KC-130J cargo transport aircraft, but electrical problems delayed its departure, leaving the aircraft grounded for more than an hour while Air Force mechanics tried to correct the problem. Garza, however, fixed the problem in about 30 minutes.
“I was finishing-up some work on another aircraft when my gunny came to me and asked me if I could help-out with the other plane,” said Garza, an aviation electrician. “I never thought it would earn me a [meritorious] promotion.”
Gunnery Sgt. Carlisle L. Wallace, aviation maintenance chief and Garza’s staff noncommissioned officer in charge, said after he talked to the crew, he found out they needed an electrician. He knew Garza was the Marine for the job.
Fellow Marines describe Garza as the go-to-guy in the unit.
“He runs things back at our home station, and he is running things here,” said Wallace. “I’m just glad the time and circumstances came together like they did, and the general was able to do it.”
Wallace went on to say that he is very confident in Garza’s ability to be an effective sergeant of Marines.
“I can ask him to do just about anything, and he will get it done with no extra supervision,” Wallace said. “And he knows how to lead.”
Garza said after Wallace informed him of the promotion, he was very nervous at first.
“As soon as I told my gunny I had finished, he told me to run inside and grab my blouse because I was getting promoted,” Garza explained. “I was shocked, but I just ran as fast as I could to grab my blouse and prepare for the promotion. My legs were shaking, but I was really honored,” he said.
Waldhauser asked the 21-year-old Fort Worth, Texas, native if he had anything to say after the promotion, but Garza was still in shock.
“All I could say was thank you, and I was very honored to be promoted by him,” he said. “He told me to keep up the good work.”
Ironically, Waldhauser didn’t depart on the aircraft that factored into Garza’s promotion.
“He flew out on a different plane that I had just fixed,” laughed Garza, who is entering his fourth year in the Marine Corps.
Following his promotion, Garza was appointed as his unit’s non-commissioned officer in charge of avionics.
Although he had just received a very prestigious promotion, Garza was still focused on accomplishing his mission.
“As soon as the promotion was done, I went straight back to work,” he said.
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Deadline: OVERSEAS HOLIDAY MAIL 2008
November 2, 2008 at 02:10
by US Military News
The 2008 Christmas holiday mailing deadlines have been announced. If you want your cards, letters, and packages to arrive to a military member overseas, or deployed on a Navy ship by Christmas, be sure to mail them by the following dates:
For military mail addressed to APO/FPO AE zips 090-098 (except 093); AA zips 340; and AP zips 962-966:
* Express Mail: Dec. 18
* First-Class Mail (letters/cards and priority mail): Dec. 11
* Parcel Airlift Mail: Dec. 4
* Parcel Post: Nov. 13
For military mail addressed to APO/FPO AE ZIP 093:
* Express mail Military Service: N/A
* First-Class Letters/Cards/Priority Mail: Dec. 4
* Parcel Airlift Mail: Dec. 1
* Space Available Mail: Nov. 21
* Parcel Post: Nov. 13
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Care Packages Help Remind Marines of Home
November 2, 2008 at 01:23
by Marine Corps News
Date Taken: October 31st, 2008
Location: HIT, IQ
Photo & Story by: Lance Cpl. Sean Cummins
Regimental Combat Team-5, 1st Marine Division Public Affairs
HIT, Iraq - Every week dozens of packages marked with the names of Marines within the battalion flood the mailroom floor. These packages all look the same from the outside, but inside are bits and pieces of the lives of the Marines of Task Force 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5.
Care packages containing food, toiletries and trinkets to remind service members of home have been raising the morale of service members for decades. Many of the care packages that the Marines at the battalion receive come from people the Marines have never met, which makes the packages even more special.
“[Care packages] just remind you of home; [they’re] something to look forward to,” said Lance Cpl. Brandt D. Warman, 19, a machine gunner from Del Norte, Colo., with Combined Anti-Armor Team White, Weapons Company, 3rd Bn., 7th Marines. “It’s like Christmas every time you get one. It’s cool whenever you get a package from someone you don’t know.”
The packages help more than just the deployed service members. Mothers from across the nation seem to find happiness in helping bringing comfort to their Marines and the Marines serving with their son thousands of miles from home.
“A lot of my family sends packages to my friends, too. Usually they take turns picking a different [Marine] in the platoon,” said Lance Cpl. Charles Q. Dorr, 21, team leader, 1st Platoon, Company L, 3rd Bn., 7th Marines, from Santa Ana, Calif. “It's a morale booster. Knowing that it came from home and from the family feels good.”
Lori Tovrea said that after losing her 21-year-old daughter in a car accident, she wanted to do something in her memory, and donating to deployed service members made her feel better. Tovrea has been donating care packages and her time to deployed service members for four years.
“It is the most wonderful feeling knowing that I am helping those fighting for our country,” said Lori Toyrea in an e-mail. “I had a interesting conversation with a person a couple of years ago. He really thought that it was great that I would go do car washes, sell hot dogs and do raffles for people I don’t even know [to raise money for care packages].”
Toyrea said she knows what to send with the help of her nephew, who was previously deployed to Iraq, and asking others who have sent care packages to deployed Marines. Seeing the pictures that the Marines send back and knowing that she has made a difference means a lot to her, she said.
Some take giving even further than just sending care packages.
Vicky Mohler started donating when her son, Lance Cpl. Aaron D. Mohler, deployed to Iraq twice in 2005 and 2007. Her donating turned into an organization when she started Support America’s Armed Forces. Mohler’s organization has sent care packages to thousands of service members who are deployed away from home.
“There is such a feeling of self worth knowing that a simple card or something that reminds them of home can make an impact on how they keep a positive attitude and stay focused,” said Mohler.
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Lance Cpl. Stacy Ann Dryden: Remembered for Her Life and Service
October 31, 2008 at 01:23
by Marine Corps News
Service members with 1st Maintenance Battalion (Reinforced), 1st Marine Logistics Group, joined together to honor one of their fallen Marines during a memorial service on Oct. 27, 2008. Lance Cpl. Stacy Ann Dryden, 22, from North Canton, Ohio, was serving in Iraq as a preservation, packaging and packing specialist when she died, Oct. 19, from a non-combat related incident in al Anbar province, Iraq.
Date Taken: October 27th, 2008
Location: AT-TAQADDUM, Iraq
Photo & Story by: Cpl. Tyler Barstow
1st Marine Logistic Group Public Affairs
AT-TAQADDUM, Iraq – With heavy hearts and tender words, the Marines and Sailors of 1st Maintenance Battalion (Reinforced), 1st Marine Logistics Group, honored the passing of a friend and fellow Marine during a memorial ceremony here on Oct. 27, 2008.
Lance Cpl. Stacy Ann Dryden, 22, from North Canton, Ohio, a preservation, packaging and packing specialist with Supply Company, 1st Maint. Bn. (Rein.), was described by her peers as a strong spirited person who could always be turned to for support.
“She left a lasting impression,” said Sgt. Sheldon D. Johnson, 28, from Queens, N.Y., the platoon sergeant for the Material Distribution Center, Supply Co. “If you met her, she would always greet you with a warm smile.”
When asked what she was smiling about, Dryden would answer the question with “nothing” and return another beaming smile which spread to those around her.
“She made me feel not so homesick,” said Lance Cpl. Morgan Gray, 23, from Westbrook, Conn., shipping clerk with Supply Co., 1st Maint. Bn. (Rein), about her friend who she knew since their military schooling together. When Gray arrived at Camp Pendleton, she was excited to find that her friend Dryden lived just a few doors down.
“Whenever you needed her to talk, to laugh, or to cry she was always there,” said Lance Cpl. Travis L. Lantz, 22, from Deland, Fla., a preservation, packaging and packing specialist with Supply Co.
Dryden deployed to Iraq in August and hit the ground running, motivating the other Marines in her shop with her positive attitude and blessing them with her compassion.
“She made a difference,” Johnson said. “She was the first one to lend a helping hand to those that needed it and comfort them when they were down.”
Johnson also commented that Dryden had all the motivation and esprit de corps to be the next sergeant major of the Marine Corps.
Dryden worked side-by-side with her fellow packaging specialists at al-Asad where her positive attitude helped make things easier in the combat environment.
“You’d fall in love with her company,” said Lance Cpl. Lamarr W. Robinson, 20, from St. Louis, a fellow packaging specialist with Supply Co. “She’d make you smile when you’d call her phone just knowing that she’d say ‘What’s up?’”
Her care for her friends and co-workers affected all around her and filled the air with nothing but smiles, explained Robinson who encouraged the crowd of mourners to stay in that celebrated spirit in her honor, as she would not want them to mourn.
“She would say, ‘Enjoy life, Robinson, never waste a second.’”
Dryden’s passing weighed heavily on her fellow Marines who took time to pay their final respects at a memoriam in her honor.
“She was a Marine who reflected well on the uniform she wore,” said Navy Lt. Jeffrey J. Ross, the battalion chaplain, 38, from Atlanta. Ross encouraged the crowd to remember the tremendous positive effect she had on everyone.
“She will always be in our hearts and we’ll remember her as a marvelous person and overall great Marine,” Lantz said.
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Combat Logistics Marines Create New View of Fallujah
October 30, 2008 at 09:41
by Marine Corps News
Staff Sgt. Bryan Spencer, Combat Logistics Battalion 5 Engineer Company operations platoon sergeant, briefs heavy equipment operators and combat engineers on the day's mission to level approximately 1,000 meters of berm along Wolverine Way, a road stretching from Camp Baharia to the outskirts of Fallujah, Iraq, Oct. 18, 2008. The Marines demolished five miles of berm along the road during about a week as part of a larger project to demilitarize Fallujah and turn control of the Fallujah area to Iraqi government control.
Date Taken: October 18th, 2008
Location: Fallujah, Iraq
Photo and Story by: Cpl. Daniel Angel
I Marine Expeditionary Force (Fwd)
FALLUJAH, Iraq – Heavy equipment operators from Combat Logistics Battalion 5 and combat engineers from Regimental Combat Team 1 completed leveling berms here on Oct. 19, 2008.
The Marines spent about a week leveling approximately five miles of protective dirt mounds that extended along the sides of Wolverine Way, a road stretching from Camp Baharia to the edge of the city of Fallujah.
The project serves two purposes: to provide better visibility for Marines who occupy an observation post on the road and to make the area look more normal for the local Iraqis, said Staff Sgt. Bryan Spencer, platoon sergeant, Operations Platoon, Engineer Company, CLB-5.
“We’re going all the way down this road to get rid of all the berms and get it looking nice again,” said Spencer, from Texarkana, Texas.
The Marines worked from dawn to just before dusk along Wolverine Way knocking down the berm and flattening the land as much as possible.
As the heavy equipment operators and combat engineers leveled the dirt, nearby Iraqi civilians watched and saw a newly unobstructed view of their countryside.
Leveling the berms around Fallujah is part of a greater effort by coalition forces to demilitarize coalition camps in Anbar and turn over control of the area to the Iraqi government and security forces.
To prepare for closing the bases, coalition forces remove military barriers such as the large reinforced concrete T-walls, Hesco barriers and concertina wire and withdraw all of the military equipment in order to return the areas to the condition they were in when they were occupied.
In al-Anbar province, the coalition has closed or turned over control of Hit, al-Qa’im and Camp Blue Diamond in ar-Ramadi to the Iraqi government, and are preparing to close more bases, including Camp Fallujah, in January.
Coalition forces are withdrawing from areas close to the cities and showing the Iraqi people that things are indeed getting better, said Maj. Gen. John Kelly, commanding general, Multi National Force - West, about the demilitarization of Camp Fallujah during a Pentagon press brief on Oct. 23, 2008.
For a few of the CLB-5 Marines, who came from Camp Ramadi to help with taking down the berm, the project has been a bit nostalgic.
Spencer has seen the evolution of the Marine Corps’ presence in Iraq from the beginning. He helped build up the coalition footprint in Anbar, including berms like the one along Wolverine Way. Now he is tearing them down as the country transitions back to Iraqi control.
“I was here in [Operation Iraqi Freedom 1] when we put the berms up,” said Spencer. “It’s good to see it coming down. It’s good to see us getting ready to demilitarize some areas -- give some areas back and wind down [operations] a little bit.”
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DoD Revises Purple Heart Policy
October 10, 2008 at 01:20
by US Military News
The Department of Defense announced today it has expanded the Purple Heart eligibility criteria allowing prisoners-of-war who died in captivity to receive the award.
The revised department policy presumes, for service members who die in captivity as a qualifying prisoner-of-war, that their death was the "result of enemy action," or the result of wounds incurred “in action with the enemy” during capture, or as a result of wounds incurred as a “result of enemy action” during capture, unless compelling evidence is presented to the contrary.
The revised policy allows retroactive award of the Purple Heart to qualifying prisoners-of-war since Dec. 7, 1941. Posthumous award will be made to the deceased service member’s representative, as designated by the secretary of the military department concerned, upon application to that military department.
Each military department will publish application procedures and ensure they are accessible by the general public. Family members with questions may contact the services: Army: Military Awards Branch, (703) 325-8700; Navy: Navy Personnel Command, Retired Records Section, (314) 592-1150; Air Force: Air Force Personnel Center, (800) 616-3775; Marine Corps: Military Awards Branch, (703) 784-9340. For further information, media representatives should contact Eileen Lainez, (703) 695-3895
Source: Defense Link
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4th Tank Marine Extends to Deploy
October 3, 2008 at 02:24
by Marine Corps News
“I was getting close to the end of my six-year contract when I found out that my platoon was shorthanded,” said Gray, 28, from Hemet, Calif., who is the acting platoon sergeant and tank commander with 1st Platoon, Company A, 4th Tank Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 5. “They said they could use me, so I volunteered to stick around for the deployment.”
This will be Gray’s second deployment to Iraq with 4th Tank Bn. During this deployment and the previous one, his leadership skills and quick thinking have proven to be beneficial to his fellow Marines.
“When we deployed last year to Fallujah during a quick-reaction-force mission, we had a post that was taking fire from a junk yard of old trucks about a kilometer west of us,” said Sgt. Steve L. Farrier, 25, from San Diego, who is a gunner with Company A. “Gray was in the lead vehicle, and when we turned a corner there was an insurgent who sprayed AK-47 fire. The rounds hit all over the vehicle, including the turret, and the gunner would have been hit if Gray hadn’t pulled him down.”
This deployment, Gray and his fellow Marines have spent most of the time in their tanks as a support element to infantry units wherever they are needed.
“We basically go out for a month or more at a time and live in the tanks out in the desert,” said Gray. “We have cleared grid squares in the desert, helped clear out cities and towns and patrolled the Syrian border.”
For these long missions, it is important to keep a positive attitude, and Gray is often able to lighten the mood whether he means to or not.
“I have never really seen him get mad, except for one time he was trying to close the overhead tank commander’s hatch because it was raining,” said Farrier. “The handle on the hatch was broken, so he was trying to close it with a [multi-tool]. When the [multi-tool] broke, he wound up punching himself in the head and almost knocked himself unconscious.”
“That was the hardest I have ever been hit,” said Gray as Marines around him started laughing. “Seriously, I was seeing stars.”
After this deployment is over, Gray is planning on finishing up his school at Montana University so he can become a high-school history teacher.
“I love history,” said Gray. “The Roman era and the beginning of the republic are my favorites. I think we learn a lot about ourselves through history, just about how the world came to be where it is today. Plus, I always enjoyed teaching Marines. I remember being in high school and having a good teacher, and I think that is something I can do.”
By Lance Cpl. Paul Torres
Posted on 09.29.2008 at 03:18AM
4th Tank Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 5
Source: DVIDS-Digital Video and Imagery Distribution System
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